All too often our prayer lives are stagnant. We know we should pray and pray much more often than we do. We are periodically plagued with guilt over what we know we should be doing and what we actually do.
Yet, we struggle to find the motivation to pray because we just don't see the results of answered prayer.
Jesus speaks to this "problem" in Matthew 7:7-12 when He tells us that persistence in prayer is absolutely essential. Among other things, this sermon will explain why persistence in prayer is so important to God.
To access online notes for this sermon, click here.
To access the sermon video, click here or view the video below.
I began yesterday's sermon with the story of an incident I had as a teenager on a backhoe. (Watch sermon here.) I revealed that my lack of knowledge and experience had some very troubling consequences. I quickly exited the operator's seat and let the "professional" do the job.
Prayer is not like that at all. Sure, we all struggle with how prayer works and we may lack knowledge and experience. But, the only way to learn to pray is to just do it. If your heart joins with the disciples' request as they said, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1), then God will enable you to become more proficient in it. But, that will only happen as you spend time each day in prayer.
So, as you are spending time in prayer, here are some other helpful ways to grow in your understanding of prayer:
Do your own exciting Bible study on prayer.
All you need is a Bible, a pad of paper and a pen. Begin by reading through the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) and then the book of Acts citing every place that prayer is mentioned or engaged in. Write down every little bit of information that you can glean from each of those references. This may take you a few days or a few months but don't rush. You will be surprised (and overjoyed) at what God shows you as you study His Word with the intention of engaging with Him in prayer. He wants you to talk to Him so He is more than ready for you to learn from Him.
Watch or read "War Room."
This movie (and book) has been written and produced by solid Bible-believers. The prayer principles they reveal in the movie (book) are sound and are intended to inform and motivate a Christian populace to engage God in prayer.
Read "How to Pray" by R.A. Torrey.
This is a short, easy to read classic that I have enjoyed many, many times. Buy it and read it.
One of the many mishandled passages of Scripture is Matthew 6:9-15, commonly called "The Lord's Prayer." However, the Lord is never recorded as using this "prayer" when He talked with the Father (see His prayer in John 17) nor are any other New Testament prayers seen to recite this prayer.
So one has to wonder why so many contemporary Christians believe there is merit in mindlessly reciting these verses thus violating Jesus' command a few verses earlier when He said not to heap up empty (mindless) phrases when we pray (Matthew 6:7). What did Jesus intended for Matthew 6:9-15 to be? Simply put, it is a basic outline of prayer with the major themes we should address in prayer. It is intended to only be a skeleton and we are required to flesh it out when we talk to our Heavenly Father. This sermon discovers those themes and explains them. To access online notes for this sermon, click here.
To access the sermon video, click here or view the video below.
You know you need to pray but if you are like many other followers of Jesus, your prayer life just isn't that fun or rewarding. If this is the case, it's probably due to one of two reasons: 1) you were never taught how to prayer and how it works or 2) you just aren't seeing many answers to your prayers. Fortunately, Jesus has given us much information regarding prayer in Matthew 6. This sermon dives into Matthew 6:6 and investigates four habits that must be true if our prayer life is to be fun and our prayers are getting answered. To access online notes for this sermon, click here. To access the sermon video, click here or view the video below.
The #1 movie in America last week (and possibly this week, too!) is
called War Room and it’s all about prayer. The primary intent of the
movie seems to be to encourage viewers to engage God in prayer and do
their fighting on their knees in their “prayer closet” (or War Room).
As we continue our study in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), we
come this morning to the text that is the basis for the movie. Since I
believe that God is presently calling us as individuals, as churches and
as a nation back to Himself, we will camp out on these verses for at
least a couple of Sundays and discover what prayer really is, how it
works, and how we can become prayer warriors.
To access online notes for this sermon, click here.
To access the sermon video, click here or view the video below.
All too often our prayer lives are stagnant. We know we should pray and pray much more often than we do. We are periodically plagued with guilt over what we know we should be doing and what we actually do.
