Teach Us To Pray

Teach Us to Pray: Week 1

Being Honest in Prayer

Like every other spiritual discipline, prayer is about practice, not perfection.

What’s something that we can start doing now in our prayers that can help us?

Pray Honest Prayers - When we pray, we need to be honest with ourselves about God, and honest with God about ourselves.

1.) Honest with ourselves about God

Our prayers are shaped significantly by who we think we’re praying to, so we need to be honest with ourselves about who God is.

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us…Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, “What comes into your mind when you think about God?” we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. ― AW Tozer, Knowledge of the Holy

What is the God you are praying to like in your mind?
What’s His character?
What kind of God is he?

Matthew 6:9-13 (ESV)

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…

How scripture describes our loving and holy Heavenly Father:

Slow to get angry and full of unfailing love. (Ex 34:6; Num 14:18; Ps 86:5; Ps 86:15; Joel 2:13)
Provider everything good & perfect, & wants us to depend on Him (James 1:17-18, Matt 7:11, Phil 4:19)
God of justice, righteousness & mercy (Deut 32:4, Ps 11:7, Isaiah 5:16, 1 Pet 1:3, Deut 4:31, Eph 2:4)
One who brings healing and wholeness (1 Pet 2:24, Ps 147:3, Ps 34:17-18, Matt 11:28, James 5:14-15)
Disciplines out of Love, not unchecked anger or rage (Ps 94:12; Prov 3:11–12; Jer 30:11; Heb 12:3–11)
He listens and responds to the prayers of His children (Ps 66:17-20, Isaiah 65:24, Mark 11:24, 1 Pet 3:12, 1 John 5:14-15)

Colossians 4:2 (NLT)

“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.”

2.) Honest with God about Ourselves

Luke 18:9-14

The Pharisee...prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector … would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.

“It is no use to ask God with factitious (fake) earnestness for A when our whole mind is in reality filled with the desire for B. We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.” ― C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm

"Pray what you’ve got; not what you don’t have" - Jon Tyson

Action Step: What do you have that you can practice this week?

Teach Us to Pray: Week 2

Trusting God

Why don’t we pray?

We are distracted.
We feel far from God
Unanswered prayers.
We Don’t Really Know the Character of God.

Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Matthew 26:39 Going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Praying the will of God.

Psalm 139

It’s a prayer of peace.

Verse:1-5

“You have searched me Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.”

It’s a prayer of obedience.

Verse 7

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn , if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand with hold me fast.”

It’s a personal prayer.

Verse 13-15

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mothers womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place , when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.”

It’s a prayer of dedication.

Verse 17-18.

“How precious to me are your thoughts God! How vast is the sum of them! We’re I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand- when I awake I am still with you.”

It’s a dangerous prayer.

Psalm 139:23

Search me God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts .

It’s a prayer of surrender.

Verse:24

“See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

It all boils down to TRUST!

Jeremiah 17: 5-8 This is what the Lord says; “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of

the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Jeremiah 29:11“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Teach Us To Pray: Week 3

Summary: You cannot live for God without being with God.

The Power of With-ness

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The greatest motivation for what we do is and will always be LOVE.
You cannot live FOR God without being WITH God.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

2 Corinthians 5:15-16 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

2 Corinthians 5:17-20 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

HOW WITH-NESS IS MADE POSSIBLE

1. Reconciliation creates RELATIONSHIP.

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

2. You are reconciled to RECONCILE.

3. Reconciliation leads to IDENTITY.

Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Teach Us To Pray: Week 4

TEACH US TO PRAY

Practicing the Presence by Pastor Landon Henry

“We ought to act with God in the greatest simplicity, speaking to Him frankly and plainly, and imploring His assistance in our affairs, just as they happen.” – Brother Lawrence

If we want to walk in spiritual POWER, we must walk in the with-ness of PRAYER.

Matthew 14:23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,

Mark 6:46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

Luke 6:12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

Mark 1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Prayer is difficult because it’s SPIRITUAL WARFARE.

Daniel 10:12-13 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

Ephesians 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.

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus

Hebrews 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.

Matthew 6:9-13 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name, (if you have a church background at all, you just said in your mind, “who ART in heaven” you don’t have to speak king James English to have a conversation with God, he doesn’t require elegant speech, nor is he deceived by it, you might impress others with flowerily speech, God sees the heart, hears the heart)

10 your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us today our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

Teach Us To Pray: Week 5

TEACH US TO PRAY: Wk5

'TABERNACLE PRAYER' by Landon Henry

3 Stages to the Growth Process:

__________.
______________.
__________.

Hebrews 9:1-9 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, 4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now. 6 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry.7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. 8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. 9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.

THE OUTER COURT – __________________ AND _____________

Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

THE BRAZEN ALTAR – THE ________________________

Psalm 103:2-5 Praise the Lord, my soul,

and forget not all his benefits—

3 who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

THE LAVER – ___________________ AND __________________

Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

THE CANDLESTICK – THE ________________________

Isaiah 11:2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and of might,

the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—

1 Corinthians 12:8-10 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,[a] and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

THE TABLE OF THE SHEWBREAD – THE ______________________

Joshua 1:8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

THE ALTAR OF INCENSE – _________________

Proverbs 18:10 The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Hebrews 13:15-16 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT –______________________