Mon.12.15.14... Connecting with our King...Powerful Praying

Last week we began looking at how to help ourselves and our protégés REAP from God’s word. After asking the Lord to help us, we focused on the essentials of-

Reading- sometimes reading a lot to get the big picture, other times reading a little for reflection.

Exploring the treasures of the passage. We used the simple tool of summarizing the passage in Is.53.

Applying God’s word.  We used the SPEAK questions as we looked at 1 Cor.10:1-13

Praying after reading God’s word. This is what we want to focus on now and for the next several days.

It’s been said that if you want to humble a Christian ask him how well he’s doing in his prayer life.

For example, see if any of the following might be true of you-

i'd have to admit that my prayer life is shallow and sporadic.

If others were to listen in on my prayers I would be embarrassed.

I would not be a good model for my protégés to follow.

I don’t have a good way to pray in a balanced and biblically bold way.

I wish I had a simple way to pray something deep for my loved ones and proteges.

Why is talking to our Father in heaven so difficult? There are several things that come to mind, but perhaps this is especially important to consider- Satan exerts his greatest opposition against God's greatest things. So no wonder prayer, Bible reading, witnessing and loving our family members is so challenging at times. Prayer involves warfare. But we just don't see the battle going on behind our backs.

 

Another problem for many Christians is that they haven't had much teaching on prayer. You would think that prayer should come naturally for any child of God. Just look at how little children talk so much to their parents. But wait a minute. A child only learns how to talk by hearing his parents and others first talk to him. They, so to speak, “put words in his mouth.” So we need "prayer talk" to help us to learn how to talk to God. Thus, we find the disciples asking Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray” Luke 11:1. Jesus didn’t scold them, but “put words in their mouth.” He gave them the words to say. He taught them what has been informally called the “Our Father” prayer or more formally, the Lord’s prayer. Both Luke 11 and Matthew 6 record it. Jesus told them to pray after this manner:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.   Mt.6:9-13 KJV

Many of you learned this when you were growing up, even if you didn’t go to church regularly. That’s good because it is the basis of learning how to pray powerfully. Great church leaders throughout history have helped their people learn to pray based on the Lord’s prayer, so let’s also use it as a model. It’s not to simply to be mouthed, but used as a powerful pattern for our prayers. So what is the hidden pattern in the Lord’s prayer?

1.-God's Praise- Our Father in heaven, holy is your name

2.-God's Priorites- Your kingdom come, your will be done

3.-Our Petitions-

    for physical needs- [Provisions] Give us this day our daily bread (and all the other things we usually ask for)

    for spiritual needs – [Pardon]Forgive us… [Protection] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

4.-God's Praise- For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. (not found in modern Bibles)

Over the next several days we will unpack this transforming prayer that will guide you to pray powerfully to God, for yourself and others. Today, let’s begin with an introduction to this prayer of prayers.  

1.-Open your Bible and read Mt.6:5-14. What is one thing that stands out to you about Jesus' teaching on prayer?

2.-Psalm 86:5 is such an excellent encouragement for us to pray. Write it on your 3x5 and be encouraged to pray. 

"O Lord, we pray that you would give us a greater desire to pray.
But may we not wait for the desire, for it also comes in the praying."
"We shall make the enemy moan and God and our souls glad that we pray today." 
"The prayer of the upright pleases Him." Prov.15:8

Important Announcements:
I want to thank several of you who have been leaving encouraging notes to your fellow teammates. That encourages me! The Bible says, "let us encourage one another daily..." Heb.3:13. So may I ask that each of us share a few words of encouragement to the last brother to post on the passage just above your good comments? Since our focus is on prayer, let's seek to pray for that fellow warrior that day. His name could go on your 3x5. Your encouragement note could be as simple as "good words" or "I'll cover you" in prayer. Think also how encouraging that will be not only to each of us now, but to new people who will be joining us. What a great team to belong to! I already feel that way and it's only going to get better.

Thanks Gary for pointing out that if you want to be notified in your email box when someone responds to your comments, just check the Notify Me box on the right across from the Publish tab when you're about to publish your comments and then you'll get notified in your email box. Nice!

Thanks Eddie for spearheading Operation Christmas Child held at our church Friday. What a great outreach to the children of incarcerated men from our area. I'm right proud of you and our other men who participated in this event. 

Congratulations on another 100% day!

Some of you have been staying up way past my bedtime to respond. Way to go! You are keeping your commitment of "No Scripture, No sleep." That makes you unstoppable! Credit will be given from now on all the way up until 3:00am when the new day's post goes up. Sorry, no more credit can be given if someone posts a day late- M-Th. But the good news is that if you "young whipper snappers" are out all day and night Friday and want to post Saturday, I'm fine with that. Please start looking at the blog on Sunday's to be enriched by your teammates and to encourage them on the GDPs (Growing Deeper Projects). 

		G=God's Word	R	E	A	T
		For Th.12.11.14
	Alpha Force	100%
	Fire Team 1
1	Jack Rogers	Y
2	Daniel Contreras	Y
3	Roger Vinlasaca	Y
	Fire Team 2
4	Israel Fuentes	Y
5	John Pallozzi	Y
6	Sam Vargas	Y
	Delta Force	100%
	Fire Team 3
1	Alvin James	Y
2	Dave Heidekruger	Y
3	Mike Pagan	Y
	Fire Team 4
5	Eddie Morales	Y
6	Gary Remson	Y
7	Ismael Andrade	Y