Sunday
Morning Bible Study
October 22, 2006
Introduction
In an interview with the great inventor of the Telegraph, Samuel F.B.
Morse, George Hervey inquired, “Professor
Morse, when you were making your experiments at the university, did you ever
come to a standstill, not knowing what to do next?” “Oh,
yes, more than once.” “Then what did you
do?” “I’ve never discussed this with anyone, so the
public knows nothing about it. But now
that you ask me, I’ll tell you frankly—I prayed for more light.” “And did God give you the wisdom and knowledge
you needed?” “Yes, He did,” said
Morse. “That’s why I never felt I
deserved the honors that came to me from America
and Europe because of the invention associated with my
name. I had made a valuable application
of the use of electrical power, but it was all through God’s help. It wasn’t because I was superior to other
scientists. When the Lord wanted to
bestow this gift on mankind, He had to use someone. I’m just grateful He chose to reveal it to
me.” In view of these facts, it’s not
surprising that the inventor’s first message over the telegraph was: “What hath God wrought!”
Samuel Morse was a man of prayer. He
knew God answered his prayers. I wonder
what kinds of things God would like to work in my life if I would just pray.
1. The example of prayer
I have this notion that some of us men think that praying is not a very
“manly” thing to do.
Over the last few weeks I’ve taken a fairly informal survey within the
church and have come to the unscientific conclusion that overall the women in
the church do a better, more consistent job of praying than the men do. I know of quite a few ladies who have prayer
lists they are diligent to pray for. I
know of very few men who do this.
I think that it’s a fair thing to say that men tend to be more “action”
oriented than the gals are. Aren’t “guy”
movies the ones with all the action in them while the “girl” movies are filled
with lots of talk and romance?
I wonder if we men think that “prayer” isn’t high enough on the action
scale.
But I don’t see this kind of thinking among the men of the early church.
Jesus felt prayer was important. He
not only taught His disciples to pray, Jesus Himself spent much time in prayer.
We also see the early church being a church of prayer. The word “pray” or forms of it are used 30
times throughout the book of Acts. For
example:
When Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem
until the Holy Spirit was poured out, the church responded by setting aside
time for “prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14)
Part of the regular life of the early church included times of prayer (Acts
2:42)
When Peter and John healed the lame man in the Temple,
it happened at the “hour of prayer” (Acts 3:1).
There is no coincidence that miraculous things always seemed to happen
around the times of prayer.
When Peter and John were arrested for healing the lame man, and then later
released, the church responded to the persecution with prayer (Acts 4)
As the church grew and things got busy, the apostles raised up new
leadership to help out so they could keep their focus on what was important:
(Acts 6:4 NKJV) "but we
will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the
word."
When Saul of Tarsus (who would later be called Paul) got saved, God sent a
man named Ananias to help Saul
(Acts 9:11
NKJV) …for behold, he is praying.
Prayer and fasting were all woven into the bringing of the gospel to the
Gentiles for the very first time at the house of Cornelius (Acts 10). Cornelius himself was a man known for his
prayers (Acts 10:2). Peter was praying
when the Lord spoke to him to go to the Gentiles.
After another of Peter’s arrests, the church was in constant prayer, and
they were still praying when an angel released Peter from prison (Acts 12)
It was while the church was fasting and praying that Paul was sent out on
his first missionary journey (Acts 13:2).
When Paul wrote his letters, we catch a glimpse of Paul’s own prayer
life. Look at how he prays for the
people he is writing to:
The Romans (Rom.
1:9)
without ceasing
I make mention of you always in my
prayers,
The Corinthians (1Cor. 1:4)
I thank my God always
concerning you
The Ephesians (Eph. 1:16)
do not cease
to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
The Philippians (Phi. 1:4)
always
in every prayer of mine making
request for you all
The Colossians (Col.
1:3)
praying always for you
The Thessalonians (2Th. 1:11)
Therefore we also pray always
for you
Timothy (2Ti. 1:3)
without ceasing
I remember you in my prayers night and
day
Philemon (Phile. 1:4)
making mention of you always
in my prayers
My point?
If we want to be used by God, we need not look at prayer as some sort of
“optional” thing. It’s not for those
with a “gift of prayer”. We ALL
need to learn to pray. If the early
church seemed so dependant upon prayer, shouldn’t we too?
Illustration
E.M. Bounds emphasized the need for a ministry of prayer within the church
when he wrote, “It may be laid down as an axiom, that God needs, first of all,
leaders in the church who will be first in prayer, men with whom prayer is
habitual and characteristic, men who know the primacy of prayer. But even more than a habit of prayer, and
more than prayer being characteristic of them, church leaders are to be men
whose lives are made and molded by prayer, whose heart and life are made up of
prayer. These are the men—the only men—God
can use in the furtherance of His kingdom and the implanting of His message in
the hearts of men.”
Illustration
A story from Howard Hendricks: Years ago in a church in Dallas
we were having trouble finding a teacher for a junior high boys class. The list
of prospects had only one name—and when they told me who it was I said, “You’ve
got to be kidding.” But I couldn’t have been more wrong about that young man.
He took the class and revolutionized it. I was so impressed I invited him to my
home for lunch and asked him the secret of his success. He pulled out a little
black book. On each page he had a small picture of one of the boys, and under
the boy’s name were comments like “having trouble in arithmetic,” or “comes to
church against parents’ wishes,” or “would like to be a missionary some day,
but doesn’t think he has what it takes.” “I pray over those pages every day,”
he said, “and I can hardly wait to come to church each Sunday to see what God
has been doing in their lives.”
Illustration
Some years ago a young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and
asked for a job. “That depends,” replied
the foreman. “Let’s see you fell this tree.”
The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great tree. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, “Start
Monday!” Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday rolled by, and Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man
and said, “You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today.” Startled, he replied, “I thought you paid on
Friday.” “Normally we do,” answered the foreman, “but we’re letting you go
today because you’ve fallen behind. Our
daily felling charts show that you’ve dropped from first place on Monday to
last on Wednesday.” “But I’m a hard
worker,” the young man objected. “I
arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee breaks!” The foreman, sensing the boy’s integrity
thought for a minute and then asked, “Have you been sharpening your ax?” The young man replied, “I’ve been working too
hard to take the time.”
Beloved, prayer is not an optional thing that we do if we have the
time. It’s necessary. It’s the thing that “sharpens our axe”. Without prayer, the spiritual work we are
involved in gets duller and more difficult.
In many situations it doesn’t just sharpen the axe. It is the axe.
2. The content of our requests
A few weeks ago I shared the story of the warehouse in heaven that’s filled
with boxes of things that we did not receive in our lives simply because we had
not taken the time to ask for them.
I think that sometimes when we think of prayer “requests”, we think in
concrete terms – and we ask for things like healing for a sickness, getting that
promotion, help finding a place to live, problems with my spouse, things like
that.
And these are very important things to ask for. These are things that we need to learn and
grow in concerning prayer.
But I’m finding that there’s another category of requests that I need to
learn to ask for as well.
It’s like going to a grocery store and only going down two different aisles
to fill your shopping basket. You might
get some important things in those two aisles, but there’s a whole lot more to
the store than just those two aisles.
I am challenged by the things that Paul prayed for. These are the things he found valuable to ask
God for.
In some of Paul’s letters, he actually shares how he prays for certain
people. And the prayers I find the most
fascinating are the prayers he records from prison.
I think difficult times like that tend to rearrange our priorities. It’s during difficult times that we tend to
think about what is really important in life.
I want to show you a few of the aisles you may have missed in God’s grocery
store. I want to show you a few more
possibilities of things you might want to be asking for – either for yourself
or for others. I might add that many of
these things are not the “one prayer wonders”, they will require a commitment
to regular, persistent prayer.
(Eph 1:15-19 NKJV) Therefore
I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the
saints, {16} do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my
prayers: {17} that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may
give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, {18}
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the
hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the
saints, {19} and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who
believe, according to the working of His mighty power
Paul prayed for “wisdom”, for “opened eyes”, “hope”, to see the treasure in
the saints, and to know God’s power.
(Eph 3:14-21 NKJV) For
this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, {15} from
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, {16} that He would grant
you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might
through His Spirit in the inner man, {17} that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, {18} may be able to
comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and
height; {19} to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be
filled with all the fullness of God. {20} Now to Him who is able to do
exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power
that works in us, {21} to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all
generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Paul prayed for inner strength and for them to know the love of God.
(Phil 1:9-11 NKJV) And this I pray, that your love may abound
still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, {10} that you may approve
the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till
the day of Christ, {11} being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are
by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Paul prayed for knowledge and discernment (telling right from wrong), and
for them to be filled with the fruits of righteousness.
(Col 1:9-12 NKJV)
For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray
for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding; {10} that you may walk worthy of the
Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in
the knowledge of God; {11} strengthened with all might, according to His glorious
power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; {12} giving thanks to the
Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
the light.
Paul prayed they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, that
they’d walk worthy of the Lord, that they’d be fruitful in every good work,
knowing God better and better, for strength, and for patience.
Please don’t misunderstand me – I need to be praying for my job. I need to be praying for my finances. But I need to also go down some of the other
aisles in the grocery store as well.
As you develop a daily prayer list, don’t forget to go down some of these
aisles. As you pray for people you care
for, could it be that some of these things are what they need most?
3. The heart and prayer
(Phil 1:3-8 NKJV) I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
{4} always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,
When Paul thinks about the Philippians, he smiles.
{5} for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,
The Philippian church was one of the few churches that
continued to send financial support to Paul while he was in prison.
{6} being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a
good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
What a great promise of God – He is not finished with us.
{7} just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I
have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and
confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. {8} For God
is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus
Christ.
Notice the words Paul uses to describe how he feels about the Philippians:
“thank”, “joy”, “confident”, “in my heart”, “how greatly I long”, “affection”
It could be that the Philippians were just an extra nice group of people
and this is why Paul felt this way about them.
Maybe he was just thankful for their support.
I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t because Paul prays for them so much.
Jesus said,
(Mat 6:21
NKJV) "For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.
We call this the treasure principle. The places you spend your money, your
time, or your effort are going to be the places where your heart is drawn
toward.
If you invest the treasure of your time by praying for people, you will
find your heart being drawn toward them.
Loving your enemies … pray for them …
(Mat 5:44
NKJV) "But I say to you, love your
enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for
those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
I think there’s a connection between praying for your enemies and loving
them. I think if you do one, the other
will be a lot easier. You may even find
that you don’t have as many “enemies” as you used to because you will find
yourself actually beginning to love them.
The Christian life is supposed to be a life characterized by love.
(John 13:35 NKJV)
"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love
for one another."
But to be honest, if you’ve been at this Christian walk for awhile, there
are times when it gets really difficult to love one another. And that’s why we need to pray.
I find it awfully hard to stay angry with someone that I’m praying for
daily. Especially if I’m asking for the
right things off the grocery shelves in heaven.
Husbands, pray for your wives
(1 Pet 3:7 NKJV) Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with
understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being
heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
Husbands are to learn to understand their wives. Don’t just throw up your hands in frustration
– study your wife.
What if your wife needed something from a shelf in heaven’s grocery store? Would you recognize it? You may not understand why she gets angry
with you. You may not understand why she
seems to change her mind about things.
But what if she’s just afraid?
What if she feels a need for security and safety from the things that
attack her? What if she needs
reassurance that you really care about her more than anyone else?
When a husband does not “understand” his wife, when he does not give honor
to her, when he does not treat her as a “weaker vessel”, something happens –
prayers are hindered. What does this
mean? I have some ideas:
1. It could mean that all your
prayers are going to be hindered. God
may not be answering any of your prayers until you get things right with your
wife.
2. It could mean that the two of you
aren’t going to be praying together. As
difficult as it is for a man to learn to pray regularly, it’s even more
difficult for a couple to learn to pray together. And if you aren’t dwelling with her “with
understanding”, you have even less of a chance to be regularly praying
together.
3. It could mean that your prayers
for your wife will be hindered. It might
mean that you’re not going to be praying for the right things for your wife. And that would be a tragedy. Husbands, your wife is like a garden that
needs tending. She needs to be
watered. She needs careful
attention. And there are some things in
taking care of this garden that only a husband can take care of. I think there are some things in a woman’s
life that only her husband can pray for.
Prayer not only changes things, it not only changes other people, prayer
changes us. Our heart changes as we pray
for other people.