Scriptures, Tips, and Devotional Thoughts for Christians Growing in Their Prayer Lives

Transcription

1 How to Pray Scriptures, Tips, and Devotional Thoughts for Christians Growing in Their Prayer Lives 1

2 How to Pray Jane L. Fryar 2 Scriptures, Tips, and Devotional Thoughts for Christians Growing in Their Prayer Lives

3 The vision of CTA is to see Christians highly effective in their ministry so that Christ s Kingdom is strengthened and expanded. Scriptures, Tips, and Devotional Thoughts for Christians Growing in Their Prayer Lives Jane L. Fryar Why Pray? Copyright 2018 CTA, Inc Larkin Williams Rd. Fenton, MO All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of CTA, Inc. Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:6 ISBN: Printed in Thailand 4 3

4 If you re physically alive, you breathe. If you re spiritually alive, you pray. It s only natural. Breathe in: The Bible assures us we are forgiven in the cross of Jesus. Breathe out: We confess our sins and ask to be free from them. Breathe in: God pours his blessings into our lives. Breathe out: We thank and praise him in prayer. Breathe in: God s promises cascade into our awareness. Breathe out: We express our trust in those promises as we pray. If you re physically alive, you breathe. If you re spiritually alive, you pray. It s only natural. God Commands Prayer Are God s commands that we pray harsh demands? Hardly! Everywhere the command to pray appears in Scripture, it reads as what we might call a command of grace, an invitation. For example: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7 Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. Psalm 50:15 [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Luke 18:1 About to lose heart? Pray! Are you blessed beyond belief! Pray! Your Father longs to hear from you! God Promises to Hear Your Lord s invitation is not an exclusive offer, one reserved only for some small group of advanced Christians. No! His invitation and his promises are for YOU his dearly loved child in Jesus. The apostle James makes this clear: The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. James 5:

5 Elijah s prayer worked. Not because Elijah was who he was, but because God is who he is the One who makes and keeps his promises to hear and help his children. Still, even experienced pray-ers sometimes find themselves puzzled by prayer s mysteries. (We will explore some of them later in this book.) But perhaps the greatest mystery of all is this: The God of the universe invites us to pray and promises to hear us. What a privilege! To Think About / When do you find it easiest to pray? When is it hardest? What accounts for the difference? Who Is Listening? / Which of the Scriptures in this chapter encourage you the most? Explain. / What questions do you have about prayer? List them. Compare your list with a friend s. / Might some of your questions be unanswerable here on earth? Why? How do you feel about that? Explain. You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Matthew 4:10 / Can you trust your Lord even if you don t understand everything about him? Explain. 6

6 The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah each wrote one book of the Old Testament. Both include one similar story. (Isaiah, in fact, tells the story twice.) In both books, the story is pure satire, intended to make readers laugh. In the story, a fool goes into the forest and chops down a tree. He uses half of it as firewood. He carves the other half into an ornate idol, then falls down in front of it to pray. (See Isaiah 40:18 20; Isaiah 44:14 17; and Jeremiah 10:3 5.) The prophets point is clear. Contrast the imaginary friends of idolaters with the living God of the Bible, the one true triune God. Hearing prayer. Answering prayer. The God who does that is the real God. All others are pretenders, fake gods, idols. In reality, they are simply a big joke. When we pray, we pray to the One who has promised to hear and help, the One who keeps that promise. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit During his earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus himself answered many, many prayers. Here are three examples: Jesus promised paradise to the thief on the cross (Luke 23:42 44). Jesus healed countless people who came to him with physical needs (Luke 4:40). Jesus assured sinners burdened with guilt that his pardon was theirs (Luke 5:20). Just as believers in that day came to Jesus in prayer, so he invites us to continue to do that: Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. John 14:13 14 In addition to answering prayer himself, Jesus encouraged his followers then and now to recognize the Holy Spirit as our Teacher and to come to him for wisdom, insight, comfort, and strength, especially in our calling as Christ s witnesses (John 14:15 17, 26 27; John 15:26 27; John 16:7 15; Acts 1:8). Finally, our Lord also invites and encourages us to pray to the Father, to the One whose tender love, wisdom, and ability are unquestioned. While even the best earthly dad has limitations, foibles, 8 9