Lord Teach Us To Pray Matthew 6:9-13 2 Chronicles 7:13-16 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 2 Kings 19:14-19 Ephesians 3:14-19 Philippians 1:9-11 Colossians 1:9-14 03.23.20

LORD TEACH US TO PRAY

BREAD

⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us today our daily bread. ¹² 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.’”   Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV)

¹³ “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, ¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. ¹⁶ I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.”  2 Chronicles 7:13-16 (NIV)

⁹ Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” ¹⁰ Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!  Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.  1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NIV)

¹⁴ Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the LORD and spread it out before the LORD. ¹⁵ And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: “O LORD, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God. ¹⁷ “It is true, O LORD, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. ¹⁸ They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by men's hands. ¹⁹ Now, O LORD our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O LORD, are God.”  2 Kings 19:14-19 (NIV)

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.   Ephesians 3:14-19 (NIV)

⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.  Philippians 1:9-11 (NIV)

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.   Colossians 1:9-14 (NIV)

BUTTER

“Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, You have brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see You in the heights; hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold Your glory. Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells the brighter Your stars shine; Let me find Your light in my darkness, Your life in my death, Your joy in my sorrow, Your grace in my sin,  Your riches in my poverty, Your glory in my valley.”   From:  The Valley of Vision: A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

“What is ‘good’?  Just as Pilate asked Jesus ‘What is Truth?’ while all the while looking straight at Truth Incarnate, we as humans often misconstrue ‘What is good?’ and end up missing out on God’s best by ‘kicking against the goads’ and not walking in His ways.  We so often buy into what the world believes as good.  Do we believe it’s all about more – More clothes in the closet?  More comforts in the den?  More money in the bank?  More health in the body?  More buildings, marquees, publications or whatever’s  bearing our names?  More children in the home?  And on and on and on it goes.  ‘Good’ is not merely ‘wants’.  ‘Good’ can be as varied as the people who populate this dusty earth.  Simply put, ‘good’ is always God’s best for a life.  The Maker of all humankind has a plan for each life and our best is always to walk in it – be it ever so hard.  His will is revealed in a myriad of ways from His Word, from the Holy Spirit’s promptings Who indwells every true believer in Christ, from prayer and petition with thanksgiving, from fellow sojourners – why God can even use a donkey or a great big fish!  And believe me, you always want to be in the center of His will as it is good and pleasing and perfect.  Don’t fight against God’s best because it is hard.  Allow Him to conform you to the image of Christ.  We are the ultimate losers if we don’t.  It is the life of true blessedness.”  BHY

“You know the value of prayer; it is precious beyond all price.  Never, never neglect it.”   Thomas Buxton  

“The church may hold its confirmations by the thousands, it may multiply its baptisms, and it may administer its sacraments innumerable times, and yet be as far from fulfilling its true mission as human conditions can make it. The principle need of the church is neither people of money nor people of intelligence, but people of prayer.”  E.M. Bounds

“Prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge to Satan.”   John Bunyan

“God shapes the world by prayer.”  E.M. Bounds

“In believing prayer, we learn to connect our present troubles to the good and perfect will of God.  We refuse to believe that chance rules our lives.  We withstand the temptation to imagine that God is capricious or malicious.  We know he has a higher purpose and that he is not dealing with us as our sins deserve.  As we bring our troubles to Jesus in prayer—asking his will to be done—we approve the will of our Father in heaven. We see our sufferings in the greater reality of his good, acceptable, and perfect will.  In prayer we “turn crisis to Christ.”  Our heart becomes tuned to his heart and we sing the song of grace.”   Ancient Prayer, John F. Smed 

“We err when we judge our prayers solely by what we can see happening around us. Prayer is a matter of faith. Prayer is taking God at His word. Prayer is understanding God's promise that if we pray, He will work. And we must keep on praying even when we cannot see what He is doing. We do not see into the world in which God lives, but He definitely sees into ours.”  David Jeremiah  

HEART SAVOR  

·         Give God the glory due His Name in prayer.  The movement of His Hand from our prayers demonstrates His power – and the One Who gives the power gets the glory.   

·         The great posture of prayer is humility.

·         Our prayers are as sweet incense to the Lord – particularly intercessory prayer for others.  They are a pleasing sacrifice, acceptable to the Lord, a fragrant aroma that reaches the Throne Room of heaven.  Never neglect it.