Webster Dic. - Pray: - to implore make supplication,
to ask for by prayer
Prayer: - an earnest request, entreaty (to man of God)
Utterance of praise to God
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Bible Dic. - The phenomenon of prayer is common to all
men, Christian or non-Christian The priest of Baal cried unto
their God - I Kings 18:26-29
Christianity (O & N Testament) is the peculiar home of personal
prayer -
the religion in which prayer is the focus of personal piety.
To be a Christian means
to be one who prays. To quote Bunyan: "Thou then are not
a Christian that art
not a praying person." Martin Luther has said; "As
a shoemaker makes a shoe,
as a tailor makes a coat, so ought a Christian to pray."
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRAYER
1. The Scripture nowhere offers any apologia for prayer;
it simply assumes the necessity and effectiveness of man's communication
with God, provided certain conditions are met.
2. The Bible teaches that the relationship between God
and man is genuinely interpersonal as between He and I - of Parent
and child, Friend and friend, Master and servant, King and subject,
Creator and creature.
3. It makes prayer the channel of human creativity, causality
in cooperation with the divine ordaining and over-ruling.
4. Things are brought to pass only as man prays, and without
his prayer some things do not occur. I Tim. 2:1-4.
5. C. H. Spurgeon said, "Prayer is able to prevail
with Heaven and bend Omnipotence to its desire".
6. Prayer is NOT a vague, devotional mood or an aesthetic
contemplation - but -
7. To pray means to speak to and hold communion (sharing
deep emotions, understanding) with God.
THE PRACTICE OF PRAYER
1. Prayer must not be reduced merely to supplication,
as a means of "getting things form God."
2. Prayer, essentially, is "communion", a desire
to enter into conscious and intimate relationship with the God
who is our very LIFE, Psa. 63:1-8, 73::22-26 - Jesus, in Luke
6:12 - I John 1-3
3. God hungers for and seeks man's fellowship. Rev. 3:20
4. Prayer is adoration - praise of God's greatness and
goodness. Psa. 103:4
5. Prayer is thanksgiving - outpouring of gratitude to
God. Psa. 103:3,4
6. Prayer is confession - as sinful and acknowledges
his guilty disobedience. Psa. 51:
7. Prayer is petition - a plea for help. Psa. 102:1,2
8. Prayer is intercession - a petition for family, friends,
etc. Rom. 9:1-7; 10:1
9. Prayer is submission - surrender of our will to God's
will. Luke 22:42
10. Prayer is not limited by physical posture - sitting,
standing, kneeling, etc.
11. Prayer is a matter of continuous communion with God.
I Thess. 5:17
12. Prayer is not a human work or achievement - it is
inspired, elicited, and energized by the Spirit of God.
13. Prayer is a gift of power to be conscientiously desired,
developed and disciplined.
14. Prayer is not a quest for mundane happiness, but
rather for a divine fellowship and eternal salvation.
15. Prayer is vastly more than petition and persuasion
- it is adoring reverence, wonder, ecstasy, yearning, desire,
surrender, love, confidence, trust, resolve, resignation, serenity.
16. Prayer is in Spirit and in Truth, release from all
limitation of place; the believing heart becomes the temple
of God. John 4:24 - I cor. 6:19-20
THE PATTERN OF PRAYER
1. Jesus was the perfect example - I Pet. 2:21 - He
gave himself to prayer.
2. Jesus - when he was baptized - Luke 3:21-22
3. Jesus - when he chose his 12 disciples - Luke 6:12-13
4. Jesus - when he was transfigured - Luke 9:29
5. Jesus - when he was in sustained & exhausting
service - Mark 1:35-39
6. Jesus - when he called Lazarus from the grave - John
11:41-42
7. Jesus - when in times of joy - Luke 10:21
8. Jesus - when food was served - Luke 22:17
9. Jesus - when his disciples asked for teaching on prayer
- Luke 11:1
10. Jesus - when he was burdened for Simon Peter - Luke
22:31-32
11. Jesus - when he faces betrayal, execution and divine
abandonment - Mark 14:32-42
12. Jesus - when he considered his disciples future ministry
- John 17:
13. Jesus - when he died - Luke 23:46
THE PRINCIPLES OF PRAYER
Some prayer request are denied - fervent pleas to go unanswered…..
YES is the desired answer, but also, NO and not yet, or wait,
are valid answers.
There are seasons when prayer seems to be unavailing. Psa.
88:13-14 -Lam. 3:44 -Hab.1:2, 13
There are cases when a repeated petition is refused for reasons
which may be humanly opaque. II Chron. 12:7-9.
There are cases when divine refusal can be accounted for by
the suppliant's failure to obey the principles which govern
effective intercession.
The God to man relationship is not automata, but it is genuinely
interpersonal - certain conditions must be met
A. Acceptance of Jesus as savior - Rom. 8:14-17 - Gal:3
22-24 - John 8:43-47
B. Prayer avails only as it is made in faith. - Heb.
11:6 - Matt. 17:20 - James 1:6
C. Prayer avails only as it is made in Jesus name - not
a formula, but in His character and
identification of purpose - John 14:13, 15:16.
D. Prayer avails only as it is made in God's will - I
John 5:1-15
Sinful egocentricity precludes effectiveness in supplication
- James 4:2,3
E. Prayer avails only as it is made under the direction
& dynamic of the Holy Spirit - Jude 20
F. Prayer avails only as it is made by a suppliant who
has confessed and renounced sin -
Psa. 66:18 - Prov. 28:9 - Isa. 59:1,2
G. Prayer avails only from a forgiving heart - Matt.
6:12-14; 18:21-35 - Mark 11:25-26
James 5:14-16 - Unforgiveness is a fatal hindrance to effective
intercession.
H. Prayer avails only as it is made in a context of harmonious
relationship on the human level -
Matt.5:34,35; 18:19 - I Pet. 3:17
I. Prayer avails only as it is made with importunity
… for persistence evidences genuine care -
Luke 11:5-8; 18:1-8
J. Prayer avails only as it is made with concentration
and intensity - James 5:16 - Matt. 6:6
Mark 1:35
THE PROFIT OF PRAYER
1. It is the major element in the out working of God's
redemptive program - from the standpoint
of human responsibility
2. Prayer is the source of vision, power, creativity,
and blessing in personal experience.
3. We are instructed to give this ministry unquestioned
priority.
4. Neglect or indolence is nothing short of sin - because…..
5. Lack of prayer impedes the operation of God's grace
in man's life.
