prayer: your comfort & strength

8/11/2019 Prayer: Your Comfort & Strength

1/50


2/50


3/50

Copyright 2014 by Lexington Baptist Church,Lexington, South Carolina.

All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English StandardVersion), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission.

All rights reserved.

Some Scripture quotations are from the The Message translation by J. B. Phillips, The New Testament in Mod-ern English, 1962 edition, published and copyrighted by HarperCollins.


4/50

Chapter One: Characteristics of Prayer

In this book, Prayer: Your Comfort & Your Strength, we will

unpack much of the Bibles teaching on prayer. It is not my in-

tention to give you more head knowledge of prayer, but sim-

ply to give you the opportunity to learn more howto pray.

As we start talking about prayer, I want to tell you a little of

my personal journey in order to set a framework for this se-

ries on prayer. Prayer for me as a man, a husband, a dad,

someone trying to do right by my family and live life as Je-

sus wants, prayer has been a journey. The journey for me

has been one from my head to my heart. This may resonate

with some of you. I think this is a key issue for many peo-

ple. What I knew in my head, I did not grasp in my heart. My

dissertation for my doctorate was on intercessory prayer. It

is in a nice, thick, green binder in my ofce right now. I went

through the Bible and exposited the Hebrew and the Greek

of the great prayers of the Bible. I nished the dissertation

after one year, completed the statistical work and taught the

material to people in my church. Even though my dissertationwas on intercessory prayer, I can tell you what the Bible says

about intercessory prayer and what the great gures of the

Bible help us to see about intercessory prayer (gures like

Samuel and Paul), even though I had the knowledge, I did


5/50

not get what it meant to pray for someone else. There was a

disconnect between my head and my heart. Really, much of

my walk with Jesus has been about getting out of my head to

my heart; prayer is certainly about that. Prayer is less about

knowledge and more about knowing your Abba Father, know-ing how to be still in the presence of the Lord, knowing how to

listen to the voice of the Spirit of God, knowing how to speak

and how to be silent.

So out of this journey between head and heart, let me tell you

what I have learned and believe about prayer.

First, I believeprayer makes a difference. There is a differ-ence in the lives of people who pray. This is not in the sense

of the billboards I see that say prayer works. To say that

prayer works implies that prayer is a tool we can use to get

God to do our bidding, in order to get our circumstances as

we want them. Prayer is not a tool used to manipulate or co-

erce God at our own discretion, but prayer does make a dif-

ference in the way we live and in what directions our lives

take.

Here is how prayer makes a difference. When you pray, you

have more peace. As we learn to live less out of the esh

and focus more on the Spirit of God, prayer is absolutely es-

sential. Romans 8:9 says, Those who are in the esh cannot

please God. If you are in the esh, you cannot please God. If

you are in the esh, you are not going to pray, but living andpraying in the Spirit brings peace.

Secondly, to be a praying person makes a difference not only

in terms of peace, but also in maturity. Mature believers are

mature because they pray. People who dont pray, dont grow


6/50

to be mature believers. A lot of people are very active, say

the right things, have a lot of head knowledge, are very visi-

ble, but if they are not praying, they are not mature.

Heres another way prayer makes a difference. Prayer makesa difference because it brings you more authority. I do not

mean authority in the sense of getting people to do what you

want, but in the sense that when a mature, humble, godly

person prays according to the promises of God, that moves

God. I dont know of any more authority than that.

Also, prayer makes a difference by giving you more Jesus.

Prayer gives you more Jesus. The more you pray, the moreJesus you have. I do not know that I can defend this state-

ment theologically, but I know that people who pray are closer

to Jesus, and people who do not pray are distant to Jesus.

Another way prayer makes a difference isprayer makes

you more useful for the Kingdom. You can do a lot of good

church stuff without praying, but you will not do much for

the good of the Kingdom without praying. Usefulness for theKingdom does not come from activity, it comes from prayer.

Only God can do, in peoples lives and in the world, what

needs to be done.

So, prayer makes a difference. Thats the rst thing I believe

about prayer. The second thing I believe about prayer is we

talk about prayer more than we pray. We talk about prayer,

we ask others to pray, we read books on prayer, listen toteaching on prayer, but actuallyprayingis not a natural act for

most people. We must talk less about prayer, andpraymore.

The third thing I believe about prayer is that the purity of our


7/50

hearts determines the quality of our prayers. In other words,

when we do not seek purity of heart it will affect our rela-

tionship with Jesus and will diminish our prayers. Now, God

is sovereign and will answer prayer for His own purposes,

but the purity of our hearts affects the quality of our prayers.Where our hearts are impure, there is an interference that

keeps us from where God wants us to be.

Here is a fourth thing I believe about prayer. The best prayer

is hidden. We live in such a social media driven age in which

everybody knows everything within minutes of an event. In

this age, the thought that something needs to be hidden, that

you do not have to share everything with everybody, that

much of our relationship with God needs to stay between us

and God, is rare. We need to be vulnerable with each other,

especially in our marriages, but we connect with God in deep

ways which do not necessarily lend themselves to public dis-

closure. In fact, the more you disclose some things publicly,

the less valuable they become. I am not talking about public

witness, I am talking about the deep true place in your life inwhich you are connecting with Jesus. Just think for a moment

about Jesus in the Garden at Gethsemane. That was a mo-

ment of quietness and stillness and hiddenness that He had

with the Father, and we see this throughout the Gospels. He

spent all night in prayer, alone, before choosing His disciples

(Matthew 14). There is a hiddenness to His prayer life. For

many of us, we do so much publicly that there is no depth tous. Psalm 62:1 says, My soul waits in silence for God only.

Heres a fth thing that Ive learned about prayer. Prayer is

both a discipline and a gift. I mentioned that prayer is not a


8/50

natural act for most. Instead, prayer is a discipline in that you

have to set a time and a place to pray. It does not have to be

the same every day, but if you are not disciplined, and stra-

tegic and intentional about praying, you will not pray. Prayer

is also a gift. You cannot psych yourself up for a special rev-elation from God. Special revelation is a gift of the Holy Spir-

it, and there will be times in your discipline of prayer that the

Holy Spirit will gift you with a revelation and a presence that

He otherwise would not do. Prayer is a gift, and prayer as a

gift and a discipline absolutely work together.

Here is a sixth thing I believe about prayer. Prayer chang-

es things. It changes us, it changes our life circumstances. I

absolutely believe in a miracle-working God who works mir-

acles in response to our praying. Prayer changes the world,

and prayer changes the way the Kingdom of God impacts

the world. Thats why great revivals are always preceded by

great prayer, because prayer changes the way Gods King-

dom impacts the world.

And then nally,prayer moves God to act. Dont ask me to

theologically explain that to you; Im not sure I can. God is

sovereign, I get that. God doesnt change, I get that. But God

has so set up our souls as such that there are things He will

not give to us, except when we ask. That is what I mean by

saying that prayer moves God to act. Prayer is what moves a

Church into revival, because God acts in response to prayer.

Prayer is what moves our families into a new season of spiri-tual life, because God acts in response to our prayers.

So these seven things are the framework for where Im com-

ing from when I speak to you and try to teach and demon


9/50

Chapter Two: When You Pray

Now, lets look at our scripture in Matthew chapter 6, vers-

es 5-15. This is a great passage of Scripture. Some of you

know and have studied it. I hope to pull out some things that

will be a real encouragement to you.

Matthew 6:5-15:

5 And when you pray, you must not be like the hyp-

ocrites. For they loveto stand and pray in the syna-

gogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen

by others.Truly, I say to you, they have received their

reward.6 But when you pray,go into your room and shut

the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.And

your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

7 And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases

asthe Gentiles do, forthey think that they will be heard

for their many words.8 Do not be like them,for your Fa-

ther knows what you need before you ask him.9 Pray

then like this:

Our Father in heaven,hallowed beyour name.10Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.


10/50

11 Give usthis day our daily bread,12 and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.13 Andlead us not into temptation,

but

deliver us from

evil.

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heaven-

ly Father will also forgive you,15 but if you do not forgive

others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive

your trespasses.

This passage from Matthew 6 is part of the Sermon on the

Mount (Matthew 5-7), the basic teaching of the normativeChristian life. In the middle of this sermon, we nd this teach-

ing on prayer. Notice in Matthew 6:2, Jesus assumes three

disciplines that will be practiced among His followers: when

you give, when you pray, when you fast. These three dis-

ciplines are assumed to be a part of the normative Christian

life.

Now, I am not preaching right now about fasting, but fastingis assumed to be part of our lifestyles. Giving is, praying is,

and fasting is. Fasting is an extremely valuable spiritual disci-

pline. The Daniel Fast, especially, is one I commend to you.

In Daniel 1 and 10, he lays out a fast that is doable and has

great impact in the lives of believers.

So, lets look in verses 5-15 of Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6:5, when you pray, youmust not be like the

hypocrites

Now, I mentioned that in verse 5 it says, when you pray. We

talked about the three spiritual disciplines of giving, praying


11/50

and fasting, but here in verses 5-7, it says when you pray

three times. Notice rst of all it says, you must not be like the

hypocrites. Hypocrite, in the Greek language of the New

Testament, means a stage actor, particularly someone who

assumed a role for the sake of the drama they are perform-ing. My sons wife has a degree in theatre. We saw her in her

rst production. She had the role of Shelby in the play, Steel

Magnolias. Shelby is a bouncy, ighty, southern gal and my

daughter-in-law is none of those things, but she played the

role perfectly. However, I know this young woman, and thats

not her. She put on a mask for the sake of the role. The text

says when we pray, we must notbe like the hypocrites. Youcannot put on a mask before God. You cant play a role be-

fore God. You cant pretend to be more spiritual than you are.

You cant pretend that you hurt less than you really do. You

cant pretend that you dont feel betrayed, or angry, or hurt, or

disappointed when you really feel that way. We are so busy

trying to appear before God like we think He wants us to ap-

pear, as though there is some sort of articial performancestandard we are trying to maintain. It is no wonder prayers

are not answered. When we are playing a role, we are start-

ing from a posture of dishonesty. You dont have to play a role

before God. When you pray, you must not be a hypocrite.

By the way, the word prayer is mentioned in verse 5 three

times. There are three different words in Greek for prayer

in the New Testament. The use of prayer in Matthew 6:5 isa combined word, meaning to move in a direction and to

be near. So in combination, these two smaller Greek words

mean to move in the direction of nearness. So prayer is to

move into the direction of where Jesus is.


12/50

Matthew 6:6, your Father who sees in secret will reward

you

So the hypocrites stand in the synagogues and street cor-

ners and are seen by others, and there is a reward for beinga hypocrite. There is a reward for others thinking more of you

than is really there. The reward is that others look up to us

and think we are important, and we think we are important,

too. We are convinced if others think we are spiritual, God

thinks we are spiritual. So, mark that word reward. But

when you pray,go into your room and shut the door and

pray to your Father who is in secret.And your Father

who sees in secret will reward you.I dont know about

you, but I dont want the reward of the hypocrite. I have had

that reward in the past, and it means nothing. I want the re-

ward that God gives. The Father who sees in secret will re-

ward you.

Now heres the question, what is the reward? It is not to build

your self-esteem; it is not to build your image in front of other

people. What is the reward that God gives? The reward God

gives is Himself. The reward is intimacy with the Father. The

deepest, truest part of prayer, my friends, is when you rest in

His presence and your heart simply calls out,Abba, Father.

Thats the place of rest. Thats the place of truth. Thats the

place of peace. That is the reward He gives. Now the partic-

ular things pressing on your heart, mind and life, He invites

us to bring that to Him. But the real reward is God. He is yourinheritance. Hes your reward.

So, dont be like the hypocrites. They have their reward in full,

but we have our reward. Now, lets look at the next verse.


13/50

Matthew 6:7-8, And when you pray, do not heap up

empty phrases asthe Gentiles do, forthey think that

they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like

them,for your Father knows what you need before you

ask Him.

I dont know how you pray, you dont know how I pray. Ev-

eryone has his own style and rhythm. (By the way, have you

read The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson? If you havent,

you need to get it. Best book on prayer Ive read in a long

time.) Prayer comes in many different ways. Dont try to nar-

rowly dene prayer. Sometimes, prayer is sitting still, reading

your Bible, folding your hands and saying words. Sometimes

prayer is at on your face weeping before the Lord. Some-

times prayer is kneeling. Sometimes prayer is walking. Some-

times prayer is holding your hands up. Sometimes prayer is

being still. Sometimes prayer is being active. The point is not

what your body is doing but how your heart is opened. How-

ever, do not underestimate what you do with your body in

prayer. We see in Daniel 10 that Daniel prayed for 21 days tobreak through demonic opposition. When the angel appears

to Daniel, he falls on his face before the Lord. Then the angel

reaches down and touches Daniel, and Daniel comes to his

knees; then the angel touches him again, and Daniel rises

to his feet. The posture of his body reects the attitude of his

heart. Many of us are so programmed as to how we should

pray, that the thought of being spontaneous even when weare alone is foreign. There are times for all of us when we

should be on our knees and times we should be on our faces.

So, now we are into the Lords Prayer, itself. We also nd a


14/50

fuller description of the circumstances of the Lords prayer

in Luke 11:1, when the disciples ask Jesus how to pray. We

also see it here in Matthew 6.

Matthew 6:9,Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven,hallowed beyour name. Your kingdom come, your will

be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give usthis day our

daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have

forgiven our debtors. Andlead us not into temptation,

butdeliver us fromevil.

Jesus teaches that there are six petitions in this particular

prayer that form a template for prayer. The rst petition is thatGods name be hallowed or gloried. The second petition is

that He will bring His Kingdom. The third petition is that He

will do His will. Now you may ask, Why should we pray for

these things, wont God do it anyway? My friends, you and

I have authority, and there are many things God will not do

until and unless we ask. So as we align our hearts with the

heart of God and ask Him passionately, fervently and humbly,

Honor Your name, bring your Kingdom and do your will, this

becomes part of the miraculous, mysterious, powerful, au-

thoritative position you and I are in because of Jesus. You are

precious to God because you are in Jesus.

Notice, all three of these positions (honor Your name, bring

Your Kingdom and do Your will), are vertical, between God

and man. The next three petitions are more horizontal, howwe connect with one another: give us what we need to live,

forgive us and lead us.

So these six petitions form the template for prayer in two

ways: First, it aligns us properly. Prayer begins by looking up,


15/50

by our connection with God, our desire for His glory, His will,

His Kingdom. Prayer begins not with us, but with God. Sec-

ond, we see the major things for which we must pray: give us

what we need, forgive us for our sins and lead us through this

difcult, treacherous world. So that is the template for prayer.

But there is one other thing we see in verse 14, For if you

forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will

also forgive you. Now this builds off of what He just said in

the Lords prayer in verse 12 (forgive us our debts, as we

also have forgiven our debtors). This is the hardest part of

our prayers, I know. But God hears our prayer according to

how willing we are to forgive people who harmed us. In real

prayer, effective prayer, prayer that moves God, there is a

price to be paid. According to our willingness to forgive oth-

ers, to that degree, God is willing to hear our prayers. Earli-

er, in Chapter 5 of Matthew, Jesus says the same thing. He

says when you bring a gift to the altar (that gift is prayer), and

you remember your brother has something against you, dont

make the offering; rst, go get it straight with him before youcome back to the altar.

So, thats the basic explanation of what prayer is. Let me n-

ish with three denitions of prayer.

First, prayer is communication with God. This is communica-

tion, not in the sense of talking on the phone, but more in a

military sense. Communication with units in the eld is muchdeeper and more important than just picking up a phone and

calling someone. If there is a platoon leader who has to com-

municate with his company ofcer, and then the company

ofcer back to his battalion, that line of communication is ab-


16/50

solutely crucial. According to that communication, they know

where they are in terms of the grand battle plan, they know

who to call when they need resources, it is how they stay in

touch to know what is safe and what is not, where the ene-

my is and is not. Communication makes all the difference inthe world. When we say prayer is communication, it is not

like picking up the phone and calling someone. Prayer is how

Gods resources become available to you, and how you stay

in touch to receive them.

Secondly,prayer is our authority with God. God, in this in-

credible, uncondescending, humble way, gives you authority

to pray. Your prayers move God.

And third, prayer is our intimacy with God. It is in prayer that

we call out, Abba, Father. Beyond all communication, be-

yond all resources, beyond all authority, it is the intimacy with

the Father that our hearts yearn for more than anything else.


17/50

Chapter 3: What Does Prayer Accomplish?

There are those who think that prayer doesnt really change

anything except the one who prays; that prayer doesnt

change the way the world is, the way that God is responding

to your situation, but prayer is just a way to help you feel bet-

ter. I reject that completely. Now prayer does have an impacton us, but prayer is much more than that. What we said is

that prayer accomplishes four things.

First, prayer aligns you with Gods purposes. When I come to

prayer, I am placing myself under Gods authority and align-

ing myself with Gods purposes.

Second, prayer conrms your new identity in Christ. Colos-

sians 3 refers to the new birth. When you come to Christ,

a new self is birthed within you. Its the new birth. There is

a newness to your life, a new identity, a new self. And the

Christian life is receiving more and more the fullness of that

new self that God has birthed within you. Until we go through

that new birth, we dont really know Jesus. We know about

Jesus, but we dont know Him personally. o prayer conrms

that new identity in you. The more you pray, the more youconnect with God in prayer, the more that new self has the

fullness, the expansiveness, the reach and the impact that it

can have.


18/50

Third, prayer connects you with Gods power. A prayer-less

life, is a powerless life. To pray is to be connected with Gods

power.

Fourth, prayer permits you to be audacious with God. Thereis an audacity to God. Its never irreverent. Theres a marvel-

ous passage in the Gospel of Luke of the persistent woman,

who was not a nice woman, but she got what she needed

from the judge because she was audacious in how she ap-

proached the one able to grant her what she needed. Thats

what prayer is. There is an audacity to God. Again, not irrev-

erent, not commanding God in any sense Hes still God and

were still human. And yet, there is granted to us the permis-

sion to be audacious with God.


19/50

Chapter Four: What Matters When You Pray

In these chapters, were talking about Prayer: Your Comfort

& Your Strength. What we are doing is giving you a practi-

cal guide to prayer. We are focusing less on the doctrine of

prayer although thats important and really trying to focuson the practical ways in which we pray. I know many of you

are faithful in prayer and have been for many years, but my

aim for you after reading this book, is that you will be person-

ally more engagedin prayer. Im not saying that you should

be praying ten more hours a week, but I am saying that you

will have a greater understanding not so much of the theolo-

gy of prayer, but the practical way in which you pray. I am try-ing to equip you in these pages to be praying people.

Its hard to teach about prayer. We can see what the Bible

says, and what the Bible says is true. But it is hard to teach

people how to pray. You really have to experience prayer.

The best way that I have understood and grown in praying is

by praying with people who pray better than I do. Does that

make sense? Ive learned so much that way. You have toconnect with that. Learning to be a praying person, you have

to be coached, you almost have to be mentored.

My wife, Pams, Grandmother was called Grandmother Irby.


20/50

She was from Anderson, SC. She was a godly woman, a

praying woman. She didnt put up with anybodys foolishness,

I want you to know. Grandmother Irby had tiny feet. Because

of her tiny feet, it was hard for her to walk. So whenever she

went into town, she prayed to nd the closest parking spaceto the store, and God answered that prayer. That commit-

ment to prayer, and that model of prayer, impacted Pam and

the whole family. You have to be in the presence of someone

who understands how prayer works, for it to rub off. You can

study it, you can learn about it, you can sit in church prayer

meetings, but, my friends, youd better nd a way and a place

to dive into the water, as that is the only way you really learnhow to pray. So now, we are going to look at the practical way

to do that.

The coach we will look to in the next chapter is Hannah, in 1

Samuel, chapter 1. Now I do a bit of wandering around when

I preach, as you may be well aware, so were going to do

a bit of wandering before we get there. I want to talk to you

rst about six things that dont matter when you pray, but youthink they do. And secondly, I want to talk to you about six

things that do matter, but you think they dont.

Six Things That Dont Matter When You Pray

First of all, when you pray, it doesnt matter how much knowl-

edge you have. Let me just add this caveat: the more ofGods word you know, the better youre going to pray. But

God is going to hear your prayers whether youre a PhD or

high school drop-out. Look with me in Matthew 6:7-8. I love

this passage. Jesus says, And when you pray, do not heap


21/50

up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will

be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them,

for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. I

have been in prayer meetings where I wanted to run out the

back door because people were praying so long with suchowery language. And Ive been in prayer meetings where

people wanted to run out the back door while I prayed so

long with such owery phrases. Its not how much you know.

Its a matter of your heart.

Secondly, your location doesnt matter. It just doesnt matter.

You dont just pray in church. You dont just pray at the din-

ner table. You dont just pray in some religious location that

somehow resonates with you. The place where you are sim-

ply doesnt matter. In 2 Chronicles 6, we nd Solomons mar-

velous prayer of dedication for the temple. You may know the

story, God did not permit his father, David, to build the great

temple, but Solomon built it. And upon the dedication of the

temple, Solomon prays. And this is what he says in 2 Chron-

icles 6:18, But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth?Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You.

How much less this house that I have built? Heaven itself

cannot contain God, why do we think church can? Now its

good to have places to pray, where you can be quiet and

still before the Lord, but lets not make any mistake about it.

There is no specicity, no location: God is everywhere.

Next, your posturedoesnt matter. It just doesnt matter whatyou do when you pray. You dont have to sit still with your

eyes closed, your head bowed and your hands folded in front

of your face. You dont have to stand up and hold your hands


22/50

up. You dont have to lie on your face. Now there are times

and moods and seasons where youre doing some of those

things, but my point is, there is no holy position. Prayer is

a matter of your heart. My best praying is done while walk-

ing around my neighborhood with my eyes wide open, pray-ing before daylight. Thats my style, I dont know what youre

style is.

Heres something else, and this is going to blow your mind.

It doesnt matter about your level of spiritual maturity. Hear

what Im saying. Some of us think that when were more spir-

itually mature, thats when well pray. If thats your thought,

you are confusing cause and effect. The fact is, praying is

what leads you into maturity. You dont have to wait until you

reach some kind of level of spiritual maturity- this is a lie of

Satan to keep you from praying. Pray where you are, and

God will then through your prayers, lead you to where you

need to be.

Heres something else that youre not going to like. It doesnt

matter your level of perfection. It doesnt matter if your life is

broken and a train wreck or if you are a shining example of

godliness. Now, the more you are pursuing God with your life

and your life is conforming to what God wants you to be, your

prayers are going to have a different tenor to them. And yet,

if we wait until we are where we think we ought to be in terms

of our lives being organized and well-lived, perfect, moral, if

you wait for that, youre never going to pray. Let me show yousomething in Psalm 51. This is where Davids life totally falls

apart - immorality, adultery, Bathsheba - and this is his prayer

in response to that. Psalm 51:1, Have mercy on me, O God,


23/50

according to Your steadfast love; according to your abundant

mercy. Verses 10-12, Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from

Your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to

me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, tosustain me. There is no greater prayer than that, and it was

prayed at a moment of total failure. Again, its a lie of Satan

to keep you and me in bondage, if we think that because our

lives are messed up at a particular moment, we shouldnt be

praying.

Another thing that doesnt matter is time. I simply mean that

the common response for many people is I dont have time

to pray. Youve got the same 24 hours everybody else does.

Time, by itself, isnt a limitation to our praying. Our problem,

of course, is discipline and desire. Its not time.

Six Things That Do Matter When You Pray

So those are the things we think matter, but really dont. Nowlets look at things that do matter, but were not convinced

they really should. Look with me over in Luke, chapter 18.

This is another great prayer in Scripture. Heres Luke 18:9-

14: Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the

temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax col-

lector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: God I

thank you that I am not like other people robbers, evil-doers, adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast

twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. But the tax col-

lector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to

heaven, but beat his breast and said, God have mercy


24/50

on me, a sinner.Verse 14, Jesus says, I tell you that

this man, rather than the other, went home justied be-

fore God. For all those who exalt themselves will be hum-

bled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

There are six things here you have to know about prayer, that

matter.

First, authenticitymatters. You cant play games with God.

He knows. You have to be honest before God. You cant pre-

tend before God and expect it to mean anything. You have to

be authentic.

Secondly, intentionality matters. You have to be intention-al when you pray. Prayer does not happen by accident. If

youre waiting until you wake up one morning and say, Im

going to pray today, it wont strike you like that. You have to

be intentional and make a choice to pray. We have a group

that meets at our church on Sunday afternoons to pray. The

group is called Praying for Prodigals These are folks whose

grown children have left their faith behind and are living someof the most damaging kinds of lives. These grieving parents

meet once a week to pray for their prodigal children, that the

Lord would lead them to repentance and bring them back.

They meet every Sunday and pray. Theyve had one or two

victories through this, amazing miracles. But folks, thats not

by accident. They choose to pray. They are intentional in

prayer. Intentionality matters.Third, humilitymatters. We learned towards the beginning

of this book that the basic position of prayer is this: You ask,

God responds. This is, essentially, humility, isnt it? We hum-

bly understand that in prayer, I am placing myself at the dis-


25/50

cretion and under the prerogative of God. Its not about me,

its about Him. I ask, He responds. So what we see in the sto-

ry here in Luke 18 is this kind of humility.

Fourth, desperationmatters. Desperation matters a lot.Prayer is a matter of desperation. We turn to God in prayer

when we have nowhere else to go. In Mark 10, Jesus is leav-

ing Jericho, moving to Jerusalem, heading toward the cross;

and as He leaves the city gates of Jericho, theres a blind

beggar named Bartimaeus sitting by the side of the road. The

blind beggar has no other recourse and is dependent upon

the kindness of people throwing him coins to live. As Jesus

and the crowd leave, the blind beggar hears the crowd going

by and hears that its Jesus, and do you remember what he

does? He starts crying out, Lord Jesus, son of David, have

mercy on me! How awkward is that? Pam and I were visiting

a church recently in downtown Columbia. Were sitting there,

one of the few times were able to sit in church together and

have the Lords supper together, and this guy from the street

just wanders in. He sits down and starts moving around. Itwas kind of awkward in the middle of the service. The sermon

was kind of boring, so I found it interesting to watch the guy.

And I was thinking, if I were the preacher right then, my anxi-

ety would go sky high. This preacher handled it very well, but

you wonder what the deal is. The church apparently knew

the guy and embraced him, and it was pretty cool the way it

worked out. But it was just something that kind of jars you,and we nd this same sort of thing in Mark 10 that this blind

beggar cries out to Jesus. But it was the desperation in his

heart that Jesus responds to. Jesus heard him, stopped and

healed him because the guy was desperate.


26/50

Fifth, ispersistence. That matters. Again, in Luke 18, the tax

collector is crying to God to have mercy on him. The Lord

responds to persistence in prayer. In, The Circle Maker,

Mark Batterson makes a great point- what if God is waiting

on you to pray about a matter a certain number of times andyou stop before you get to where He wants you to be? What

if you stop one day too soon? What if you stop one hour too

soon? And one more hour, one more cry out to God, one

more model of persistence in you and the answer would have

been given. You see, persistence matters.

And nally, faithmatters. Lets look in Hebrews 11:6. This is a

well-known passage that says so much to us. Without faith it

is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to

Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those

who earnestly seek Him.


27/50

Chapter Five: Ways to Pray

In this chapter, were going to look to our coach, Hannah, and

dig deep into her fervent prayers. From her example, well

better learn how to pray. Then, we will take a look at six prac-

tical ways to pray.

Hannah

Now, lets look at our coach for this chapter and see what

we can learn. In 1 Samuel, chapter 1, we see these practical

things played out in the life of Hannah. This is a rich passage

of scripture. Follow with me in the rst few verses of Samuel,

There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of thehill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son

of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an

Ephrathite.He had two wives. The name of the one was

Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Pen-

innah had children, but Hannah had no children.This is

setting the stage for us. Elkanah has two wives, and you no-

tice Hannah has no children. This story, like so many others

weve talked about recently, starts with barrenness. Remem-

ber the scriptures, weve encountered this with Sarai, Abra-

hams wife, and others. Its not only the physical barrenness,

but also the spiritual barrenness that goes with it. Certainly,


28/50

in Hannahs case, the nation of Israel was barren, dry and

empty spiritually. Samuels miraculous birth that was about

to happen, responds not just to Hannahs plea, but also to

the plea of all of Gods people in Israel. Verse 3, Now this

man used to go up

year by year from his city

to worshipand to sacrice to theLordof hostsat Shiloh, where

the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of

theLord. On the day when Elkanah sacriced,he would

give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons

and daughters.Now we saw earlier that Peninnah had

children, but now she has a bunch of children. But notice the

contrast.

Verses 5 and 6, But to Hannah he gave a double portion,

because he loved her, though theLORDhad closed her

womb. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to ir-

ritate her, because theLORDhad closed her womb.This

is a painful and broken situation. There is woundedness in

Hannahs heart already because she cant bear children, but

then the rivalry provoked by the other wife toward her just re-inforces that pain.

Verse 7, So it went on year by year. As often as she

went up to the house of theLORD, she used to provoke

her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat.Year by

year. Dont gloss over that. Some things just dont end quick-

ly. Some pain doesnt resolve as soon as we think it should.

There are some of you who have been going through circum-stances not just for months, but for years. Maybe some of

you for decades. Maybe its a health situation, maybe its a

family situation, whatever it might be, things dont resolve as


29/50

quickly as we wish they would. So this continues on for Han-

nah. This is the circumstance out of which were going to see

prayer growing. This is not clean cut, is it? This is not some-

body sitting down, kneeling, closing their eyes, folding their

hands and praying a nice little sweet prayer to God. This issomething that is birthed in pain. This is a desperate moment.

Verse 8, And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Han-

nah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And

why is your heart sad?Am I not more to you than ten

sons?I cannot read past that without noting, thats just the

stupidest thing he could have said. Would that have made

you feel any better? No! You shouldnt be upset, look at me.

Im much better than ten sons. No, you arent! This is like the

sorry comforters of Job, isnt it? What is it about us that we

get in a circumstance and feel a need to speak? Sometimes,

we just have to blurt out something. Im a preacher, and Im

supposed to know something. But Ive been in way too many

pastoral situations where Ive just blurted out something, and

I think, Lord, just shut my mouth!

Verses 9-11, After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh,

Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat

beside the doorpost ofthe temple of theLORD.She

wasdeeply distressed and prayed to theLORDand wept

bitterly. And shevowed a vow and said, OLordof

hosts, if you will indeedlook on the afiction of your

servant andremember me and not forget your servant,but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to

theLord all the days of his life,and no razor shall touch

his head. This is similar to the Nazarite vow. Im not here to


30/50

defend the theology of this. This is kind of like a bargain that

Hannah makes with God. You dont bargain with God. Im just

reporting what she does. And yet, here, it does reect that

she is deeply distressed. She weeps bitterly. This is a desper-

ate woman. And desperation is going to reach an even deep-er level in just a moment.

Verses 12-15, As she continued praying before theLORD,

Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her

heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard.

Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli

said to her, How long will you go on being drunk? Put

your wine away from you. But Hannah answered, No,

my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk

neither wine nor strong drink, butI have been pouring

out my soul before theLord.She is brutally honest with

herself and with God.

And Verse 16, to me, is the most painful in the passage, Do

not regard your servant as a worthless woman.She

cant have children. Already, as a woman, she is powerless in

that age. She is vulnerable, feeling worthless. And she goes

on to say, All along I have been speaking out of my anxiety

and vexation. I want you to look at something here. Were

seeing the birth of prayer, the practical way in which prayer

is birthed within us. Its messy, its painful, its conicted, its

full of stops and starts, it goes on for a long time. But dont

miss this crucial point: it occurs in an environment of wor-ship. Worship and prayer are absolutely linked. When you

worship well, you are praying well. When you pray well, you

are in worship. Prayer is not just getting God to do something


31/50

for you. Prayer is when you pour out your heart before God,

which is worship. Dont miss the link between worship and

prayer. They go absolutely together. When we separate them,

we reduce prayer to nothing more than a mechanical device

to manipulate God.

Verse, 17, Then Eli answered,Go in peace, and the

God of Israelgrant your petition that you have made to

him. And she said,Let your servant nd favor in your

eyes. Then the womanwent her way and ate, and her

face was no longer sad.Have you all read this? This is an

incredible moment, in this account. This is the moment when

everything changes. Not at the birth of Samuel, but when

Gods prophet spoke the prophetic promise to Hannah and

said, Your prayers are going to be answered. This is uncom-

fortable for Baptists, right? Here is a prophet who says to a

praying person, God told me to tell you your prayer is about

to be answered. That is a matter of great spiritual authority

that the prophet has. But dont miss that in an environment of

worship when there is a relationship, in this case between Eliand Hannah, the Spiritspeaks to Eli and gives him the word

to tell her. This is something beyond Hannah praying, this is

the interjection of the Holy Spirit in the whole process, speak-

ing through His prophet to this woman. This is hugely import-

ant. This is the moment when Hannahs faith changes.

Verse 19, They rose early in the morning and worshiped

before the

LORD; then they went back to their houseatRamah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and

theLordremembered her. And in due time Hannah con-

ceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel,


32/50

for she said, I have asked for him from theLord.

Let me nish up this chapter with six practical things for you

to use in your prayer life.

Six Practical Ways to Pray

Here is the rst one: if youre going to see impact from your

prayer, you have to start where you are. If youre in pain, start

where you are. You have to begin at the place where you

are. Dont wait until that day when you feel youre adequately

mature, or your life is in perfect shape, or all the forces come

together so that now you can pray. Hannah prayed out of her

vexation; so however messy or conicted, start where you

are.

Secondly, be intentional. Hannah chose to pray. She didnt

stumble into it by accident. She chose to pray.

Third, learn as you go. When I was in Central Asia, I talked to

several missionaries who have teenage children and want-ed to talk to me about raising teenage children. I dont have

a clue! I dont know how to do it. You y by the seat of your

pants. You learn as you go. Its not easy and you do the best

you can, but you learn as you go. Prayer is like that, too.

Fourth,prayer and worship go together. Hannah didnt just

pray by herself. She was in an environment and context of

worship. She and Elkanah continued to go to the place ofworship. It was in the attitude of worship that her prayer took

place.

Fifth, do whatever you need to do to be honest with God.


33/50

Hannah wept, Job complained, David danced, others knelt,

some fasted. Whatever you need to do to be honest with

God, you have to do that.

And sixth, accept the prophetic word from people aroundyou. You have to be careful with this. There are some who

will say, I have a word for you, and theyll speak a word for

you and its the craziest thing youve ever heard. You still

have to respond and make a determination whether you will

receive that word or not. But then, there are some people

who will speak a word of encouragement, a prophetic word

as the Spirit leads them that really brings a special sense of

encouragement that Gods answer is on the way. Be open

to receiving that. As a word of caution, be careful with this, it

can get out of control easily. But when you are in relationship

with somebody, when you are in a community of faith, and

someone you are in journey with speaks to you, you should

be open. If you know them and know where their heart is and

that they are trusting God, when the Lord speaks to them to

speak to you, you should be open to receiving that. That canbe a very powerful incentive and a very powerful way to pray.

So those are your six practical ways of praying. Start where

you are, be intentional, learn as you go,prayer and worship

go together, do whatever you need to do to be honest with

Godand accept the prophetic word from people around you,

but with care.


34/50

Chapter Six: The Holy Spirit and Prayer

Let me tell you upfront, this is going to be something that I

hope will be very useful to you, and very inspirational to you,

but were going to go into some deep waters. I want to take

you to some deep places as we talk about the Holy Spirit

and prayer. First, were going to explore general New Testa-ment teaching on who the Spirit is and how He operates in

our lives. Then, were going to look at a fabulous passage of

Scripture in Romans 8 that takes us into the Spirits operation

and the dynamics He brings into our prayer lives. Then were

going to nish by pointing out the different kinds of praying

we can do. But the Spirit-driven prayer is by far, the deepest,

truest way we can engage with prayer.

The Holy Spirit and His Role in Our Lives

So lets begin by looking at John 16:7-15, and begin talking

in general about the Holy Spirit and His role in our lives. He

is the third Person of the Trinity, so lets look at how He op-

erates in our lives. Lets look at John 16, in which Jesus is

speaking to His disciples the night before He is crucied.

John 16:7-15 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to

your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the

Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to


35/50

you. And when he comes, he will convict the world con-

cerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concern-

ing sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning

righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will

see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the rul-er of this world is judged. I still have many things to say

to you, but you cannot bear themnow. When the Spir-

it of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for

he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he

hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things

that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what

is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has ismine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and

declare it to you.

Now there are a couple of things immediately that we notice

in Verse 7 that really lay out for us in brief, an entire under-

standing of who the Holy Spirit is. First, is in the name Jesus

gives Him. He calls Him the Helper. Some of you know that

word is literally rendered, paraclete. It comes from a veryparticular Greek verb that means to comfort, encourage,

cheer up; an advocate, an intercessor, or a helper. Thats

what the word paraclete means. Now something else youll

notice about the way Jesus phrases this, the word paraclete

means someone called alongside to help. That verb is in the

passive voice. In other words, the Spirit does not act on His

own initiative. The Spirit is sent by the Father to bring glory toJesus. You need to get that very clearly because that makes

a huge difference in how we go about connecting with the

Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity.

He is fully God, just as is Jesus and the Father God. One tri-


36/50

une God in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And

there is a passiveness and submissiveness to the Holy Spirit

in that, He does not act on His own initiative, but only by the

initiative of the Father as He sends Him to move and bring

witness to the Son.

Now youll notice further in Verse 8 of John 16, and when

he comes, he willconvict the world concerning sin and

righteousness and judgment.The Spirits work is the

work of conversion. We dont win anybody to Jesus Christ.

We present the Gospel. Were faithful to the call to offer tes-

timony. But we cant change anybodys heart. Only the Spirit

of God can do that. He brings conviction to people, to bring

power to the Gospel.

Im going to read a little further in verse 9, concerning

sin, because they do not believe in me;this is the convic-

tion that the Spirit brings. Verse 10-12, concerning righ-

teousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see

me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of

this world is judged; concerning righteousness, because

I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;con-

cerning judgment, because the ruler of this worldis

judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you

cannot bear them now. And verse 13, Whenthe Spir-

it of truth comes,he willguide you into all the truth, for

he will not speak on his own authority, butwhatever he

hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the thingsthat are to come.So He not only convicts, but He guides

into righteousness. When we read the Word of God, we read

it with our minds, and it perhaps can even elicit certain kinds


37/50

of emotional responses in us. But in the nal analysis, it is

the Spirit of God, the third Person of the Trinity, who dwells

within the believers life, it is the Spirit of God who illuminates,

who reveals the truth of Gods word. The Spirit never acts in

contradictory ways to the Word of God. He only reveals thetruth of the Word of God. And then notice with me in verse 14

and 15, He willglorify me, for he will take what is mine and

declare it to you.All that the Father has is mine;therefore I

said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. The

Spirit of God revels Jesus to us, He lls the believers heart

with eth power and glory of God. Indeed, apart from His work

within us, we will not know what Gods will is. Again, in con-junction with His Word, the Spirit and the Word work togeth-

er. His task is to glorify Jesus. So, thats the word that Jesus

speaks to His followers just before His crucixion. And really,

this is much of the fundamental truth of who the Spirit of God

is in our world. He is still the same Spirit operating today as

He did then.

Now, when we turn over to Acts 2, we see the action of theSpirit of God in even a more dramatic way. You know this

passage well, but Im going to pull something out of it thats

very important for us. Following Jesus crucixion and res-

urrection, Jesus has ascended into Heaven. In response to

that ascension, the Spirit of God comes fullling Jesus prom-

ise that we just read in John 16. Jesus says, when I go away,

Im going to send you the paraclete, the Helper. Now we seehow that happens.

Acts 2:1-4Whenthe day of Pentecost arrived, they were

all together in one place.And suddenly there came from


38/50

heaven a sound likea mighty rushing wind, andit lled

the entire house where they were sitting.And divided

tonguesas of re appeared to them and rested on each

one of them. And they were alllled with the Holy Spirit

and began

to speak in other tongues

as the Spirit gavethem utterance.

Now were not going to unpack all of this right now, but let

me point your attention to chapter 16 of the Gospel of John,

where Jesus is speaking personally to the disciples, say-

ing He will send them the Holy Spirit. But in addition to that,

there is a corporate way in which the Spirit comes. The Spir-

its action is both individual and personal, and corporate or

Church. And what we see in Acts 2, is the Spirit coming to the

Church as a whole, who was welcoming to the Spirit, looking

for the Spirit, and ready to receive the Spirit of God when He

came. Now what I want you to see in Acts 2 is this connec-

tion to the Church and the Spirit of God. There would be no

Church apart from the Holy Spirit. Its the Spirit who created

the Church in obedience to Jesus, glorifying Jesus. Its theSpirit who descended, leading the Church into worship: its

the Spirit who moves among Gods people to call us to wor-

ship. He is leading the Church into fellowship: we cannot love

each other, we cannot be unied, apart from the Spirit of God

doing this divine work within us. And He is leading the Church

into mission: they spoke the Gospel in different tongues as

the Spirit gave them utterance. This is the miracle of the Spiritleading them to present the Gospel to all the nations repre-

sented there at the Jewish feast of Pentecost. So I want you

to get into your head that what Jesus said in John 16, now

is fullled on a corporate level in Acts 2, where the Church is


39/50

now the result of the Spirit of God in worship, in fellowship,

and in mission.

I appreciate you hanging with me so far. Were not done yet.

Weve got a little bit further to go. Its almost like when wetalk about these things, we see the Spirit of God as this im-

personal divine force that falls on Gods people. Thats not

the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is personal. He has per-

sonality, just as the Father and the Son do. In fact, through-

out Scripture, we see how the Spirit of God responds to and

reacts to situations and circumstances in our lives. Look with

me in Ephesians 4:30, Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,

by whom you were concealed for the day of redemption. In

other words, the Spirit is not a personal force, He is a person

who can be grieved. When we are disobedient, we can grieve

the Holy Spirit. Look with me in Matthew 12:31-32. Here, we

nd another kind of emotional response from the Spirit of

God. Verse 32, Whoever speaks a wordagainst the Son

of Manwill be forgiven, butwhoever speaks against the

Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in

this age or inthe age to come.And verse 31 explains that, Therefore

I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven peo-

ple, butthe blasphemy against the Spirit will not be for-

given.Blasphemy against the Spirit of God, the unforgive-

able sin, is when we have persistent unbelief toward Jesus.

Thats a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Look with me in

Hebrews 10:29. This is another kind of emotional reaction orresponse of Gods Spirit, How much worse punishment, do

you think, will be deserved by the onewho has trampled un-

derfoot the Son of God, and has profanedthe blood of the

covenantby which he was sanctied, and hasoutraged the


40/50

Spirit of grace? Im reading from the English Standard Ver-

sion, some of your Bibles may read insulted, but insulted

or outraged, thats a deeply personal response. He can be

grieved, He can be insulted, He can be blasphemed. Look

with me in Acts 5:3. This is the story of Ananias and Sapphi-ra, But Peter said, Ananias, why hasSatan lled your

heart to lieto the Holy Spirit? You can lie to the Holy

Spirit. And the last one in Acts 7:51, Peter tells us, You

stiff-necked people,uncircumcised in heart and ears,

you always resist the Holy Spirit.Blaspheme, lie against,

grieve, insult, outrage. Im not trying to scare you off here. Im

just saying the Holy Spirit in your life wants to be welcome.The New Testament compares the Holy Spirit to a dove,

doesnt it? And doves are easily frightened away. The Spirit

of God has to be welcomed, listened to, obeyed, cherished,

nurtured. The Holy Spirit has a personality.

Now, one other thing and then were going to talk about

prayer. Look with me in Ephesians 1:13-14. The Holy Spir-

it comes into our lives when we come to faith in Jesus. Inhim you also, when you heardthe word of truth, the gos-

pel of your salvation, and believed in him,were sealed with

thepromised Holy Spirit,who isthe guarantee of ourin-

heritance untilwe acquirepossession of it,to the praise of

his glory. At the moment we receive Christ, the Holy Spirit

comes into our lives. Now we dont always yield all that is in

us to His indwelling presence. We often shield parts of ourlives from him, we try to hide parts of our lives from him, we

dont submit parts of our lives to him, but the Spirit of God is

in the believers heart. It is our great joy to more and more

yield our lives to him.


41/50

The Holy Spirits Action in Our Lives

Now with all of that said, lets turn to what I really want to talk

to you about. And I appreciate your patience with my long in-troduction, again. Lets look now at the Holy Spirits action in

our lives.

Romans 8:4-8,[we] who walk not according to the esh

but according to the Spirit.5 Forthose who live accord-

ing to the esh set their minds onthe things of the esh,

but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds

on

the things of the Spirit.

6 For to set

the mind on theesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and

peace.7 For the mind that is set on the esh ishostile to

God, for it does not submit to Gods law;indeed, it can-

not.8 Those who are in the esh cannot please God.

Ive got to tell you, I read that last verse (verse 8) a few

months ago, and it was almost like the rst time. Ive read it

for years, and it just caught my attention in a new way a fewmonths ago. What those verses tell us is that there are two

ways you can live, and really only two ways. You can either

live according to the esh, your old nature, your sinful nature;

or you can live according to the Spirit. You can be a believer

and still be living according to the esh. Indeed, that happens

all the time. You can be saved, you can be on your way to

heaven now your trip there is going to be pretty miserable,let me tell you but you can get there. In fact 1 Corinthians,

in the J.D. Phillips translation, I love it when it says people

living in the esh will get into heaven but with their tail feath-

ers singed. Thats a great translation, isnt it? We make the


42/50

choice whether to live in the esh or in the Spirit. We choose

whether we will live in our own minds, our own thinking, ac-

cording to our own efforts, according to our own energy; or

if we will instead obey the promptings of the Spirit of God,

yielding ourselves more and more to his indwelling presencein our lives. This is well and good, and Im not trying to paint

a rosy picture here, but what catches your attention is verse 8

of Romans 4. Look what verse 8 says: if youre in the esh,

you cant please God. Not that its unlikely that youll please

God, it doesnt say if youre in the esh youll have to work

harder to please God. It doesnt say if youre in the esh may-

be things will work out. No, it says you cannotplease God inthe esh. So the choice before us really is will we live in the

Spirit, welcoming the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives,

obeying him, listening to his voice; or will we try to strive in

our own esh and live in a way that we think is religious and

we think is good, but essentially is driven by our own ego and

energy.

Romans 8:9-11You, however, are not in the esh but inthe Spirit, if in factthe Spirit of God dwells in you.Any-

one who does not havethe Spirit of Christ does not be-

long to him.But if Christ is in you, although the body

is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righ-

teousness. If the Spirit ofhim who raised Jesus from the

dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesusfrom the

dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through hisSpirit who dwells in you.

We talk about this a lot. The life of God that He wants to pour

into your life comes only from His Spirit. Apart from His Spirit,


43/50

were dead.

Romans 8:12-13,So then, brothers,we are debtors,not

to the esh, to live according to the esh.For if you live

according to the esh you will die, but if by the Spirityouput to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Those two verses tell us the Spirit of God is bringing us life as

we obey him and welcome him. But the Spirit of God also is

what makes us holy. The Spirit of God sancties us. Indeed,

the only way to defeat the old man, to die to the old man,

to change from the inside, is not from resolutions. By March,

how many of us have kept our New Years resolutions? Reso-lutions are just an empty way to try to do it. But what happens

is the Spirit of God makes us holy from the inside, out. Apart

from an active, vital pursuit of Gods Spirit in our lives, we will

not be holy.

Now, Romans 4:14 says, For all who areled by the Spirit of

God are sonsof God. We can add that to the list of person-

al things that we said dont offend him, dont lie to him, dontgrieve him, but we are instead to be lead by him.

Romans 8:14-17 For all who areled by the Spirit of

God are sonsof God.15 Foryou did not receivethe

spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have re-

ceived the Spirit ofadoption as sons, by whom we

cry,Abba! Father!16 The Spirit himself bears witness

with our spirit that we are children of God,

17 and if chil-dren, thenheirsheirs of God and fellow heirs with

Christ,provided we suffer with him in order that we may

also be gloried with him.


44/50

The Spirit of God adopts you into Gods family. Through the

cross of Jesus Christ, to the resurrection of Jesus, the Spirit

of God now descending unto Gods people, is what brings us

in. Its a deeply spiritual issue.


45/50

Chapter Seven: The Spirit-Driven Prayer

Now, heres where weve been going. We had to walk

through some of Romans 8, because the verses Im about

show you, we know them but we dont know them. This is

because we read them separated from the larger teaching of

who the Spirit of God is, how he reacts, how he relates to usin our lives and how we respond to him. Its only in the larger

context that we really can grasp what verses 26 and 27 really

speak to us about.

Romans 8: 26-27:Likewise the Spirit helps us in our

weakness. Forwe do not know what to pray for as we

ought, butthe Spirit himself intercedes for us with

groanings too deep for words.27 And

he who searcheshearts knows what isthe mind of the Spirit, becausethe

Spiritintercedes for the saintsaccording to the will of

God.

Has everybody read this? Some of you know this verse. We

could spend a long time here, but it ts exactly into what

weve been talking about with the work of the Spirit of God.

Now we come to this work ofprayerthat the Spirit of Goddoes in your life.

Weve been talking these last chapters about prayer in a

number of ways, but I want us to really drill down right now


46/50

into the Spirit-driven prayer. Theres so much more to prayer

than what we sometimes think about. Dr. Greg Frizzell has

talked about this, and I love how he says it. Many of us are

caught up in a devotional approach to prayer, as he called

it. The devotional prayers we pray at meals, the devotion-al prayers we pray perhaps as we read a quick devotional

with a prayer printed at the bottom of the page, the devo-

tional prayers we read sometimes about a circumstance we

want God to x. And theres nothing wrong with devotional

prayers, unless you just stay at that level. There is something

real about it, God invites us to pray, but at the end of the day,

if thats all youre doing, there is something deeply unsatisfy-ing about it. Maybe you dont know how to articulate that, but

the reality is if thats the only way were praying, were miss-

ing the fullness of what prayer is about.

Theres another level of prayer we can talk about. We can

talk about contemplative prayer. Thats a formal way that

some denominations talk of contemplative prayer in a mys-

tical sense. You can read Catholic writers about contempla-tive prayer, where you let your mind go and link up mystically

and spiritually with God. You can nd some evidence of some

of this in Scripture, but contemplative prayer by itself is not

strictly Biblical. Theres more to prayer than just resting in

Gods presence. Resting in Gods presence is very important,

but the fullness of prayer is more than that.

We can talk about liturgical prayer, or formalized prayer, print-ed prayers. You know, I sometimes nd printed prayers that

really, deeply move me. You can nd some printed prayers

that express some things that are superior in terms of their


47/50

terminology and the way they approach God. Yet, while pray-

ing someone elses voice may help sometimes, thats not my

voice.

So, beyond devotional, beyond contemplative, beyond li-turgical or formal prayers, we enter now into a deeply, Holy

Spirit-driven, intercessory kind of prayer, unlike anything

else. What these verses (Romans 8:26-27) tell us, is that in

the deepest part of your spirit, there is a way to pray, there

is an engagement with prayer, that is certainly mental to a

degree and a matter of your heart, but deep into your spirit,

the Holy Spirit himself, dwelling in your heart through faith,

comes alongside. Weve already seen what paraclete is: He

comes alongside to help, to encourage, to intercede, to be an

advocate for you. What greater time do we need an advo-

cate, but in those times of prayer when we dont know what

to say? Something in our heart is stirring to cry out to God,

but we dont know what to pray for. Yet, at that moment, if

were listening and paying attention, we are told the Spirit of

God comes alongside, calls out for us, intercedes for us. Theverbiage here in the text used is in groanings too deep for

words, he calls out in language to God that we might not be

able to put our nger on, and yet, God hears and responds to

it. That is some deep, powerful truth. He intercedes for us.

This kind of Spirit comes alongside us, only if we welcome

him, only if we dont grieve him, only if we dont run him off,

only if we are seeking the heart of the Father through HisSpirit, the Holy Spirit comes alongside us in prayer. So there

are three things I want you to get in Romans 8:26-27. First, it

is a deeply sanctifying experience. To pray in this way makes


48/50

us holy (not perfect). The Spirits work is to sanctify us. So

the more we connect with prayer in this way, the more like

Jesus were going to become. Secondly, its a secret kind of

prayer. It says here you cant put it into words. What God is

doing deep in our spirits, were not always able to articulatethat to other people, nor should we be trying to articulate that

to other people. You dont have to explain or apologize for it.

You just have to obey it and welcome the Spirit of God in your

life. Weve talked a couple times through these pages about

what public lives we lead right now through Facebook and

Twitter and all the other stuff. Everything we think about and

talk about is already out there for everybody to connect with.But there is something secret in prayer. If you really want to

go further with the Spirit, a lot of it is going to be in your own

heart, and you have to be willing to be silent. Silence is gold-

en a lot of times. Theres this thing that happens in our spirits

sometimes, that the more we talk about it, the less real it be-

comes. Its almost as if weve diluted it somehow. You have

to be careful. And then third, this prayer is deeply supernat-ural. Isnt that what it says? This is God praying in you, to

God. There is just something by denition supernatural about

it. This is beyond our capacity, this is beyond our ability, that

God Himself steps in and takes a hand in our prayer life.

Now, nally, lets look over at 1 Corinthians 2 and we see

more of the dynamic of how this kind of praying operates. In

this context, we gain a broader understanding.1 Corinthians 2:9-16:But, as it is written, What no eye

has seen, nor ear heard,nor the heart of man imagined,

what God haspreparedfor those who love him these


49/50

thingsGod has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the

Spirit searches everything, eventhe depths of God.For

who knows a persons thoughtsexcept the spirit of that

person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends

the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Now

wehave received notthe spirit of the world, but the Spirit

who is from God, that we might understand the things

freely given us by God. And we impart thisin words not

taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, inter-

preting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The

natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of

God, for they are

folly to him, and

he is not able to un-derstand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Thespiritual person judges all things, but is himself

to be judged by no one. For who has understood the

mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? Butwe have the

mind of Christ.

Final thought. Something Dr. Greg Frizzell has said, and per-

haps youve heard this in other venues as well, is of a kind ofprayer in which you are seeking Gods heart, and He gives

you a promise from His word. And you pray that word in faith

and you hold God to it until He brings it to pass. Now, that

may sound like magic to you, or holding God hostage. Thats

not what it is at all. The spiritual process by which that kind of

prayer operates is what we just read, when the Spirit of God

reveals to you the promise of God that is for you, for yourcircumstance, from His word. We dont get to choose that at

random. We dont get to pretend that God gives us a word

when He doesnt. When youre acquainted with the Spirit of

God and praying through something, when He brings you a


50/50

word, you can pray that with condence. Thats a powerful,

intercessory-tupe prayer that shakes things up in some dra-

matic ways.

In these pages, weve talked about what prayer is, what itaccomplishes, how you pray and nally, the Holy Spirit in

prayer. I pray this has touched your heart and will help you

pray.

prayer: your comfort & strength

Documents