Course outline on Prayer:

Webster’s Dictionary1

Prayer Slide 1

(1): an address (as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought 〈said a prayer for the success of the voyage〉

(2): a set order of words used in praying

: an earnest request or wish

: The act or practice of praying to God or a god 〈kneeling in prayer〉

: A religious service consisting chiefly of prayers — often used in Pl.

: Something prayed for

: A slight chance 〈haven‘t got a prayer〉

Our ability to minister effectively is acquired through regularly scheduled hours of toil in the gym of the soul. Those still throwing heat after decades of ministry have adhered to two major conditioning strategies: staying close to God and keeping a keen edge on ministry skills. Ministry tends to pull us away from our spiritual center, and the constant pressures of ministry tend to dull the practice of it.[1] – Ed Rowell

1. Intimacy

1. Knowing God Slide 2

a. Matthew 22:37Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
(NIV)

2. Obey his Commands Slide 3

a. John 14:21Whoever has my commands and obeys them; he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”
(NIV)

3. God Reveals Himself Slide 4

a. we know him better

b. we love him more

c. This cycle then continuously repeats itself

Love makes obedience a thing of joy!

To do the will of one we like to please

Is never hardship, though it tax our strength;

Each privilege of service love will seize!

Love makes us loyal, glad to do or go,

And eager to defend a name or cause;

Love takes the drudgery from common work,

And asks no rich reward or great applause.

Love gives us satisfaction in our task,

And wealth in learning lessons of the heart;

Love sheds a light of glory on our toil

And makes us humbly glad to have a part.

Love makes us choose to do the will of God,

To run His errands and proclaim His truth;

It gives our hearts an eager, lilting song;

Our feet are shod with tireless wings of youth!

—Hazel Hartwell Simon

[2]

***Mark Guy Pearse used to tell of the time he overheard one of his children admonishing the other, “You must be good or Father won’t love you.”

Calling the boy to him he said, “Son, that isn’t really true.”

“But you won’t love us if we are bad, will you?” the boy asked.

“Yes, I will love you whether you are good or bad,” Pearse explained. “But there will be a difference in my love. When you are good I will love you with a love that makes me glad; and when you are not good I will love you with a love that hurts me.”

—Evangelistic Illustration

[3]

***A gentleman who was a professed Christian was taken seriously ill. He became troubled about the little love he felt in his heart for God, and spoke of his experience to a friend. This is how the friend answered him.

“When I go home from here, I expect to take my baby on my knee, look into her sweet eyes, listen to her charming prattle, and tired as I am, her presence will rest me; for I love that child with unutterable tenderness. But she loves me little. If my heart were breaking it would not disturb her sleep. If my body were racked with pain, it would not interrupt her play. If I were dead, she would forget me in a few days. Besides this, she had never brought me a penny, but was a constant expense to me. I am not rich, but there is not money enough in the world to buy my baby. How is it? Does she love me, or do I love her? Do I withhold my love until I know she loves me? Am I waiting for her to do something worthy of my love before extending it?”

This practical illustration of the love of God for His children caused the tears to roll down the sick man’s face. “Oh, I see,” he exclaimed, “it is not my love to God, but God’s love for me, that I should be thinking of. And I do love Him now as I never loved Him before.”

[4]

***Among the first glimpses we get of our God is that of a Seeker: “Adam … Where art thou?” (Gen. 3:9). In commenting upon this question to his Bible class, a teacher said, “You can never be a preacher if you read it as though God were a policeman. Read it as though God were a brokenhearted Father looking for a lost child!”

—Al Bryant

[5]

!! 2. Faith

- IN any study of the principles, and procedure of prayer, of its activities and enterprises, first place, must, of necessity, be given to faith. It is the initial quality in the heart of any man who essays to talk to the Unseen. He must, out of sheer helplessness, stretch forth hands of faith. He must believe, where he cannot prove. In the ultimate issue, prayer is simply faith, claiming its natural yet marvelous prerogatives — faith taking possession of its illimitable inheritance. True godliness is just as true, steady, and persevering in the realm of faith as it is in the province of prayer. Moreover: when faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live. [6]

- Faith does the impossible because it brings God to undertake for us, and nothing is impossible with God. How great — without qualification or limitation — is the power of faith! If doubt be banished from the heart, and unbelief made stranger there, what we ask of God shall surely come to pass, and a believer hath vouchsafed to him “whatsoever he saith.”[7]

a. Mk 11:21-24 Slide 5
Mark 11:21Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
Mark 11:22“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.
Mark 11:23“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
Mark 11:24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
b. Matt. 8: 10-13 Slide 6

10 When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

[8]

Billy Graham said: “In August of 1949, I was so filled with doubts about everything that when I stood to preach and made a statement, I would say to myself: I wonder if that is the truth. I wonder if I can really say that sincerely. My ministry had gone.

“I then took the Bible up into the high Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. I opened it and got on my knees. I pled, ’Father I cannot understand many things in this Book. I cannot come intellectually all the way, but I accept it by faith to be authoritative, the inspired Word of the living God! ’ “

[9]

In a cellar in Cologne, Germany, after World War II were found these words on the wall:

I BELIEVE. . .

I believe in the sun,

Even when it is not shining;

I believe in love,

Even when I feel it not;

I believe in God,

Even when He is silent. [10]

Faith: Belief in who God truly is, with the knowledge that he watches over his word to perform it.

- The Lord is Ultimately Faithful

- When we walk by faith we become pleasing to God

- Prayer coupled with faith releases God into the situation, tearing down strong holds, freeing captives, healing, and bringing Gods Kingdom and will ultimately into being.

Prayer: Essentials

1. Relationship

Ephesians 3:17 Slide 7
(Eph 3:17)so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
(NIV)

2. Faith

Slide 8

(Jas 1:6)But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
(NIV)

Hebrews 11:6 Slide 9
(Heb 11:6)And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
(NIV)

Never put a question mark where God has put a period.

—John R. Rice[11]

• Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible.

• Faith is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable.

• Faith is idle when circumstances are right, only when they are adverse is one’s faith in God exercised. Faith, like muscle, grows strong and supple with exercise.

• Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.

—David Lloyd George

[12]

Slide 10

• Faith is not believing that God can, but that God will!

• Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.

• Faith in God is indispensable to successful statesmanship.

—Abraham Lincoln

[13]

Prayer:

Slides 11-22

Acceptable prayer must be sincere (Heb. 10:22), offered with reverence and godly fear, with a humble sense of our own insignificance as creatures and of our own unworthiness as sinners, with earnest importunity, and with unhesitating submission to the divine will. Prayer must also be offered in the faith that God is, and is the hearer and answerer of prayer, and that he will fulfill his word, “Ask, and ye shall receive” (Matt. 7:7, 8; 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 14:13, 14), and in the name of Christ (16:23, 24; 15:16; Eph. 2:18; 5:20; Col. 3:17; 1 Pet. 2:5)[14] (Isaiah 55:6
Is 55:6)Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
(NIV)

\\ Philippians 4:6
(Php 4:6)Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
(NIV)*
\\ Ephesians 2:18
(Eph 2:18)For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
(NIV)*
\\ Hebrews 10:19
(Heb 10:19)Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
(NIV)*
\\ Romans 8:26
(Ro 8:26)*In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot

Slide 23

8605 תְּפִלָּה [tâphillah /tef·il·law/] n f. From 6419; TWOT 1776a; GK 9525; 77 occurrences; AV translates as “prayer” 77 times. 1 prayer. 1a prayer. 1b pray a prayer. 1c house of prayer. 1d hear prayer. 1e in Ps titles (of poetic or liturgical prayer).

[15]

The Lords Prayer:

Pattern for acceptable prayer

\\ Matthew 6:9-12
(Mt 6:9) “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
(Mt 6:10)your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
(Mt 6:11)Give us today our daily bread.
(Mt 6:12)Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
(NIV)*

The initial benefit of this prayer is the way it exhibits the believer’s relationship with God. “Our Father” presents the father/child relationship; “hallowed be Thy name,” the deity/worshiper; “Thy kingdom come,” the sovereign/subject; “Thy will be done,” the master/servant; “give us this day our daily bread,” the benefactor/beneficiary; “forgive us our debts,” the Savior/sinner; and “do not lead us into temptation,” the guide/pilgrim.

This prayer also defines the attitude and spirit we ought to have. “Our” reflects unselfishness; “Father,” reflects family devotion; “hallowed be Thy name,” reverence; “Thy kingdom come,” loyalty; “Thy will be done,” submission; “give us this day our daily bread,” dependence; “forgive us our debts,” penitence; “do not lead us into temptation,” humility; “Thine is the kingdom,” triumph; “and the glory,” exultation; and “forever,” hope.

In similar ways the prayer can be outlined to emphasize the balance of God’s glory and our need. It can also show the threefold purpose of prayer: to hallow God’s name, usher in His kingdom, and to do His will. And it details our present provision (daily bread), past pardon (forgiveness of sins), and future protection (safety from temptation).

[16]

True prayer comes from humble people who express absolute dependence on God. That’s what our Lord wants in our prayers. The more we think true thoughts about God, the more we will seek to glorify Him in our prayers. Commentator John Stott said, “When we come to God in prayer, we do not come hypocritically like play actors seeking the applause of men, nor mechanically like pagan babblers, whose mind is not in their mutterings, but thoughtfully, humbly and trustfully like little children to their Father” [17]

No matter how perfect a pattern this is, we must remember our Lord’s previous warning about our attitude in prayer. If our hearts are not right, even the Disciples’ Prayer can fall into misuse. So how do you make sure you have the right heart attitude? Just make sure you focus on God. That’s why this prayer is such a helpful model. Every phrase and petition focuses on God—on His person, His attributes, and His works. You prevent your prayers from being hypocritical or mechanical when you focus on God, not on yourself.[18]

The Biblical Perspective of God Slide 24-25

When Jesus arrived on the scene, He reintroduced His Jewish audience to God as a loving, beneficent Father to those who know, love, and obey Him. In the Sermon on the Mount, He taught them that the Father takes care of the needs of His children:

Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! (Matt. 7:7–11)

Jesus reaffirmed to them what their Scripture taught and what faithful, godly Jews had always believed: God is the Father in heaven to those who trust in Him.

In all His prayers, Jesus used the title Father, except when He was on the cross bearing the sin of the world and was forsaken by God (Matt. 27:46). Though the text of Matthew 6:9 uses the Greek word Patēr, Jesus likely used the Aramaic word Abbasince that is the language He and the majority of Palestinian Jews commonly spoke. Since Abba is equivalent to our term “Daddy,” Jesus would have used it to emphasize the personal and intimate relationship God has with His children.

Requisites of Acceptable Prayer.

Sincerity God is a Spirit. He searches the heart. He is not satisfied with words, or with external homage. He cannot be deceived and will not be mocked. It is a great offence, therefore, in his sight, when we utter words before Him in which our hearts do not join. We sin against Him when we use terms, in the utterance of which the angels veil their faces, with no corresponding feelings of reverence; or use the formulas of thanksgiving without gratitude; or those of humility and confession without any due sense of our unworthiness; or those of petition without desire for the blessings we ask. Every one must acknowledge that this is an evil often attending the prayers of sincere Christians; and with regard to the multitudes who, in places of public worship, repeat the solemn forms of devotion or profess to unite with those who utter them, without any corresponding emotions, the service is little more than mockery.[19]

1. God is great God is good.....

Reverence : God is an infinitely exalted Being; infinite in his holiness as well as in knowledge and power. He is to be had in reverence by all who are round about Him. This holy fear is declared to be the first element of all true religion. His people are designated as those who fear his name. We are required to serve Him with reverence and godly fear. And whenever heaven is opened to our view, its inhabitants are seen prostrate before the throne. We offend God, therefore, when we address Him as we would a fellow creature, or use forms of expression of undue familiarity. Nothing is more characteristic of the prayers recorded in the Bible, than the spirit of reverence by which they are pervaded. The Psalms especially may be regarded as a prayer-book. Every Psalm is a prayer, whether of worship, of thanksgiving, of confession, or of supplication. In many cases all these elements are intermingled.[20]

Humility: This includes, first, a due sense of our insignificance as creatures; and secondly, a proper apprehension of our ill-desert and uncleanness in the sight of God as sinners. It is the opposite of self-righteousness, of self-complacency and self-confidence. [21]

a. Job when he placed his hand upon his mouth, and his mouth in the dust, and said, I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes; [22]

b. Isaiah when he said, Woe is me! because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips[23]

Importunity. This is so important that on different occasions our Lord impressed its necessity upon his disciples. [24]

1 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.”

23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.”

27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

28 Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

[25]

God deals with us as a wise benefactor. He requires that we should appreciate the value of the blessings for which we ask, and that we should manifest a proper earnestness of desire. [26]

Submission. Every man who duly appreciates his relation to God, will, no matter what his request, be disposed to say, "Lord, not my will but thine be done." Even a child feels the propriety of subjecting his will in all his requests to his earthly father. How much more should we submit to the will of our Father in heaven. He alone knows what is best; granting our request might, in many cases, be our destruction. Our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane set us an example in this matter, that should never be forgotten. [27]

Faith. We must believe. (a.) That God is. (b.) That He is able to hear and answer our prayers. (c.) That He is disposed to answer them. (4) That He certainly will answer them, if consistent with his own wise purposes and with our best good.[28]

The prayers of Christians must be offered in the name of Christ. Our Lord said to his disciples: "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive." (John xvi. 24.) "I have chosen you.... that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you." (xv. 16.) " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do."[29]

----

[1]Shelley, Marshall: Deepening Your Ministry Through Prayer and Personal Growth : 30 Strategies to Transform Your Ministry. 1st ed. Nashville, Tenn. : Moorings, 1996 (Library of Christian Leadership), S. 0

[2]Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979

[3]Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979

[4]Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979

[5]Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979

[6]Bounds, Edward M.: The Necessity of Prayer. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1999

[7]Bounds, Edward M.: The Necessity of Prayer. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1999

[8] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Mt 8:10-13

[9]Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979

[10]Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979

[11]Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979

[12]Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979

[13]Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979

[14]Easton, M.G.: Easton's Bible Dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996, c1897

n n: noun

f f: feminine

TWOT Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

GK Goodrick-Kohlenberger

AV Authorized Version

[15]Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Test of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. H8605

[16]MacArthur, John: Alone With God. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1995

[17]MacArthur, John: Alone With God. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1995

[18]MacArthur, John: Alone With God. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1995

[19]Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. 3:701

[20]Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. 3:702

[21]Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. 3:702

[22]Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. 3:702

[23]Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. 3:702

[24]Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. 3:703

[25] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984, S. Mt 15:21-28

[26]Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. 3:703

[27]Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. 3:703

[28]Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. 3:703

[29]Hodge, Charles: Systematic Theology. Oak Harbor, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, S. 3:704