Adult Bible Study on Prayer The Privilege of Prayer: The
Invitation
Sunday August 20, 2000 9th
Sunday after Trinity
Prayer:
1) Our attitude toward
prayer: Do we:
o pray
only when we need something
o put off
prayer until the last minute. Voltaire who mocked the Catholic church most of his life,
was baptized and given communion on
his death bed. Bishop McTyeire, senior Bishop of the Methodist church in the Southeast in the mid 1860's
said in a sermon “ Woe be to the man that has his
praying to do and his dying at the
same time.
o
sometime doubt that we are being heard.
Do we look at prayer as a note stuffed in a bottle that will someday wash up on God’s shore.
o or do we pray with confidence - confident that God
leads us to asking [I John 5:14,15]; a faith that believes God will answer us [Heb 11:1];
do we have the confidence in God’s will to accept the answer before it comes [Mark 11:24]; and is there
a genuine desire to secure our petitions, confess or offer praise and thanks [II Kings 19:14-19] [I
Samuel 1:10,11].
2) What is the definition of prayer:
The act of entreating earnestly
Thanks and praise given to God and requests
made of him.
To
pray is to:
ask earnestly
ask with humility
and reverence
speak to God in
request, confession or praise
Prayer
is all of these things but it is more than just petition, confession or
praise. William Temple says that prayer should not be thought of as just making petitions to our
Lord, but rather as consulting Him and awaiting His decision.
God
speaks to us through the bible; we speak to God through prayer. Prayer is communion with God. A reaching out to God.
Through prayer we establish and maintain a relationship
with Him. And
this relationship is necessary for effective prayer.
What
do you suppose an atheist thinks about prayer?
I suppose he doesn’t think it at all because,
after all, who would he pray to. An
atheist can only look to inward himself to himself for comfort. The Christian has God available to him 24
hours in the day; a person to talk to, pour out our soul to,;
a God who offers us comfort - “ Come to me all ye that traivail
and heavy laden and I will refresh you.”
Remember
the story of the Pharisee who went up to the temple to pray. “God I thank thee that I am not as other men ...... “ [Luke 18:10-14]. He
also was praying to himself because he was relying on his own ‘goodness’ for
God to hear him.
So
prayer is not looking inward to ourselves but a reaching outward to consult, commune with God and to
strengthen our relationship with him.
3) The purpose of prayer:
The
purpose of prayer is to seek the will of God.
C.S. Lewis says that he prays to allow God to change him. Prayer consists of many things but in the end we pray to seek God’s will to enable us to continue his
work here on earth. Through prayer we live our lives in such a way as to “let your light
so shine before men that they see your good works and glorify your father which
is in heaven.”
Christ
said, “ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and ye
shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.” [Luke 11:9]
4) How should we pray:
There
are corporate prayers in which our whole community joins in worship. In the words of our prayer book it is appropriate to pray “when we
assemble and meet together to render thanks for the great benefits that we have
received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear his most
holy word and to ask those things which are requisite and necessary as well for
the body as the soul.”
Christ
had this to say about our private prayers.
“When thou prayest, enter into thy closet and
when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret and thy
Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee
openly.” Private prayer is a matter
between each individual and God.
(See page 24, prayer study book)
We
should be steadfast in our prayers; regular and
persistent as the man in the parable. It’s not that we have to nag God to get him to hear us. The point is that if the friend
in the parable responds to persistent requests, how much more will God respond
to us who pray regularly and steadfastly.
James
in his epistle writes, “Ye have not because ye ask not; ye ask and receive
not because ye ask amiss.” [James 4:2-3]
We must be careful what we pray for; that we ask those things that truly are
“requisite and necessary.” Following the
pattern of our model prayer, we not only petition for personal needs but also
make requests for spiritual needs - repentance, forgiveness, and help in our
spiritual weakness.
5) What does it mean to ask
in Jesus’ name? [John 23,24]
William
Temple says that in this passage a new principle of prayer is laid down -
prayer which is offered and granted “in my name.” “ We have already
seen in John 15:16 ( “that what soever ye shall ask of the Father in my name he may give to
you”) what is meant for us by prayer in
the name of Christ; it means that we
pray as his representatives, as he would pray in our place,... We may be surprised that the father gives
in Jesus’ name the answer to our prayers; yet we have already been told (in
John 14:26) that the Father sends the spirit in the name of the Son. For in fact the Son is the mediator, through
whom our prayers ascend to the Father and through whom the Fathers love
descends in blessings on his children.”
By
ending prayers in Jesus’ name we tie our requests to
the work of Jesus in doing the fathers will.
We petition the Father to help us in carrying out his will here on
earth.
6) Summary:
In
summary: for our prayers to be effective we need to follow certain rules of
prayer.
1.
We must develop a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
2.
We must have a genuine desire to secure our petition. [I Samuel 1: 10,11]
3.
We must have a confidence in God that leads to our asking in trust. [I John 5:
14,15]
4.
We must have a faith that believes God is willing and able to answer. [Hebrews
11:1]
[Matthew
21:22]
5. We must have the confident acceptance of the
answer before it comes. [Mark 11:24]
7) Hymn 419 Vs. 4 & 5
Prayer
is the Christians vital breath,
The
Christians native air,
His
watchword at the gates of death:
He
enters heaven with prayer.
O
thou by whom we come to God,
The
life, the truth, the way,
The
path of prayer thyself hast trod,
Lord,
teach us how to pray.