Ideas For Improving Your Prayer Life Part 1 7/11/04 Introduction: They say that a certain actor taught his horse to kneel down every time he said, Let us pray! It just so happened that a man stole that horse, and started to make his getaway on the horse. Before he could be gone, he had to cross a fairly deep and muddy stream. The actor saw this and just as the robber to the stream the actor yelled out, Let us pray! The horse immediately knelt down and threw his rider into the mud. Sometimes we just never know what great things prayer will accomplish! But then again, sometimes we get frustrated that we don t know how to pray better. Our prayers seem useless. A mother was listening to her sleepy little daughter s prayers just before the little girl went to bed. Here s what the girl prayed: Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, And when he hollers let him go, Eenie, meenie, miny, mo. That s what prayer seems like to us sometimes, just a bunch of mumbo jumbo. I want to talk to you about prayer tonight in keeping with our message this morning. And tonight I want to talk to you about improving your prayer life. There are a number of compelling reasons to pray. Reasons like: -we can t do anything without Him, and prayer is how we link up to His power. -approaching God in prayer is how we find a growing, intimate knowledge of God. -you simply cannot know God better if you don t pray. D.A. Carson put it this way: PPT Have not many of us tried at one point or another to improve our praying, and floundered so badly that we are more discouraged than we ever were? 1
(A Call to Spiritual Reformation p. 17) J.I. Packer stated succinctly the importance of prayer when he said: PPT I believe that prayer is the measure of the man, spiritually, in a way that nothing else is, so that how we pray is as important a question as we can ever face. (in Carson, p. 17) Everywhere in Scripture is underscored the importance that we pray, pray, pray. So with that in mind, I want to jump off into our subject tonight, - How can we improve our prayer life? And I m indebted to this book, (hold up A Call to Spiritual Reformation, by D.A. Carson) for much of the organization of tonight s message. It s really nothing new, but it s organized well. We re going to delve into seven ways you can improve your prayer life. PPT But before we begin, let me stress that you can do one of two things with each of these ways: 1. You can let them cripple you by using them legalistically 2. You can let them set you free by using them as merely a tool to help you get closer to God. So without further ado: I. Make a plan to pray. An improved prayer life doesn t just happen. You have to plan it. We can say, Oh, I believe in prayer, all we want... but what really reflects a belief in prayer is when we pray. A. Plan when you ll pray. Jesus planned to pray: -he got up early in the morning at times, at other times He prayed late at night, or even all night. -now, don t think that Jesus just kind of fell into those times... He was busy in His ministry here on earth. -He planned to pray... and when He saw the opportunity... He took it. Daniel is the epitome of planned prayer: -turn to Daniel 6:10 2
-he continued... as he had been doing previously... three times a day. -it was regular, it was planned, it was uninterrupted in how he did it. Is it any wonder the things that God did through Daniel and showed Daniel, when this man regularly prayed to God three times a day? Illustration: My kids have been fascinated to watch hundreds, maybe thousands of praying mantis hatch out of their little cocoon. A praying mantis looks so pious doesn t it, front legs folded up by its chest like it s praying. But a praying mantis has the disposition of a hungry tiger. It s front legs can shoot out like lightning and seize some victim, and finish it off. Those praying front legs are lethal weapons. That s the way patient, planned prayer is. It s deliberate, it waits, it watches, it prays. And it s a lethal weapon in God s army, and in your life. There are many things that only prayer can seize. And I will add, there are many things in your life right now that only prayer can seize. But you ve got to be patient, persistent, and planned in your prayers. Identify what you would like from God, check whether that desire is biblical, and if it is, plan how you re going to pray for it. You ll be surprised at what God will give you. David: (can Disciple Builder s class say it with me?) PPT Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice. (Ps. 55:18) An improved prayer life doesn t just happen, you have to plan it. People who pray regularly and effectively... plan to pray. Lack of planning means a lack of prayer. Practical Considerations: 3
One of the things that we often fail to take into consideration when it comes to prayer is the present demands in our lives: Examples: 1. A shift worker whose shift changes from time to time. You ve got a guy who works from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., don t expect him to be up by 10:00 a.m. praying. Then the next week he s working days. He s going to have to get used to adjusting his prayer time. 2. A mother with preschoolers... she s up late, she s up early, sometimes she s up all night. She doesn t have the luxury of setting aside large blocks of time for prayer. Maybe it s better for her to pray in several brief times throughout the day. 3. An elderly person might have more time to pray. But some of that time they might be more alert than at others. Optimize the alert time. You re going to have to get used to adjusting your time of prayer. 4. Vacation and days off. This is one of my most difficult times. What do you do when you get out of your normal routine? Example: VBS- I realized very early on in the week that to get any blocks of time to pray was going to be difficult. We have to adjust, and for that week realize that I needed to go to more brief times scattered throughout the day. The point is... unless we learn to realistically look at our lives, and then plan accordingly, we ll fail more often than we succeed in putting together a meaningful time of prayer. This is one of the top reasons our prayer lives often don t improve 4
B. Plan how you ll pray. If you are having a particularly hard time praying, put together a little plan. You don t always have to do this... but from time to time, if you re having trouble praying, make a plan. Scribble out just a few lines right before you go to prayer. Example: PPT I. Praise & Adoration -Pray through Psalm 18 or some other Psalm- I will love You O Lord my strength. -Read a prayer by someone else- Spurgeon or someone -Compile a list of the things you re thankful for, and then pray that list to God. II. Confession -Pray Psalm 51 or 1 John 1:9-2:2 -Ask God to search your heart and reveal sin to you. -Confess specific sins, by name to God. -Ask Him to help you hate that sin. III. Specific Requests- 5-10 minutes Pray for other Christians, unbelievers, your family, church, nation, missions, etc... IV. Spiritual Growth- 5-10 minutes Pray for your own spiritual growth. Please understand, that by mentioning how many minutes, I m not saying that how long you pray is the measure of how well you pray. But to develop a lifestyle of prayer, I think we need to spend some time. So we re seeking to develop our endurance in prayer through time spent in it. Don t be chained to the clock, but you can see that if you set your heart to it, 20 minutes to an hour can go by very quickly. Your goal is not to see how much time you can use... but to spend a meaningful amount of time. Intermingle the various phases of your prayer with devotional reading. II. Deal with distractions. Distractions kill prayer. -sleepiness, phone calls, mind wandering, interruptions. 5
PPT Oh, how we need to wake up to how much nothing we spend our time doing. Apart from prayer, all our scurrying about, all our talking, all our study amounts to nothing. For most of us the voice of self-reliance is ten times louder than the bell that tolls for the ours of prayer. The voice cries out: You must open the mail, you must make that call, you must write that sermon, you must prepare for the board meeting, you must go to the hospital. But the bell tolls softly: Without Me, you can do nothing. -John Piper- I remember reading Mueller one day when he casually told of being distracted in prayer for about 15 minutes, as if this happened all the time. Most of us when we get distracted for a minute or two get discouraged and give up. Here are some suggestions for getting rid of distractions: A. Keep a sheet of paper to write down things that come to mind that must be remembered. Oh, man, I was supposed to fix my son s bike. I need to add that to my to-do list today. I wonder how so and so is doing, maybe I need to call them. B. Pray out-loud. This causes you to focus your mind on verbalizing it. C. Pray Scripture passages. Now... let s be honest... how many of us have said, I m going to pray for 15 minutes this morning. -we sit down to pray, and we mention everyone and everything we can think of... and a whole 5 minutes has passed. -we wonder what to do for the next 10 minutes.... then our minds wander. Illustration: During the reign of Abdullah the Third, there was a great drought in Baghdad. -The Muslim leaders issued a call for prayer from the Muslims. -The drought continued. -The Jews were then permitted to add their prayers for rain. -Nothing happened. 6
-Finally, as famine was coming, those dogs, the Christians, were finally asked to pray. -Rain immediately followed. The Muslims were pretty indignant at what had happened, and were trying to come up with an explanation as to why their prayers went unanswered. They had to come up with some explanation to give the people, so here was one they came up with... and I quote: The God of our Prophet was highly gratified by the prayers of the faithful which were as sweet-smelling savors to Him. He refused their requests in order to prolong the pleasure of listening to their prayers; but the prayers of those Christian infidels were an abomination to Him, and He granted their petitions the sooner to be rid of their loathsome importunities. When you pray Scripture passages, your requests are never loathsome to God. D. Use the hymnal or song book to praise God. Those are just a few ways to deal with distractions. III. Make wise use of prayer starters. A. Devotional Reading God to Piper s book for ideas. 1. Scripture- read through Bible in a year 2. Devotionals A.W. Tozer, E.M. Bounds, Mueller, Spurgeon, Charnock B. Prayers of others Can be scriptural prayers. Can be prayers written by other Christians. Prayer- Spurgeon The Valley of Vision If you want a good example of the prayers of other Christians, go to a new book in our libray- Thirty Days to Victory Over Temptation, Bruce Wilkenson, see Martin Luther s prayer in the back. These get the prayer juices flowing. Beware: Don t get into using these as canned prayers. 7
They become some formal ritual, and really have no meaning. Use them sparingly, and thoughtfully. C. Scripture memory Go over some memory verses on a certain subject. Just saying those verses and as you say them, think about what they mean, pray them to God, this will jumpstart your prayer time. There have been Christians who have written out prayers IV. Ask God to enable you to pray. I ve read of a number of men who knew how to pray saying that the only reason they could pray is because the Lord enlarged their heart to do the work of prayer. -Mueller was one of them. And it s kind of humbling to have to admit that we can t even pray unless the Lord helps us to pray. But that s where we are... and that s where we stand... and anytime we are able to pray it s because the Lord enabled us to do it. I think one of our most constant prayer requests should be: - Lord, open my heart and my mind that I might genuinely pray. - Open my eyes to what I should pray. - Open my heart to the things that are standing between You and me when it comes to praying...and then help me to remove those things. Conclusion: I ve begun to look at prayer in a little different way than maybe I have in the past. Here s one of the ways that I ll describe it: -you show for a new job one day, and you report to the boss, and you say, okay, so what am I supposed to do? -he says, come with me. 8
-he takes you outside behind the building, and there if front of you is a huge boulder, this thing is the size of a semi tractor and trailer. -he hands you a metal chisel, and a sledge hammer. -he says, for as long as you work here, your job will always be to bust up that rock. - you can take a water break when you need it, you can take a lunch break...you can go home at the end of the day... but once you ve had your breaks, you hit that rock... and don t quit until it breaks. -you look at your boss and you say, you know... they make equipment that can bust up rocks like this in less than a day... why don t you let me rent one of those, and we can be done with it? -he looks at you, holds up the hammer and chisel and says, no...these are your tools... now get after it. -that s a big job... it s going to take time... it s going to take patient... steady work. -you re going to have to train yourself for the long haul. That s how I ve begun to look at prayer... As we walk through this Christian life we encounter boulders, difficulties, challenges. And while we re thinking of some piece of heavy equipment that we could come up with to move the boulders, God s holding up the hammer and chisel called prayer. And He s saying, outside of the Word, these are the only tools you have... now get after it. Prayer is hitting the rock of our problems until they break. -prayer takes patience... prayer takes methodical work... it takes time... but it is effective!! What are your problems tonight... keep hitting the rock through prayer! -you want to do something for God but don t know what He wants? Keep hitting the rock until it breaks! -feel like you re just out of it in the Christian life? Keep hammering the rock! -you ve got sin in your life that just keeps hanging on? Keep hitting the rock! -you ve got children who don t know the Lord? Keep hitting the rock! 9
-you ve got decisions to make? Keep hitting the rock! -you ve got sludge in your life from times past? Keep hitting the rock until it breaks! -you live in loneliness, and gloom, and depression, and fear? Keep hitting the rock! -you have specific people you want to lead to the Lord? Keep hitting the rock! -you need to find your calling in life? Keep hitting the rock! -feel weak, and tired, and discouraged? Keep pounding the rock! And let me tell you something..... one day that rocks gonna crack.... and then you ll be a believer in the power of God working through prayer! And you ll move on to the next rock, and you ll break it through prayer... and then the next rock... and the next! KEEP POUNDING THE ROCK!!! 10