Prayer #1

- today we're going to begin looking at the fourth topic -
God's Provision Through Prayer

- INPUT - what is the proof that a person has truly learned
something? (when it has changed his/her life)
- these basic truths are just that -- basic truths
- but a question we're all going to need to ask is - is
this basic truth, (for some of us we're talking about a
truth we've heard about and studied about for years)
- is that basic truth one that we've genuinely
learned because there is clear evidence of change
and growth?

- Any time we approach this subject, I think most of us could
say - that's an area I can work on.
- let's look carefully at these verses and seek to find
things we need to know, and ways we need to change in
this critical area

I. Why Should Christians Pray?

- INPUT - what reasons might someone give to support the
idea that Christians shouldn't/don't need to pray?

- The Lord already knows us, loves us, is aware of
our needs, prayer won't change anything, God has
already decided what He is going to do, etc.

A. It Delights Our Lord

- you may know somebody that seems like they're never
satisfied--or at least you have trouble "reading
them" and knowing if they're satisfied
- the Lord is not like that - He tells us what
"delights" Him

- Prov. 15:8 - READ

- prayer is not just what God is due, or what He
expects--it's His delight

- if a person had the ability to ask the Lord - "What
do you think of so and so, Lord", if that person
was a praying person, the Lord would say--I'm
delighted

- word "delight" is used throughout the Bible to
refer to God's pleasure, will, desire
- cf. Psalm 103:21 - "Bless ye the Lord, all ye
hosts, ye ministers of His, that do His
pleasure."

- a good question to ask here - Did you delight the Lord
today? Have you delighted Him this week?

B. It demonstrates the presence of the Holy Spirit

Romans 8:9 - now if any man hath not the Spirit of
Christ, He is none of His
Gal. 4:6 - And because ye are sons, God hath sent
forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father

- point is - A person who is truly indwelt by the
Holy Spirit will be a praying person. Of
course a person who prays may not be indwelt
with the Holy Spirit, but a person indwelt
with the Holy Spirit must pray.

- some other passages that go along with this idea:

Rom. 10:9, 10, 13
Acts 9:11

C. It develops our discipleship

- People who pray are like our Lord
- I John 2:6 - He that saith he abideth in Him ought
himself also so to walk even as He walked.

- clearly, as you study the Scriptures, you see that
our Lord had a regular and significant prayer life

1. His public ministry began in prayer

- Luke 3:21, 22 (from NIV)

2. His ministry was characterized by prayer

- Luke 5:16 - withdrew Himself into the
wilderness, and prayed

3. His ministry ended in prayer

Luke 23:34 - Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do

Matt. 27:46 - My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?

Luke 23:46 - Into thy hands I commend my Spirit

INPUT - what applications should we take away from these
verses?

D. It's a sin not to

I Sam 12:23 - (The Israelites have just rejected
Samuel/and God by wanting a king so they could be
like the other nations - Samuel is making a
"farewell speech") - Moreover, as for me, God
forbid that I should sin against the Lord in
ceasing to pray for you (see next page)
- What point should we take away from this verse?
- cf. "sins of omission" - James 4:17 - to him who
knows to do good, and doeth it not, to him it
is sin.
- sometimes we think about sin only as outward acts
or words
- these verses make it clear - its possible to be
sinning just by not doing something we should
be doing

- how many of us could honestly look at our fellow
believers here, or our missionary families, or those in
special needs and say - "God forbid that I should sin
against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you"

E. So that we don't "miss out" on God's blessings

James 4:2-3 - ...ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye
ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that
ye may consume it upon your lusts.

- One of the things I liked about the Living Nativity
is that it caused us to have to do a lot of praying
- we had to - there was so much about it that we
simply could not control

- I'm sure that's one of the reasons that the Lord
blessed, because we asked Him, too

- aren't you glad we didn't fall into the "you have
not, because you asked not" category?

F. People are lost

Romans 10:1 - Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved

- we studied back in the book of I Timothy about
evangelistic praying (I Tim. 2:1-4 - "...for this
is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our
Savior, who will have all men to be saved, and to
come unto knowledge of the truth"

- INPUT - if we're not growing in this area of
evangelistic praying, what might this indicate?

- hell isn't that bad?
- that person won't be saved anyway
- the "old fashioned gospel" won't work in the
90's
- God couldn't use me in that person's life
- someone else will tell them (and pray for
them?)

G. Essential To Victory

Eph. 6:17-18

H. New Testament Church did

- Acts 2:42

- overall message is - there are many, many reasons why a
believer should pray - and why he/she:
1) should be growing in this area of life
2) should be placing a significant amount of emphasis
on this facet of the Christian life

- but remember what we said earlier - the test of whether
someone has genuinely learned something or not is whether
they are putting those truths into action

- so one question we need to ask is - have all the reasons
God gives us for praying motivated you to grow in thise
area?
- if God were going to rate you in this area (on a scale of
one to ten) how would He rate you?

- let's talk now about:

II. Hindrances To Prayer

A. "I don't take the time."

INPUT - what does I Thes. 5:17 say about this? - READ
- God wants us to be in a constant, prayerful
attitude so that at any time we would be able to
speak to Him in close fellowship.

- We've been talking the last couple weeks about
Bible study, and many of you have asked for some
information on how to order the
books/commentaries that have been suggested
- I'm assuming from that that there are some folks
who are going to seek to make Bible study more of
an emphasis/priority this year.

- one good study to do would be to look at all the
occurrences of the phrase "mine hour" in the gospels

- one thing you find there is that while Jesus was
obviously very busy, He was never too busy to pray
- that's an amazing thought when you think about it
- never has anyone had a more important job
- never has anyone had a better excuse to be "too
busy" to pray
- never has anyone had cause to get caught up in
sideline issues that resulted in a less effective
prayer life

- but over and over you see the Lord focused on His
hour, and God's desire for His life
- He was "goal-oriented"
- as a result, there were many things He didn't
get involved in because they didn't fit into
His Father's goals
- there were other things He did tirelessly
because they did fit into His goals

- now we're not talking about spending three hours a morning
in prayer
- Pastor spoke about this during Stewardship month - we're
not going to drag out some old illustration about the guy
that began his day with 4 hours of prayer and all the rest
- but the other side of that is - our Lord wants us to spend
regular, organized, uninterrupted time praying to Him

- Question we have to ask - Is the time I spend in prayer
pleasing to the Lord?

B. I lack a clear conscience

- Psalm 66:18 - "If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me"

- I Peter 3:7 - (learner)...that your prayers be not
hindered

- Heb. 10:22 - (READ)

- point is – un-confessed sin will hinder our prayer
life
- next week we'll study a model prayer where
Jesus taught His disciples to pray. One of the
things we'll learn in that passage is that
confession is part of the prayer process.

- Matt. 5:23-26 shows just how important (READ)

C. I ask amiss

James 4:3 - INPUT - how does this verse explain the
phrase "asking amiss?"

Phil. 4:19 - what does God promise to supply in that
passage?

cf. Matt. 26:39, 42

D. I pray in the wrong name

John 14:13 - What is required when we pray?

John 16:24 - What does God desire for us as we pray?

E. I do not believe God

Matt. 7:7-8

I Peter 3:12

James 1:6-7