Praying (Connect Study)

Praying
The Discipline in Focus
The Westminster Catechism asks, “What is prayer?” And it answers, “Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies.” Prayer is a spiritual discipline that accompanies all the other spiritual disciplines towards godliness. When we read God’s word we should pray, when we fast we should pray, when we worship we pray, when we serve we pray. In other words, prayer is important. So important in fact that J.I. Packer once said, “I believe that prayer is the measure of the man, spiritually, in a way that nothing else is, so that how we pray is as important a question as we can ever face.”

Martin Luther once said, “As it is the business of tailors to make cloths and of cobblers to make shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.” Prayer is something that is God expects from us. We are commanded in Scripture to pray.

Colossians 4:2, “devote yourselves to prayer.” What are you devoted to? When you sacrifice for it, spend time planning it, and make it a top priority then you know you are devoted to it.

I Thessalonians 5:17, “pray continually.” Donald Whitney says of praying continually, “Prayer is in one sense an expression of a Christian’s unbroken relationship with the Father. You might think of praying without ceasing as communicating with God on one line while also taking calls on another. Even while you are talking on the other line, you never lose your awareness of the need to return your attention to the Lord.”


Our devotion to prayer will reveal a lot about ourselves. How often you pray says a lot about who you trust. If you are constantly calling out to God in prayer then it is more likely that you are trusting God more than yourself. What you pray about is revealing as well. John Piper writes,

• What a person prays for shows the spiritual condition of his heart. If we do not pray for spiritual things (like the glory of Christ, and the hallowing of God’s name, and the salvation of sinners, and the holiness of our hearts, and the advance of the gospel, and contrition for sin, and the fullness of the Spirit, and the coming of the kingdom, and the joy of knowing Christ) then probably it is because we do not desire these things.

How we pray will show us what we love the most. How we pray will show us what our heart truly prizes above all things. Remember that prayer is a spiritual discipline that ends in God receiving glory and us becoming more like Christ.

Scripture to Study on Prayer
Matthew 6: 5-14, Matthew 7:7-8, Luke 11:1-13, Col 4:2, 1 Thess. 5:17, James 5:13-18, Luke 18:1-8.



Getting Practical
The disciples asked Jesus in Luke 11:1, “Lord, teach us to pray.” As believers in Christ we learn to pray gradually. Prayer is something every believer can and is expected to do, but just as a child learns to talk, Christians learn to pray. We learn how to pray by:
Praying – The best way to learn how to pray is just to pray. The Holy Spirit will teach us to pray as we continue to pray.
Meditate on Scripture – When you read the Psalms what you notice is that prayer and mediation go hand in hand. When a person is meditating on the laws of the Lord they are praying as well. Matthew Henry said, “David’s prayers were not his words only, but his meditations; as meditation is the best preparation for prayer, so prayers is the best issue of meditation. Meditation and prayer go together.”
Spend time praying with others – Spend time with godly men and women who are prayer warriors and love spending time meditating on Scripture.


Respond
1. How often do you pray? What do you pray for?
2. Since prayer is expected, will you pray more? What plans can you make to help you pray more?
3. What does Matthew 7:7-8 say about God answering prayer. Does he answer prayer?
4. What is the purpose of praying?
5. What does your prayer life reveal about you?