Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

When you pray, what do you pray about?

We have been using the acrostic ACTS over the last few weeks to discuss a model of prayer that includes adoration, confession, thanksgiving and today we are concluding this with supplication.

Coming from the Hebrew word tachanun, supplication is simply a request, a plea for mercy, or a petition.

It is used in several passages in both the Old and New Testaments.

You and I probably don’t use it in our everyday vocabulary, but if we pray, most likely we do what it means.

I get text messages, emails, phone calls and face to face requests daily to pray for this or pray for that.

As a Christian, I am compelled to pray when I am asked to do so.

1 Samuel 12;

You may ask, “How am I supposed to pray for someone or some thing when I am asked to do so?”

I have learned that I can pray anywhere, any way, about anything at anytime.

There are many passages of scripture throughout the Bible that indicate this.

One such passage is found in 6.

This is a unique prayer by who the Bible says was the wisest king ever born, King Solomon.

He has just completed the temple and this is part of his prayer of dedication.

It is a beautiful prayer from which we can learn much about this idea of using supplication in our prayers.

2 Chronicles 6:12-

There are three practices in this prayer that we can use today in our prayers.

First notice the place of supplication.

The Place of Supplication

King Solomon is praying before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel.

Other passages in scripture show people praying in private, in a garden, beside the road, beside the bed of one that is sick, in a cave, and many other scenarios.

The point is that even though King Solomon’s prayer has him praying in a special place, the rest of the Bible have prayer happening in many places.

Therefore, the place of supplication is any where you are.

I have been privileged to pray in prisons, at hospital beds, at gravesides, and thousands of other places.

When we are called to pray, we can pray anywhere because our God is everywhere!

Geography is no boundary to prayer.

We don’t have to be facing in a certain direction.

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Think about the practicality of this passage from 1 Thessalonians.

We are a busy people, coming and going and doing.

Our lives are full of different circumstances, good and bad.

In the course of a given day, we will be in multiple positions and perhaps multiple places.

The Bible tells us that we should be praying continually and in all circumstances.

This means that we should have an attitude of prayer every where we are.

Aren’t you glad.

you don’t have to be in a certain place to pray?

Next notice the Position of Supplication.

The Position of Supplication

In this prayer of King Solomon, we learn that he knelt in his prayer with his hands raised towards heaven.

The position of prayer is much like the place of prayer.

It can happen with you kneeling (), sitting (), standing (), lying prostrate (), with arms outstretched (), and with hands raised ().

There are examples of each of these throughout the Bible.

In all of these positions there is a humbling and a holiness that is exhibited through prayer.

This tells me that the position of my prayer should be any position which I can humbly and reverently call on God.

Psalm 95:6

Our position of supplication may physically differ but the attitude of our heart when we prayer should always be in reverence.

We can be assured that God hears our prayers from wherever we pray and however we are positioned.

Psalm 86:

We have discussed the place of supplication and the position of supplication, I want to spend the remainder of our time discussing the purpose of supplication.

The Purpose of Supplication

Scripture commends a life of prayer.

Our prayers are at their best when we express them simply and with a sincere heart as we trust in the promises of God.

So what should we make the purpose of our supplications?

What matters to us matters to God.

However, throughout scripture, what matters to God is giving Him glory.

Any supplication that we do, should bring glory to God.

The earliest type mentioned in the Bible is simply to call upon the name of the Lord.

We first learn in that people began to call on the name of the Lord.

In the prayer of King Solomon, the wise King portrays this idea exactly.

2 Chronicles 6:21

Notice the phrase here, “when they pray toward this place.”

In the context of this passage, King Solomon has indicated that the people would be praying towards the temple that has been constructed.

If you remember, the temple was constructed to provide a place where God could be worshiped.

When we worship God, we are giving Him glory.

God desires for you and I to recognize our need for Him and to call on His Name.

Anything that we pray about should be an act of worship in which we give God the glory due to Him.

In , we first learn that humanity began to call on the Name of the Lord.

When we recognize our need and dependence on God, we give Him the Glory that is due to Him.

Jesus

Nehemiah

Jesus recognized the importance in glorifying His Father.

Judges 1

John 14:12-13

The purpose of our supplication is that the glory of the Father be its aim.

Jesus, when on this earth, said that “I seek not my honor but I seek the honor of Him who sent me.”

John

John 5:

Jesus in His priestly prayer in says, “Glorify your Son , that your Son may Glorify You.”

Jesus

Andrew Murray in his work With Christ in the School of Prayer writes, “In His prayers on earth, His intercession in heaven, and His promise of an answer to our prayers, Jesus makes His first object the glory of His Father.”

You and I must ask the question when we pray, is this prayer request our own self-interest or is it the longing for the glory of God to be manifested?

John 14:13

So as we pray, we should do so to bring Glory to God.

We should pray for:

Guidance and direction (; Psalm 50:15)

Direction

Decisions to be made (; Acts 1:24-26)

Resisting temptation ()

For mercy and protection (Psalm 27:1-4)

For healing and restoration (; Jeremiah 30:17)

For discernment and alertness (Luke 21:36)

And expectantly ()

When we pray using the acrostic we have discussed over the last few weeks, we give God adoration, we are able to confess to Him our short comings, we are able to give Him thanksgiving and we are able to supplicate and give our petitions to God.

In doing so, we are able to glorify God.

We are able to be like Moses when he is said, “Now show me your glory.”

Exodus

We can recognize as Paul says in

We can pray, “God show me Your glory and let it overshadow me and fill my heart.

Let me dwell in it as Christ did and You can show me your good purpose so that I may find my glory in You!”