Prayer is, unfortunately, a very misunderstood practice. Some religions see it as meditation, others as a way of appeasing many gods; some Christians even demonstrate it as little more than simply “sending thoughts”. So, what is the deal with prayer and why has God given it to us?
Claim:
Prayer is the furnace of our faith formation
Facts:
Requirements that define the purpose of prayer
- God has fashioned humans for spiritual communion with Him
- God has a plan and purpose (for you and the world)
- God is in control
Correcting false teachings about prayer
- God is not a cosmic vending machine
- Prayer does not change God
- God’s plan does not require your petitions
Incorrect prayer practices
- God will only bless those who pray flowery enough
- God will only answer if I beg Him enough
- God will only listen if we have enough faith
Observations & Conclusions: “How does prayer work?”
Prayer changes us
- Peace – Surrender our anxieties to the power, answer, and timing of God’s sovereign control
- Purpose – Draws us into conformity with God’s desires, will, and plan
– Living by God’s Design
– Living by God’s Direction - Production – Shapes us in our relationship with God towards trust, submission, and holiness
Application: “How do I know if I’m using prayer correctly?”
- Am I “using” God or loving God?
- Am I yielded to God’s control?
- Am I moldable to God’s shaping of my life?
Romans 9:15-18
“For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.”
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
Numbers 23:19
“God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a human being, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it happen?”
James 1:17
“All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.”
Esther 4:12-14
“When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
Romans 8:26
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”
Philippians 4:6-7
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
1 Peter 5:7
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
1 Corinthians 11:28-31
“Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.”
Micah 6:13
“Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you, by making you desolate because of your sins.”
Luke 22:41-42
“And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
Acts 2:23
“Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death.”
Acts 4:27-28
“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.”
1 Peter 3:7
“Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”
James 1:6-7
“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.”
James 4:3
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
1 John 5:14-15
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”