Wednesday Night Bible Class February 2, 2011 Dr. Derrick J. Hughes, Pastor The Fundamentals of Spiritual Growth Handout #1 - Prayer Prayer. The addressing and petitioning of God. Prayer to a god or gods is a feature of many, if not all, religions, but here attention will be restricted to the biblical teaching and some of its implications. A classic definition of Christian prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies (Westminster Shorter Catechism). Christian prayer is the end product of a long process of change and development in God s relation to men, as a survey of the biblical data shows. Fellowship with God through Jesus Christ, expressed in adoration, thanksgiving and intercession, through which believers draw near to God and learn more of his will for their lives. Scripture stresses the vital role of the Holy Spirit in stimulating and guiding prayer. Prayer in the OT. Newly created man, made for fellowship with God, walked with God. Sin broke this intimate, direct relationship. Nevertheless, when the Lord formed his gracious covenant with Abraham (Gn 15) the relationship between the covenant partners was also direct, at least by comparison with what was to follow.
2 Abraham s prayer for Sodom and Gomorrah (Gn 18) is a striking combination of boldness and persistence, and a recognition of his own smallness and inferiority compared to God. The same could be said about Jacob s wrestling with the angel at Peniel (Gn 32). But boldness and directness is not to be confused with familiarity. Biblical prayer is shot through with a recognition of the distance between the Creator and the creature, of human sin and of God s grace. The basis of a person s approach to God in prayer is never simply man s search for God but God s gracious initiative, the establishing of the covenant, and the promise of help and deliverance on the basis of that covenant. It is this covenant relationship that gives the warrant for prayer. Thus in patriarchal times prayer was conjoined with sacrifice and obedience. The prophets were men who prayed, and it seems that God s Word came to them in prayer (Is 6:5 13; 37:1 4; Jer 11:20 23). Jeremiah s ministry was characterized by times of conflict in prayer (18:19 23; 20:7 18) as well as more settled times of fellowship with God (10:23 25; 12:1 4; 14:7 9; 15:15 18). Daniel 9:3 Daniel Prayed 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. 9:3 Daniel s prayer did not consist of a few insincere words uttered before falling asleep at night. He prayed fervently to the Lord with a determined heart. I turned literally reads, I gave my face. Daniel determined to look to God in prayer until the Lord gave him an answer. His appeal was directed toward the Lord [ʾădōnāy] God. The name ʾădōnāy means owner, ruler, or sovereign and identifies Yahweh as the owner and ruler of the universe. Not only was he able to hear Daniel s prayer, but he had the power to direct the affairs of world history in order to answer his prayer. Fasting demonstrated the prophet s deep concern to God; being clothed in sackcloth (coarse, rough cloth) and sitting in ashes were expressions of humility that commonly accompanied fasting (cf. Esth 4:1 3).
3 Daniel s Answered Prayer God s revelation was granted in response to Daniel s petition. This demonstrates the principle that believers should not grow weary in prayer, for God hears and answers their cries for help. Daniel also illustrated the necessity of collective prayer as he summoned his friends to join him. Special power seems to be promised when believers worship and pray together as a group (cf. Matt 18:19 20). Daniel did not forget to thank God for answered prayer, which is another lesson for us. God invites his children to ask, but the Christian should always remember to say thank-you (Luke 17:17 18). Faith is evident in the words of these verses as well. Daniel trusted that the revelation was accurate, and he thanked God for the information before he ever heard the king confirm it. Prayer in the NT. The NT s teaching on prayer is dominated by Christ s own example and teaching. His dependence on his Father in his mediatorial work expresses itself in repeated prayer, culminating in his high-priestly prayer (Jn 17) and the agony of Gethsemane with the prayer from the cross. Yet Christ is explicit in describing his relationship to his Father as a unique one (Jn 20:17). His teaching on prayer, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount, is to be understood as contrasting with current Jewish practices, not with OT ideals. Prayer is an expression of sincere desire. It is not to inform God of matters that he would otherwise be ignorant of, and the validity of prayer is not affected by length or repetitiveness. Private prayer is to be discreet, secret (Mt 6:5 15). The Model Prayer Matthew 6
4 It is in Paul s writings that the theology of prayer is most fully developed. The NT believer is a son, not only a servant. The Spirit who, as a result of Christ s triumph, has come to the church is the Spirit of adoption, enabling the Christian to come to God as his Father, with all his needs. Prominent among these needs, in the mind of the apostle, are a deepening of faith in Christ, love for God, and a growing appreciation of God s love in turn (Eph 3:14 19). Prayer is a part of the Christian s armor against satanic attack (Eph 6:18), the effective ministry of the Word of God depends on the prayers of God s people (Eph 6:18, 19), and the Christian is enjoined to pray for all sorts of things, with thanksgiving (Phil 4:6), and so to be free from anxiety. Paul s own example in prayer is as instructive as the teaching he gives. The Christian s prayer is rooted, objectively, in Christ s intercession; subjectively, in the enabling of the Holy Spirit. The church is a kingdom of priests, offering spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving (Heb 13:15; 1 Pt 2:5), but Christ is the great High Priest. This thought is developed fully in Hebrews. Because of Christ s human sympathy, the power of his intercessory work (i.e., the triumph of his atonement) and his superiority over the old Aaronic priesthood, the church is encouraged to come to God ( the throne of grace ) boldly, to find grace when it is needed (Heb 4:14 16; 9:24; 10:19 23). Prayer and obedience are linked both in the case of Christ, who learned obedience by the things that he suffered (Heb 5:7, 8), and in the case of the church (Heb 10:21 25). The priesthood of the OT, although ordained by God, was of purely symbolic significance. The OT high priest could no more effectively intercede for the people than the blood of bulls and goats could take away their sins (Heb 10:4). Further, nowhere in either the OT or NT is there any encouragement to pray to individuals other than God. Nowhere in Scripture is it suggested
5 that there is any other mediator between God and men except Christ (1 Tm 2:5). Your prayer is just as powerful as any other believer; but it is wonderful to agree with someone in prayer. Matthew 18:19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. The Elements of Prayer. Although prayer is, typically, an unself-conscious activity in which the person praying devotes himself to God, it is possible to distinguish various elements in prayer, as will be apparent from the discussion of the biblical data. Praise involves the recognition of who God is and what he does. It is giving God the glory, not in the sense of adding to his glory, which would be impossible, but of willingly (and where appropriate, publicly) recognizing God as God. Confession involves the vindicating or justifying of God, and an explicit and unreserved recognition of sin, both as it takes its rise in sinful motives and dispositions, and as it finds outward expression. Psalm 51, David s confession of sin regarding Bathsheba, is the classic biblical instance of a prayer of confession. Petition can be thought of as it concerns the one praying, and also as it concerns others, when it is intercession. Scripture never regards prayer for oneself as sinful or ethically improper, as can be seen from the pattern of prayer given in the Lord s Prayer. Prayer for others is an obvious expression of love for one s neighbor which is fundamental to biblical ethics.