Closer walk: Practiced Prayer
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Practiced, Principled Prayer
Practiced, Principled Prayer
Having the principles of something is good, but without the application it is only information, knowledge. when applied then it becomes wisdom. This morning we are looking at the principles of prayer to be practiced that help to produce spiritual growth.
We will be looking at:
Prayer, specific time?
Prayer, with whom should we pray?
Prayer, is there a way to pray?
Prayer, some suggested content
Prayer, Specific time(s)?
Prayer, Specific time(s)?
Practiced, principled prayer is habitual prayer. We as disciples who want a closer walk with thee need to create the habit of praying.
Consider Davids example (Ps55:1, 17)
David who was called a man after God’s own heart, made the habit a prayer
1 Give ear to my prayer, O God; And do not hide Yourself from my supplication.
And made time for prayer
17 Evening and morning and at noon, I will complain and murmur, And He will hear my voice.
He prayed knowing that God would hear his prayers.
Consider Jesus example (Mk1:35)
Jesus prayed, and one of the great examples for Him is found here
35 In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.
Practiced, principled prayer early in the morning and in a secluded place
Consider Daniel (Dan10:18; Dan6:10)
Daniel a resolved man of faith, that the angel of the Lord described as loved
18 Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me.
He had a habit of practiced, principled prayer with a pattern.
10 Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously.
Consider Peter and John (Act3:1)
The Jews had practiced prayer of 3 times a day an hour of prayer and even after they became Christians they had a pattern, a habit they continued with
1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.
So we have thee great men, and of course our Savior, who made it a habit to pray at set times, and even throughout the day, it was practiced, it was principled, it is applicable for us too.
From set times to flexible, needed times (Lk6:12-13; Act16:25; Neh2:4-5; 1The5:17)
Don’t get so regimented in set times that you don’t pray in needed times or opportune times. Times like thee.
Jesus example of important times of decision (Lk6:12-13)
12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:
In the time that Jesus needed to pick his Apostles, he went off and prayed all night. May we be willing to spend time on specific things in prayer.
Paul’s example of trying times (Act16:25)
Trying times were praying and praising times too, and in this case were noticed times. May we be people who are known for prayer and praise even in the worst of times
And Nehemiah’s example of spur of the moment times (Neh2:4-5)
Standing before the king who could take his life, Nehemiah turns to the lord in a “breath prayer”
4 Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 I said to the king, “If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.”
Our goal when it comes to principled, practiced prayer should be to pray without ceasing as it says in 1The5:17.
Praying with spontaneity will help to develop the discipline of prayer in all circumstances so, hence, to pray without ceasing.
Prayer, with whom should we pray?
Prayer, with whom should we pray?
So there is the principles, there is the period, or time, times we should pray, but what about prayer partners? Do we need them? Should we utilize them? Are they biblical?
Prayer alone promotes closer union with the Lord (Mt6:5-6)
Jesus spoke of public prayer, what not to do, and private prayer, what to do, so check this out.
5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Don’t pray to be seen by man; pray privately to be heard and seen by the Father.
Private prayers should be the majority of our prayer time (expand on this)
Private prayer forms a closer union between you and God for it is a fellowship that is sweet just between the two of you.
Private/secret prayer as Jesus used in Mt6 can’t be about being seen by others, for no one else is there to see you, you are in private, in secret.
The results of private prayer is the Father will reward you. (expand; because it is private not trying to impress anyone, but honest plea to God)
Prayer with others is biblical (Mt18:19-20; Act4:23-24; Act12:5, 12; Act16:25; Act20:36 and Act21:5)
There is a passage that you may be familiar with
19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. 20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
(be careful and expand on this, it has to do with prayer)
In Act4:23-24 in short Peter and John are released from prison and the first thing they do is gather the prayer partners in thanksgiving.
5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
Peter one more time in prison, well, he had people that were fervently praying for him. Are there those who we fervently pray for? - come Sunday nights 5:30pm and find out and join us!
The results of the church of God praying, well look
11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” 12 And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
I already read Act16:25 about praying in public and singing too, Paul and Silas but that was joining together in prayer.
Paul called for the elders at Ephesus to join him and they prayed together in Act20:36 and then there was beach prayer offered up
5 When our days there were ended, we left and started on our journey, while they all, with wives and children, escorted us until we were out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another.
in a time of departure with the elders and others, they joined in prayer
Prayer with others is commanded (Jm5:14-16)
Another passage that should always be considered for there is a command and it has to do with praying with others
14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
It is powerful, it is effective and accomplishes much. So if you are not thinking about Pray Over Iowa yet, please pray, pray for involvement, pray for the event, pray for the results of the event.
Prayer, is there a way to pray?
Prayer, is there a way to pray?
Jesus in what is commonly known as the Lord’s prayer gives a get pattern for prayer, or exampled prayer.
1 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.
3 ‘Give us each day our daily bread. 4 ‘And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’ ”
You can find another example in Mt6:9-13 too, but let me pull from the Luke passage for us.
We have a the whom we are to pray to
Our Father who is in heaven
Expand on this, that today we pray through Jesus to the Father
There is the requirement too that there is the acknowledgment of Him as Our father, of who He is!
We have the praising Him for who He is
Hallowed, holy be Your name, we are praising him for He is Holy
We have supplication
First and foremost it is asking for His will to be done (on earth and in heaven)
Provide for us our physical needs (daily bread)
Provide for our spiritual needs (forgiveness of sins)
Provide for spiritual needs of others (forgive as we have been forgiven)
And, remember keep it simple as noted when we read Mt6:7-8
Good tools for praying
A.C.T.S.
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A = Adoration (1Cor29:10-13)
C = Confession (1Jn1:9)
T = Thanksgiving (Php4:6; Col1:12; Col2:7; Col3:15; Col4:2)
S = Supplication (Php4:6; 1Tim2:1)
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A = Adoration (1Cor29:10-13)
Adoration is to praise God, praise Him for who He is!
10 So David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, “Blessed are You, O Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. 11 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.
12 “Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. 13 “Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name.
When we want a closer walk with thee, when we come to Him in prayer be it spur of the moment, or set times it is good that we get the right perspective of who we are praying to. To have a proper humility about us as we approach the throne of grace (Heb4:16 ref)
A = Adoration (1Cor29:10-13)
C = Confession (1Jn1:9)
Not only confessing Him as both Lord and Savior (Rom10:9); but confessing our sins before Him for we know we still fall short. And we know that sin can break fellowship with the Lord. We also know that confessed since is cleansed when confessed
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I need to expand just for a second on this, I mentioned we fall short, which means we need to confess and know that we do (1Jn1:8) and that as we try to walk our walk in the light we have fellowship with Him and the blood of His Son will cleanse us (1Jn1:7) - - - so if you have sin today, take a second, pray knowing that God is faithful and righteous to forgive.
A = Adoration (1Cor29:10-13)
C = Confession (1Jn1:9)
T = Thanksgiving (Php4:6; Col1:12, 2:7, 3:15 and 4:2)
This is a reminder of God’s goodness, His mercy, His forgiveness
It helps us to look and examine all that He has done for us and continues to do for us.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
We can with a heart of thanksgiving make our requests known to Him for we know we are His children, we are forgiven, we have eternal life and we can do as the scripture says have abounding grace.
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
Abounding because we are qualified by the Father in heaven to share in the inheritance
7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
Because we are rooted, grounded, established we can and should be overflowing with gratitude (thanksgiving)
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
We were called into one body, the body of Christ by the blood of Christ to be reconciled to the father in heaven when our sins are forgiven that separated us from Him. So when we have peace with God (Rom5:1) we can have the peace of God (Php4:7) and that will help us to then have a thankful heart and can pray with thanksgiving.
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;
So, be devoted in prayer with an attitude of thanksgiving as we then go and make our supplications to Him, through Jesus.
A = Adoration (1Cor29:10-13)
C = Confession (1Jn1:9)
T = Thanksgiving (Php4:6)
S = Supplication (Php4:6; 1Tim2:1)
THis is making our requests known unto God as it says in Php4:6 which we just read a few minutes ago.
No Spiritual shopping list for God is not a Genie, He is the Lord of all creation and we are coming to Him in adoration, in confession, in thanksgiving to seek, ask him for His will to be done.
When we go to Him, it should not be just about us, but for others too. You know intercession prayer. You more than likely are here because someone prayed for you, was praying for you, is praying for you. It is most noble to pray for others.
1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
So we know when, we know with whom to pray, we looked at some of how and some helps in prayers now how about getting to some suggested content?
Prayer, some suggested content
Prayer, some suggested content
Prayer is personal, prayer can be in public, prayer is with purpose and prayer can be strategic too, so a few suggestions for us to look at regarding content and maybe a little prayer strategy.
While this list is extensive it is not exhaustive and I will only touch on these items and invite, encourage, implore you to look up and read the scriptures.
Prayers for self (Mt6:11; Col1:9-12)
For God’s provision physically and spiritually to bring about maturity
Prayers for family (Eph6:4)
For our families to come to the Lord, know the Lord and grow in the Lord
Prayers for the church (Jn13:35, 17:20-21; Php1:9-11; 2The3:1)
Jesus prayed for the apostles and the birth of the church that. Our prayers is for the church and the spiritual and numeric growth of the church.
Prayers for the church, the members of the body to personally grow in Christ
Prayers for the church that the gospel can be accomplished through us.
Prayers for nation (Ps33:12; Pro14:34; 1Tim2:2)
For repentance from worldly ways and to turn to the One true God.
To have a God conscience on who He is!
And for our leaders to be godly leaders
Prayers for non-believers (Rom10:1; Eph6:18-20)
We as the spiritual Israel today want all to be saved for that is God’s will too
Pray that we have the words to say, His words to say with boldness to share the gospel, the mystery that has been revealed of Jesus and the church so that others may come to know Him and become a part of the church through faith!
Prayers for the sick physically and spiritually (Jm5:14-16)
more than a sick list, but a heartfelt prayer list for the sick both physically and spiritually
Prayer is powerful, prayer is effective, and prayer is commanded, so be prayerful.
Prayers for the poor and oppressed (Pro29:7)
The homeless, the helpless, the fatherless and the unborn
For the oppressed and the persecuted and even those who are alienated because of the gospel.
Some prayer strategy (suggested)
Monday: Family
Tuesday: Church
Wednesday: Nation, include our communities
Thursday: I used this day as Thankful Thursday
Friday: the World and the gospel message
Saturday: the afflicted, oppressed, the poor the outcast
Sunday: For the church assembly, the message, the songs, the prayers, the fellowship
lead to invitation (Invitation slide 1: just a closer walk with thee slide) invitation- - - be sure to drive home in Christ alone (Invitation slide 2 -Salvation in Christ alone slide) song, prayer (exit slides)