Passage: Spiritual Disciplines | Lesson 03
Carl Sujo | March 22, 2015
Opening Questions:
1. How would you rate the time you spend in Prayer?
2. Why do you think people don't pray more?
3. When, or in what situations do you find yourself praying more?
Definition of Prayer: The conversing and sharing of experiences with God.
Categories of Prayer
1. Communion Centered (Psalm 27:7-11, 63:1-8, 84:8-12)
Relational prayer focused on knowing and being known by God
2. Kingdom Centered (Psalm 10, 13, 42:9-43:5)
Prayer focused on calling for God's deliverance and justice.
Different Type of Prayers
1. The prayer of faith: James 5:15, Mark 9:23
Praying in faith that God will do something
2. The prayer of agreement (aka corporate prayer): Acts 1:14, 2:42
Praying in agreement with others
3. The prayer of request (or supplication): Philippians 4:6, Ephesians 6:18
Asking God for something for yourself
4. The prayer of thanksgiving: Philippians 4:5
5. The prayer of worship (adoration): Luke 18:43, Luke 2:20
Praising God in Prayer
6. The prayer of confession: 1 John 1:9
Confessing our sins before God
7. The prayer of consecration:
Sometimes, prayer is a time of setting ourselves apart to follow God’s will. Jesus made such a prayer the night before His crucifixion: “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt’” (Matthew 26:39).
8. The prayer of intercession: 1 Timothy 2:1, John 17
Praying on behalf of others
9. The prayer of imprecation: Psalm 7:6
Imprecatory prayers are used to invoke God’s judgment on the wicked and thereby avenge the righteous. The psalmists use this type of appeal to emphasize the holiness of God and the surety of His judgment. Jesus teaches us to pray for blessing on our enemies, not cursing (Matthew 5:44-48)
10. The prayer of Binding and Loosing: Matthew 18:18-19
Prayer for binding and loosing of spirits
Different Postures of Prayer
1. Sitting – I Chronicles 17: 16-27, Acts 2
Denotes rest
2. Kneeling – I Kings 8:54, Ezra 9:5, Luke 22:41, Acts 9:40
Denotes surrender
3. Bowing – Exodus 34:8, Psalm 72:11, Nehemiah 8:6
Displays honor and humility
4. Standing – Nehemiah 9:5, Mark 11:25, Luke 18:13
In a position of respect and honor – ready to receive instructions
5. Uplifted hands – 2 Chronicles 6:12, 13, I Timothy 2:8
Acknowledges a place of surrender, no weapons, no hidden agenda, a position of praise
6. Walking – 2 Kings 4:35
A warring position. It is hard to sit and pray when you are at war. Walking begins to stir up your prayer intensity.
7. Prostrate – Joshua 7:6, Ezra 10:1, Matthew 26:39, Mark 14:35
Shows awe of the holiness of God – a position of crying out to God – a position of repentance
Prayer is Expected
A. Jesus expects us to pray
1. Matthew 6:5 “And when you pray …”
2. Matthew 6:6 “But you, when you pray …”
3. Matthew 6:7 “And when you are praying…”
4. Matthew 6:9 “Pray, then, in this way…”
5. Luke 11:9 “And I say to you, ask and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened to you.”
6. Luke 18:1 “Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray
and not to lose heart.”
B. God’s word tells us to pray
1. Colossians 4:2 “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in with…thanksgiving” – God
expects you to be devoted to prayer, making it a priority in your life.
2. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing;” – God wants you to stay connected to Him. No
dropped calls.
C. Jesus would withdraw to Pray
1. Luke 5:23 “But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness to pray” – Even in the
midst of doing ministry/healing, Jesus made time to pray. In our busyness we should make
time to pray.
2. Luke 6:12 “… He went to the mountain to pray, and He spend the whole night in prayer to
God”. – Jesus prayed before/about choosing his 12 disciples. We should pray before/about
ministry decisions
D. Why do we not pray?
1. We doubt it will do anything.
2. Lack of sensing the nearness of God
3. We don’t have an awareness of real need.
Prayer is Learned
A. By Praying
1. Luke 11:1-4 “..Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples…” - The disciples
asked Jesus to teach them to pray and Jesus instructed them to pray. We can study a lot
about prayer, but if we don’t actually do it, we won’t really learn it.
B. By Meditating on Scripture
1. Psalm 5:1 “Give ear to my words, O LORD, Consider my groaning.” – groaning is also
translated as meditation: pondering, muse, involving half-aloud reading and rereading of the
Word.
2. Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in
Thy sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.” – In v7-11, David meditated and spoke
about God’s Law and in v 14, he prays.
3. Donald S. Whitney explains it like this:
“The process works like this: After the input of a passage of Scripture, meditation allows us
to take what God has said and think deeply on it, digest it, and then speak to God about it in
meaningful prayer. As a result, we pray about what we’ve encountered in the Bible, now
personalized through meditation. And not only do we have something substantial to say in
prayer, as well as the confidence that we are praying God’s thoughts to Him, but we
transition smoothly into prayer and with more passion for what we’re praying about.”
Prayer is Answered
A. Matthew 7:7-8
B. James 4:2-3 2
If we pray by asking, seeking, and knocking for His Kingdom, God will answer.
Application
A. Make a prayer list
B. Schedules time and pick a place to pray
C. Meditate on the scriptures and pray
D. Go to prayer meeting
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