kayte
Sep 23rd 2004, 01:04 AM
Prayer Chapter 13
This week we'll look at the question of when and where we're to pray. At first glance it seems like a relatively unimportant question and one that can be answered in a sentence or two.
Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, pray without ceasing.
To pray without ceasing certainly indicates an open door, an ongoing communication with God through each day as we go about our business.
Many settle for that... praying as things come to mind, satisfied that they've spent time in prayer.
However, if we want vibrant prayer lives, filled with adventure and an intimacy with our Heavenly Father... it is absolutely essential that we set aside time and meet Him in the secret place.
Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
In the last portion of study we found that to pray meant to beseech, making our request while worshiping by binding ourselves to God.
In studying the word 'pray' this week I found some fascinating tidbits.
Knowing that Jesus is God, it's obvious that when He went aside to pray alone He did not pray from the same position we pray from. (Matt. 14:23, 26:36, Mark 6:46, 14:23, Luke 6:12, 9:28, 16:27, 18:10, 22:45)
And yet He is the perfect example to us of how we're to pray. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He didn't point them to someone else's prayer in the Old Testament but instructed them Himself.
So what was Jesus doing when He prayed?
The Greek word "pros", a root word of "pray" fills us in. When Jesus prayed He was fellowshipping with the Father!
The word pros (pray) means: by the side of, near to, ascension to, or nearness at.
This is the first thing prayer should mean to us as well: to draw near our Father, to know Him, to fellowship with Him as His children.
After this, we pray to ask and request according to His will for our needs, being bound or tied to Him regardless.
There are several types of prayer that God never instructs us to use, yet are widely taught in the church today. The following are some examples.
To pray: as in demanding something due.
This is an assumption that we can make demands of God and hold Him over a barrel (His word), because we've found a verse and taken it as a promise in our given situation.
The Bible never gives us the right or authority to demand, only to ask.
Another form of prayer that will leave us wanting is: to make inquiry as a matter of information merely; to pray to learn by casual intelligence.
Again, the Lord does not instruct us to pray this way and the absence of these in the scriptures should be a loud statement to us all.
But you, when you pray, go into your room...
The word room (or closet) in this verse takes on special meaning when we look at the Greek definition.
Closet: a dispenser or distributor; a dispensary, a storehouse (or pantry), a secret chamber (where treasures are kept). Also a place of privacy, a spot used for retirement.
It seems significant to me that Jesus would tell us to pray in this particular room/closet.
Surrounded by God's provision as we ask Him to provide for others, dare we open our eyes lest He show us that His provision for their needs is sitting in our own storehouse? (Keep in mind that right before Jesus tells us to go into our 'pantry' to pray He instructs us in the matter of charitable deeds. Matt. 6:1-4)
Praying surrounded by the things of His provision, are we more likely to pray with thankful hearts, satisfied in His care for us?
When my daughter was teaching a children’s Sunday school class at our church, she encouraged and taught them to look outside themselves and care for others by leading them in the sponsoring of a needy child in Zaire, Africa.
The class sent letters to Adirudu often and he in turn wrote to them.
One letter stands out in my mind. Adirudu shared his thankfulness of God’s provision in a small garden patch he and his mother had been able to plant because of the gift of his sponsors. He went on to explain that his father, a pastor in their small community, had been forced to flee across the boarder because a warrant had been put out on all pastors for their arrests and/or deaths. Adirudu looked at his circumstances and chose to see the provision of God and be thankful.
It was the last letter received from Adirudu for a very long time.
What Adirudu didn’t mention in the letter was that he and his mother would be following as soon as the produce from the garden was ready, as they and others would need it in the refugee camp where they would be staying till the danger was passed.
The classroom received a notice that the sponsorship outreach no longer knew where Adirudu was and that their office in that area had been forced to close due to the violent attacks on Christians.
Almost a year later, a letter arrived. Adirudu and his family were home and safe once again, having seen the Lord’s care in the camp and the trek home, as well as arriving to find their house still standing.
And the child prayed and worshiped in the midst of his treasure.
As we shut ourselves in our 'treasure room' and pray to our Father, does all else grow pale in the comparison of knowing Him?
Matthew 6:6 ...pray to your Father...
Again Jesus speaks of relationship, your Father. Your compassionate, all powerful, all knowing, loving Father whom you can draw near to and know.
Pray to Him who created you and miraculously breathed life into your spirit. He who gives you eternal life. Your Father.
Matthew 6:6 ...your Father who is in the secret place...
Secret: concealed-i.e. private:-hid(den), inward(-ly),
Secret.
God is not capricious. He does not play hide-n-seek or catch-me-if-you-can. Yet He does conceal Himself.
Do you wish your Father to reveal Himself to you? Do you desire to know Him better? Do you long for a more intimate personal relationship with Him?
Then you must come on His terms, seek Him with your whole heart and you will find Him. Seek Him in the secret place.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Seek Him with your whole heart, diligently. God makes no such promise to the casual inquirer.
Matthew 6:6 ...and your Father who sees in secret, will reward you openly.
What incredible assurance! Our Father sees! He sees and knows everything about us. There is no one that seeks Him that He will not know.
So often with each other, in our human relationships, people slip through the cracks. Most of us have experienced the rejection of simply being overlooked, forgotten, unnoticed and not included in something we would like to have been part of.
This is never the way of God. Your Father sees you.
I must add here; if you are experiencing a 'standstill' in your relationship with your Heavenly Father, if there is a block or abrupt wall in your path, then you need to ask the Lord to examine your heart and life. Is there some point of disobedience you've allowed to remain? Is there some matter that you've decided to stand on and disagree with God? Is there something He has brought to you to deal with or do and you've neglected it? Is there sin?
These things will hinder our prayers and our relationships with God.
When we cling tenaciously to the things God would remove and change in us, or are neglectful of obedience and deny His Word, it inevitably boils down to the fact that we are not truly seeking Him. We do not love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. (Matt. 22:37)
Go into your closet and pray to your Father who sees.
Matthew 6:6 ...and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Reward. This isn't a prize for good behavior.
The reward here is that God will give to you the very thing you've sought... a close relationship with Himself.
Is there any greater thing He can give? Is there anything that can bring greater joy and peace to the hearts of men than an intimate relationship, a restored eternal life with the Heavenly Father?
In Exodus 34:20-35 we read how Moses went aside to pray, to speak with the Lord and listen to all the Lord would say. And we read about how Moses' face shone from being in the presence of God.
Have you learned to set yourself aside in the secret place? Has your heart shone as Moses' face did? Alive and holy, touched and changed by the hand of God?
Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
And as you grow, praying in secret, how much richer will be your time as you pray without ceasing through your days.
#
Father, we get so distracted, so busy and as weeks, months, and years go by we become satisfied in our mediocre prayer lives. Troubled, but not enough to change... prompted, but swiftly distracted again.
Lord, we ask for determination, strength and perseverance to break out of our ruts, to begin anew and set ourselves aside to You... to know You.
Show us that room in our own homes that will afford the privacy we need and help us to structure our days so that we put time with You at the top of the list.
Meet us in the secret place and breathe the fire of Your love into our hearts.
In Jesus' name
Amen
Study questions
1) Which describes your prayer life most accurately:
a) panic prayer (when troubles hit your life, you hit your knees).
b) prayer without ceasing (as you work, drive, talk to others, clean toilets... etc.)
c) secret prayer building on your relationship with your Father.
d) secret prayer that flows into prayer without ceasing.
e) non-existent prayer life.
2) Do you have a prayer place set aside in your home? What is that place like? Do you find yourself distracted there? If so what are some things you can do to solve that?
3) Do you 'know' that when you pray God truly does see you?
4) Are you most often a diligent seeker or a casual inquirer?
5) Have you or are you experiencing a block in your relationship with the Lord? Do you know it's cause? What did you do or do you need to do to move past it?
(Please note: It is not always a problem of sin when this happens. It can be a time of growth, also. A time when we learn to trust what He has said in His word without 'feelings'. Our faith will grow if we cling tight.)
6) Do you know people whose hearts 'shine' as a result of their relationship with God? What characteristics do you see in their lives?
7) Has your heart been changed in His presence? In what ways? Does it make you long for more or make you want to run fast in the other direction?
8) When you look for a root word in the original Hebrew or Greek, is it to clarify and solidify the meaning, or are you looking for a different interpretation of the word? Do you find that studying the context of a verse, and taking into consideration biblical precepts, helps to clarify the
meaning of the verse or word?
copyright 2002 tkc
This week we'll look at the question of when and where we're to pray. At first glance it seems like a relatively unimportant question and one that can be answered in a sentence or two.
Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, pray without ceasing.
To pray without ceasing certainly indicates an open door, an ongoing communication with God through each day as we go about our business.
Many settle for that... praying as things come to mind, satisfied that they've spent time in prayer.
However, if we want vibrant prayer lives, filled with adventure and an intimacy with our Heavenly Father... it is absolutely essential that we set aside time and meet Him in the secret place.
Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
In the last portion of study we found that to pray meant to beseech, making our request while worshiping by binding ourselves to God.
In studying the word 'pray' this week I found some fascinating tidbits.
Knowing that Jesus is God, it's obvious that when He went aside to pray alone He did not pray from the same position we pray from. (Matt. 14:23, 26:36, Mark 6:46, 14:23, Luke 6:12, 9:28, 16:27, 18:10, 22:45)
And yet He is the perfect example to us of how we're to pray. When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He didn't point them to someone else's prayer in the Old Testament but instructed them Himself.
So what was Jesus doing when He prayed?
The Greek word "pros", a root word of "pray" fills us in. When Jesus prayed He was fellowshipping with the Father!
The word pros (pray) means: by the side of, near to, ascension to, or nearness at.
This is the first thing prayer should mean to us as well: to draw near our Father, to know Him, to fellowship with Him as His children.
After this, we pray to ask and request according to His will for our needs, being bound or tied to Him regardless.
There are several types of prayer that God never instructs us to use, yet are widely taught in the church today. The following are some examples.
To pray: as in demanding something due.
This is an assumption that we can make demands of God and hold Him over a barrel (His word), because we've found a verse and taken it as a promise in our given situation.
The Bible never gives us the right or authority to demand, only to ask.
Another form of prayer that will leave us wanting is: to make inquiry as a matter of information merely; to pray to learn by casual intelligence.
Again, the Lord does not instruct us to pray this way and the absence of these in the scriptures should be a loud statement to us all.
But you, when you pray, go into your room...
The word room (or closet) in this verse takes on special meaning when we look at the Greek definition.
Closet: a dispenser or distributor; a dispensary, a storehouse (or pantry), a secret chamber (where treasures are kept). Also a place of privacy, a spot used for retirement.
It seems significant to me that Jesus would tell us to pray in this particular room/closet.
Surrounded by God's provision as we ask Him to provide for others, dare we open our eyes lest He show us that His provision for their needs is sitting in our own storehouse? (Keep in mind that right before Jesus tells us to go into our 'pantry' to pray He instructs us in the matter of charitable deeds. Matt. 6:1-4)
Praying surrounded by the things of His provision, are we more likely to pray with thankful hearts, satisfied in His care for us?
When my daughter was teaching a children’s Sunday school class at our church, she encouraged and taught them to look outside themselves and care for others by leading them in the sponsoring of a needy child in Zaire, Africa.
The class sent letters to Adirudu often and he in turn wrote to them.
One letter stands out in my mind. Adirudu shared his thankfulness of God’s provision in a small garden patch he and his mother had been able to plant because of the gift of his sponsors. He went on to explain that his father, a pastor in their small community, had been forced to flee across the boarder because a warrant had been put out on all pastors for their arrests and/or deaths. Adirudu looked at his circumstances and chose to see the provision of God and be thankful.
It was the last letter received from Adirudu for a very long time.
What Adirudu didn’t mention in the letter was that he and his mother would be following as soon as the produce from the garden was ready, as they and others would need it in the refugee camp where they would be staying till the danger was passed.
The classroom received a notice that the sponsorship outreach no longer knew where Adirudu was and that their office in that area had been forced to close due to the violent attacks on Christians.
Almost a year later, a letter arrived. Adirudu and his family were home and safe once again, having seen the Lord’s care in the camp and the trek home, as well as arriving to find their house still standing.
And the child prayed and worshiped in the midst of his treasure.
As we shut ourselves in our 'treasure room' and pray to our Father, does all else grow pale in the comparison of knowing Him?
Matthew 6:6 ...pray to your Father...
Again Jesus speaks of relationship, your Father. Your compassionate, all powerful, all knowing, loving Father whom you can draw near to and know.
Pray to Him who created you and miraculously breathed life into your spirit. He who gives you eternal life. Your Father.
Matthew 6:6 ...your Father who is in the secret place...
Secret: concealed-i.e. private:-hid(den), inward(-ly),
Secret.
God is not capricious. He does not play hide-n-seek or catch-me-if-you-can. Yet He does conceal Himself.
Do you wish your Father to reveal Himself to you? Do you desire to know Him better? Do you long for a more intimate personal relationship with Him?
Then you must come on His terms, seek Him with your whole heart and you will find Him. Seek Him in the secret place.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Seek Him with your whole heart, diligently. God makes no such promise to the casual inquirer.
Matthew 6:6 ...and your Father who sees in secret, will reward you openly.
What incredible assurance! Our Father sees! He sees and knows everything about us. There is no one that seeks Him that He will not know.
So often with each other, in our human relationships, people slip through the cracks. Most of us have experienced the rejection of simply being overlooked, forgotten, unnoticed and not included in something we would like to have been part of.
This is never the way of God. Your Father sees you.
I must add here; if you are experiencing a 'standstill' in your relationship with your Heavenly Father, if there is a block or abrupt wall in your path, then you need to ask the Lord to examine your heart and life. Is there some point of disobedience you've allowed to remain? Is there some matter that you've decided to stand on and disagree with God? Is there something He has brought to you to deal with or do and you've neglected it? Is there sin?
These things will hinder our prayers and our relationships with God.
When we cling tenaciously to the things God would remove and change in us, or are neglectful of obedience and deny His Word, it inevitably boils down to the fact that we are not truly seeking Him. We do not love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. (Matt. 22:37)
Go into your closet and pray to your Father who sees.
Matthew 6:6 ...and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Reward. This isn't a prize for good behavior.
The reward here is that God will give to you the very thing you've sought... a close relationship with Himself.
Is there any greater thing He can give? Is there anything that can bring greater joy and peace to the hearts of men than an intimate relationship, a restored eternal life with the Heavenly Father?
In Exodus 34:20-35 we read how Moses went aside to pray, to speak with the Lord and listen to all the Lord would say. And we read about how Moses' face shone from being in the presence of God.
Have you learned to set yourself aside in the secret place? Has your heart shone as Moses' face did? Alive and holy, touched and changed by the hand of God?
Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
And as you grow, praying in secret, how much richer will be your time as you pray without ceasing through your days.
#
Father, we get so distracted, so busy and as weeks, months, and years go by we become satisfied in our mediocre prayer lives. Troubled, but not enough to change... prompted, but swiftly distracted again.
Lord, we ask for determination, strength and perseverance to break out of our ruts, to begin anew and set ourselves aside to You... to know You.
Show us that room in our own homes that will afford the privacy we need and help us to structure our days so that we put time with You at the top of the list.
Meet us in the secret place and breathe the fire of Your love into our hearts.
In Jesus' name
Amen
Study questions
1) Which describes your prayer life most accurately:
a) panic prayer (when troubles hit your life, you hit your knees).
b) prayer without ceasing (as you work, drive, talk to others, clean toilets... etc.)
c) secret prayer building on your relationship with your Father.
d) secret prayer that flows into prayer without ceasing.
e) non-existent prayer life.
2) Do you have a prayer place set aside in your home? What is that place like? Do you find yourself distracted there? If so what are some things you can do to solve that?
3) Do you 'know' that when you pray God truly does see you?
4) Are you most often a diligent seeker or a casual inquirer?
5) Have you or are you experiencing a block in your relationship with the Lord? Do you know it's cause? What did you do or do you need to do to move past it?
(Please note: It is not always a problem of sin when this happens. It can be a time of growth, also. A time when we learn to trust what He has said in His word without 'feelings'. Our faith will grow if we cling tight.)
6) Do you know people whose hearts 'shine' as a result of their relationship with God? What characteristics do you see in their lives?
7) Has your heart been changed in His presence? In what ways? Does it make you long for more or make you want to run fast in the other direction?
8) When you look for a root word in the original Hebrew or Greek, is it to clarify and solidify the meaning, or are you looking for a different interpretation of the word? Do you find that studying the context of a verse, and taking into consideration biblical precepts, helps to clarify the
meaning of the verse or word?
copyright 2002 tkc