Disciples Prayer Life Week Seven

Praying Together

“The closer the bond, the more powerful the prayer; the higher the unity, the greater authority in prayer.”

T.W. Hunt, Disciple’s Prayer Life, 95.

Several biblical examples of prayer partners:

Acts 16:24-34

Their praying may have included a cry for justice, release from prison, and the freedom to continue their ministry in an unhindered way. At the same time, singing hymns to God, they acknowledged God’s character and expressed their trust in him as their deliverer.

They could have been using any one of a number of the Psalms, which combine such prayer and praise (e.g., Psalms 140–143). This is ‘a concrete depiction of the Christian ideal of “joy amid suffering” (Rom. 5:3; Jas. 1:2; 1 Pet. 5:6)’.

As they engaged with God in this fashion, the other prisoners were listening to them, implying that their prayers and praises were having an impact on everyone around them.

David G. Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009), 468.

Who could you enlist as a personal prayer partner?

Praying With Family

Several examples:

Genesis 15:2–6 (HCSB)

But Abram said, “Lord God, what can You give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram continued, “Look, You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.”

Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.”

Then He said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.” Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.

1 Samuel 1:10–12 (HCSB)

Deeply hurt, Hannah prayed to the Lord and wept with many tears. Making a vow, she pleaded, “Lord of Hosts, if You will take notice of Your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give Your servant a son,

I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.” While she continued praying in the Lord’s presence, Eli watched her lips.

Matthew 1:20 (HCSB)

But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 2:13 (HCSB)

After they were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy Him.”

Suggestions for Praying at Home:

Read a Bible passage together

Share events from life each day

Identify how to pray for other family members

Pray about the specific requests received during the day

The Church At Prayer

John 17:11, 21-23

John 17:21–23 (HCSB)

May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me.

I have given them the glory You have given Me. May they be one as We are one. I am in them and You are in Me.

May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Jesus sought that we might experience the same spiritual unity that He, His Father, and The Holy Spirit shared.

Matthew 18:19–20 (HCSB)

Again, I assure you: If two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.”

• Prayers of request include (a) supplication, which arises from a sense of need, whether (i) petition (supplication for oneself) or (ii) intercession (supplication for others); (b) confession, which arises out of a sense of offense (i.e., an acknowledgment of sin and request for forgiveness and acceptance); and on rare occasions, (c) imprecation, which arises out of a sense of sanctified indignation and not personal vengeance (i.e., a request for God to deal righteously and decisively with the wicked).

• Prayers of worship include (a) adoration (praise, admiration), and (b) thanksgiving (gratitude, appreciation).

• Prayers of communion include (a) fellowship (conversing with God on any subject), and (b) grievance (expressing to God one’s frustrations, doubts, wrestlings; sometimes called “complaint” in Scripture).

Layton Talbert, “Prayer in the Life of the Church,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).

The early church was thoroughly Jewish, which meant that its prayer life was governed by the common practices of Jewish prayer, informal and formal, private and public, individual and corporate.

While continuing the ancient practice of personal, spontaneous prayers (note that Cornelius as a God-fearer both kept traditional times of prayer as well as prayed “continuously,” Acts 10:2–4), Jews of the late Second Temple period gathered for increasingly fixed, communal prayer (Charlesworth, 265–66).

Michael J. Wilkins, “Prayer,” in Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, ed. Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), 943–944.

Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments (2.1.2. Influence from Jesus)

What Israel had identified as divine prerogatives the church now attributes to Jesus: he is the one Lord on whose name (in Joel’s terms) people are now to call for salvation (Joel 2:17–32);

he speaks to Saul in conviction (Acts 9:4–6) and Peter in direction (Acts 10:13–16); prayer is offered to him by Stephen (Acts 7:59) and Ananias (Acts 9:10–16).

Soon after the ascension of Jesus, the nascent church gathered to pray (Acts 1:14). They prayed for the Lord to show them which of the two who qualified—Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias—should take Judas’s place (Acts 1:15–26).

This scene marks a central aspect of the new form of discipleship: although their Lord is no longer with them personally, they can still ask him and the Father for help in times of need through prayer.

PRAYER MINISTRIES

How can we as Community Baptist Church strengthen our prayer ministry?

We have a wonderful team of folks who share prayer requests so that many in the church are informed of specific needs.

Here are several other examples of strategies we might use:

a. Pre-Service Prayer - Before Bible Study AND worship

b. Prayer during the service…enlist one or two individuals per week to slip out of the auditorium as Pastor Steve preaches - praying specifically for him and the message

c. Prayer bulletin board - not for listing specific personal requests, but for sharing prayer information re: ministries, missionaries, other community, regional, national, and international concerns.

Prayer Guide 7 (available on Sunday on the table just as you enter the auditorium) there are some specific helps for praying together.