SFL Section 4: Prayer, Combined Discipleship and Leadership notes

This is taken from
Spiritual
Disciplines for
the Christian
Life
Donald S. Whitney
Monday, 19 August 13

As a church leader how would you answer
these reasons (given by people in your
congregation) for not praying?

•I Am Too Busy

•I Am Too Busy
•I Feel Too Dry Spiritually To Pray

•I Am Too Busy
•I Feel No Need To Pray

•I Am Too Busy
•I Am Too Disappointed with God To
Pray

•I Am Too Busy
Pray
•I Am Too Ashamed To Pray

•I Am Too Busy
Pray
•I Am Too Ashamed To Pray
•I Am Content With the Way Things
are

PRAYER...
FORTHE PURPOSE OF
GODLINESS

A survey of 17,000 evangelical
Christians found that on average
they prayed for less than 5
minutes each day
A survey of 2,000 pastors and
their wives found they prayed for
less than 7 minutes per day.
Whitney says that prayer is
second in importance only to
God’s word.
Carl Lundqvist said this about
prayer and the wog...

“The NewTestament church built two other disciplines upon
prayer and Bible study, the Lord’s Supper and small cell
groups. JohnWesley emphasized ﬁve works of piety by
adding fasting.The medieval mystics wrote about nine
disciplines clustered around three experiences: purgation of
sin, enlightenment of the spirit and union with God. Later the
Keswick Convention approach to practical holiness revolved
around ﬁve different religious exercises.Today Richard
Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline, lists twelve disciplines
– all of them relevant to the contemporary Christian. But
whatever varying religious exercises we may practice, without
the two basic ones of Emmaus – prayer and Bible reading –
the others are empty and powerless.”

PRAYER IS EXPECTED
Matt 6:6-9 But when you pray, go
into your room, close the door and pray
to your Father,who is unseen.Then your
Father, who sees what is done in
secret, will reward you. 7 And when you
pray, do not keep on babbling like
pagans, for they think they will be
heard because of their many words...
9 “This, then, is how you should
pray:“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
Lk 11:9, 18:1

GOD’S WORD MAKES IT CLEAR

Col 4:2 Devote yourselves
to prayer, being watchful
and thankful.

and thankful.
1 Thess 5:17 pray
continually,

and thankful.
1 Thess 5:17 pray
continually,
Did you notice anything
about these two verses?

and thankful.
1 Thess 5:17 pray
continually,
Did you notice anything
about these two verses?
They are commands

How devoted are you to
prayer?
Note that prayer is relational - it
comes out of an unbroken
relationship with the Father.
Whitney suggests it is like having
two phone lines - God is always on
one of them and you are aware of
him even when speaking on the
other.

Martin Luther,
“As it is the
business of tailors
to make clothes
and cobblers to
mend shoes, so it
is the business of
Christians to
pray.”

What excuses do you use for not
praying? Most people claim other
demands, priorities etc. - yet if
you asked them they would gladly
tell you how important it is to
pray!
The call to prayer is also an
invitation - Heb 4:16 Let us
then approach God’s throne of
grace with conﬁdence, so that we
may receive mercy and ﬁnd grace to
help us in our time of need.
What do you
think are the
most common
excuses for not
praying?

What excuses do you use for not
praying? Most people claim other
demands, priorities etc. - yet if
you asked them they would gladly
tell you how important it is to
pray!
The call to prayer is also an
invitation - Heb 4:16 Let us
then approach God’s throne of
grace with conﬁdence, so that we
may receive mercy and ﬁnd grace to
help us in our time of need.

Note here that there is no need
to be pessimistic about praying -
God is happy to hear and give
grace - prayer is not an obligation
but an opportunity to respond
and receive
God’s command is a command of
love - he wants to hear from us,
to communicate with us and to
bless us.

Prayer is important in spiritual
warfare: John Piper suggests we can
see prayer as the use of a walkie-talkie
in warfare, not for our own
convenience or ease of life.
The example of Jesus in prayer is
important - he prayed and so should
we, he needed it, so do we - Lk
5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely
places and prayed.
Major reasons for prayerlessness:
- a lack of discipline - prayer time is
not planned or prioritised

- the problem of often not “seeing” the
result of prayer - after all it is primarily
a spiritual activity
- sometimes we do not feel God’s
nearness when we pray, it is easy to
pray when we feel God’s closeness
- when we don’t see the need to pray,
Jn 15:5 “apart from me you can do
nothing” - yet we are proud and self
sufﬁcient
- when we do not see God’s greatness,
when we lose focus on the cross

PRAYER IS LEARNED
We start the Christian lives in need
of learning to pray - and continue
to grow and learn about prayer
throughout our Christian lives.
On one level we know instinctively
how to pray - much as a baby
knows how to ‘talk’ from its
earliest days - yet still we need to
see, as the disciples did, that we
need Jesus to teach us to pray - Lk
11:1 - how do we do this?

1. By praying
Just as we learn a foreign
language by using it - we
might read about it, know
how to pronounce words,
build sentences etc. - but
ultimately we have to speak
out the language - HSp
helps us in this, Jn
16:13 But when he, the
Spirit of truth, comes, he will
guide you into all the truth.

2. By meditating on
scripture
Meditation is the missing link
between Bible intake and prayer.
Reading the Bible should lead us
into prayer, should help us to
pray.After reading the Bible
meditation allows us to take it
deeper into ourselves, to digest it
- then we can take it back and talk
to the Lord about it in a
meaningful way.What we read has
now become more meaningful and
purposeful in our lives.

John Owen: “Pray as you think.
Consciously embrace with your
heart every gleam of light and
truth that comes to your mind.
Thank God for and pray about
everything that strikes you
powerfully”
Matthew remarked on Psalm 19:14
“David’s prayers were not his
words only, but his meditations; as
meditation is the best preparation
for prayer, so prayer is the best
result of meditation. Meditation
and prayer go together.”

William Bates, Puritan pastor indicated
“What is the reason that our
desires like an arrow shot
from a weak bow do not
reach the mark? But only
this, we do not meditate
before we pray. Our prayers
are ineffectual if we don’t
meditate before we pray.”

Whitney finishes this section with some insight from
George Muller,
“It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the
benefit of which I have not lost, for more than fourteen
years.The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever
that the first great and primary business to which I
ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy
in the Lord.The first thing to be concerned about was
not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I might
glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a
happy state, and how my inner man might be
nourished...

Now, I saw that the most important thing I had to do
was to give myself to the reading of theWord of God,
and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be
comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and
that thus, by means of theWord of God, while
meditating on it, my heart might be brought into
experiential communion with the Lord...
The full story is well worth reading: http://
webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:lHJJhsc8TlEJ:www.connsbrook.org.uk/
George%2520Muller%2520and%2520Bible%2520Reading.doc+&hl=en&gl=uk

3. By praying with others
One of the great learning experiences for
the disciples must have been being with
him and hearing Jesus pray.
Find good models in prayer and learn
from them.
Do not repeat their habits but learn from
their insight, passion, use of scripture etc.
Do not repeat their words - or repeat
the same words over and over Matt
6:7
Make it a habit to pray with other people
- many great movements have started in
this way

4. By reading about
prayer
Remember Proverbs
27:17 & 13:20
Take time to read of the
“great” prayer warriors -
learn from their struggles as
well as their successes.
Almost every great man or
woman who achieved things
for God were people who
prayed and prayed and
prayed.

4. By reading about
prayer
Remember Proverbs
27:17 & 13:20
Take time to read of the
“great” prayer warriors -
learn from their struggles as
well as their successes.
Almost every great man or
woman who achieved things
for God were people who
prayed and prayed and
prayed.
As iron sharpens
iron, so one
person sharpens
another.
Walk with the
wise and become
wise, for a
companion of
fools suffers harm.

PRAYER IS ANSWERED
Psalm 65:2 You who answer
prayer, to you all people will come.
Whitney says all prayer is
answered, Matt 7:7-8 “Ask
and it will be given to you; seek
and you will ﬁnd; knock and the
door will be opened to you. For
everyone who asks receives; the
one who seeks ﬁnds; and to the
one who knocks, the door will be
opened.”

Andrew Murray comments on Christ’s
pledge. “Ask and you shall receive,
everyone that asks receives.”
Therefore, if you ask and receive not it
must be because there is something
wanting in our prayers. Maybe God
answered in a way that is not obvious
to us. Maybe we are asking for things
that are outside the will of God or will
not glorify Him. Maybe we are praying
with selﬁsh motives. Maybe we are
failing to deal with blatant sin in our
life. God does not mock us with His
promises to answer prayer.

C.H. Spurgeon said “I can’t
imagine anyone of you
tantalizing your child by exciting
in him a desire that you did not
intend to gratify.When God
leads you to pray, He means for
you to receive.”
We need to discipline
ourselves to pray and pray
aright so we can experience
the joy of answered prayer.

WHAT ABOUT YOUR PRAYER
LIFE?
•Since prayer is
expected will you pray?
You need to develop a speciﬁc
plan about your prayer life.
•At what time of the day will
you faithfully go before the
Father?
•How long will you pray each
day?
•Will you read the Bible?

WHAT ABOUT YOUR PRAYER
LIFE?
Will you read books about
prayer written by godly men
so you can learn how to pray
aright?
Where will you pray?You
need a special place.
Will you take action today?

John Piper says, “Unless I’m badly mistaken, one of the main
reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant life of
prayer is not so much that we don’t want to, but that we don’t
plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just
get up one summer morning and say,‘Hey, let’s go today!’ You
won’t have anything ready.You won’t know where to go. Nothing
has been planned.
“But that is how many of us treat prayer.We get up day after
day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part
of our life, but nothing’s ever ready.We don’t know where to go.
Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure.
And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a
wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer.

“...Therefore, my simple exhortation is this: Let us take time this
very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer ﬁts in. Make
some new resolve.Try some new venture with God. Set a time.
Set a place. Choose a portion of Scripture to guide you. Don’t be
tyrannized by the press of busy days.We all need midcourse
corrections. Make this a day of turning to prayer—for the glory
of God and for the fullness of your joy.”

Since prayer is learned, will
you learn to pray?
Will you learn about how others
have prayed?
Will you meet others to pray?
Will you learn to pray by linking Bible
reading to prayer via meditation?
When will you start?
Start where you are. If you are not
praying, start. If you are not meditating,
start. If you are not reading your Bible,
start.

Since prayer is answered
will you persistently pray?
Matt 7:7-8 is in the present,
continuous tense.That means we
must pray persistently before
answers come. If we fail to persist
it may mean that at the heart of
our prayer lacks seriousness about
our request. God may want us to
persist in order to strengthen our
faith in Him.

Since prayer is answered
will you persistently pray?
Matt 7:7-8 is in the present,
continuous tense.That means we
must pray persistently before
answers come. If we fail to persist
it may mean that at the heart of
our prayer lacks seriousness about
our request. God may want us to
persist in order to strengthen our
faith in Him.
George Mueller,
“The great fault of
the children of God
is, they do not
continue in prayer,
they do not
persevere. If they
desire anything for
God’s glory, they
should pray until
they get it.”

CH Spurgeon said, “Even as the
moon inﬂuences the tides of the sea,
even so does prayer inﬂuence the
tides of godliness.”
JC Ryle, "What is the reason that
some believers are so much brighter
and holier than others? I believe the
difference, in nineteen cases out of
twenty, arises from different habits
about private prayer. I believe that
those who are not eminently holy
pray little, and those who are
eminently holy pray much."

The Leader at
Prayer
J. Oswald Sanders, Chapter 11,
Prayer and Leadership

“The spiritual
leader should
outpace the
church, above all,
in prayer”
Yet no leader fails to be
conscious of how much more
he could grow and develop in
this area.

CJ Vaughan, “If I wanted to humble someone I
should ask them questions about their prayers. I
know nothing to compare with this topic for its
sorrowful self confessions”
Prayer is the Christians vital air and native breath.
We talk of prayer as drawing near to God, as a place
of power, it is indispensable, a place of delight, a
command.
Yet often we fail to pray.

One famous leader confessed he found his heart loath to
go to God in prayer and when he did he was loath to stay -
yet he confessed the need for self discipline here,
encouraging those who knew him to greater depth and
discipline in prayer even when they thought they could not.
The time and effort given to prayer is a measure of
how important it it to us.

We cannot learn about praying
except by doing it! Intellectually it
might seem hard to understand
but by looking at Jesus we see the
necessity of it - and if anyone
could manage without it, surely it
would be Jesus. Yet prayer was
dominant and prominent in his
life and a regular part of his
teaching.
Martin Luther declared
extra work was not a
reason to pray less,
“Work, work from
early till late. In fact I
have so much to do
that I shall spend the
first three hours in
prayer.”

We cannot learn about praying
except by doing it! Intellectually it
might seem hard to understand
but by looking at Jesus we see the
necessity of it - and if anyone
could manage without it, surely it
would be Jesus. Yet prayer was
dominant and prominent in his
life and a regular part of his
teaching.

D. M. McIntyre wrote:
In Luke 5:16 we have a general
statement which throws a vivid light
on the daily practice of the Lord. “And
He withdrew Himself in the deserts
and prayed.” Note:
*It is not of one occasion but of many
that the evangelist speaks in this
place. *When He prayed he was in the
desert
*One so mighty, so richly gifted with
spiritual power, still needed to pray
* he still needed to ask for grace to
help in time of need.

Jesus at prayer:
Lk 6:12 - full nights
Mk 1:35 - rising early
Lk 5:16 - often
Mk 6:46 - after feeding 5000
Lk 9:28 - before transfiguration
Lk 6:12 - before choosing the
apostles
Heb 5:7 - with loud cries

Jesus at prayer:
Lk 6:12 - full nights
Mk 1:35 - rising early
Lk 5:16 - often
Mk 6:46 - after feeding 5000
Lk 9:28 - before transfiguration
Lk 6:12 - before choosing the
apostles
Heb 5:7 - with loud cries
“All vital praying
makes a drain on a
man’s vitality. True
intercession is a
sacrifice, a bleeding
sacrifice”
J. H. Jowett.
absolutely necessary; essential;
full of energy; lively

Col 4:12 - Epahphras is wrestling for
you in prayer
Col 2:1 - Paul is struggling (a word
usually used for agonising or being in
agony) - the same word is used of one
who is weary (Col 1:29), competing (1
Cor 9:25), a soldier battling for his life
(1 Tim 6;12), a man struggling to
deliver his friends form danger (Jn
18:36)
“True prayer is a strenuous spiritual
exercise which demands the utmost
mental discipline and concentration”

Rom 8:26-28 In the same way, the
Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do
not know what we ought to pray for,
but the Spirit himself intercedes for us
through wordless groans. And he who
searches our hearts knows the mind
of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for God’s people in
accordance with the will of God.
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.

Pray in the Spirit
Holy Spirit is the master
teacher in prayer - more is
mentioned of this aspect of his
ministry than of any other. All
true prayer comes from his
activity in our souls.
Paul and Jude both speak of
“praying in the Spirit” - the
same things, lines, name, as
he does

Pray in the Spirit
Holy Spirit is the master
teacher in prayer - more is
mentioned of this aspect of his
ministry than of any other. All
true prayer comes from his
activity in our souls.
Paul and Jude both speak of
“praying in the Spirit” - the
same things, lines, name, as
he does
“True prayer
rises in the
spirit of the
Christian from
the Spirit who
indwells us”

Pray in the Spirit for 2 reasons:
1. The HSp is the atmosphere and
sphere of the life of a Christian - yet
much of our praying is merely
physical, in the area of the mind alone,
produced by our thinking not the
Spirit’s teaching.
“Real prayer is deeper. It uses the
body, requires the cooperation of
the mind, and moves in the
supernatural realm of the Spirit...it
transacts business in the heavenly
realm”

2. Pray in the power and
energy of the Spirit.
Eph 6:18 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.
Human power and energy are
not enough!

The HSp helps us to pray even in our failings;

- in our sin HSp leads us to grace
and forgiveness in the blood of Jesus

- ignorance of mind can stop us
praying but HSp knows the mind of
God and reveals it to us as we wait
and listen, so we know our prayer
is in accordance with God’s will

- sickness and weakness stops us
praying, HSp brings life and healing,
enabling us to rise above such things

- sickness and weakness stops us
praying, HSp brings life and healing,
enabling us to rise above such things
- And, satan tries all sorts of
tricks to stop us praying

Do you pray in the
Spirit?
Do you walk in the
Spirit - all of the time,
sometimes,
occasionally, rarely,
never?
Are your prayers
powerless and
frequently (always)
unanswered?

Biblically prayer is often seen as spiritual
warfare;
- Eph 6:12 - the Christian at prayer
stands in between God and the devil -
wielding no personal power but having a
strategic role - the victory won by Christ
works through our prayers to those in
captivity and darkness.
Jesus seemed at times to be less
concerned over the sinful person as the
power behind their sin (or sickness) -
the grip of satan in such lives is released
through the power of the cross taken
hold of in prayer

Such understanding is vital in
spiritual leadership - know where
the battle is meant to be won and
pray there in spiritual warfare.
Matt 12:29 - “Or again, how can
anyone enter a strong man’s house
and carry off his possessions unless
he first ties up the strong man?
Then he can plunder his house.”
- neutralise the power of the enemy
- by taking hold of the power of the
cross - the power of which is taken
hold of in prayer.

Such understanding is vital in
spiritual leadership - know where
the battle is meant to be won and
pray there in spiritual warfare.
Matt 12:29 - “Or again, how can
anyone enter a strong man’s house
and carry off his possessions unless
he first ties up the strong man?
Then he can plunder his house.”
- neutralise the power of the enemy
- by taking hold of the power of the
cross - the power of which is taken
hold of in prayer.
Luke 10:19
I have given you
authority to trample
on snakes and
scorpions and to
overcome all the
power of the enemy;
nothing will harm
you.

Hudson Taylor
“It is possible
to move men,
through God,
by prayer
alone.”

Practice
We might all say we believe in the
power of prayer - but practicing it is
very different. Do you believe you can
take hold of God’s power to move the
cold, unyielding hearts of men?
We might think this is inconsistent -
how can we speak of freewill and yet
also of this power of prayer to affect
hearts?
Sanders notes:

1. God is always consistent with
himself - no contradictions -
therefore if answer to prayer is
promised it will come in a way
consistent with who God is - 2
Tim 2:13
2. Prayer is commanded by God
- meet the conditions suggested
by God and he will answer - he
commands prayer for kings and
those in authority, so surely such
prayer has power consistent with
God’s created order.

3. We can know God’s will regarding what we are
praying - Ro 8:26-27
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We
do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And
he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the
Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in
accordance with the will of God.
As we seek the will of God and the HSp impresses upon
our hearts and minds God’s desire - this leads us into
the prayer of faith - even if it takes time to be answered

“One day George Mueller began praying
for five of his friends. After many
months, one of them came to the Lord.
Ten years later, two others were
converted. It took 25 years before the
fourth man was saved. Mueller
persevered in prayer until his death for
the fifth friend, and throughout those 52
years he never gave up hoping that he
would accept Christ! His faith was
rewarded, for soon after Mueller’s
funeral the last one was saved.”

“One day George Mueller began praying
for five of his friends. After many
months, one of them came to the Lord.
Ten years later, two others were
converted. It took 25 years before the
fourth man was saved. Mueller
persevered in prayer until his death for
the fifth friend, and throughout those 52
years he never gave up hoping that he
would accept Christ! His faith was
rewarded, for soon after Mueller’s
funeral the last one was saved.”
Muller was asked if he believed
these men would really be
converted, he replied,
“Do you think God would
have kept me praying all
these years if he did not
intend to save them?”

"God does
nothing except in
response to
believing prayer."
John Wesley

It is important to remember we deal
first with the ear of God in prayer -
not the ear of men.
Remember it is not our prayer that
moves people - but the influence of
God upon them.
If you want to move someone you
must be sure you can move God first!
Prevailing prayer that moves
people is the result of a right
relationship with God - most
unanswered prayers are centred
on the believers relationship with
God.

Are your prayers full of...
- self interest
- impure motives
- sin - if you cling to sin you
move away from God
- unbelief (Heb 11:6)
Great leaders in the Bible were
great at prayer, EM Bounds
says,

Are your prayers full of...
- self interest
- impure motives
- sin - if you cling to sin you
move away from God
- unbelief (Heb 11:6)
Great leaders in the Bible were
great at prayer, EM Bounds
says,
“They were not leaders
because of brilliancy of
thought, because they
were exhaustless in
resources, because of
their magnificent
culture or native
endowment, but
because, by the power
of prayer, they could
command the power of
God.”

The school of prayer begins
with the kindergarten
understanding of
communion with God and
proceeds beyond graduate
studies - where is your
prayer life now, is it
progressing?
Who are your prayer models,
who has helped you most in
prayer?

SFL Section 4: Prayer, Combined Discipleship and Leadership notes

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Was ist angesagt?

Was ist angesagt? (20)

Andere mochten auch

Andere mochten auch (20)

Ähnlich wie SFL Section 4: Prayer, Combined Discipleship and Leadership notes

Ähnlich wie SFL Section 4: Prayer, Combined Discipleship and Leadership notes (20)

Mehr von Richard Chamberlain

Mehr von Richard Chamberlain (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

SFL Section 4: Prayer, Combined Discipleship and Leadership notes