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.