Tag Archives: Prayer

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Watch How You Pray

A Look At Matthew 6:5-15

Matthew 6 contains some of the best known teaching of Jesus on the topic of prayer, and in it, Jesus gives us an example of how to pray in The Lord’s Prayer.

Prayer: Matthew 6:5-15

All through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches with the use of contrasting statements: This is what we should do, versus this is what we shouldn’t do. This is exactly what he does with the topic of prayer in Matthew 6:5-15.

To start off, Jesus gives an example of the wrong way to pray, and tells his followers not to be like the hypocrites. These are people who make a public show of their piety for the reason of drawing attention to themselves. Their motives are wrong. Their desire was to be seen by others, and not to have a conversation and communion with God. That’s what the hypocrites do. The word “hypocrite” is an old word for actor, or one who impersonates another. It was used to describe someone who pretended to be someone else, or who wore a mask. It was used originally to describe actors on a stage, but came to mean anyone who was pretending to be something he is not…And it’s not usually used in a good sense.

Instead, Jesus suggests that we go to an inner room, someplace where we can withdraw from the world, shut out the distractions, and commune with God. Find a private place to pray, and don’t draw attention to yourself from others. The only attention you should be after is that of God. And when you withdraw, speak to him genuinely, and from the heart. Why? Because God already knows what’s on your heart. So just talk to him about it.

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Let Go Of The Grudges

How To Have The Heart Of A Champion

Sometimes I wonder if the easiest thing that we can do is hold a grudge. In our culture of the easily offended, this seems to be the strongest trait of a lot of people.

Let Go Of The Grudges

Holding a grudge is not something we should be proud of, nor is it something we should do at all. It’s a killer to our character, and if you want to have the heart of a champion, you have to let go of the grudges.

The apostle Paul had the heart of a champion. And in his letter of 2 Corinthians, he describes what this looks like. As we have looked at what the heart of a champion looks like, we have identified three things so far: Be clear about your calling, understand the ups and downs of life, and depend on the prayers of others. Letting go of your grudges is the fourth thing we can see in Paul’s letter, and it may be the hardest one yet.

Take a look at what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:5-11 (NASB):

But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree—in order not to say too much—to all of you. Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

Paul reveals here that the actions of one individual have caused a lot of pain, grief, and difficult circumstances for Paul and his ministry to the Corinthian church. And yet Paul speaks in almost hypothetical language here, and refuses to put a name to the individual. What this indicates is that Paul has forgiven the person, and publicly shaming him would be of no gain whatsoever.

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Depend Upon The Prayers Of Others

How To Have The Heart Of A Champion

Developing the heart of a champion is not something that you can do on your own. It requires a lot of people. And it requires a lot of prayers.

Depend Upon The Prayers Of Others

Undoubtedly, Paul had the heart of a champion. But he didn’t develop this on his own, all by himself. He knew where the source of his strength came from: It came directly from God. And it came directly as a result of the prayers of others for Paul and his ministry.

Paul depended upon the prayers of others to sustain him. He knew, that without these prayers, his work would be ineffective. To be sure, he prayed on his own, and did so frequently and fervently. But he also recruited partners in prayer to help lift him and his efforts before the throne of grace continuously.

Tale a look at his own words from 2 Corinthians 1, in the latter half of verse 10 and verse 11 (NASB):

And He will yet deliver us, you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.

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Developing A Consistent Prayer Life

Praying can be hard. We often tend to neglect this important part of our spiritual lives, sometimes without even meaning to do so. But it is a critical aspect of our connection with God, and we need that line of communication like no other.

PrayerMate

I have always struggled with maintaining a consistent prayer time in my daily life. That may sound a bit weird coming from a minister, of all people. Reading the Bible has always been an easy discipline, as has journaling, and many others. But prayer has been harder.

I have tried all of the different methods: a prayer journal, writing my prayers out, making lists. I’ve tried to develop this discipline on my own, and with prayer partners. I have purchased several different “systems,” and developed my own.

Nothing really worked for me.

I’ve studied the concept of having a great prayer life, and the need to have a quiet place with sufficient time and no distractions. I have opened up time in my schedule, my home, and my life. All to little avail.

I get distracted easily. I can be praying, and the next thing I know, I’m imagining myself to be a fighter pilot, or hiking El Capitan, or playing with the bookmark in my Bible.

Frankly, it’s kind of frustrating.

Enter PrayerMate. Goofy name. Great app.

Someone out in the digital world apparently had the same problem I do. Somewhere, I ran across a blogger who had as much frustration about being as consistent in prayer as I do, and they mentioned an app for the mobile phone, and iPhone in my case, that had helped them. I don’t remember who it was, but I am eternally grateful.

I downloaded this app, and it has been the best thing I have ever done for my prayer life. This app is completely customizable, and I can set it up to fit my needs almost perfectly. It creates my prayer lists, as many as I need, and allows me to create specific prayer cards for each item in that list.

For example, I have lists for the following subjects and topics: biblical prayers, wisdom, personal godliness and growth, my wife, each of my kids, my ministry and church, my friends, other ministries and missions, evangelism, our nation, and many more. Some of these lists hold dozens of prayer cards.

I can set the parameters for each list. For example, I have seven different prayer cards in my personal godliness list. PrayerMate cycles through these cards, randomly, until all seven have been prayed for, and then starts over again. This way, I can ask God to grow me in these different areas each week, but not always in the same order.

Another example would be my church family. There are several dozen cards in that list. PrayerMate is scheduled to select three cards each day, until all of them have been covered. And then the list begins again. I am able to pray for my entire church, family by family, and no one gets left out.

The scheduling in PrayerMate is incredible. I can choose to be reminded of as many or as few prayer needs on each list as needed, and build my prayer lists accordingly. And, with the reminder feature, I never forget to pray over these lists. My phone is always with me, and as a result, I can prayer while walking, or driving, and more. It’s been an incredible blessing for me.

And the best thing about this powerful little tool? It’s free, for iPhone and Android. Perfect!

The only drawback to it is that it does take some time to get things set up like I wanted them. I had to add and delete a few things until I figured out where everything fit. And even that ability is pretty simple to accomplish.

I highly recommend that you give this app a shot, especially if you struggle with a consistent prayer life. PrayerMate is a great tool that can help your prayer life become much more disciplined than it has ever been before.

You need to try this for yourself.

Question: What do you do to help build your prayer life into a solid spiritual discipline? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

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Rejuvenating Your Prayer Life (ESD)

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Probably one of the most difficult spiritual disciplines I face is the challenge of keeping my prayer life fresh and meaningful. It seems too easy to slip into a dull routine, praying the same prayers, or types of prayers, every day.

Once you fall into that rut, it can be difficult to pull yourself out of it. But if you want to experience a vivid and meaningful prayer life, you must do something to revitalize your prayers.

Woman Praying

Building a vibrant prayer life isn’t as difficult as it seems. Of all the methods I’ve tried in my life, none of them has been difficult. The only difficulty I’ve experienced has been in my consistency in maintaining the habit. It’s easy to fall into a dulling routine, or to become complacent in your prayer life.

But when that happens, your spiritual health suffers as if you’d just been sealed away from the life-giving oxygen that we need to survive. The frightening part is that we may not even notice that we’ve drifted until the effects are drastic.

For that reason, it’s crucial that we develop and maintain the discipline of a healthy prayer life. Over the course of my life and ministry, I’ve discovered a few ways that have helped me to keep my perspective fresh. Hopefully, they will help you as well.

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The Purpose Of Prayer (ESD)

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One of the most important aspects of the spiritual life is centered around the discipline of prayer.

Prayer is an essential part of the inner life because it is an integral part of communication, and communion, with the Father. We receive our communication from God through his Word and other means. But our communication back to God comes through the medium of prayer.

Prayer is more than just talking with God. All too often, we have a misconception that our prayers to God should be like a heavenly vending machine. We submit our requests and sit back and wait for the answers to pop out.

Man Praying

That’s not what prayer is about.

Prayer is much richer and deeper than we can possibly realize. In the next few paragraphs, I want to share something of the importance of prayer. This topic is so critical that books have been written about it, and there are many excellent ones to research. One of my favorite resources is The Complete Works Of E. M. Bounds On Prayer. Of all the works on prayer that I’ve read, this one impacted my life more than any other. If you want to read it, I highly recommend it.

There are scores of examples of prayer throughout the Bible, and dozens of passages that give us a glimpse of what prayer is. Prayer is powerful. Prayer is communication. Prayer is effective. Prayer is asking. Prayer is listening. Prayer changes God’s mind. Prayer is an essential part of the life of the believer.

But there are four main aspects that I think are helpful to remember about prayer. These describe prayer quite accurately, but not completely. Prayer is each of these four things. But prayer is also so much more than just these four things as well.

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Praying For Others

I’m reading through the books of 1 and 2 Samuel this month in my daily Bible reading, and found a passage I’ve never really noticed before.

I read it a couple of weeks ago, and it’s been on my mind almost ever since. It’s one of the most convicting passages on prayer that I’ve found, at least in the recent past.

Child Praying

Take a look for yourself. The passage I’m talking about is found in 1 Samuel 12:23.

Let me give a little context. The Israelites have entered the Promised Land, and God has used a series of judges to govern the nation, drawing their wandering attention back to him continually.

But the people of Israel keep looking to their pagan neighbors. And now they want a king to rule over them. They’ve rejected God, and have asked him to give them a ruler.

Samuel is disappointed. He knows that this is a rejection of God’s leadership for the Israelites. In fact, he tells them this, and he does so pretty bluntly.

God responds by choosing Saul to become king. But because of Samuel’s message, the people of Israel see the error of their ways and ask Samuel to pray for them. They know they’ve done wrong in rejecting God in favor of a king.