Basic Christian Living: Prayer

Philippians 1:2-7&9-11 Basic Christian Living (Prayer Part 2) Introduction: We are nearing the end of our series on Basic Christian Living. We’ve talked about the Gospel, the Church, Scripture, righteous conduct, discipleship and discipline. But this morning I want to talk about something so absolutely essential to every one of these topics and that is prayer. Prayer is an absolute essential in the life of a follower of Jesus. It isn’t so much a practice but a way of being that must be lived out. It is everywhere in scripture. Prayers of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, praise, and supplication. But what is prayer? One way it has been described is “(Prayer is) continuing a conversation that God has started through his word and grace that culminates in a full encounter with him.” Tim Keller, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy God. In our last study on prayer we looked at Why we are to Pray : Because God has chosen to work through people, and prayer is the way in which we bring ourselves in step with God and his kingdom work. We pray as a part of spiritual formation - prayer doesn’t change God it changes me. Prayer is the way we assimilate God’s word and our new life in Christ. Prayer is the way that God’s truth gets worked into your heart to create new ways of thinking, speaking and living. We Pray because God is God, the sovereign Lord and creator through whom every good thing comes from. The action of prayer is recognition that we are and always will be totally dependent on God for everything. We Pray because it is our privilege as sons and daughters of God - we call and the father hears us and delights to answer our request.. We pray because it delights the heart of God when we recognize his sovereignty over everything and his goodness and willingness to bless us. We pray because it is effective. This morning then I want to talk about the practicality of prayer and then the content of our prayers… If prayer is going to become a part of our being, our identity in Jesus, a habit of the new life in Christ, then we must make some practical adjustments. 1. The Practicality of Prayer 1. Make Time to Pray. 1. D.A. Carson says, "We do not drift into spiritual life; we do not drift into disciplined prayer. We will not grow in prayer unless we plan to pray. That means we must self-consciously set aside time to do nothing but pray.” 2. I guarantee that you have thirty minutes in your daily schedule where you flat out waste time. Whether you are surfing channels on the Tele, looking at your Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter feed while you wait for your next appointment, or for the kids to get out of school; or commuting to work. 1. Scripture tells us that we are to "redeem the time, because the days are evil". Of course it's not wrong to do any of the things I've listed, but it is wrong to do them if we are neglecting our duty and privilege to pray. Prayer is an absolute must for the Christian life. 2. Charles Spurgeon said, “My heart has no deeper conviction than this, that prayer is the most efficient spiritual agency in the universe next to the Holy Spirit... I could as soon think of living without eating or breathing, as living without praying”. 3. I think most of us know this and already have that conviction. The point is to make time to pray. Decide even now as you are listening; when are you going to make time in the day to pray? 2. Pace Yourself in Prayer. 1. This might sound odd coming after what has been said before, so here's what I mean. We need to pace ourselves in prayer, because prayer is a discipline and a spiritual exercise, and it’s away of being. If you are trying to get back into shape, it is very unwise, and shortsighted to max yourself out on the first work out. Often times when you are getting back into shape you take the first workouts just to stretch and prep your body for conditioning. Take running for instance - you don't start with a Marathon, but you can work your way up to that over time. 2. So also with the discipline of prayer. My conviction is if we try to pray for long periods of time, right out the gate, that we will burn ourselves out and in the end neglect prayer altogether. We need to condition ourselves for prayer. 1. If we plan to pray more often but for shorter periods we can build up more stamina for longer periods of prayer. 2. Start by praying for five minutes at a time, and work your way into a discipline of being able to pray for an hour a day..or more. There is no set time of when you should get to an hour of prayer a day in your life, or even if you have to pray for an hour. The point is to pray and make it apart of your life - start small and see where it takes you over time. 3. Walk, Kneel, Stand… 1. “A concentrated mind and a sitting body make for better prayer than a kneeling body and a mind half asleep.” -Lewis 2. According to the scripture there are many physical ways in which we can pray. We can kneel, we can bow, we can stand, we can walk, we can sit. The point is that we do whatever it takes for the mind and heart to be fully engaged in prayer. 3. I would also say if it helps you, speak out loud when you pray, or even mouth the words; this has many times helped my focus. I have also had seasons of life where I wrote my prayers instead of speaking them. There really are no rules in this regard. We want to use practical ways to avoid mental drift. We want to pray definitely and consistently. 4. Pray Sincerely. 1. Just like our sanctification prayer is messy, imperfect, and honest. God is not asking us to be something we are not, but he is asking us to become something by his Spirit working within us, but we must come as we are, and where we are and not what we think we should be or will become over time by the work of God’s grace and Spirit. 2. Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis…It is no use to ask God with for one thing when our whole mind is in reality filled with the desire for something else. We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us… 3. Remember the prayer of the Tax collector, he prayed, "God be merciful to me a sinner". His prayer was messy, imperfect, but honest. His prayer was also effective; we are told that he was heard. 1. It is absolutely essential that we pray with honesty, to the God who sees, hears and knows all about us already. 5. Pray Always. 1. Listen to these exhortations from Paul - “Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication….in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God…..Continue steadfastly in prayer….pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” 2. Make prayer, this dependence on God, a habit of your life. When you are alone, when you are with friends, with family, with unbelievers. When we are together and share our needs, struggles, and victories, finish those conversations with prayer. When you are driving, walking, working, showering, working out, or lounging. When you wake, before you sleep, when you can’t sleep, when you worry, when you rejoice, in weakness, in strength, pray always! 2. The Content of our Prayers 1. As we set aside time to pray we come to the next hurdle. What do we pray? I already mentioned using scripture as our guide. The reason I recommend this is because when we don’t our prayers often take on a flavor of moralism, treating God as nothing more than an insurance agent who guarantees our “safety”, health and protection. If we keep paying our dues, God takes care of us. These are the bless this day, we pray no one gets hurt, and we’re all just happy - kinda of prayers 2. Of course God is more than able to do all these things, but the problems here are many. I’ll mention two: Where God does often protect us from physical harm he is much more concerned with the whole of our lives -our flourishing, our ultimate good if you will. Secondly, these type of request don’t even scratch the surface of what God can do and wants to do in our lives. 1. C.S. Lewis calls us into check when he wrote - “If we consider the unblushing promises of reward … promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea. We are far too easily pleased.” -C.S Lewis 2. God wants to do so much more in our lives. God wants to go so much deeper than a good day bad day scale, good weather bad weather scale. God wants to flood our lives and this world with his power and presence. God wants to bring this world into true flourishing… “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Habakkuk 2:14 3. I believe the problem with our prayer life and prayer in general is a lack of understanding about what prayer is and what to ask for; which comes from a lack of understanding of who God is and what he wants for our lives. We need to have a life of prayer that is informed. We need to remember who it is we are calling upon, what he can do and what he wants to do… That’s why we use Scripture as our guide. 1. Always Let Scripture be your Guide 1. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him." - 1John 5:14-15 2. Anyone who prays, desires their prayers to be effective of course. Unfortunately, we often pray like there are no guide lines or criteria to prayer. We often treat God like a slot machine, magic eight ball, or a Genie in a bottle. We pray for things without any filter or reference, and then we are disappointed because our prayer/wish didn’t get answered. 3. The Scripture is very clear about the kind of prayer that God answers - prayer that is in line with His will. We should therefore make it our practice that as much as possible we are going to tie our request to scripture. Then we can pray confidently, and effectively; always remembering of course that God knows all, knows best, loves us and will do what is ultimately best for our lives. 1. Often times I will make my request to the Lord but add, "But Lord, you know all things, and I pray most of all for your will to be done". We can make request to God, the scripture tells us to, but ultimately the point of prayer is to accomplish God's will, and to bring us in to conformity with what he is doing. 2. Great example: use the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6; Luke 11) as a general outline for your prayers. 2. Praying the Will of God. 1. “And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:9-14 1. Listen to the content of this prayer! This is a deep prayer. 2. As much as I do believe that God has a plan and will for our personal lives this is not the content of this prayer. The idea here is God’s general will for his people. We are praying that God’s will would inform all that we do. That God’s life and presence would flood our lives. That is kingdom would be our driving passion and our purpose. That His wisdom would permeate the darkness all around us in this world. That it would be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. 3. A Deeper Comprehension of God’s Love 1. “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” - Ephesians 3:14-21 2. How often do we pray that we would know the love of God more? If I’m honest my prayer is usually, “Lord, help me love you more!”. 3. Again here is where Paul’s prayer is cultivation. We need first to be assured of God’s love for us. It’s not that we love God but that he loved us and gave his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Paul knows that the more we grow in our knowledge and comprehension of God’s love for us the more we will love God and love others, the more we will not just obey, but want to obey. The more we delight in God the more we will glorify the Lord through our lives. 4. A Deeper Expression of God’s Love 1. “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” - Philippians 1:9-11 2. This is really a prayer about wisdom, not for one particular instance but for every moment and all relationships. 3. Paul’s prayer is that God would cause the cardinal Christian virtue of love to abound more and more, and that it would be accompanied by knowledge and all discernment, so that our love would find expression in wise actions that would truly benefit others and glorify God. That is a mature prayer. That is a prayer that takes into account the long game of personal transformation through cultivating the knowledge of God. Conclusion: The last thing that must be said is that -As we pray, we must pray in faith. We must expect great things from God. As Paul reminds us - This God is the God who does exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.