PRAYER

Review: Talk no.11

Correction A Pastoral Tool

Correction is a very important pastoral tool: For the spiritual life and direction of every Christian. For the life of our community, for the sake of our mission in SFC.

Correction is something done out of love for the other person. We need to take it seriously as one very important aspect of loving our neighbor.

The Power to intercedes

Colossians

1:9-12. Paul intercedes for the people in his charge unceasingly. Let us pray for the people under our care in the same way. As household leaders, we would see much more fruit in our service if we use with discernment this powerful tool of intercession that God has given us.

 Christian

leaders are busy people. They are actions oriented people. As you lead and train others to lead, you will find your time taken doing many important tasks: planning, preparing and leading, discipleship, counseling, and other essential ministry activities. As a result, you may soon find yourself neglecting those activities that are essential for your own continued spiritual health and growth: personal bible study and prayer. When you fail to spend adequate time studying and thinking about Gods Word and praying, your relationship with Jesus will become an ineffective Christian leader.

What is Prayer?
A. Prayer is crucial to the life of a Christian. It is our direct communication link to God.

 Jesus

said, apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into fire and burned. (John15:5-6)

 Your

relationship with Jesus is more important than what you do to Jesus. Your prayer and personal Bible study and are committed to obey what He tells you to do, you will be a strong Christian and A strong Christian Leader.

 How

has your own prayer life affected you as A Christian leader? Are we/you taking enough time in ours/your schedule for personal prayer and intercessory prayer?

 One day Jesus was praying in a Certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just John taught his disciples. (Luke 11-1-2)

As a single for Christ we wanted to learn to pray because we believed what we just heard from the speaker according to verses that Jesus pray. Prayer is important for Jesus.

Jesus prayed both morning ( Mark 1:35)

and at night (Matt. 14:23; Luke 6:12).

Often, Jesus prayed alone (john 6:15).

But He also prayed with groups ( Matt 11:25-26),

and a large public gatherings ( Matt. 14:19).

Jesus prayed before meals (Luke9:16;24:30; Matt. 15:36;26:26-27),

he prayed to intercede for needs (John 11:41-442),

and he prayed for Gods blessing upon other people (Matt.19:13-15;Luke 24:50).

Jesus also prayed at times when he needed to make significant decisions (Luke 4:42-43; 6:12)

and in times of great personal crisis ( Matt. 26:39;Mark 14:35-36;Luke 22:39-44).

So if we realized by being with Jesus that prayer is extremely important. That we also needed to learn to pray.

What do other people learn about prayer by being with you?

We

must have a strong prayer life yourself. This is because other people will learn more about prayer by watching us than they will by listening to what we say. If we call Jesus, Lord, and have committed our life to follow to Him, How can we fail to follow His example of prayer? If Jesus, the son of God, needed to pray, then we also need to pray

 It

is a key to being victorious against temptation. It lies at the root of all personal godliness.

B. Prayer also puts us into proper posture before God.

The

essential nature of sin is independence. But we need to live in total dependence on God, a dependence marked by prayer. The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever; but we cannot begin to enjoy God until we spend time with Him. Prayer keeps us trusting God for everything. Prayer opens the way for the Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Jesus.

The Characteristics of Effective Prayer

A. Humility We cannot approach God's throne until we have confessed all known sin. Thus an examination of conscience and the attendant repentance are important.

 Prayer

is a humble response to God's initiative, where in His great love for us He gave us His Son and sent His Spirit into our hearts. We need to submit our lives to God's will and bow to His sovereignty.

 Prayer

is not insisting on our own way, but we must believe that God's way is perfect and that in everything He works for our good. God is far more willing to bless us than we can imagine. But we can frustrate His will for us by rebelling.

 We

are to delight in the Father's love, just like little children. Luke 18:15-17

B. Honesty
We

do not have to pretend before God.

a. God knows all about us anyway. b. And God wants us to share every part of our lives with Him. That includes our fears and failings, our moods and emotions, our thoughts and anxieties.

 We

have Biblical models of honest prayer.

a. b. c.

The psalmist. Psalm 13:1ff. Jesus at Gethsemane. Paul spoke of his weaknesses many times.

 As

we are honest with God, He will work gently in our lives to mold us more and more into Jesus' likeness.

C. Compassion
Compassion

means "suffering with" someone, trying to enter into their pains and problems. We need to be moved with compassion as we see the enormous needs of sinful, suffering people. Such compassion, especially in our inability to give practical help, naturally leads to prayer and intercession.

a.

b.

 Compassionate a.

prayer is positive prayer.

b.

c.

We do not need to pray about all problems in detail. We end up being conscious mainly of the problems. Rather, we focus our mind on the Lord, thinking of those aspects of His nature, or particular promises He has given, which are relevant to the problems. Negative thoughts, filled as they often are with fear, unbelief, anxiety, anger or bitterness, may hinder God's working in our lives.

 Compassionate

prayer will also have breadth in its dimension.

a.

b.

We do not pray only for our circle of friends, our SFC activities or evangelistic programs. We need to be concerned as well about social injustice and needs unemployment, poverty, discrimination, the homeless and oppressed, the sick, the lonely, etc.

D. Expectancy
When

we ask for something in prayer, we should start looking for the answer and expect God to work. Ephesians 3:20 Mark 11:24

a. b.

 Biblical

models of expectant faith.

a.

b.

Mary. When promised the gift of a son, she began to praise God that it was now true, saying "God who is mighty has done great things for me". Luke 1:30-49 Jesus. About to raise up Lazarus from the dead, he prayed "Father, I thank you for having heard me." John 11:41

 To

help us pray with expectant faith, we need to know and claim the promises of God in the scriptures. Through these promises, we know the will of God, at least, in general terms. 1 John 5:14

a. b.

E. Persistency
We

can become careless and lazy in our prayer. We may neglect it altogether. We may give lip service to it by mouthing off a few familiar phrases, but our heart and mind may wander in many directions.

a. b.

 Though

God may answer even our casual prayers, normally He waits until our whole being is concentrated on Him. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees. Mark 7:6 Jesus taught about persistence. Luke 18:1-5 In God's wisdom, He sometimes delays in answering our prayers to see how much we really want something for His praise and glory alone.

a. b. c.

F. Forgiveness
We

must first know God's forgiveness by confessing every known sin, repenting and asking for His cleansing. We must distinguish between the Spirit's conviction and the devil's nagging. We must ask the Spirit to search our hearts, and not allow the devil to rob us of God's peace.

a. b.

 Then

we must forgive one another.

a. b.

c. d.

Mark 11:25. An unforgiving spirit can easily spoil our relationship with God and with one another. If we hold on to sin in our hearts, God will not listen to us. It is only when we forgive others that God can forgive us. And it is only when God forgives us that we can pray at all.

 Conclusion Prayer

is crucial to our personal life as a Christian. It is indispensable to our growing in holiness.

Prayer

is crucial to the life and mission of SFC. We are all part of God's army, needing to receive our instructions from our Commander-in-Chief each day.