One of the flaws of thinking that exists in the way we talk about salvation has been said like this: I asked Jesus to come into my life.
• My life is not holy. My life needs to be redeemed, justified, and made holy.
• The God of the Bible has been at work since the beginning of time. When I look at the Bible, I am reading about His work and the story that He has been writing. That true story of reality chronicles how God is the ultimate life-giver.
• So we need to correct our thinking: I am not
• “Prayer is to religion what original research is to science. (P.T. Forsythe)
• Just recently did a message on the invitation of prayer. How it is God’s invitation to us, His desire to answer, to reveal His will, and to help us know what we truly value. So, this message will focus primarily on the practice of prayer.
Pray
• Matthew 6:6 | 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.
• Mathis >> He is holy, and so we worship (adoration). He is merciful, and so we repent (confession). He is gracious, and so we express appreciation (thanksgiving). He is loving and caring, and so we petition him for ourselves, our family, our friends, and our world (supplication).
• ACTSS
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>> Focus on His character as its revealed in His Word: love, grace, life, holiness, creativity, beauty, glory; adore Him for how He has revealed Himself, adore Him for His mighty works. In your prayers of adoration, declare and claim the Gospel. (what the Gospel says about my past, present, and future). Use your testimony, past and present, to adore and praise Him for what He has done to deliver you.
//>> speak of the reality of your residual sin nature, hiding nothing, be honest about your sin, about how it is death. Say it and then claim the finished work of Jesus as the only foundation for your forgiveness and redemption
//>> count your blessings, name them one by one; where have you seen God move and work in your life, what promises from God’s Word are precious to you that you are standing on in your daily life, remember them
///Intercession
For others >> for your friends, members of your small group, coworkers, family members. Allow for silence and think about who in your life needs prayer
For yourself >> pray for sanctification, holiness, virtue, fruit of the Spirit, for tough experiences that you are in, for upcoming events
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>> recommit yourself fully to Him throughout this day that He has made for you to live; declare your allegiance to Him.
• Prayer List >> Get some kind of monthly calendar and fill up each day of the month with items for each of these, names of your family members with specific prayer points for each of them. Use a prayer journal. Make a non-specific 31 day calendar, tape it to the front, and then keep a daily journal so that you can record answers to prayer
• Expect an
Pray with
• Let your private prayer life overflow into
• Shift your
• Tim Keller >> “By praying with friends, you will be able to hear and see facets of Jesus that you have not yet perceived.”
• Create
A successful prayer life
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What if God only gave us what we asked for? He has invited us to ask and promised us to give us Himself? What are we waiting for? Pray like He is only going to give us what we ask for and then rest in Matthew 6:25-33 | “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.