Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayers is Expected

Jesus expects us to Pray

God’s Word Makes is Clear

“prayer is a walkie-talkie for warfare, not a domestic intercom for increasing our conveniences.”

- John Piper

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (pp.

82-83).

The Navigators.

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To abandon prayer is to fight the battle with our own resources at best, and to lose interest in the battle at worst.

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p.

83).

The Navigators.

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if we felt certain of visible results within sixty seconds of every prayer, there would be holes in the knees of every pair of Christian-owned pants in the world.

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p.

83).

The Navigators.

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While it’s true that our praying (as well as all aspects of our Christian living) should be governed by the truth of Scripture rather than our feelings, nevertheless the frailty of our emotions frequently erodes our desire to pray.

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p.

84).

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Some circumstances drive us to our knees.

But there are periods when life seems quite manageable.

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p.

84).

The Navigators.

Kindle Edition.

Prayer is Learned

Do you feel you know how to pray well?

The Bible says we must pray for the glory of God, in His will, in faith, in the name of Jesus, with persistence, and more.

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p.

85).

The Navigators.

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By Praying

There are many good resources for learning how to pray, but the best way to learn how to pray is to pray.

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p.

85).

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The Holy Spirit teaches praying people how to pray better.

That’s one of the applications of John 16:13 where Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.”

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (pp.

85-86).

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By Meditating on Scripture

Here’s the simple, but extraordinarily powerful truth: Meditation is the missing link between Bible intake and prayer.

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p.

86).

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The process works like this: After the input of a passage of Scripture, meditation allows us to take what God has said and think deeply on it, digest it, and then speak to God about it in meaningful prayer.

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p.

87).

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By Praying with Others

But we pray with them to learn principles of prayer, not phrases for prayer.

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p.

93).

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Many of the great movements of God can be traced to a small group of people He called together to begin praying.

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p.

93).

The Navigators.

Kindle Edition.

FACT: The Moravian Community of Herrnhut in Saxony, in 1727, commenced a round-the-clock “prayer watch” that continued nonstop for over a hundred years.

FACT: By 1791, 65 years after commencement of that prayer vigil, the small Moravian community had sent 300 missionaries to the ends of the earth.

Could it be that there is some relationship between those two facts?

Is fervent intercession a basic component in world evangelization?

The answer to both questions is surely an unqualified “yes.”

That heroic eighteenth-century evangelization thrust of the Moravians has not received the attention it deserves.

But even less heralded than their missionary exploits is that hundred-year prayer meeting that sustained the fires of evangelism.

During its first five years of existence the Herrnhut settlement showed few signs of spiritual power.

By the beginning of 1727 the community of about three hundred people was wracked by dissension and bickering.

An unlikely site for revival!

Zinzendorf and others, however, covenanted to prayer and labor for revival.

On May 12 revival came.

Christians were aglow with new life and power, dissension vanished and unbelievers were converted.

Looking back to that day and the four glorious months that followed, Zinzendorf later recalled: “The whole place represented truly a visible habitation of God among men.”

A spirit of prayer was immediately evident in the fellowship and continued throughout that “golden summer of 1727,” as the Moravians came to designate the period.

On August 27 of that year twenty-four men and twenty-four women covenanted to spend one hour each day in scheduled prayer.

Some others enlisted in the “hourly intercession.”

“For over a hundred years the members of the Moravian Church all shared in the ‘hourly intercession.’

At home and abroad, on land and sea, this prayer watch ascended unceasingly to the Lord,” stated historian A. J. Lewis.

https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/one-hundred-year-prayer-meeting

1970 Asbury College Revival - 185 hours long

By Reading about Prayer

Prayers is Answered

“If it is coincidence, I sure have a lot more coincidences when I pray than when I don’t.”

Whitney, Donald S.. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (p.

96).

The Navigators.

Kindle Edition.

More Application

Because Prayer is expected, will you pray?

Since Prayer is learned, will you learn to pray?

Since Prayer is answered, will you persistently pray?

WARM-UP

1. Statistical surveys and experience seem to agree that a large percentage of professing Christians spend little time in sustained prayer, even though they know that prayer is a vital Christian Discipline.

Why might this be so?

2. How do you know when you haven’t been praying enough?

What are your feelings and concerns during those times?

God Expects Us to Pray

3. What do Matthew 6:5-7,9; Luke 11:9; and 18:1 teach about Jesus’ view of prayer?

4. How might you apply Colossians 4:2 and 1 Thessalonians 5:17 in the midst of your busy schedule?

5. First Thessalonians 5:17 tells Christians to “pray without ceasing.”

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, page 82, says that “praying without ceasing means you never really stop conversing with God; you simply have frequent interruptions.”