Prayer

Flourishing

Introverts vs extroverts

For the kids...

Righteous Requests - Internal Desires - External and Internal, Grateful and Merciful Relationship Path

Coronavirus - Why does prayer matter? It helps us flourish by actively living out our dependence on God in wisdom.

Will God hear? Will he do anything?

2 misunderstandings about prayer and the motivation behind it

Kingdom values - Do we believe God sees the secret stuff and rewards it (sg)? It goes to a real understanding of your Father’s delights.

Some people default to activism. Some people default to fatalism. Some people default to agnosticism. Prayer is an active waiting on God and a realization of what I need to do first. If one of the only things you get done during this time is improve your relationship with God through prayer, that’s probably a good thing.

Do you think you need to manipulate God to get what you need? Again, how do you view your Father’s love (sg)?

God knows what you need tomorrow even better than you do.

Jesus fulfilled all of these correct motivations

Gospel

1. God is righteous and has a plan and a name to uphold. - Request His plan

How does that fit with coronavirus?

Proverbs 19:2-3

2. God provides our needs. - Request His provision

Daily need - Privilege - Grace

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount Chapter Thirty-Six: Prayer: Petition (6:11–15)

An illustration once used by Dr. A. B. Simpson gave me great help when I first read it, and it continues to do so in this connection. He said that so many of us tend to think that God as our Father gives us the great gift of grace in one great lump sum, and that, having received it, we just go on living on it. ‘But’, he said, ‘it is not like that. That would be very dangerous for us. If God just gave us all His glorious gifts of grace in one lump sum, we would be in danger of enjoying the gift and forgetting all about God.’ For though we cannot understand it, God wants us, and as our Father, He likes us, to speak to Him. He is like an earthly father in that respect. The earthly father is grievously wounded by the son who is content to enjoy the gift the father has given him but who never seeks his company again until he has exhausted his supplies and needs some more. No, the father likes the child to come and speak to him; and this is God’s way of doing it. It is, says Dr. Simpson, exactly as though a father put a great deposit for his son into the bank, and the son can only receive a supply each time by writing a cheque. Each time he needs another instalment he has to write a cheque. And that is how God deals with us. He does not give it to us all at once. He gives it to us in instalments. God is there in grace offering His guarantee, and all we have to do is to sign our cheques and present them. That is prayer, it is presenting our cheque, just going to God and asking Him to honour it.

Daily forgiveness

Gal 5:13-15

3. God protects us from evil. - Request His peace

Exodus 17:1-7

Life is good, but God is harsh. Or Life is harsh, and God is good.

Righteous Requests - Internal Desires

Righteous Requests - Internal Desires

Request His plan - and meditate on what’s eternal about today

Request His provision - and seek to view the things that happen as part of that

Request His peace - and look for ways He protects you

Adore His name as Father

Confess our need for His plan and provision

Thank Him for His peace

Supplicate for His provision

30 Days of Prayer

Call 1 person per day

Pray for them

Pray for our community and our leaders

Pray for our global partners