Prayer Part 3

To conclude this short series on prayer I could not think of a better passage to end on then John 17. This is one of my favorite passages in scripture. Jesus is praying to His Father right before He is betrayed by Judas.  We get a glimpse into the relationship between the Father and the Son. He prays for the disciples and for the all who will believe in the passage. That is us! To know that the Son of God was praying for me over two thousand years ago right before He was crucified is amazing.  Starting in verse 13 I went through and wrote down some thoughts on the different verses. I encourage you to spend some time going through this passage and thanking God for what He did for you and what how He continues to work. An important element in our daily prayer should be thanksgiving and adoration. Giving thanks makes us realize all the blessings in our life. Adoration takes the focus off of us and onto our Savior, which is where it should always be.

I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.  I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.

(The world hates us because we are no longer of the world.  John 15:18-19)

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

(How often when we pray to overcome sin do we ask God to remove the temptation or the circumstances?  Let me tell you something there will always be sin on this earth. We cannot get away from it, but we can overcome it. Deliverance does not mean we will not be tempted, Jesus was tempted and did not sin. Deliverance does mean we will be able to overcome the temptation and not sin. 1 Corinthians 10:13)

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

(Everyone is searching for truth. Non-Christians try to find truth in many different things; they are always searching for answers. As Christians we know the truth and the truth is what sets us free. John 8:32)

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.

(This is the Great commission. Matthew 28:18-20)

And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

(Unity of the body of Christ. In many of Paul’s letters he exhorts the churches to have unity. In 1 Corinthians Paul writes about each part of the body having different parts but all working together in unity. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27)

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,

(Is that not amazing?)  

I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

(God in Christ and Christ in us. Colossians 1:26-27.)

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.  O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

(Let us never get tired of hearing the gospel. We should live gospel centered lives that are focused on spreading it to those around us. The point of our lives is to point to Christ.)

I hope you have been encouraged by this short series.  If you have any questions or comments I would enjoy hearing them. Have a great week!

Prayer Part 2

In my last post I focused on our believing that God will answer our prayers and how He loves to bless His children with spiritual gifts. A comment I received on the post brought up the topic of praying for others. I thought it would be worthwhile to go into praying for others from a biblical perspective. It is common when we go to pray for others to pray for their temporal needs.  We pray for school, work, money, relationships, and other similar things. This is not necessarily wrong, but as I said in my last post we must be careful of the balance we have in our prayers.  If we look at how Paul prayed for the different churches he wrote to the central focus of his prayers is for their love to grow and that they would come to know Christ more.

Ephesians 1:15-18

 "For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you"

Do we pray this way for others?   

3:14-19

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Do we pray that God will strengthen them and that they will know Him more? 

At the end of Ephesians Paul gives final instructions on prayer and asks for prayer for himself.

6:18-20

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should."

Do we pray that others would be bold in sharing the gospel?

Paul begins many of his letters by saying how thankful he is for the believers. He is continually thankful for the work that God is doing in them.

Colossians 1:3-4

"We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people"

Philippians 1:3-5

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now,"

Philemon 1:4-6

“I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ."

Do we give thanks for the work God is doing in others?

The central focus in Paul's prayers is the gospel. He prays that the believers would know Christ and increase in their love towards Him and those around them. I ask again, do we pray this way? David Platt (the author of Radical) wrote an excellent explanation on the purpose of prayer. 

"Prayer is really more, designed to be more than just this thing where we ask God for things. We need to explore some of the depths of what prayer is instead of just settling for that.

Primary purpose for prayer is to:

1.     express the depth of our need for God

2.     explore the mystery of intimacy with Him

3.     experience the power of being used by Him

The power of prayer in and of itself is useless, but the power of people who connect with all mighty God is unstoppable!

Desire is the secret of Prayer:

1.     Make your wants God’s wants and

2.     then ask for whatever you want

That’s how prayer WORKS."  

I love the passage at the end of James. It shows how powerful prayer is. Verses 17 and 18 blow my mind every time that I read them. Elijah, who was just like us, prayed and the weather changed for over three years. How amazing is that?  

5:13-18

"Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."

I encourage you as you go about your week to lift your brothers and sisters up in prayer. Do not just pray for their temporal needs but more importantly that the Father would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they would know Him better.

Prayer

What comes to your mind when you think of prayer?

·         A time to ask for all the things you need in life

·         A time to communicate to your heavenly Father

·         A time to ask for forgiveness and give thanks for the blessings in your life

I believe prayer incorporates all of these, but we must be careful to have the right balance of them. John Piper in his book Desiring God asks "So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy, and exalts God as wealthy."

When our prayers become centered around us and only what we want we are on the verge of idolatry. On Sunday mornings we have been going through the book of Acts. This past Sunday Pastor Doug preached about prayer and he had a very convicting question. "How often do we pray and not expect God to do anything?"

 What does this show about our trust in our Savior when we pray and we don't expect anything to happen? What about all those times when we merely do it out of habit?  I know this, God loves to answer prayer. However, when we are just praying because that is what Christians are supposed to do and we are not fully engaging ourselves we need to look at our heart.

 Francis Chan writes, "I look deeply at myself. What's my motivation? Is it selfish? I look at my own personal holiness, ... at my faith. Is there doubt in me?" I am sure that we have all experienced feelings of doubt and confusion when our prayers seem to go unanswered, when things from our perspective would be better if our prayers were answered. Even when we don't understand our Father is working all things together for good. Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  We are not able to fully comprehend how God works, but God is molding and shaping us into His image.

Pray and believe that God is going to answer and do more than you can even image.

Matthew 7:11 "How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him."