FORGED: Session 2 Strengthened in Prayer

Gentlemen, hope you’ve enjoyed the morning thus far, and the night we spent together last night. What a wonderful session on the Scriptures that was. I am grateful to be able to lead a session this morning on being STRENGTHENED BY PRAYER.

Before we have a session on prayer, let’s pray!

In preparation for this session, I came across a recent study based on praying habits, and it revealed some pretty interesting statistics. The most common thing prayed for or about was gratitude and thanksgiving. 62% of people said they prayed this with some consistency. This was followed closely by 61% of people saying they prayed consistently for the needs of their family and community. 43% prayed often for forgiveness and confession of some sort. Something that was alarming was the fact that only 8% made note that their prayer life involved the meditation of Scripture. Meaning that there is some kind of Scripture reciting or using some passage of Scripture to guide your praying. And you might say, “I’ve never even really thought about using the Bible to pray.” You wouldn’t be alone.

Perhaps, even though prayer is considered to be most common faith practice among adults, it is our method of praying that often results in the lack of depth in our prayer lives. Or maybe even the lack of prayer itself. This morning, I want to present to you a new method for praying. One that I believe will enrich how you approach God, and perhaps revolutionize the way you talk to Him. We’re operating on the assumption that this is what prayer is: it is conversing with God. Now, to be sure, it is more than this, but it is never less. We pray, because in Christ, we have the ear of God.

So, for our time together, I want to talk about four P’s concerning prayer. You can mark these down now, or as we cover them individually:

The Problem of Prayer The Prerequisite of Prayer The Prescription of Prayer The Practice of Prayer

If I was to ask you about your prayer life, I wonder how you would describe it to me. If I asked you to rate your prayer life based on a system of 1-10, with 1 having no sort of prayer life at all, and 10 being the best it’s ever been, how would you rate yourself? Now, I’m not looking for any sort of explicit answer here, just that there might be some introspection about how we’re doing.

Or, perhaps if I asked you to use three words to describe your prayer life, would your words be more close to something like, vibrant, refreshing, constant? Or would they be more kin to dull, repetitive, sporadic? FORGED: Session 2 Strengthened in Prayer More often than not, we are in a place where we would say that we could use improvement in our prayer lives. And this is nothing to be discouraged about, because if you feel like you’ve made it, then you probably need more improvement than you realize. And so, no matter where you might be in your prayer life this morning, I think the next few minutes that we spend together can be beneficial for you. I think you’ll leave with some next steps to really transform the way you pray. Because if we’re honest, we need it. We typically underutilize the tool of prayer, though it is vastly more important than we realize. Our prayer lives need to be stirred up because we need prayer. And we need prayer because we need God.

See, we’re often stifled by struggles in our own praying. We are plagued by problems that often leave us defeated, and with little desire to pray.

Here are some common problems we tend to deal with:

Prayer can be repetitive. Right? We often pray for the same things, in the same ways. We know there are issues in our families. So, we pray for our cousin that’s been sick for a while. We say, “Lord, be with Michael.” Or we pray for a co-worker who’s been experiencing some struggles in their marriage. “Lord, be with William.” It seems like we cycle through whatever it is that comes to our mind, but we often struggle to know how to pray or what to pray.

Often times, we settle with generic praying. Like, “Lord, be with so-and-so.” Now, it’s true that a touch from God would change everything in a person’s life, and there is nothing they need more than the presence of God in the middle of their need. But friends, God is glorified when we pray specifically for people. Why? Because He is a God that answers specific prayers. And when they are specifically answered, we can’t help but honor Him for the work He’s done. Still, sometimes it’s easy to feel stuck in our praying. We have trouble knowing what to say. So, we usually say the bare minimum.

How about this issue: ever had your mind wander in prayer? Especially if you’ve woken up early to pray. You might start strong, but then you begin thinking about what you’re doing the rest of the day, the tasks you have to handle. Or you’re praying for a friend, and it reminds you of another friend from your childhood, and before you know it, your mind has chased a thought that wound up in some memory from grade school. You think, “how in the world did I wind up here?” The mind is a strange thing. It wanders easily. It happens most often when we don’t have a plan or some sort of structure in our praying.

What about this problem: we just don’t feel like it? Now before you get so spiritual, admit you’ve been there before. Sometimes we’re tired, other times we just feel like we have so much to do. Even other times, we feel like it won’t be much use! We’d rather act on our own behalf and see what we can accomplish when we have a need, instead of going to the Lord with it. You know why we sometimes do not feel like praying? Because we just don’t know what to say. It feels like work instead of worship. That’s not the design behind the FORGED: Session 2 Strengthened in Prayer communication ability we’ve been given by God. We’ve been given His ear, as His children, and we’re called to use it.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve struggled with one, or all, of these issues before in your praying. But there’s a better way. To be sure, there is no secret in praying that will afford us what we feel like is success every time we pray for the rest of our lives. But there are keys to understanding methods in prayer that will strengthen our prayer lives and dependence upon God. We can pray without being repetitive, or shallow, or having our minds in constant wander, and it starts with the realization that we have God as an ally in our praying. That is, we have God the Holy Spirit to equip us, to empower us, and to enliven our prayer life.

That being said, it is impossible to be the men of prayer God has called us to be apart from the help of the Holy Spirit. He is the prerequisite to prayer. Without the help of the Spirit of God, we are powerless.

I want to speak foundationally for just a moment about the work of the Spirit in our lives to point us in the right direction of how that work is played out. Upon our conversion, the Spirit of God is given to us to enable us to do all that God has called us to do.

In fact, Jesus says this in John 14:26:

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

He says this in chapter 14:15-17: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

Jesus is telling his disciples that he will not forever be with them in bodily form. But though now he walks beside them, it will be better one day because he will dwell within them. The Spirit of God will be given to the people of God to equip them for the work of God.

But one thing we must consider as we think about the Spirit’s help in our prayer lives is the fact that our flesh, or who we are outside of Christ, does us absolutely no good in any spiritual matter whatsoever. Let me double down here and say that there is not one thing in this life that we can do that is pleasing to God, or adds any kind of value to the kingdom of God, without the help of the Spirit. If it is not initiated by the Spirit of God, and sustained by Him, and finished by Him, it will not be any eternal significance.

Jesus says this in John 6:63: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.” The New American Standard Bible translates it this way: “The flesh profits nothing.” FORGED: Session 2 Strengthened in Prayer In John 15:5, Jesus tells his disciples, “Apart from me, you can do nothing..”

And we really can’t; the flesh is of no value.

You know, there was a custodian of a church that was a very godly man. He had been a Christian for more than half his 70 years, and was convinced God had called him to serve the church through the role he was currently in. He was gradually losing the ability to think and work effectively because he began having issues with hardening of his arteries. One day a church member walked in to find him sweating profusely after having done some vacuuming. The man looked down to see that the vacuum plug was lying not far from the vacuum itself. The custodian had vacuumed the auditorium without ever actually plugging the vacuum in. Power never made it to the vacuum.

Isn’t this how we operate often times in our spiritual lives? We pull, we work, we toil, but to no avail. Friends, we desperately need the Spirit of God in every single area of our lives. We need Him so desperately that it requires a full surrender of our lives, each and every day, that we might fulfill what God requires of us. But that’s the good news: God always supplies to us what He requires from us. The Spirit of God is God living within us, empowering us to do what he tells us to do.

Our prayer lives are no different. For them to be all God desires them to be, we must have the Spirit’s help. Without it, it’s a continual struggle that will never be resolved. We’ll continue to live defeated in our praying. Thankfully, the Scripture points us to the Spirit’s role in prayer.

Let’s look at one specific passage outlining this truth: Romans 8:26-27 “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

He helps us in our weakness! And speaks to the Father on our behalf when we know not what to pray. Is this an excuse not to pray? Absolutely not. But He is, as Jesus promised, our Helper. So, we press on in prayer. See, the Bible always prescribes to us what is best for us. Prayer is an avenue to intimacy with God, and in His goodness, he commands that we do it.

Listen to some Scriptural imperatives concerning prayer:

Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

1 Thessalonians 5:7 “Pray without ceasing.” FORGED: Session 2 Strengthened in Prayer Ephesians 6:18 “Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”

When we read these verses, sometimes it’s easy to see them as suggestions. Like, “Alright, when I pray, I’ll keep these things in mind.” But the word of God is giving these statements as imperatives, as commands. That means when we do not take heed to what the word is saying, we are acting in opposition to God. At the end of the day, it’s disobedience.

But God requires it from us because He knows what is best for us. He knows we need prayer, because He knows we need Him. He knows we need fellowship with Him. It provides life and vitality to us. He’s calling for that which will benefit us.

Did you notice the common thread of these prescriptions we see in the Scriptures? “But in everything by prayer in supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” “Pray without ceasing.” “Praying at all times…” The common denominator is that we are instructed to pray always!

How often? All the time. We are invited into a constantly open conversation with the God of the universe. The access we’ve been given because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ on our behalf is nothing short of mind-blowing. It ought to generate some kind of response within us. An infinitely holy God wants a relationship with a finite sinner such as myself? There is no greater news. What’s more, this gracious God wants a relationship that is always developing and deepening. It happens by prayer.

And what kinds of praying are we supposed to do without ceasing? Three times in those verses do we see the word “supplication.” This just means making pleas. Making petitions or requests. And you can’t help but think if someone is making pleas about something, there is a great sense of dependence from that person. And when we recognize just how dependent we are on God, it makes all the difference in our praying. In fact, I believe there is a direct correlation between being near to God in prayer and recognizing our dependence upon Him.

James 1:17 says that, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Everything we have, every grace given us, is from the Father’s hand. When this comes to our attention, we begin to see just how much we ought to be before God in prayer. We have nothing outside of Him, and we recognize that with Him we have everything. This was the cry of the psalmist’s heart, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.”

We make pleas and petitions because you and I have no power. We are far more reliant on God than we’ll ever realize, and prayer makes the connection between the powerless and the ultimately powerful One. The Spirit makes this possible. Even when we don’t feel like it, or FORGED: Session 2 Strengthened in Prayer don’t know what to say, or when we tend to repeat ourselves a bunch, the Spirit of God helps us.

We’ve established from the beginning that there is a real need for us to know not only what to pray, but how to pray, and so I want to offer you a very simple practice that could be very helpful for you in your praying. This is not novel, nor is it new, but is something that Christians have been doing for 2,000 years. It’s praying the Bible.

Why pray the Bible? One reason is, we never run out of things to say! In fact, we take God’s words, and speak them back to Him. Donald Whitney says it this way: In praying the Bible, “you are taking words that originated in the heart and mind of God and circulating them through your heart and mind back to God.” Imagine the reality of this! The wonderful words of the eternal and infinite God processing through our finite minds for our delight and joy in Him.

To be sure, we can take any of God’s word and pray it back to him, but it must be said that praying the Psalms are often the most conducive to praying. Many of them are very simply just prayers and praises offered to God. So, I want to take you through a chapter of Psalms to give you an idea about what it might look like to pray the Bible, and hopefully you’ll use this practice on your own.

Since we did a study of the 23rd Psalm last year, I thought it might be fitting for us to cover that chapter as we think about praying. And the idea is that we go verse by verse, taking each one as a directive to praying. And if nothing comes to mind as you read it, then simply move to the next line. So, if you’ve got your Bible, turn with me to Psalm 23.

Lets begin with verse 1: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” Your response might be something like this (And listen, you can read the verse and pray what comes to mind, or even write out a prayer from the passage): “Father, I thank you that you are my Shepherd. Your lovingkindness and care towards me is matched by no other. I thank you for sending Christ, the Good Shepherd, who restored my relationship with you. I thank you that as the Shepherd you are, I lack in nothing that you desire for me. Everything I need in order to love you and others, you provide for me. I want for nothing, because in you I find all things. I am grateful that as Shepherd, you never leave my side, but have positioned yourself to always be with me.

Verse 2: “He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.” Father you are worthy to be praised because you are constantly leading me toward rest. Ultimately, I find eternal rest in Christ, because He has accomplished everything on my behalf. You have given me this rest, though I did nothing to deserve it. I no longer have to try to work for my salvation, as it is freely given to me through the work of Jesus. I take this opportunity to lift up my friend Chris, who I know needs you, Lord. Would you provide him the same salvation you’ve provided me? Spirit of God, would you open his eyes to see the wonderful FORGED: Session 2 Strengthened in Prayer news of the gospel and the reality of his sin? I pray that you would use me as a catalyst to bring the good news to him, Lord. Your word says, “blessed are the feet of those who bring the good news.” I pray that I always travel with the gospel, eager to tell any who will listen about the rest they can find in Christ Jesus. Lord, help me in this area. I know it is often a struggle for me, but though the flesh is weak, the Spirit is willing.

You might continue reading to verse 3: He restores my soul. “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Lord, I know that you are a restoring God. You are alone mighty enough to restore all things, and this has been your plan from the beginning. You are a God of creation and renewal, and I praise you for it. You are always leading and directing everything toward your intended end, and you do all things for your own glory. Everything is meant to point back toward you, that you might receive all glory, with none competing with you. Thank you for your leading, may my heart always be inclined to follow you.

You’re beginning to see how this might work. You can see that I’m allowing the Bible to speak for itself, and I’m just responding to what I read. I don’t have to come up with what I’m going to pray, I just read and respond. It is helpful to have things on your mind or some needs written down, because you can call out for them as you’re reading, just as I did for my friend who I know needs Jesus. But I’m allowing God’s word to lead the way.

For the sake of another example, let’s just take a passage from the New Testament and do the same thing.

Colossians 1 beginning in verse 9 will give us much to chew on:

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

You might pray in response: “Lord, thank you for the reminder to pray for others. I am challenged by Paul’s love for the Colossian church leading to his constant prayers for them. I think of my love for my brothers and sisters at Piney Grove and call out specifically for a few of them now. I pray for those who have cancer, who desperately need a touch from you. I know you are the only one capable of healing them, and ask that you would do so. For those who are experiencing life-altering struggles, I pray for greater dependence upon you, and that you would fill them with the knowledge of your will. We know from your word that your will is perfect and nothing can come against it, as you accomplish all you set out to do. I ask that you would give us better understanding of it, that we might surrender to your perfect and pleasing will, for your glory. Your word says that any who lack wisdom can ask for it, and if they ask for it rightly, it will be given them. I ask for your wisdom today Lord, as I seek to live in a way that honors you. FORGED: Session 2 Strengthened in Prayer Vs. 10: “So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

“Father I know you’ve called me to walk in a manner worthy of you, and so I ask that you enable me to keep in step with the Spirit, so as not to gratify any desires of my flesh today. I’ve been struggling recently with lust of the eyes, and I pray Lord that you would give me a clean heart and pure eyes that desire nothing but you. I’ve been angry lately Lord, and I ask for your assistance, and I know peace and patience are fruit of the Spirit. It is His fruit that I ask you would bear through me, that my life might be a testament of your goodness. I want my life to show the great and infinite value of the gospel. Lord, no matter what it takes, use me to honor you and bless others! Help my knowledge of you to increase, not that I might have more head knowledge, but that my heart my increasingly know you, Lord!

Finally, we’ll look at verse 11: “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.”

Lord, I am mindful of believers worldwide that need the strength of the Spirit to take the gospel into hard places, places where they might even risk their lives for your sake. May they go in power with the gospel, knowing that it is salvation to all who would believe, calling on the name of the Lord Jesus in repentance and belief. May they endure well, as they look toward you for their satisfaction, and to be content in nothing but you. Let them know fully the joy that comes with the presence of Christ in them. Your desire is a world full of your image bearers, so Father, I ask that you send out more laborers into the harvest, that those who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ might be told of Him and have an opportunity to respond to Him. Lord, may you send people even from among my family. Lord, even I am willing to go. I will do whatever you say, knowing that you will supply the power I need to accomplish your will.

Using the Scriptures, you can pray for various things, but be able to use biblical language to do it. Having the word of God lead us in our praying helps with not being repetitive, it helps us to know what to pray, and even helps keep us on track, because we’re systematically praying through something. We don’t have to wonder what it is that we’ll pray. It’s right in front of us, and it’s the word of God. The matchless, perfect word of God. And again, I encourage you to have a list of things you need to pray for, but to use the Bible to pray for those things.

So, as we wrap up, we’ve discussed the issues we have with praying. Whatever our issues are, we ought not to be discouraged. We have great Help in the Spirit of God, who is the prerequisite to prayer. We looked at Scripture’s mandate for us to pray, as we know God requires from us what is best for us. He knows there is nothing more beneficial for our goal of Christlikeness than to do the very thing we saw Christ so often do while he was on earth: pray. FORGED: Session 2 Strengthened in Prayer And then we addressed a very practical way to pray. And I know how men are, because it happened to me. When I first read about praying the Bible, I thought, “this is a great idea!” And I thought to myself, I’ll have to give this a shot sometime. And then I kept reading, and the writer said, I know that you’ve just contemplated this prayer method, and you’ve decided you’ll try it later. But you probably won’t. Try it now. And I am so glad I did.

One of the things I could not help but think after I prayed the Bible was the fact that my praying focused a lot more on God rather than me and my needs. I want to tell you this morning that the goal of praying is not to have your needs met. The goal of praying is that we would get God in our praying. That we would know Him. The bonafide way to know that you are increasing in your prayer life is if you are increasing in your focus on God in your praying. It doesn’t mean you can’t ask for things concerning you. It means that you give priority to God because He is most important to you.

See, at the end of the day, we pray about things that are most pressing to us. Things that we think about most. Things that have the largest impact on our lives currently. We pray about things that are most on our hearts. Which, could be a good thing, but sometimes it ought to serve as a check as to what it is that we allow our hearts to be concerned with. We pray much for friends/family, or for sicknesses and finances, or for direction from God. Or for his blessings and favor. Many times we pray for ourselves. Is there a better way? I believe there is. It is praying the Bible. It causes us to point our prayers towards God, making Him the central focus.

So, this is what we’re going to try to do together, in our D-Groups. Here’s the goal of this time: to practice this method! This method will help us in praying more biblical prayers. It’s going to help us honor God in our praying, because according to John 4:23, God is looking for people to worship Him in spirit and truth. We know God’s word is truth, and here’s the wonderful thing about God’s word: God’s word reveals God’s will. If we pray the Bible, we will never have to worry about the things we pray being outside of God’s will. Because we’re using God’s word! I cannot commend this method enough.

Now, a final word as we get ready to do that together. A commitment to prayer is first and foremost a commitment to God. We have endless spiritual riches in Christ Jesus, and prayer is the way we mine for the treasure in our relationship with God. Men, let’s be who God has called us to be. Spiritual leaders of our homes, and in our church, and in our community. It starts with prayer.