The Discipline of Prayer
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LAST MONTH WE LEARNED
John 15
THE main Ministry of the church, Making Disciples/Apprentices
True Apprentices Dwell in the Master
Jesus, and the Church Fathers did this by Spiritual Disciplines
Over the rest of the year we will be in these divided into 3 sections
Inner, Outer, Corporate
Meditation
Prayer
Prayer
John 15:7 (ESV)
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Spiritual Discipline #2 - Prayer
Richard Foster says, Of all the Spiritual Disciplines prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the Father. It is the Discipline of prayer that brings us into the deepest and highest work of the human spirit. Real prayer is life creating and life changing.
Prayer is response
If Meditation, contemplative prayer, or pondering is listening to our Father, then prayer is responding.
It is important to know that responding does not always mean speaking. I can look at my wife in the eyes for a few minutes and we can say more through fixing our eyes on each other, then I can in an hour conversation with someone else we don’t know as well. God wants our heart in response, not just empty words or empty actions.
When someone says, that’s a man of his word, it means, they do what they say. A lot of humans say one thing and do another, so it’s considered special in our broken world to do the opposite. If I say let there be light in this room, I then have to go act on it, But God’s word is active. (Hebrews 4:12) For God speaking and acting are the same thing. God is His word. To deny God’s word is to deny God. We don’t know God without His word. Therefore we must respond to who He says He is in the Bible.
Martin Luther was adamant that we must never get beyond God’s word in the Bible, “We must first hear the word, and then afterwards the Holy Spirit works in our hearts; He works in the heart of whom He will and how He will, but never without the word.”
We only know how to pray by the prayers of the Bible. This is also how every human being learns to speak, even though we think of children as learning new words, they are really just responding to what their parents are telling them. We were all spoken to before we spoke. We respond to the words spoken over us.
So as we meditate on the word of God, our heart will begin to develop responses. Whether they are confused, joyful, mad, or ashamed. These are responses to God, and He wants them.
Eugene Peterson says that the people praying in the Bible are not trying to understand themselves, or the meaning of life, but they were prayed by people who understood God and not themselves was at the center of everything.
So prayer is response to God’s revelation of Himself. Not our speculation of who He is. We have 2 ways we can know about God, our speculation or His revelation. We can guess who He is, or we can have Him tell us. We must know before we act. Paul says
1 Corinthians 14:15 “What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.”
2. Prayer is learned
It’s important to know in prayer as in meditation that we will always be beginners. We will always feel like we don’t know when or how to pray. While we need to be aware that prayer is not something we will ever perfect, it needs to be something done routinely despite distraction. And if you are anything like me you will get distracted 100 times during prayer. Do not be discouraged, be encouraged that you have 100 chances to turn back to Jesus.
Luke11:1 “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”
Jesus’ apprentices asked the true vine of life, whom we are to dwell in consistently, How to pray. Jesus retreats often to pray and prepare His heart before God. Prayer is the most important discipline displayed in the life of Jesus.
Pastor and author Timothy Keller had this to say in his book PRAYER
“The infallible test of spiritual integrity, Jesus says, is your private prayer life.” “Jesus Christ taught his disciples to pray, healed people with prayers, denounced the corruption of the temple worship (which, he said, should be a ‘house of prayer’), and insisted that some demons could be cast out only through prayer. He prayed often and regularly with fervent cries and tears (Hebrews 5:7)“7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” and sometimes he prayed all night. (Luke 6:12) “12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.” The Holy Spirit came upon him and anointed him as he was praying (Luke 3:21–22) “21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” and he was transfigured with the divine glory as he prayed (Luke 9:29) “29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.” When he faced his greatest crisis, he did so with prayer. We hear him praying for his disciples and the church on the night before he died (John 17:1–26) and then petitioning God in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Finally, he died praying.”
Prayer is a lifestyle that must be trained for. Occasional joggers do not suddenly enter an Olympic marathon. They prepare and train themselves over a period of time, and so should we. When such a training is followed, we can expect to pray a year from now with greater authority and spiritual success than at present.
If it is learned, that means we could be doing it in ways that are not beneficial.
Richard Foster said
“For years I had prayed for many things and with great intensity, but with only marginal success. But then I saw that I might possibly be doing some things wrong and could learn differently. I took the Gospels and cut out every reference to prayer and pasted them onto sheets of paper. When I could read Jesus’ teaching on prayer at one sitting, I was shocked. Either the excuses and rationalizations for unanswered prayer I had been taught were wrong, or Jesus’ words were wrong. I determined to learn to pray so that my experience conformed to the words of Jesus rather than try to make his words conform to my impoverished experience.”
3. Prayer is Reliance
We see throughout Scripture our strength comes from God. We can only be strengthened by Him, if we spend time with Him. The best way we can do that is through the discipline of prayer.
Abraham Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War often could not find the strength needed to take on each day. He said, “I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.” He then admitted that the hard decisions for the day were not somehow magically taken care of, but through spending time with his Creator in silent meditation and reliant prayer, Lincoln was granted a peace and clarity to go and make those difficult decisions.
We should never make prayer too complicated. We are prone to do so once we understand that prayer is something we must learn. It is also easy to give into this temptation because the more complicated we make prayer, the more dependent people are upon us to learn how to do it. But Jesus taught us to come like children to a father. Openness, honesty, and trust mark the communication of children with their father. The reason God answers prayer is because his children ask. Jesus taught us to pray for daily bread. Have you ever noticed that children ask for lunch in utter confidence that it will be provided? They have no need to stash away today’s sandwiches for fear none will be available tomorrow. As far as they are concerned, there is an endless supply of sandwiches. Children do not find it difficult or complicated to talk to their parents, nor do they feel embarrassed to bring the simplest need to their attention. Neither should we hesitate to bring the simplest requests confidently to the Father. Children also teach us the value of the imagination. As with meditation, the imagination is a powerful tool in the work of prayer. We may be resistant to pray with the imagination, feeling that it is slightly beneath us. Children have no such fear. Imagination often opens the door to faith. If God shows us a shattered marriage restored or a sick person made well within our imagination, it helps us to believe that it will be so. Children instantly understand these things and respond well to praying with the imagination.
We are to be reliant in prayer to God Almighty, as children are reliant are their parents to feed them, to shelter them, to provide for them. Through Jesus we are no longer sons of disobedience, but rather sons of God. And people often want to translate that as children, but sons is a better interpretation. Sons were gifted the inheritance in first century Judea. So we were all adopted as sons. No longer slave nor free, jew nor gentile, male nor female. But sons in Christ Jesus.
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
Jesus calls out the people who rely on their own abilities in prayer and calls them hypocrites who have their reward in full. When I think of a hypocrite, I think of someone who does not do what they say they are going to do. This goes back to being people of our word. When we speak there is an action to back it up. When God speaks things happen. He values people whose words match their actions. Jesus tells them to do in secret like they do in public. The people praying on the corners sought acclaim, not the approval of God.
We see that reliance on acclaim or on ourself is hopeless. There are literally countless examples of people who reached the heights of acclaim that never became fulfilled. The truth is, we do not know what’s best for us. It’s why the American dream of be whoever you want, whenever you want, however you want, at the cost of all who stand in your way is such a damaging, dangerous and divisive way to live.
God tells us through His word, which has been illumined by the Holy Spirit that we need spiritual disciplines in order to speak and act like our savior Jesus. We must abide in the vine, or dwell or meditate or ponder on Jesus in order to bear fruit. We need to learn how to hear from God, and then we need to learn how to respond to who He is.
Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones said
Our ultimate position as Christians is tested by the character of our prayer life.
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Rely on God, don’t follow your heart, but direct your heart in the way.
Meditation is to listen, reflect, and observe God.
Prayer is to respond, learn, and rely on God.
As well could you expect a plant to grow without air and water as to expect your heart to grow without prayer and faith.
Charles Spurgeon
LET’S PRAY
Sunday: The pattern of prayer / Matthew 6:5–15.
Monday: The prayer of worship / Psalm 103.
Tuesday: The prayer of repentance / Psalm 51.
Wednesday: The prayer of thanksgiving / Psalm 150.
Thursday: The prayer of guidance / Matthew 26:36–46
Friday: The prayer of faith / James 5:13–18.
Saturday: The prayer of command / Mark 9:14-29
Rewrite the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6:9-15 in a way that works for you, but follow the template and order Jesus provides of: Adoration, Supplication, Guidance, Deliverance
Read Jesus’ prayer in John 17. What do you notice?