Prayer

Prayer, by Lel4nd

 

PRAYER

  • What is prayer?
    • Talking “to” God?
    • Talking “with” God?
      • Does He talk back?
    • Conversation with God
    • Listening to
  • Is it a two sided “conversation” or a one way street?

PRAISE

  • Is praise always a joyful thing?
  • Ps 145:1-8
    • what is the importance of the words?
    • Do we need to be specific?
  • Ps 88:1-9
    • A song FOR the choir director
    • Heman
    • Never “gets joyful” (ex. V. 18)
  • Why is praise important?
    • Start with recognizing God for who he is
  • Eldridge Quote: “It’s not what we do when we’re strong and feeling great that makes us holy.”

THANKS

  • Focuses on what God HAS DONE. Before we look into the future, we must be able to look confidently at what God has done in the PAST.
  • List stories where God brought Israel “out of” something?
    • Egypt
  • How do / can you keep track of what God has done in your life? Joshua 4:1-9 (pile of rocks on the bank and in the middle of the Jordan)
    • Rank them… Memory, pile of rocks, journal, myspace
  • How important is this “step” (thanks)
  • Psalms 107:1-2

CONFESSION

  • What does it mean to “confess”?
    • “I’m Sorry?”
    • “I did it.”
    • Do the words matter?
  • Story of David & Bathsheba, plus the related Psalms (2 Sam. 11:1-5, Psalms 32: 3-5, Ps 51:1-4, 10:12)
  • Forgiveness à Confession è Restoration (is this the right order?)
  • Why do we need to confess if we’re already forgiven? (Psalms 51: 16-17)

REVIEW

  • So all of that is review… last week we talked about 3 kinds / parts of prayer
    • A big part of prayer is simply getting us on the right page with God – WHY?
    • coming to understand who HE is, and coming to understand who WE are,
      • both simply as creations
      • but also as people who have been adopted and are now full fledged sons and daughters of God.
    • Is all of that introduction to just getting around to the asking, then?
      • NO.

SUPPLICATION – THE PRAYER OF INTERVENTION

  • What does “supplication” mean?
    • “intercession”
  • Why is “getting things done” listed last here?
    • Psalm 55:16-18, 22
  • “I prayed about it, and God said “no””
    • Closed doors?
    • Do we / should we just accept that?
  • Persistant Prayer – can we “change God’s mind?”
    • Moses – Sodom and Gomorrah
    • JC @ Transfiguration
  • YouTube clip – David
  • Is prayer just going to God “for help?”
    • Or getting our marching orders?
      • Are you “on task?”
      • What is that?
  • What’s the “biggest” thing you’ve ever prayed for?
    • Are there things you’d love to see happen but are just not comfortable taking it to God?
      • Like what? Why?
    • Is it a lack of faith?
    • Where IS the power? Is it in our faith, or in the power of what is behind our faith?
      • How much faith does it take to move a mountain?
      • Not really all that much… “faith of a mustard seed” Matt 17:20
      • The power is not in the FAITH… the POWER is in what that faith is placed into… He’s just waiting for us to ask!
      • What holds us back then?
    • How big of something would you like to start praying for? Can you believe it could happen? Could it be YOU holding it all back?
      • Change the weather?
    • So, just WHAT IS FAITH?
      • Is it believing something to be true?
      • Is it where salvation comes from?
        • “For BY GRACE you are saved through faith, not of yourselves, it is a GIFT OF GOD” eph 2:8-9
        • Mark 2:5 – 4 guys faith gets 1 guy saved?
        • Were people like Abraham “saved” because of their faith, even in the OT? Gen 15:6, Gal 3:6 (Abraham)
      • So is faith and belief the same thing?
        • “confess with your mouth… believe….you will be saved.” Is that all there is to it?
        • Can you believe something without having faith in it?
        • Salvation = gift. Faith = accepting it is for me and opening it.
        • Plane won’t crash but I won’t get on it.

IF GOD ALREADY KNOWS EVERYTHING, WHY PRAY? … GOD WANTS YOU TO DEPEND ON HIM AND TALK TO HIM.

  • What are some of the reasons God doesn’t answer prayer right away?
    • Yes, No, Wait
    • “I want you to TALK TO ME.”
    • Spiritual Warfare – Daniel
  • If God already knows everything, why do we even need to tell Him what we want?
    • Is prayer giving God new information?
    • How does this correspond with the way we go about our own prayers when we pray for “lists?”
      • “be with all the people on our prayer list.”
      • Do we really, really, care?
      • Does prayer move God to action? Does it move US to action?

GOD KNOWS EVERYTHING

  • What does it mean when we say that “God knows everything?”
    • Do we even have a say in the matter?
    • Or are we little robots?
    • “Freedom of causality” ß how it works here is impossible to totally understand, but that does not make it any less true.
    • When I am asked something I don’t know at work, I often respond, “let me ask Google… Google knows everything.” How is all the information that GOOGLE knows different from all the information that GOD “knows?”

WE DON’T KNOW EVERYTHING

  • Where do you get your guidance from?
    • Trial and error?
    • Friends?
    • Parents?
    • Church?
    • God Himself?
  • Does God WANT to see us come to understand?“
    • James 1:5 – if anyone lacks wisdom, ask of God, and he gives generously.
    • Solomon
  • Is there a difference between knowledge and wisdom?
    • Compare…. Faith is putting belief into action. (believe + CONFESS) ß confess is where we put legs on our beliefs. WORDS MATTER.
    • Wisdom is putting knowledge into action.

GOD WANTS YOU TO TALK TO HIM

  • Jer 33:3 “CALL TO ME”
  • Third Day – Call My Name… I want you to “never doubt.”
  • God wants us to be confident in him. He wants us to trust him. He wants us to really “cast our cares on him.”
  • Do we really trust God? Do we talk to him about things as deep as we talk to our best friends? Do we let him talk back?

WRAP IT UP

  • Have you ever asked God what to pray for before you even start praying?
  • The Bible is not a book of exceptions. It is a book of examples.
    • James 5:13-20… Elijah was a man, “just like us.”
    • There is POWER in the words of your prayers. If you feel like it’s a waste of time, maybe it is.
      • But it’s not because PRAYER is a waste of time, but perhaps the way you’re going about it…
      • Maybe you’re praying for something outside of your realm.
      • God has something, somebody for you to influence. For you to AFFECT CHANGE on. Do you know what it is? It may be small… there’s nothing wrong with that.
  • Prayer is an expression of a RELATIONSHIP between you and God.
    • If it’s not close, it will be awkward.
    • It can be shallow, it can be intimate. It can be enjoyable, it can be painfully awful.