Prayer

What the Bible Says About  Prayer

 

David

 

David – Psalms – David is vulnerable with God about his thoughts and feelings while also remembering the truth about the strength and safety he has in God. This is an example from the Bible of how someone chose to talk to God.

 

Psalm 23

A Psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd;
   I have all that I need.
2 He lets me rest in green meadows;
   he leads me beside peaceful streams.
3     He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
   bringing honor to his name.
4 Even when I walk
   through the darkest valley,[a]
I will not be afraid,
   for you are close beside me.
Your rod and your staff
   protect and comfort me.
5 You prepare a feast for me
   in the presence of my enemies.
You honor me by anointing my head with oil.
   My cup overflows with blessings.
6 Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
   all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord
   forever.

 

Jesus

 

Jesus – The Gospels – He teaches about prayer and he models praying often going off by himself to pray

 

Matthew 6:5-8

5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. 8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!

 

Luke 11:1-13

Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:[a]

“Father, may your name be kept holy.

   May your Kingdom come soon.

3 Give us each day the food we need,[b]

4 and forgive us our sins,

 as we forgive those who sin against us.

And don’t let us yield to temptation.[c]”

5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.[d]

9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

11 “You fathers—if your children ask[e] for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

 

Paul

 

Paul models prayer and gives us advice on prayer, he tells us what he prays for.

 

Phil 1:3-11

3 Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. 4 Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy, 5 for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now. 6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

7 So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. 8 God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus.

9 I pray that your love will overflow more and more and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. 10 For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. 11 May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ[b]—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.

 

Colossians 4:2-4

2 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.3 Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. 4 Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should.

 

Phil 4:6-7

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

 

Romans 8:26-27

26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers[l] in harmony with God’s own will.

 

The Church in Acts

Acts 12:5, 12-17

 

5 But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.

 

12 When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. 13 He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it.14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!”

15 “You’re out of your mind!” they said. When she insisted, they decided, “It must be his angel.”

16 Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. 17 He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers what happened,” he said. And then he went to another place.

 

John the Apostle

 

1 John 5:14-15

14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

 

Topics of Prayer

 

Petition: make or present a formal request to (an authority) with respect to a particular cause.

 

Intercession: Petition for someone else

 

Worship

• Honoring God for his character
• Praising the goodness of the Lord

 

God doesn’t need our worship or admiration in order to fill his ego, this is an exercise that is more beneficial for ourselves than it is to God. As we worship and honor God in our prayers we are uniquely reminded of our place in this world and in God’s grand creation. We can see how truly blessed we are to be in a relationship with the perfect creator of the Universe. This is a topic that should be a regular part of our prayer lives.

 

Petition for others in the local church (intercession)

 

Petition for Evangelism

• Specific things you want God to reveal to people or you want him to illuminate
• Prayer for God’s intervention in things
• Prayer for discernment and direction

 

When it comes to evangelism we can preach the gospel and build relationships, but God does the bulk of the work, he makes direct appeals to the heart of other men. God also has a full view of our lives and feelings, he also has a plan for our lives. God listens to our prayers and we can impact how God acts in prayer (See Acts 12).

 

Intercession

 

Petition for yourself

• Heart change
• Help in reaching goals
  • Boldness or confidence in scary situations
• Finding Direction and making life decisions
• Help fighting through emotions and struggles in life

 

Philippians 4:6 tells us we should ask God for what we need. God is our father and he promises to provide for us and answer any prayer within his will. We can ask for God’s help and choose to depend on him but he will not override our free will.

 

Confession/ discussing your life with God

• Expressing your emotions and feelings to God
• Talk to God about major things going on in your life.

 

God understands you more than anyone else and yet he also loves you the most. Talking to God about your life is an important part of relating to him. God has the best answers and can give you real direction in your life if you are willing to listen. It may not be an audible voice, but it could be a number of weird circumstances or a thought that just won’t go away.

We can’t hide sin from God, and when we try to it ends up hurting us more than it does Him. Talking to God about your life is very freeing because you know that he understands exactly what you mean. Romans 8 tells us the holy spirit interprets in groans deeper than words.

 

Gratitude

• Things you are grateful to be a part of.
• Things that bring you joy.
• Truths that God has made true about you
  • Forgiveness of your sins and future glory in heaven
• Things you enjoy about God’s Nature or Character

 

Issues of spiritual warfare

• Prayer for protection from Satan and his demons
• Prayers for help from God in fighting certain spiritual matter and for God’s power
• spiritual growth, fighting temptation, illuminating the truth of the gospel to a non-believer

 

Asking God Questions

• Theological and Philosophical questions
• Discernment in making decisions

 

Praying through your identity and discussing with God how he views you

• You have eternity in heaven to look forward to
• You are a child of God
• You have been sealed with the holy spirit
• You have been forgiven for sins past, present and future
• You have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places

 

Reminding oneself of the truth

• Memorizing scripture and reciting it
• Reminding yourself of core doctrinal truths
• Reminding yourself of truths that are personally relevant to you

 

Ways to Pray

 

I think it’s good to have a normative prayer life in which we have a routine of praying for certain particular topics. (personally, I am doing petition for evangelism, the local church, and myself as well as prayers of gratitude) It’s important to develop a consistent prayer life in which you are praying about other people and the ministries you are involved with. This helps you to grow a heart for the people you are with or serving and is an important part of really participating in the ministry. Jesus in Luke 9 calls us to persistence in prayer and that leads me to believe that the sincerity and the urgency that you communicate to God is heard in your prayers. We all have seen prayers answered throughout our lives, whether it is a friend coming to Christ, or God’ provision in our own lives’ when we have asked for his help. This goes to show that important work can be done in prayer. It’s also important to get into the practice of routine prayer because this is your relational time with God. Relating with God is an opportunity for you to do important work while also getting refreshed as you refocus on the life-altering truth and provision God has given you.

It is very important that we make praying for other people a major part of our regular time with God. As Christians we are called to live others centered lives; our natural state is self-focused, but as we put others at the center of our prayer life we are investing in other lives in a very important way. When it comes to ministry this time becomes huge as you make realizations and can see where God may be directing other people or the ministry itself. This is one of the ways we can truly serve and love other people and that is at the core of Christian life. Jesus says the most important commandment “is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself.” This is an opportunity for you to act towards both of those goals.

It’s also important to pray for our own needs and for directions in our lives. God loves us more than anyone else, and he has done so much for us. When we share our lives with him we get to experience the peace and forgiveness that he offers. He also gives us much-needed direction and helps as we try to navigate life’s chaotic twists and turns. We need God’s help personally in our lives, so it’s extremely important that we ask for his help regularly and look towards him with the problems in our lives. If we can’t discuss our lives with God, there is a serious problem and we need to open up about it with other people.   

Gratitude needs to be a regular part of your normative prayer time because it is a huge opportunity for you to remember and appreciate the cool things that God has done around you. Prayers of thankfulness are also an opportunity for us to fight our fleshly or natural disposition. It is an active opportunity for us to appropriate the truth of the good things God has done and how we are so undeserving of the forgiveness, blessings, and opportunities he has provided to us. I like to pray even for stupid things that I personally appreciate like eating Taco Bell because I enjoy it and I know I wouldn’t have it without him. Thankfulness is also an important battle in us as believers trying to experience true joy and the peace of Christ.

For a normative prayer time, I think it’s a good idea to have a wineskin that you like and feel like you can relate openly with God. Journaling is a good idea because some people like to write full thoughts out openly to God, I like writing bullet points because it allows me to keep my prayers focused. You can sit in your room and talk with God, You could sing prayers of gratitude and then write other prayers down. You can pray in your head while your driving. It’s important to find a way that you can consistently talk to God about the things you want to talk to him about. You have to make this decision personally, it’s important that you find the wineskin that is best for you.

• Journaling
• Bullet point prayer
• Praying out loud
• Praying in your head
• Creative writing (psalms, poetry, a letter to God)
• You could make a powerpoint
• Singing your prayers

 

When life hits you hard it’s important to discuss with God how you feel, and it’s vital to get direction and truth from God. I personally like to write my version of a psalm when I’m in need of a long talk with God about my feelings or a certain issue that is important to me. I try to follow David’s method of expressing exactly how he feels to God while preaching truth that is relative to his feelings to himself. Here is an example of a Psalm by David.

 

Psalms 57

1 Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy!
   I look to you for protection.
I will hide beneath the shadow of your wings
   until the danger passes by.
2 I cry out to God Most High,[b]
   to God who will fulfill his purpose for me.
3 He will send help from heaven to rescue me,
   disgracing those who hound me. Interlude
My God will send forth his unfailing love and faithfulness.
4 I am surrounded by fierce lions
   who greedily devour human prey—
whose teeth pierce like spears and arrows,
   and whose tongues cut like swords.
5 Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens!
   May your glory shine over all the earth.
6 My enemies have set a trap for me.
   I am weary from distress.
They have dug a deep pit in my path,
   but they themselves have fallen into it. Interlude
7 My heart is confident in you, O God;
   my heart is confident.
   No wonder I can sing your praises!
8 Wake up, my heart!
   Wake up, O lyre and harp!
   I will wake the dawn with my song.
9 I will thank you, Lord,, among all the people.
   I will sing your praises among the nations.
10 For your unfailing love is as high as the heavens.
   Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
11 Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens.
May your glory shine over all the earth.

 

Here is one I wrote.

 

1 You forgive me, even when I can’t forgive myself

You give grace knowing that I will sin again and again

2 Your grace is all encompassing

It knows no limits

3 Show me how to apply your grace to myself

Show me how to forgive myself and others.

4 Your’ love is better than any human love

Your’ love is bigger than any other love

5 Show me your peace

Help me to see the eternal picture as you see it

6 I stress about things that a month from now will not matter to me.

You know the true value of things; you see things as they are

7 Everything that is good or beautiful has come from you

I can do nothing apart from your creation

8 I eat, breathe, and sleep in your masterful creation

Nothing in life is void of this fact.

9 Your plan is bigger than I can even imagine

Your plan is the story of history and what is to come

You are the author.

 

This is just a creative approach I used to relate with God, but I think it’s important when we are feeling particularly burdened by something in our lives we take more time to talk to God about it. We might just journal about that one thing for 20 minutes to an hour, or sit alone and discuss it with God out loud. Whatever your approach it’s key to be able to develop a consistent prayer life where we have a normative prayer life and the ability to relate more in-depth with God about the bigger issues going on in our lives.

 

God Hears Our Prayers

God hears our prayers and as Romans 8:26-27 points out His spirit understands our prayers in groanings deeper than words. This means we shouldn’t worry that God won’t understand us. He knows us better than we know ourselves and He can see our deepest thoughts and feelings. God desires for us to communicate with Him for multiple reasons; one being that as we bear our hearts to God we can feel His presence and love. Another reason he wants us to pray is that he often chooses to act based on our requests, which means our prayers can have a deep impact in the world around us. Lastly, talking to God is a key way that we can build a relationship with God and see His work in our lives.

 

Listening to the Lord in Prayer

Good relationships involve both parties communicating and sharing with one another. Often people are confused about how God can communicate with them if He doesn’t speak with an audible voice. I’ve asked how am I supposed to discern what God’s saying if I can’t hear his voice. Well as Jesus pointed out believers have the Holy Spirit inside of them and he can place thoughts in our minds. Our understanding of who God is and what He says is true comes from his written word, so anything that he would communicate to us would be in line with His character and what He says to be true. Thoughts that we think may have come from God through His spirit should be weighed against His written word. I have found that often when I ask God to speak to me or share anything He would want to share to me He responds by placing a specific thought in my mind that is in line with His Scripture. One thought that He has placed in my mind a number of times is that I should be content in what He has given me, This thought is in line with his word (Phil 4:9). It stands in contrast with my often anxious and fearful thoughts where I worry about what my future holds in store. God has the power to speak into our lives so it’s important that we don’t hinder him from sharing with us when He has something to share. We should trust that when we have a thought that we didn’t consciously create the thought and we have asked God to communicate with us as long as it’s in line with scripture.

 

A Prayer Meeting For The Local Church

 

What to pray for in a prayer meeting

• Pray about evangelism
• Pray for ministries your group is a part of
• Gratitude and the building up of the church
• Acknowledgment of God’s work in people’s lives and throughout the world
• Prayers for the local church
  • Culture
  • Events
  • Teachings
  • Discernment

 

The prayer meeting at a local church can be a huge indicator of the culture or ethos that the church has as a whole. It is a time where everyone can catch up on different ministries and the overall needs of the church. This time should have an outward focus, I think it’s best to have a major emphasis on the spiritual battle going on in evangelism and to use a good amount of your time talking to God about that. Prayer meeting is a time where you are talking with God in front of the local church. This means we need to be considering whether our prayers are helpful to the group as a whole. This time is meant to build up and unify the church, which means we need to be considerate of the other people in the room as we pray.

In evangelism God does the heavy lifting, he makes appeals to people on a heart level. As we are trying to reach the lost it is important for us to get in tune with what God is trying to say to the individual person we are trying to reach, as well as gauge how receptive they are to God’s message. This is difficult work and God is a powerful God so it’s important that we get as much help as we can. Jesus’ teaching in Luke 9 indicates that persistence in prayer may have an impact on how God chooses to act. James the brother of Jesus says “you don’t have because you don’t ask” we need to be bold in what we ask of God because the bible tells us that our prayers do matter. God makes it clear that he chooses not to override the free will of man, but anything outside of the will of man is something God is willing to act on.

If someone comes to prayer meeting but doesn’t participate, it would be important to touch base with them on this. Ask them why they don’t pray but still choose to come to prayer meeting. If the reasoning is along the lines of apathy than it would be important to discuss the importance of prayer and how it’s an impactful role we can play in the church. If someone is scared to pray, it might be a good idea to discuss their identity and how their prayers can help build the church. It’s important for us to be patient with these people but also persistent in helping them see the role they can play.

A healthy prayer meeting has the full participation of the people in attendance. It’s important to keep the prayers short, (like a minute or less) so that everyone gets the chance to participate and to keep everyone interested in the meeting. When people pray for a couple minutes straight it’s hard to focus on exactly what they are trying to say and it’s hard to remember all that is being said. Some people like to ramble (myself included) but it’s tough to keep the meeting focused when someone goes on for a while. I think it’s best when people have time to give updates at the beginning because it gives time for the whole group to understand what is going on and gives them time to think about what they want to pray for.

 

Resources

 

For further reading on prayer check these books out

 

A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World

By: Paul E. Miller

 

With Christ in the School of Prayer

By: Andrew Murray

 

Prayer

By: Ole Hallesby