12 FOUNDATION STONES - CLASS 3B COMMUNICATING WITH GOD PRAYER, PART 2.2 ------------------------------------------ Section 2: The Prayer "Habit" ------------------------------------------ > The good habit of prayer Luke 18:1 - Men always ought to pray and not lose heart. 1 Chronicles 16:11 - Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore! 1 Thessalonians 5:17 - Pray without ceasing. Ephesians 6:18 - Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Philippians 4:6–7 - Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. > Making prayer a habit! The key to being prayerful is making it a habit. There's not really anything that's so mystical or mysterious about it, you just have to keep doing it and keep at it, faithfully acknowledging Him in all your ways Proverbs 3:6 - In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. To truly make prayer a habit you have to endeavor to pray about everything! Of course, it's a good start if you pray before you eat and before you drive and before you go to bed and upon waking up, but what about all the other things you do during the day? You could pray about which work you should do, or if you already know, if it's a set pattern, you could pray about how to do it. If you faithfully pray every day before doing your work, the Lord might show you a better way of doing it that day, or a faster way. One of the most important phrases we could introduce to our vocabulary and which we should frequently use is, "Let's stop and pray." To form a good habit takes a lot of conscious effort over a period of time. It also usually involves a lot of forgetting and some remembering. Then, finally we start remembering more than we forget! Just like with teaching little kids to brush their teeth every day, you have to keep reminding them and keep reminding them every morning and every night. They'll forget half the time unless you remind them. But as they get older and they keep doing it year after year, finally, they'll rarely forget! When they get up to their teens, lo and behold, after all those years they've finally made it a habit! That's what it takes with prayer, although we certainly hope it won't take that long! Pray for the Lord to help you cultivate the habit as quickly as possible. It takes effort on our part, but if we pray and ask the Lord to check us when we don't pray, then cultivating a good habit of prayer will go much easier and much faster. We should learn to pray over everything! The Bible says, 1Thessalonians 5:17 - Pray without ceasing. We need to strive to really make it a habit in some of these areas where we don't normally pray. Thoughts on prayer * Prayer is a connecting link between human need and divine resources. * Seventeenth-century physicist Isaac Newton, considered by many as the father of modern science and discoverer of gravitation, said: "All my discoveries have been made in answer to prayer." * We should believe that nothing is too small to be named before God. What should we think of the patient who told his doctor he was ill, but never went into particulars? > Nothing is too small for the Lord Sometimes we don't think about praying for little things. Maybe you lose your pen or you have a cold or you need a certain article of clothing. None of these are drastic situations. However, one of the ways that the Lord can get us into the habit of praying is to teach us to pray for the little things. If we only pray for big things, big things don't usually come along very often, at least not often enough to cause us to make a habit of prayer. If we get into the habit of praying for the little things that come along, then we will automatically get in the habit of praying for everything - big or small. And if we pray for the little things and see how the Lord answers in those miraculous little ways that He does, then our faith will be increased to face the bigger needs when they come up! Another reason to pray for little things could be illustrated by the above example of the case of someone with a simple cold. If you don't pray for healing, you could get sicker. The "little" thing can become a very big thing if we don't pray! > Pray! - And God will bless and answer! 2 Chronicles 26:5 - He sought God … and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. Psalm 62:8 - Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Isaiah 30:19b - He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. Jeremiah 29:13 - And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 33:3 - Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know. Matthew 7:7–8 - Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (8) For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Isaiah 55:6 - Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Truly a God of miracles! From Lucas, Rute, and Madalena, Brazil Maria is a friend who has been learning about the Lord with us, and most recently about the Lord's power to heal. She's been putting those lessons into practice with great results. First she read some Family literature with her mother who had insomnia. The two prayed that the mother would be able to sleep well, and for the first time in years, she slept soundly all night. The next morning she told Maria that she wanted to keep reading those wonderful words together. They've been doing so ever since, and Maria's mother has continued to sleep well all night, every night. Maria also prayed for her brother who was in the hospital waiting to have surgery to remove a tumor from his stomach. He had been in the hospital for three days and was so weak that he couldn't even talk. As Maria prayed for the Lord to heal him, she felt a great peace come over her. The next day when Maria arrived at work (where her brother also works), she found him already on the job. The doctors had done another examination, he explained, and had told him there was no need to operate because the tumor was gone. They had released him from the hospital, and since he felt just fine he decided to go to work. Maria said later that when she saw him at work she didn't know whether to cry or laugh. "Lord, You really do answer prayer!" she exclaimed for her brother and all to hear. "Truly You are a God of miracles!" God's supply! The Christian elementary school in Vacaville, California, had just been remodeled. That is, it had been remodeled except for shingles (roof slates). Funds had run just that much short. And the need was serious, for the rainy season was approaching. The smaller children, in Kay Buzelli's room, had memorized the Words of Jesus, "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). And they believed those Words were true. For days they had prayed for shingles. And earlier that September morning, in Bible class, little Karen had prayed, "Dear Jesus, please be with us today. Help us to do something to show we love others. And please, dear God, don't forget to take care of our school." Then it happened. The freeway was only a stone's throw away. Suddenly there was a great "boom" as a giant truck tire blew out. Seventeen frightened children looked up to see the big truck swerve into the path of oncoming traffic. But those little people, believe it or not, did not race outside, or even to the window to see what was happening. One of them said, "Let's pray that no one will get hurt." And seventeen children gathered in one circle with their teacher and prayed - while the screeching, thumping, bumping, crashing sounds of a serious accident continued. Their prayer was answered even as they prayed. The big truck had turned over and dumped its contents on the edge of the freeway. A smaller truck, in which a two-year-old boy was riding with his father had turned over and landed in the creek beside the school. But there were no serious injuries. Even the newspaper called it a miracle. But wait! What had the big truck dumped on the edge of the freeway? Shingles! Shingles just the right color needed for the school! Shingles strewn everywhere, it seemed! And nobody wanted to pick them up! A school board member was at the school at the time, and he negotiated with the insurance adjuster to buy them all for a very small sum. The children picked them up and stacked them neatly. The roof was finished before the rains, and the shingles left over were sold for a profit of $300! Could anyone tell those Vacaville children that God doesn't answer prayer? We put God on the spot! - God's supply From Sammy and Belen Siervos, Latin America Our rent went up 600% in one month. The day we had to pay it we didn't have the money, due to some unexpected expenses. So that morning we all got together and prayed desperately for the Lord to do a miracle right away as we wanted and needed to pay the rent on time. We specifically asked the Lord to supply the money we needed that morning, although we didn't know from where the money was going to come. We had to really stretch our faith as it was such an impossible situation! After we prayed we went to have breakfast. Ten minutes later somebody knocked at the door. It was our friend who came in, kissed and hugged everybody and sat down at the table and wrote out a cheque for us, saying he just came to give us this donation because the Lord told him to do so. He gave us a cheque for the amount we needed to pay the rent! A genuine and immediate answer to prayer! Isaiah 65:24 - It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. ------------------------------------------ > Waiting for the Lord to work Someone once said "God's delays are not denials." We don't always get immediate answers to our prayers, and that causes us to exercise patience. James 1:3–4 - Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 5:10 - My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. We can't always see how the Lord is going to answer prayer, and we can't always see why He may delay answering. Whatever happens, we need to remember that the Lord will never fail. He will bring what He knows is best to pass. Sometimes when we pray He answers with a "yes"; sometimes with a "no"; and sometimes with a "wait"! God's answers The Lord's answers to prayer are infinitely perfect, and they will show that often when we were asking for a stone that looked like bread, He was giving us bread that to our shortsightedness looked like a stone (Matthew 7:7–11). > Believing the promises! Even if we can't always see with our eyes what the Lord is doing, we can see with eyes of faith because He's promised to answer prayer. Matthew 7:7 - Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. John 15:7 - If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. Mark 11:24 - Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Just for fun! A dignified old clergyman owned a parrot that he was exceedingly fond of, but the bird had picked up an appalling vocabulary of cuss words from a previous owner and, after a series of embarrassing episodes, the clergyman decided he would have to get rid of his pet. A lady in his parish suggested a last-ditch remedy. "I have a female parrot," she said, "who is an absolute saint. She sits quietly on her perch and says nothing but, `Let's pray.' Why don't you bring your parrot over and see if my own bird's good influence doesn't reform him?" The clergyman said it was worth a try, and the next night he arrived with his pet tucked under his arm. The bird took one look at the lady parrot and chirped, "Hi, Toots! How about a little kiss?" The lady parrot responded gleefully, "My prayers have been answered!" > The importance of praying for others 1 Samuel 12:23a - Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. Romans 15:30 - Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me. 1Thessalonians 1:2 - We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Praying for others is an important part of your prayer life. Sometimes it helps to keep a list of those in special need of prayer. When you know people who are struggling with health problems or job problems or financial problems or personal problems - just any problems - the very best you can do for them is pray for them! Miraculous change through prayer! From Sarah, India One of our fellowship members was still quite distant until the Lord proved Himself to her through a miracle. At a meeting she asked for prayer for her brother who was on drugs and who had embezzled some money from their company and then stole a motor scooter and disappeared! At the next meeting she shared the testimony of how her brother had come to them a few days after we'd prayed and confessed how much money he had stolen and offered to pay it back. He also returned the scooter and testified that he had given up drugs. He said that he himself didn't know how he had made this complete turn-around, and he confessed that it must have been due to our prayers! As a result of this miraculous answer to prayer, this dear member is really enthusiastic now and wants to have a closer walk with the Lord. Her lasting legacy There was once a young invalid who lay upon her deathbed. She had given herself to God and was distressed because she could not labor for Him actively among the lost. Her pastor visited her, and hearing her complaint, told her that from her sick bed she could pray earnestly. He went away and thought of the subject no more. Soon a feeling of religious interest sprung up in the village and the churches were crowded nightly. The little invalid heard of the progress of the revival and inquired anxiously for the names of the saved. A few weeks later she died and among a roll of papers that was found under her pillow was one bearing the names of 56 persons, every one of whom had been converted in the revival. By each name was a little cross, by which the poor crippled saint had checked off the names of the converts as they had been reported to her. ------------------------------------------ > Ways to pray Prayer is not judged by the length of words. Sometimes you'll be praying for a desperate situation and you'll want to go into details with the Lord. Other times your prayer can be very short. The most important thing about your prayer is that you're concentrating on the Lord, whether you pray a lengthy or short prayer! When you use different ways of praying, such variety can help keep your inspiration for prayer high and help you to concentrate. Look at "Ways to Pray" in Prayer Power, a Get Activated! booklet, for more ideas. See pages 58–63. ABC… A little lad was keeping his sheep one Sunday morning. The bells were ringing for church and the people were going over the field, when the little fellow began to think that he, too, would like to pray to God. But what could he say? He had never learned a prayer. So he knelt down and commenced the alphabet - A, B, C, and so on to Z. A gentleman happening to pass on the other side of the hedge heard the lad's voice, and, looking through the bushes, saw the little fellow kneeling with folded hands and closed eyes, saying, "A, B, C." "What are you doing, my little man?" "Please, sir, I was praying." "But what are you saying your letters for?" "Why, I didn't know any prayer, only I felt that I wanted God to take care of me and help me to care for the sheep; so I thought if I said all I knew, He would put it together and spell all I want." "Bless your heart, my little man, He will, He will, He will. When the heart speaks right, the lips can't say wrong." > Praying Written Prayers Although most of the time it is good to pray as you are led of the Lord, out of the fullness of your heart, at other times, praying prayers that have already been thought out and have been powerfully expressed, even though by someone else, can be very meaningful. If you can find an already written prayer that's appropriate for whatever you are praying for, you may like to use it as your prayer. Jesus Himself set the precedent for printed prayers in the most famous prayer of all, the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13). When His disciples asked Him how to pray, He didn't give them generalities like, "Well, just pray from your heart. Just say what you feel." He actually gave them a prayer - word for word that they could memorize and repeat - not their own words, but His Words. What better example of the power and effectiveness of written prayers could we ask for than that? ------------------------------------------ Section 3: Praise ------------------------------------------ > The importance of thanking and praising the Lord We've talked a lot today about the petition aspect of prayer. Now we want to focus on praise and thankfulness. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Psalm 34:1 - I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Psalm 86:12 - I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore. Psalm 118:21 - I will praise You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation. Psalm 105:1–2 - Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! (2) Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! Any relationship is very one–sided if it involves a lot of taking but not much giving. The Lord certainly doesn't mind our taking all that He has for us, but in return He looks for our thanks and appreciation. He wants us to acknowledge that we are pleased with all the gifts that He has given us and how He takes care of us so well! He delights in taking care of us, but part of His pleasure is receiving our gratitude. The story of the leper who returned to praise God Luke 17:12–19 - Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. (13) And they lifted up their voices and said, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" (14) So when He saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. (15) And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, (16) and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. (17) So Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? (18) "Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?" (19) And He said to him, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well." > Taking time to say "thank you" to Jesus Often we keep asking for our needs, but then we almost get too busy gathering up all our blessings that we don't take time to thank Him for them! The courteous, polite thing to do when one receives a gift is to sit down and write a thank-you letter - to take the time and effort to acknowledge your gratitude. When you take this special time to voice your appreciation, the sender then knows that it meant something to you. However, if he hears nothing, or maybe just a "one-liner" stuck in the middle of another barrage of requests, he figures that his gift must not have meant very much to you. He also can quite legitimately figure that giving you all the other things that you are asking for will be met with the same lack of gratitude. Therefore it's a little difficult for the Lord to keep pouring out His gifts to you when you don't take time to properly acknowledge them, showing your gratefulness and thankfulness by stopping and formulating your "letter of thanks" to Him for the wonderful gifts that He has sent you - in this case, God's priceless gifts, treasures so rich and so valuable they can only come from His hand - blessing upon blessing! The banquet There was once a king in Spain called Alfonso XII. Now it came to the ears of this king that the pages at his court forgot to ask God's blessing on their daily meals, and he determined to rebuke them. He invited them to a banquet that they all attended. The table was spread with every kind of good thing, and the boys ate with evident relish; but none of them remembered to ask God's blessing on the food. During the feast a beggar entered, dirty and ill-clad. He seated himself at the royal table and ate and drank to his heart's content. At first the pages were amazed, and they expected that the king would order him away. But King Alfonso said never a word. When the beggar had finished, he rose and left without a word of thanks. Then the boys could keep silence no longer. "What a despicably mean fellow!" they cried. But the king silenced them, and in clear, calm tones he said, "Boys, bolder and more audacious than this beggar have you all been. Every day you sit down to a table supplied by the bounty of your Heavenly Father, yet you ask not His blessing nor express to Him your gratitude." The only excuse… The only excuse for not praising the Lord is if you are out of breath: Psalm 150:6 - Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. (But of course you could still praise the Lord in your mind and heart!) > Fitting "Praise Time" into our daily life If we don't have a special time allotted solely for the purpose of praising the Lord, we often do not do it, because there are so many other demands on our time. Something we have tried is scheduling five minutes three times a day when we stop and praise the Lord. We call this "Praise Time." We specifically use this time to praise the Lord. We don't ask Him for anything or petition Him. We only thank Him. We've found that setting aside specified daily times for praise has helped us get more in the habit of praising the Lord. Although these should not be the only times we praise the Lord, at least we know that we have these special periods three times a day to stop and acknowledge the Lord, to thank Him for how much He has done for us. * Here are some ideas of what to do in Praise Time: Sing a song of praise to the Lord. Close your eyes and thank Him for specific blessings. Read a poem of thanks. Read a written "praise." (end)