Spiritual Discipline - To Pray
1/22/12
(PART ONE)
Gospel Text: Matthew 6:5-13 (Lord's Prayer)
Spiritual Disciplines:
First week - Stewardship
Last week - Service
* Both were Outward exercises
Today - Prayer
* An Inward exercise & a corporate one
"Of all the Spiritual Disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father.” (pg32)
Corporate Prayer:
a) Pray for one another
b) Pray for our church
c) Pray for our local community
d) Pray for our global community
(PART TWO)
“Of all the Spiritual Disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father.”
v To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us
v "In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God's thoughts:
§ to desire the things he desires
§ to love the things he loves
§ to will the things he wills."
SCRIPTURE has prayer all throughout.
- The Old Testament
- The New Testament
· Something so prolific has to be substantial to the heart of God!
Martin Luther: declares, "I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer."
- He held it asa spiritual axiom that "he that has prayed wll has studied well.
John Wesley: says "God does nothing but in answer to prayer," and he backed up his conviction by devoting two hours daily to that SACRED exercise.
Jesus begins his formal ministry in prayer.
* 40 days in the wilderness
- And he ends it in prayer too
* In the Garden
GET DISCOURAGED?
"Many of us, however are discouraged rather than challenged by such examples. Those 'giants of the faith' are so far beyond anything we have experienced that we are tempted to despair. But rather than "beating ourselves up for our obvious lack, we should remember that God always meets us where we are and slowly moves us along into deeper things. Occasional joggers do not suddenly enter an Olympic marathon." (Celebration of Discipline p35)
BOGGED DOWN - sometimes we can become discouraged... thinking “I can't spend 3 hours, or 2 hours in prayer.
§ I'd be bored
§ What would I say for 2 hours?
§ I'd fall asleep!”
v In the Garden - Before Jesus was arrested
§ Asks his disciples to stay awake, pray with him...
¨ They could not! (Matt 26:36-46)
v Real prayer is something we LEARN"
§ The disciples had to learn it.
§ We have to learn it!
¨ It's like a "communications class in college"
v The disciples asked Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray"
§ They had prayed all their lives
¨ yet something about the quality and quantity of Jesus' praying caused them to see how little they knew
§ They had to learn
§ They had to practice
Galatians 6:7-8 "Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit."
"In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God's thoughts:
- to desire the things he desires
- to love the things he loves
- to will the things he wills."
May we be so engrossed in communication with God
that we DESIRE, LOVE, and WILL the things of HIM!
v We all know the importance of Prayer.
· Today I don’t need to convince, but to remind
o I hope to remind you of the importance
o Remind you to practice it
o And remind you there are many ways to be in communication with God.
PRACTICE PRAYER: (Exercises)
a) light candles:
1. for your unbelieving friend,
2. for your hurting neighbor...
b) write own prayer
1. in the bulletin or on a note card
2. in the prayer journal
c) kneel at the altar and “recommit” your life to Him
Matthew 7:7-8 (NLT)
[Effective Prayer] “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. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
"Of all the Spiritual Disciplines – prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father”
No comments:
Post a Comment