79. PERSONAL PRAYER – 5TH DISCIPLINE MARKED BY:
A. Simplicity
B. Honesty
C. With the Spirit
D. Advocating
THREATS TO PERSONAL PRAYER:
• layers of denial
• pain upon pain
• false humility
• focus on appearance (before man not God)
• excuses
• ill-intent
In Luke 11 we see the disciples asking Jesus to teach them how to pray. They had been alongside Jesus for some time and had witnessed him praying and its power to transform lives and had obviously come to the conclusion and realization that they might learn something from Jesus in regards to prayer.
It is a great moment. For we all know that in order to request anything we must first come to a realization of our own lack and need. It is as the disciples came to this realization that Jesus stepped in and gave them an example of how to pray. We see that the first step in any growth is the understanding of what we do not know. In prayer this is critical.
In the passage Luke 11:5-13 we find Jesus continuing the teaching of prayer. He asserts that the humility that keeps on asking and keeps on knocking are the very kinds of prayers that will be attended to by the Father.
To keep on asking requires that we set aside our own self-consciousness, self-doubts, and self- recriminations. To keep on asking requires that we take our eyes off of ourselves and put them onto God. We pray, we ask, in light of who God is, not in light of who we are.
Christ knew this and gives the end goal, to keep on asking, knowing that as we do this we must step into greater and greater humility, and that we become transformed in the process. Our praying becomes less about us and all about God.
It is interesting to note that the disciples inquiry regarding how to pray in Luke chapter 11 comes after Jesus sent them out in Luke chapter 10. They had already experienced powerful declarations that freed people from the bonds of demonic forces, and yet later wanted to know more.“How do we pray?” is a question that even the most learned and experienced among us can continue to ask.
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79. PERSONAL PRAYER – 5A. SIMPLICITY
“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” Psalm 145:18 ESV
Prayer is not just to speak our thoughts to God but to hear his thoughts to us. If we fill all the space with our words there is little space for God. We must speak less so that we can hear him more. We learn to listen as part of learning to pray.
God does not need fancy long sentences, repetition of words — he sees our hearts and only desires to hear us in authenticity and transparency. We can simply say, “God we invite you.” “God we love you.” “God would you bless us today.” “ God we need you.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 “Rejoice always …
1 Chronicles 16:11 “Seek the Lord and his strength …
Hebrews 4:16 “With confidence draw near to the throne of grace …
Matthew 8:16 “With a simple command …
Matthew 6:6 “Go into your room and shut the door and pray …
NOTE: Take the time to look up these verses.
WHEN SIMPLICITY IS MISSING:
• loud and long ego prayers
• repetition
• for show and to impress and make oneself big
• always speaking with little to no understanding
• no brokenness
• avoids a contrite heart
• underlying belief that prayer is for the special people
• withholds prayer from the common people
• unable to hear God
• we use prayer as pretension — to make us appear bigger than we are
The biggest marker of a lack of simplicity in our praying is the use of our words. We either add on many words in long and lengthy prayers, or we increase our volume. Loud and long we believe we are powerful but we are really only making others feel small.
How we get from one to the other:
WAY-MARKERS ON A JOURNEY FROM PRETENSION TO SIMPLICITY:
| WE BEGIN WITH: | WE THEN: | WE FIND: |
| Dissatisfaction in Prayer | Welcome Quiet Prayer Spaces | Prayer with God |
| – sees the pretending in ‘big’ prayers – sees the ‘little fruit’ in prayers of pretence | – quiet & secret prayer – risks to speak owndesires / self aware – begins to listen for thevoice of the Lord – humility is increased | – listening and praying only as God directs – no ‘ego need’ to pray – comes into less words but more powerful fruit |
IN SIMPLICITY:
• we are brought back to the basics; God loves us, Jesus died for us, the Holy Spirit is here to help us
• like all conversations simple communication is always best
• we speak, we listen, we respond
• we make prayer attainable by others
• we find real and personal relationship with God
• our prayers bear much fruit for they come from a pure heart
• our prayers accurately reflect the heart of God
STORY: I was in a country I had not been to before. I was travelling in-country with the pastor who had invited me, his wife, their young daughter, and my translator. We took two weeks to go to nine churches in one part of that country.
The very first church we were at I preached the evening message as is usual and the pastor then wanted me to pray for the people. In the weeks before this particular trip the Lord had been convicting me to be teaching the people to be praying for each other, instead of me being the one praying for everyone.
So, I refused to pray for those at church that evening and instead tried to teach them to pray for each other. It did not work. The people seemed to have no idea how to pray. After the service I went back to the house where we were staying. The pastor was also there and I shared with him all that the Lord had been teaching me, most notably that I was to teach the people to pray.
As he listened to me, the first words he spoke were, “You mean the people can pray?” I was stunned. How was it that the pastors and people did not even know that ordinary people could pray?!
For the remainder of my time in that country I spoke out very simple prayers, “God, thank you for this food.” “God, we love you.” “God, we welcome you here today.” “God, teach us.” “God, we bless you.”
We have violated the greater part of the body of Christ when we keep them from the practice of prayers. We have lied to people when we teach that only the big important people can pray. This is a lie from the pit of hell. So, we teach prayer, we teach it simply, so everyone can pray.
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79. PERSONAL PRAYER – 5B. HONESTY
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we
may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 ESV
If we are not honest we spend a great amount of energy trying to hide and cover up. Honest prayers are the mark of intimacy with God and are a sign of a heart that trust him.
Honesty can be felt by others, we intuitively know when someone is honest and authentic and when they are not.
Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me …
Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found …
Proverbs 11:3 “The integrity of the upright guides them …
Proverbs 16:28 “A dishonest man spreads strife …
Psalm 24:4 “He who has clean hands and a pure heart …
NOTE: Take the time to look up these verses.
WHEN HONESTY IS MISSING:
• pretence, core dishonesty
• rationalizations
• too much talking
• inability to sit
• still unable to know what one wants
• cannot make requests
• critical of those who are honest
• fearful of being ‘found out’
• trying to present ourselves acceptable
The biggest marker of a lack of honesty in prayer is the lust for perfect prayers. A person without honesty in prayer will try to sound good and will often mimic the prayers of others. They will not simply speak out their heart to God.
How we get from one to the other:
WAY-MARKERS ON A JOURNEY FROM PERFECT PRAYING TO HONEST PRAYING:
| WE BEGIN WITH: | THEN: | WE FIND: |
| Desperation in Regards to Something | Relationship Begins | Authentic Communication |
| – risking to have the Lord reveal the heart – risking to make a heart request | – requests aren’t for solutions but for intimacy with God – motives are purified, – controlling prayers & manipulations end | – both asking and listening prayer – intimacy with God is the goal – prayer is dialogue and conversation with God |
IN HONESTY:
• protected from pretence and pride
• we are open with our heart’s desires or motives
• free us to put aside fear and anxiety about how we come to God
• room for voicing our doubts and our fears and our worries
• allows transparency and authenticity
• we are drawn closer to God
• we are in the presence of God
• relationship with God is solid and true
• we easily put our stuff out on the table before the Lord
• God can grow us
STORY: Many years ago I was going through a difficult time in my life. This difficult time was lasting for years and years. I, on my part, kept trying to do the right things, be the best I could
through the trouble, and I kept trying to fix all that was wrong. But the more I did this, and the longer I did this the more tired and exceptionally weary I became.
Finally, one day I realized that I could not keep striving and trying and fixing as I had been doing. And so I prayed out to God and said, “God, I don’t know if this is right or wrong or good or bad, but I cannot do this any longer.”
And I clearly sensed that God breathed back to me, “Finally, this (your coming to the end of yourself) is something I can do something with.” It seemed that God was just waiting for me to be honest with both myself and him about how everything was affecting me and how all I was trying to do and be just wasn’t working.
I learned that day the necessity to live in honesty with myself and God. I learned that I did not have to be the hero in the story. I learned that God is waiting to become all we need. We just need to be honest. I stopped pretending and trying so hard that day, and my life has never been the same since.
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79. PERSONAL PRAYER – 5C. WITH THE SPIRIT
“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 ESV
Both simple and honest prayers (honest hearts before God) prepare us to pray what the Holy Spirit tells us to pray. We don’t really need to be praying our heart so much as we want to be praying God’s heart. We can only do this as we stop, become silent, listen, hear and then speak out the spirit of our living God.
Galatians 4:6 “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts …
Ephesians 6:18 “Praying at all times in the Spirit …
Romans 8:26 “The spirit intercedes for us …
Galatians 5:25 “Let us follow the spirit …
Acts 1:8 “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit …
NOTE: Take the time to look up these verses.
WHEN WE PRAY WITHOUT THE SPIRIT:
• little gladness of heart
• believes joy is a state of mind
• no listening to hear the spirits’ direction
• leaves little room for others to join in prayer
• rushing to have answers and solutions
• we mistake our own thoughts for God’s thoughts
• confusion is common
• we mimic other’s praying
• we pray big pretence prayers
The biggest marker of praying that is not spirit-led is when a person takes on a persona in prayer. They are not themselves but are mimicking how they have heard others pray but trying to duplicate the Spirit without the Spirit never works.
How we get from one to the other:
WAY-MARKERS ON A JOURNEY FROM REGIMENTED PRAYERS TO SPIRIT-LED PRAYERS:
| WE BEGIN WITH: | WE THEN: | WE FIND: |
| Quiet yet True Repentance | Experience the Lord’s Grace for Self | Pray as the Spirit Leads |
| – learns to openly confess sin without recriminations – gives sin to God and rests in His grace | – this is understood as the same for others – our focus is taken off of the problems and put onto God | – only praying what and as God directs – we begin to see with God’s perspective – we rest in Him for our praying |
SPIRIT-LED PRAYING:
• we grow in advocacy for others
• we submit our words and prayers to the Holy Spirit for direction
• we learn restraint and grow our prayer as a listening exercise unto the Lord
• listening to what the Lord is saying we pray in agreement with Him
• we cease to pray what God does not want us to pray
• we learn to pray His heart and not necessarily our own
• His purposes become clearer to us
• we learn to ask questions and wait on the Lord for clarification and understanding
• we refuse to pray without listening first
STORY: I was at a village church in India. I had taught the main sessions at a pastors conference and as common the people wanted me to pray for them near the end of the day. As the people lined up I settled into the Spirit.
One by one each person stood with me and I prayed, “God we come together in the name and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, what would you have me pray for this one?”
And one by one, every single person, the Holy Spirit showed me pictures after pictures. For some of the women I saw ribbons of bright colours around them and I called them forth to beauty and joy. For others I saw them beside calm waters and I declared peace upon them and their lives. For others I saw them walking through ripening grain fields with children in hand and I prayed legacy and bounty upon them and their families. For some I saw chains being removed from their shoulders and I prayed all assignments of the enemy gone from them. And more.
It was a rich, rich time in the Lord. The pastor who was listening to all these prayers confirmed that everything the Lord was showing me for them was absolutely accurate. This, is the power of listening and praying God’s heart for people. We don’t have to make up prayers, we simply listen to God and pray what he would have us pray.
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79. PERSONAL PRAYER – 5D. ADVOCATING
“And he said to them, “Go into all the world and
proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15 ESV
“The zealot takes the part of God. But God expects His prophets to be defenders, not accusers.” Rabbi Sacks
It takes some years to learn that we are set apart in the Lord for the purpose of defending people before the Lord. We declare forgiveness, we plead their case, we release unto the Lord, we compel God to work on their behalf. As we cry out for others God hears and is moved to action. As we honour others in a pure love of the Lord our spirits join with the spirit of the Lord and miracles begin to happen.
It is this intersection of our hearts responding to God’s heart and then God’s heart responding back to our hearts. Here, miracles happen. The meeting place of God’s love and our (learned) love creates great change, restoration, healing, and all manner of good things for others. Love is our advocacy.
Genesis 18:25 “Far be it from you to do such a thing … * Read all of Genesis 18:22-33
Psalm 145:18 “The Lord is near to all who call on him …
James 5:16 “The effectual prayers …
Matthew 10:1 “He gave them authority to cast out … to heal …
John 16:23-24 “Ask, using my name …
NOTE: Take the time to look up these verses.
WHEN ADVOCATING IS MISSING:
• we pray for our own needs only
• we remain as a beggar at the King’s table
• pray agreements with satan’s condemnations and lies
• our own prayer become bad fruit resulting in curses over others
The biggest mark of prayers that do no advocate is a certain victimization that remains in a person’s speech and manner. The glass is always half empty and the tone of prayers are ‘woe is us’. There is little sense of the power of prayer or the strength of our Lord.
How we get from one to the other:
WAY-MARKERS ON A JOURNEY FROM SELF-PRAYERS TO ADVOCACY IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD:
| WE BEGIN: | WE THEN: | WE FIND: |
| We Realize the Power of Our Words | We Begin to Agree with God’s Heart for Us | We Declare God’s Heart for Others |
| – care with our words – new understanding of how damaging our words can be | – we are transformed by God’s heart for us – divided minds cease – we experience joy,peace, hope, love | – our inner person is aligned unto all good things and right manner of the Lord for all others – we bless |
IN ADVOCACY:
• we pray the Father’s heart for others
• we pray other’s hearts unto the Father
• we come with both requests and declarations
• we agree to what the Lord is impressing upon us
• our hesitancy is gone
• through advocacy, are brought into God’s plan for this earth and for all who live here
• we agree to life, we agree to forgiveness, we agree to setting things right,
• we agree to honor and dignity for all
• we pray the solution and not the problem
• our prayers are salt – preserving lives
STORY: There was once a father who was very disappointed in his son. The son had been
having a lot of struggles and had turned to drugs and alcohol. I was able to join in with this father in prayer for his son.
Yet, the father was not praying sulha for his son. He was not asking the Lord for restoration so much as he was asking God to smite his son. Out of his own great hurt he was praying curses over his son.
The son continued to struggle for many years. I have always wondered if the story may have turned out differently if the father had taken care to pray sulha, to advocate for life, to cry out to the Lord for his healing for his son, if the father had advocated and defended his son to God,
“God have mercy on him, heal him, touch him with your mercy and your love and your grace. May he know how much you are for him and how much you want all things good and new in his life. Touch him with your presence God.”
=> Now we will learn about Spiritual Authority
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