Sermon Tone Analysis

Anyone Can Pray

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vs 2: (NLT) Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

There are two extremes to cultural assimilation or defiance

Assimilation - All accepting

This is usually influenced by friends, media, FOMO informed cultural influence

All

Defiance - All rejecting

Example: Jonah, who clearly refused to learn of

Does God has a preference in the way we go about our lives?

How do we ensure that we are walking in the way that is pleasing to God? Or in a way that God prefers we should walk?

God may be accepting of all, but He has preferred ways He intends for us to act.

Prayer enables us to encounter God.

Prayer brings God into our everyday lives.

Prayer is a confession of my utter dependence on God.

on God.

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Elijah had a nature just like us.

He was an ordinary man with extraordinary answers to his prayer.

He prayed prayers

that stopped or brought rain.

Q.

What answers to prayer have you experienced recently?

Q.

What truths about prayer have you learned from the Word recently?

Q. What’s working well in your prayer life at the moment?

In what ways would you like to see it move forward?

Leaders Tip: With this question, once everyone has answered, you may like to get people to give tips about prayer

that could help other group members’ gain the improvements they are after.

MYTHS ABOUT PRAYER

1. Prayer is about me and what I want or need.

Although prayer can be about you because it is communicating what is happening in your heart, it is essentially about communication with God.

It is a fundamental way to develop your relationship with God.

So, there are at least two people involved in your prayer - you and God.

The number can only increase when you pray for other people or with other people.

,

2. Prayer is a one-way traffic.

Like all communication, prayer is a dialogue.

It is a conversation between two people.

Mostly we find that we do all the talking, and you are too wound up to consider listening for a response from the other.

When you stop to listen, you’ll find that God wants to talk to you, too.

Hearing from God can happen in a number of ways:

by reminding you of a Bible verse or a few lines of a song,

bringing to mind a message you’ve heard,

placing a thought in your mind that lines up with Scripture,

maybe just surrounding you with unexplainable peace.

3. Prayer is just for tough times.

Actually, prayer is an appropriate response for any situation!

It’s for thanking God for the good things in life, for asking for wisdom when you’re confused or uncertain, for expressing your emotions to the One who loves you unconditionally, and for asking for help when you just don’t know how you’re going to make it through.

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4. Prayer is only for when all else fails - Last resort.

Maybe you’ve heard people say, “There’s nothing to do now but pray.”

Instead of being a last resort, prayer is meant to be our first response in life.

The moment you find yourself facing something tough, stop and pray before you do anything else.

That simple act will help you remember that God is with you and actively at work in your situation.

It will center your focus and trust on Him.

aybe you’ve heard people say, “There’s nothing to do now but pray.”

Instead of being a last resort, prayer is meant to be our first response in life.

The moment you find yourself facing something tough, stop and pray before you do anything else.

That simple act will help you remember that God is with you and actively at work in your situation.

It will center your focus and trust on Him.

A. The Form Prayer Takes

“There’s nothing boring or monotone about prayer and it is not a monologue.”

There are different forms of prayer

identified below.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

2. Asking

3. Stillness

4. Meditation

5. A Desperate Cry

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6. Prayer in the language of the Spirit

7. Worship

8. Prayer of Faith

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Q.

What forms of prayer do you use the most, and which one is the least?

Why?

Activity Break up into pairs or small groups.

Pick one of these forms of prayer.

Read the scripture given above for

that form.

Pray together using that form.

Come back together as a whole group.

Each pair then to report on:

• What they experienced or discovered whilst praying like that.

• What the benefit or power is of praying like that

• Whether they need to pray like that more in their personal walks with God.

2.

B. The characteristics of Effective Prayer

This passage gives us a number of keys to effective prayer that are within reach of ordinary people like us.

ordinary people like us.

i. Transparent

Vs. 16: “confess your faults to each other...”

God’s church and He sees us where we are at.

Not trying to pretend before God, but authentic.

We are not playing make-believe, not playing church.

We are God’s church and He sees us where we are at.

Not trying to pretend before God, but authentic.

ii.

Unselfish

vs 16: “... pray for one another that you might be healed...”

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One of the ways to get God working in your own life is to pray for Him to move in other people’s lives.

life is to pray for Him to move in other people’s lives.

When Ordinary People Pray

iii.