Teaching from chapter 8

1. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
SECTION Three
The Church
and Prayer!
CHAPTER
EIGHT
 Prayer – Home and
Church
At-Home Daily
Prayer
The Church at Prayer
The Church’s Prayer
Ministry
Inset: Ways to
Measure the
Seriousness of the
Church’s
Commitment to
Prayer
Praying Corporately
Inset: Circles of
Prayer
Praying in
the Two
Big
Blessing
Circles!

2. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
SECTION Three
The Church
and Prayer!
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Chapter 8 continued
…
Praying with Variety
Inset: Nursery
Prayer
Inset: Suggestions
for Prayer and
Petition
Inset: Creating a
Circle of Prayer for
the Pastor
Praying in
the Two
Big
Blessing
Circles!

3. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
The Four
Dimensions
MobilizedIntercessors
PrayerEvangelism
Pervasive Church Prayer
Personal/Family Prayer

4. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
At-Home Daily Prayer…
No level of church prayer can replace daily,
personal prayer.
If the church is a praying church, a significant
number among them must be a praying people.
Public prayer can’t replace private prayer, and
private prayer needs public prayer.
The abundance of prayer meetings in Acts shows
us the value of corporate prayer.
The two – the family and the church - are
connected. They fuel each other.
The pastor gathers the church pray
The father gathers the family.

5. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
The Church at Prayer…
We learn to pray by praying. It is more caught
than taught.
Nothing can replace being in the middle of
passionate prayer meeting.
Listening to others pray, blending our voice with
theirs, infected with their passion, sharing their
burden for the lost – we catch the spirit of prayer.
A church that has people who deeply love God
and intercessors with hot-hearts will always have
an altar full of prayer-fire.
You will never have one without the other.

6. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
The Church’s Prayer
Ministry…
Prayer brings Jesus back to the center.
Our churches have become “houses of preaching”
instead of “houses of prayer.”
Frank Lauback: “Evangelical Christianity is lost
unless it discovers that the center and power of
its divine service is prayer, not preaching.”
Prayer enhances preaching; preaching drives us
to prayer.
Frederick Heiler noted, “Not speech about God,
but speech to God; not the preaching of the
revelation of God …”

7. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
Praying Corporately…
Many congregations have never learned to allow
the Holy Spirit to move them along together in an
unhurried manner, just waiting in prayer.
One prays, then another.
A season of quiet comes.
One has a word, another confirms it.
Prayers are offered, each following the other, as if
everyone was reading from the same script.
The many voices become one, corporately learning and
listening in prayer.
In such moments, the Spirit comes.
There is no program. No agenda. No script.
The church has gathered to meet God and He shows
up.

8. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
Praying Corporately…
Other people pray in ways you and I would never pray.
We need to hear one another pray.
 You may express my heart with language I did not have.
 You may be bolder and more vulnerable before God than I
would dare to be.
 You touch something in prayer that resonates in me, that
rattles my soul, making me wonderfully uncomfortable.
In unhurried seasons, others pray our thoughts.
In times of vulnerability, hunger for God, with genuine
repentance and humility, the Spirit pierces the heart.
 Tears come. Brokenness follows.
 In the presence of a holy God, the yearning of one feeds the
longing in the heart of another.
 The humility in one is a quiet and convicting indictment of
the arrogance in another. We are “iron sharpening iron.”

9. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
Praying Corporately…
While the heart of prayer is communion with
God, that is not the all of prayer.
It involves intercession – prayer for others.
It involves petition – prayer for our own needs.
It involves thanksgiving – a humble gratitude that
stimulates faith by a regular review of God’s gracious
history in our lives.
 Thanksgiving is sometimes a discipline.
 It wakes up a cold heart.
 It systematically surveys the past and looks for traces of
God’s intervention.
 It marks the path we have taken and signs of God’s hand at
work in providing and directing, in protecting.

10. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
Finding a Healthy Theology of Prayer –
The Three Aspects
FOUNDATION: The highest calling of prayer is
Communion - Relationship with God
Prayer as Petition is inviting the Kingdom of God
into every situation – thy will be done! Submitting
our request; Asking & Receiving …
Communion
Thanksgiving!

11. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
Praying With Variety…
We are to pray “with all kinds of prayers”
(Ephesians 6:18 NIV).
A good prayer ministry demands variety.
Don’t allow the prayer life of the church to get
into a rut.
Pray “with all prayer.”
Pray aloud at the same time.
The fervency of multiple voices lifted to God at once,
like a symphony, is a component of passionate praying
that the entire global Church is now increasingly
embracing.
Such prayer is rich with intensity. It is ardent and
fiery. But it is not the only way to pray.

12. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
Praying With Variety…
Concert Prayer – Everyone lifting their voice
together, praying aloud, as a symphony.
Congregational Prayers – Several people
pray, one after another. Others listen and agree.
Covenant Prayers – Prayers that reaffirm our
covenant, that express our love and commitment.
Directed praying – A focus for prayer followed
by prayer(s), and a second and third focus.
Intercessory Prayers – Prayer for the lost, the
unsaved; unreached people groups; for Kings and
nations.

13. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
Praying With Variety…
 Pastoral Prayers – The pastor intercedes for
the people; they listen and silently agree.
Prayers of Agreement – Each person prays in
succession, first one, and then another, each
building on the one before.
Prayers of Praise – Focused on the character
and nature of God. Who He is, not just what He
does.
Prayers of Repentance – Our pursuit of
character before his Holiness.
Prayers of Thanksgiving – Prayer for the
specific acts and blessings of God.

14. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
Praying With Variety…
Silence – The holy hush of His Presence.
No one speaks. There is only the piercing voice
of the Spirit speaking into each heart.
Small groups – Each group or all groups is
focused on some need.
Waiting Prayer – This is patient waiting. A
word from the Lord; a Scripture; then more
prayer and discernment until, by the gracious
working of the Spirit, we reach an end and
sense a breakthrough.
The goal is not more prayer activities,
but a “culture of prayer.”

15. PRAYER – THE HEART OF IT ALL – P. DOUGLAS SMALL – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ©
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