Praying Together Class -Revision 2
Praying
Together
A course on praying together
Revision 2
Compiled and Developed
by
Lewis Turner
With Co-Author: Sylvia Turner
of
Wheatland Ministries
The Lord Said, ‘My house shall be called a House of Prayer.’
Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46
Forward
Notes from Lewis Turner:
When I presented this course, the Lord impressed on me that prayer grows
out of a relationship with God. Relationship
with God is important to prayer, a fact that all teachers/instructors of this
course should keep as a focus in their teaching the lessons.
Often in Discipleship training, that teaching does not fully
relate doctrine to our personal relationship to God and others. The course ‘Praying Together’ was designed to
help fill that gap and to provide further encouragement to pray with
others.
The lesson plans should be adequate for a 40-minute lesson
time. If the class wants to take time to
pray together, which is recommended, it may take more than 13-14 weeks to
present.
LTT
©2006, and ©2022 by Lewis Turner
Abstract
Praying Together is a course designed to help a person grow
in prayer starting a personal level through helping them to build a personal
relationship with God. As this
relationship grows, it helps us to move into joining with others in
prayer. The course examines some of the
issues and scriptures involved in joining with others in prayer.
Synopsis
The primary purpose of the course ‘Praying Together’ is to
help and encourage people to pray together.
The course is designed to help people with and without prayer experience
to gain an understanding of prayer and praying together. There will probably be people in the class at
all levels of prayer, from those just learning to pray to those experienced
prayer. Those experienced in prayer should
find that review is always good, and their experiences can be quite valuable to
us. Starting at the beginning of the
course helps all of us to have similar training as the others who are
experienced in praying together.
Syllabus
Lesson Plans
Forward
Lesson 1 Class Purpose, Prayer
Basics, and Foundation
Lesson 2 Prayer, Tying into
God’s Purpose Using Keys
Found in the Scriptures to Help Us Pray
Lesson 3 What Does Prayer
Involve, and Why Can it be
Difficult
Lesson 4 Head Prayer? Or Heart Prayer
Lesson 5 Preparing Yourself for
a Prayer Partner
Lesson 6 Personal Preparation
Before Prayer with a Prayer Partner
Lesson 7 Encouraging People to
Pray
Lesson 8 Developing
Relationships and Prayer
Lesson 9 Reflection Week
Recommended
Praying Together
by Stormie O’Martian/Jack Hayford, Harvest House Publishers
Praying With the
One You Love, Art Hunt, Multnomah Publishers
Praying Together
Lesson 1
Recommended Reading: Chapter 1 The
Power of Praying Together by Stormie O’Martian
Class Purpose, Foundation, and Prayer Basics
Purpose of the Course:
- To learn the foundation
and purpose of prayer.
- To learn how to pray out
of relationship with God.
- To learn to pray utilizing biblical
principles of praying together.
The
first four lessons are focused on ourselves, and key points that should help us
all be on the same page – concerning the topic of Praying Together. The
first lesson focuses on laying a foundation. I Cor 3 vs 11 says ‘For other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.’ It
is a foundation that focuses on who God is according to I John 4 vs 8 and what
Jesus has sacrificially done for us due to that Love. That is not only a
foundation but could be called a banner. The lesson also takes us back to the
roots of prayer looking at Hebrew.
The next lesson will help us find God’s purposes or keys that can help the
focus of our prayers.
Following that lesson, we will be looking at what prayer involves and why it
can be difficult.
The fourth lesson will be dealing with are we praying from the Head Prayer
or with Heart Prayer.
Then as the lessons move on, we will be looking at preparing ourselves to
pray with a prayer partner or praying with someone else.
I believe that as you study God’s word and let His Holy Spirit minister to
you, that much will be gleamed from this material that will help us all to
learn from each other and grow in our prayer life.
It is my prayer that the words these words may be a reality in all of us
when it comes to prayer:
‘It only takes a spark.
to set a fire glowing,
And soon all those around
will wake up in its glowing.
That’s how it is with God’s Love,
Once you’ve experienced it.
It is fresh like Spring,
You want to sing,
You want to pass it on!’
As you study this course, ask the Lord to let His Holy Spirit help us let His
Love grow in our hearts and guide our prayers.
Now moving forward in our first lesson:
Starting with the foundation of prayer, we should take time to think about
what moves us to pray. Is it a need? Are we praying because something happened
to us that we do not understand or something that has hurt us? Are we praying
to help someone else? Are we praying to get to know God more closely? Possibly
there are other reasons. All of these may encourage us to pray, but looking at
scripture what really should be our motivation to pray?
There is a motivation that I want to present for us to ponder.
God has set two commandments before us to live by. Matt 22 vs 36-40 says:
“36. Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37. Jesus said
unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind. 38. This is the first and great commandment. 39.
And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40. On
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
These commandments represent a foundational principle of our faith and
should be a guide our prayers.
Let’s look at that foundational principle: the Foundation of prayer:
God’s Love
Look at I John 4:8. It states: “God is love.” The greatest two commandments
found in Matt 22:36-40 are:
- To love the Lord our God.
- To love our neighbor as
ourselves.
These
commandments are relational and show us that God wants us to operate in His
love, which is His law of love. – God’s Love sent Christ to sacrifice His life
for us. That demonstration of God’s love
shown by Christ, shows that we should love others with a love that is willing
to make significant sacrifices for others. Sacrificial love that comes from the
heart, can help open the hearts of others so they may be receptive to what God
has done for them at Calvary. Christ said, ‘By this shall all men know you are
my disciples if you have ‘love one to another’ John 13:35. When we show that love, we are also lifting
up Jesus. Lifting up Jesus is lifting up God’s love, and there is a wonderful
thing that will happen when we lift Jesus up. John 12:32 says ‘And I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.’ That is a wonderful promise. Christ gave us
an example of this love by his demonstrating sacrificial love coming from the
heart of God, by dying for us on the Cross. The source of that sacrificial love
is God, who is love.
How does that Love relate to prayer? If we
want to see God’s love in action when we pray, then we must let God’s love be a
motivating factor behind each prayer we pray, which may involve action --
sacrificial action as part of our prayer. When we do, prayer becomes an act of
love.
God wants us to depend on Him for His power
which operates through love for others, whom we come across in our lives. God’s
power is in His love that shed Christ’s blood for us a Calvary. That love has
made a relationship with God possible, and it can direct our prayers in the way
of love.
We should ask ourselves when we pray, do we
want to see the Love of God encourage and work in others?
With the understanding that the foundation of
prayer is Love, God’s Love, sacrificial love, we are perhaps ready to
understand what praying really is?
The next article shows prayer in a different
light—not just asking—but much more. Prayer is part of a relationship. A
relationship of love that draws us to pray!
Now let’s look at the Biblical root of the
word pray. This study of the Biblical root is not an exegesis study of prayer. It
is a study that uses Etymology, which is the study of the roots of language to
examine what the Biblical root of the word pray conveys. Knowledge of the
Biblical root of the word pray will help in our understanding of where the word
pray comes from. Much of what we think about prayer comes from
modern concepts. Prayer has been around for a long, long time and a study of
the root will help us to recognize basic principles in prayer.
Biblical Root of the Word: Pray
by
Lewis Turner
If most of us were asked to define prayer, probably the majority would say
‘asking God for something’. Unfortunately, that may be the limit of our
understanding of prayer.
There is much more to prayer, and the Hebrew language used in writing the
Old Testament in the Bible is a good place to go to teach us about prayer.
In the Bible, in the Old Testament, which was originally written in Hebrew,
the word used for prayer is tephillah written תְּפִלָּה. It means
intercession, or supplication (earnest prayer of petition); In
implication - a hymn. A Prayer can be a Psalm. Many of the Psalms in the Bible
are actually prayers and are a part of communication with God. A closer
examination of the word tephillah we find the root word palal written: פָּלַל. It means to judge; by extension to
intercede, pray entreat, judge(-ment), make pray(-er, -ing), make supplication.
We usually think of supplication as a presentation of requests. A close study
of the Hebrew letters used in the word for prayer תְּפִלָּה tephillah and the word
for supplication וְתַ֣חֲנוּנִ֔ים
wetuhanuni—shows
that prayer and supplication are related to the covenant of God. This is seen
in the Hebrew letter Tav which is in both words. That
letter refers to God’s Covenant or to God’s Word, and the word tephillah further shows that speaking is
involved. That is seen in the letter Fey, found in the
word tephillah, which refers to speaking. This
study of the letter meanings is what the discipline of etymology is about.
(Etymology is the study of the roots of words.)
To make what we have just covered easier
to understand we find that they convey that prayer involves speaking in
accordance with God’s Word.
That speaking is an act of communication
with God. It indicates that a relationship
exists.
From what we saw in the word meanings above, there are some basics that we
can conclude are true about prayer.
- One is prayer comes out of
a relationship where we commune and talk with God. This indicates a
relationship exists. A note of expanding on the area of relationship. The
relationship referred to is a relationship with God. Looking at I John 4:
8, which says “God is Love”, then that relationship is a relationship of
Love.
- We also find that
intercession and supplication are a part of prayer.
- Also, we find the ancients
used music and psalms. Much of our worship of God is done through music. King
David certainly used music and wrote a number of psalms in the book of
Psalms. Looking at his example, we could say that the expression of music
is part of prayer. That one may be new to some of you, but it can be
definitely a part of prayer.
- Prayer involves speaking in
accordance with God’s Word.
Relationship, intercession and supplication, and worship are what we could
call basics of prayer. Today, we may view aspects of prayer a bit differently with
more detail, but these which are basic to prayer will be seen again and
again as we pray.
Truly, prayer that comes out of a relationship with God and is built upon a
solid foundation found in God’s Word.
That foundation is God’s Love. (I John 4:8)
Assignment:
1. Take time to review this lesson, and as
you pray, make notes for yourselves where you are in your prayer. Ask yourself
what motivated you to make prayer a focus in your life. If prayer is an
act of God’s Love, does that have an impact on your focus? Take time to be
reflective. These notes may help you as we progress through the course.
2. When Christ draws people to himself—What
is he really doing and communicating to those people.
3. If God has set two commandments before us
to live by, which represent a fundamental principle of our faith, how should
those two commandments affect our prayers?
4. If God’s love is not a motivating our
prayers what is????
Next lesson we will be looking at:
Looking at scripture and learning to recognize
focus points or keys that can guide our prayers.
Praying
Together
Lesson 2
Prayer,
Tying into God’s Purpose Using Keys Found in the Scriptures to Help Us Pray
Recommended Reading: Chapter 1 The
Power of Praying Together by Stormie O’Martian
We have studied the foundation of prayer, which is God’s Love, and studied
the root of prayer in the Hebrew. Moving on, into our application of prayer,
God’s word gives direction or purpose to our prayers and provides
helpful KEYS in scripture for us.
Let’s start by asking the question-what happens when most people pray? It is
just an act to get our hopes up with a distant God who is so distant that He
does not seem to care? -- or can we expect something good to develop because a relationship
with God is being built through prayer?
When we allow God’s purposes to guide our prayers, we should see God working
when we pray.
I. Purpose of Prayer: Let’s examine the purpose of prayer.
- Prayer is communication
with God. Through prayer, we can build a relationship with God and others
so that God’s purposes will be done on earth. That relationship should
reflect the character of God which is Love. I John 4:8b.
What are some of God’s purposes? Let's list some examples:
1. That we will have love one to another John
13:35
2. That we will forgive each other Matthew
6:14-15
3. That we will build each other in the faith
Heb 3:13
4. That we will praise the Lord Psalms 107:8
5. That we will have abundant life John
10:10
There are probably many more that can be found in God's word. What is
important to understand is that these purposes give us good solid direction for
our praying. God's Holy Spirit will help us find that direction when we study
God's Word. Here are two principles which may be helpful to use in finding
God's direction in finding principles that we need to use that are applicable
to the situation that we are praying about.
1. Search the Scriptures
2. Study the scriptures
It is wise before jumping into prayers for major issues to search the
scriptures. Our prayers can be swayed by impassionate pleas; however, God’s
word will keep us focused on His purposes for our prayer. Now continuing on,
once you have taken time to study God's Word concerning an issue, what you have
learned will help your prayers to focus on God’s purposes for ourselves and
others. The scriptures are there to help us be able to understand what
God wants. Always ask for the help of God’s Holy Spirit to guide you as
you search the scriptures.
Purposes of prayer can be thought of as a general direction.
There are times when we will need more specific direction in prayer when we
pray. Often this specific direction can be found by taking the time to identify
KEYS in scriptures. Keys are used to
open a door, and Keys in scripture can open our understanding of scripture that
applies to our situation.
God’s word points to Himself and his character as a Holy Love. Using
Scripture in prayer helps us to know it is God who is helping us when we ask
for His help. Use of scripture in prayer also helps builds confidence in God. In
addition, that action of using scripture in prayer may help others open their
hearts to the Lord. (Is 55:11). When we use scripture in prayer, we are
actually sending God’s word forth. It will accomplish God’s purpose.
II. Keys: Let’s look at one way we can find these keys. When we
look for scriptures that relate to the issues at hand, look for focus points in
these scriptures related to the issues at hand. A focus point is often the
subject of a verse and can be called a Key. Ask God if this is the scripture
and direction, He wants you to pray concerning the situation you are praying
about. If you sense that God wants you to use them, do not be afraid to use
them when you pray. Be careful to not to take scripture out of context. Listen
to the Lord, He has promised guidance and wisdom if we seek Him.
Here are some examples of finding keys in verses:
Matt 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. note: the
key is ‘mercy’.
Matt 6:33 Seek ye first the kingdom of God. note: the key is ‘seek
God’.
James
1: 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of
God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be
given him. Note: the key is ‘wisdom’.
In the study of scripture, you will also see other passages with a number of
keys. Some of these may be found in prayers that the Apostle Paul prayed for
those he led to the Lord. The prayers the Apostle prayed that are recorded
in the Bible are scripture, and are in accordance with God’s will, as scripture
is God’s word revealed to us.
Here are a few examples of these prayers that the Apostle Paul prayed. Take
time to look them up. They help us focus our prayers scripturally.
Eph 1:17-19
Eph 3:16-21
Phil 1:9-11
When we use scripture in prayer, and not taking it out of
context, we are aligning our prayer with God’s word and His will.
I John 5:14-15 says: “And this is the confidence that we have in Him,
that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know
that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petition that we
desired of Him.”
Aligning our prayer with God’s scripture is an important principle that
really does help and direct our prayers. Always let the Holy Spirit of God help
you in finding Purposes and Keys in scriptures that should be used in your
prayer.
When we pray with others, the principles of praying using scripture and
praying in line with God’s purposes, and His keys, will help us in praying with
others.
Result of Prayer: When people see answers to prayer, it is
evidence to them that Jesus is alive and interested in them and that He really
does Love them.
----Reflective
questions--read them over, and considering responding to one question in the
comment section below this section:
When a situation faces us, do we respond with/or in
a reactive manner? Example—I know what we should do—that comes out of personal
thinking rather than searching the scriptures for God’s response?
Have you prayed with what may be a gut reaction?
Some might call a gut reaction an intuitive reaction. Does this action line up
with scripture?
How can we find what God wants on a matter?
Life's situations can be confusing. Can that affect
how we pray? ___ What should we do to have clarity and direction when we pray?
In praying together with someone else, and we refer
to scripture in our prayer, how might they receive that? Is that scripture
being used to preach at using our own thinking, or is it one that does not
condemn and brings light to a situation? Christ did not condemn. He helped people to recognize that God cares
for them.
In considering that question above, how do you
receive someone praying and referring to the Word of God in their prayer?
Using the word of God in prayer, will it help
someone else to be more willing to trust it? Why?
When you use scriptural principles in your prayers,
do they give you more confidence that God will help you? Why?
Praying
Together
Lesson 3
What
Does Prayer Involve, and Why Can it Be Difficult
Recommended Reading Ch 2, “The Power of Praying Together” by Stormie O’Martian
Lesson Purpose: To study what prayer involves and why it can be
difficult.
This lesson will be focused on studying what prayer
involves, and why it can be difficult.
Prayer involves taking time with God through
communication with God. Which is meditation on God’s word, intercession,
supplication, and worship. Taking time with God involves the development of a
daily devotional time with the Lord, and building a relationship with God where
we can hear the God speak to us. It is so vital to do that.
The following items apply both to personal prayer as well
as to praying together and are they are parts of relationships. As you apply
them, they should help you grow in your relationship with God:
1. Praise and worship of the Almighty God for
who He is: Praise involves being grateful and telling God that we
love and adore Him. Worship acknowledges God for who He is and involves
thanksgiving. Praise + Worship = fellowship with God.
2. Communication with God. – Communication
with God should include telling God about our hopes and dreams. Does God care? See
Jeremiah 29:11 and I Peter 5:9. Communication with God does include bringing
our requests to God and sharing all that is on our hearts. Matt 6:11.
3. Prayer involves our acknowledgment that lets
God know we need Him –When we pray are we telling God we do need Him? When
we do not tell Him, we are left with handling things on our own. The need for
God’s help is why the Bible says in Prov 3:5-6 to “Commit your way unto the
Lord”. John 15: 5 says “Without me, you can do nothing.”
4. Prayer involves the action of forgiveness.
Matt 6:12 Forgiveness removes issues that hurt our fellowship and worship. It
is so important that the Lord instructed that—when He taught His disciples to
pray.
5. Prayer is an act of service for our heart to
God. Service communicates to God
that we love Him. Our action of obedience in many ways is a prayer. God looks
for those who will serve Him. Standing in the gap is just one example. Ez 32:20
All of the above are involved in
communication/communion with God.
Even though we may be doing the above, there is yet
another fundamental point to consider that can affect our prayers. In the
Lord’s Prayer, we have instruction to ask God’s help in guiding our prayers. It
says in Matthew 6:10 ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven.’ We are to ask for God’s Will as we pray. God has chosen to work
through men and women who pray and obey God’s Word to bring forth the Will of
God and the works and power of God. That type of praying represents a
commitment to God. Commitment is a part
of relationship. The experience of many involved in prayer can testify that God’s
work on earth is a response to our commitment to prayer that is from our heart.
When we make effort to pray out of our relationship with
God, praying can still be difficult. Why
this happens is not an easy question to answer and takes some searching. To
help here are some possible reasons prayer is difficult:
Have we let God clear past issues in our heart? –are we
letting God search us? I know there are issues in my life that
may not honor God. Sin can hinder one’s prayer life. We will study this
hindrance later in this lesson.
Are we regularly studying and meditating on God’s Word?
Are we letting God work? --there is a story about a boy who
brought his broken toy to his father and asked his dad to fix it. The boy then
took the toy from his father and asked why it was not fixed. The father replied: You took the toy back, and I could not fix
it.
Do we waver in our confidence that God will do what He says
He will –Many of us have at times questioned God’s answering prayer or have doubts
about his answering our prayer. Many of
us have been conditioned to doubting. I remember as a teenager I asked my
pastor about what doubt and wavering meant. I did not get a clear answer from
him. Today after many years of reflection on that, I believe I was one who had
been conditioned from past instruction teaching. In additional we saw our
spiritual leaders waver on if they would get an answer to pray. They were our examples
whom we learned from in our past.
James 1:6-8 (KJV)
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind
and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that
he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A double minded man is
unstable in all his ways.
Even though prayer may be hard or difficult, we must
remember that God is personally interested and thinking
about us. Jeremiah 29:11. God also looks on the heart, (I Samuel 16 vs
7), and the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much. (James 5:16) According to the Bible, prayer that comes from the heart
seeking the Lord God in truth, brings God’s help.
There are some issues that do prevent prayer. Let us
look at the issue of preventing blocks to prayer:
Ps 66:18 says: “If I regard iniquity in my
heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
When we put our faith in Christ, we may never have fully
cleared the past, and we find issues, events, and other things may try to come
back over time and try to hinder us. Yes, Christ has forgiven us, but we
should in thankfulness to what Christ has done for us, make right what we
can. (See Luke 19:8-9). Also, when we do not obey God, we may wander in the
wilderness and not have God’s help when we pray. What should we do to remove
these blocks? We may have areas in our lives that we have forgotten about, like
not forgiving someone, or dealing dishonestly with someone in our past. Yes,
when we asked the Lord into our lives, He forgave us, we but should then work
to correct past wrongs.
In discovering what blocks to prayer that we need to
remove, it is important to search and ask God’s help in revealing sin, starting
with us, that needs to be cleared. Reading God’s word and taking time to learn
from others who have dealt with sin firsthand can help us. One example of this
would be what Neil Anderson shares in his book “The Bondage Breaker”. He shares ways to help in identifying areas
of sin that we may not have thought of as sin. There are some other sources
listed in the class notes for this lesson on Pray.Network.
I would like to share a change of focus which the Lord impressed
me. I have been hurt and offended in the recent past, a hurt that it has been
difficult to get through. I sensed the change in my prayer that the Lord
wanted, was to bless that person(s) with His Love and let God’s Love work. My
prayer previously was for the Lord to help them follow scripture and confess
their wrong. While this could happen—what is my motivation in that direction of
prayer. It is in a way revenge—a-ha—the Lord convicted you. Yes, I have to
forgive scripturally, but is my heart ready to accept that confession. The Lord
says to bless those who curse you.
Probably the best blessing would be for the Lord to fill the other
person with His Love, and let that Love do God’s work in both of us.
Also take a look at Psalms 139:23-24.
Isaiah 59:2 and Ps 32:5
1. Confess all known sin Isaiah 59:2
and Psalms 32:5
2. Confess unforgiveness where we have not forgiven
others. See Matthew chapter 6.
3. Bless Matthew
5:44
When we take these actions, a wonderful thing happens. I
John 1:9 says: “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our
sin, and cleanse us from all righteousness.” God does hear the heart
prayers of repentance and confession. See II Chronicles 7 vs 14. If God did
not hear our prayers of repentance, how could we even turn back to the
Lord?
This action of confession is both personal and applies to
corporate groups like churches or organizations. I know of one church that took
the step and had a reconciliation service where they confessed sin and asked
forgiveness. Many outsiders in the church questioned it, but that night of the
Reconciliation Service, there was a presence of the Spirit of God! That night
that church was freed to follow God’s way more closely.
Whenever we go through the process of clearing sin, Satan
will try anything he can to keep you from having victory. He may try to say
— ‘that really was not sin’; or he will encourage you to justify an action
instead of recognizing it as an act of wrongdoing. To prevent this, we should
ask from our hearts—for God’s wisdom in helping us to discern sinful issues in
our lives.
With the help of Jesus and your obedience to the word of
God, blocks of sin can be removed that block prayer—Sin that blocks prayer. With
blocks to prayer removed, and having God’s cleansing in our lives, we can now
come boldly to the throne of Grace. See Heb 4:16. We can do this because
our relationship with God has been restored, and we can become an avenue for
the release of His power and His Love through the Holy Spirit. God can use us
to accomplish His purpose here on earth and we are free to pray and show God’s
Love through prayer.
In order to have worship and communication with God,
we need to remove the sin that prevents and blocks our love and communication
with God.
That concludes our lesson.
Additional sources of help to clear sin in our lives:
Dr. Bree Keyton's book: 'The Quadrilogy of Jesus Suffering,
Stripes, Nails, Thorns, and the Blood that Flowed for Us' published by Black
Forest Press,
Rev. John Shuey of Kingdom Quest Ministries,
Kingdom Quest Ministries,
1201 Slate Hill Road,
E-mail Info@KQuestministries.org
Reflection Questions:
-------Take
time to share your response on one of the reflection questions below or share
another thought that can encourage and help concerning the lesson. You do
not need to make it long--many times a brief word is perfect.
*Have you experienced times
where your prayers just do not seem to get through?
*When you have corrected
something wrong in your life, how did that action affect your prayers?
*If we are not seeking God’s
plans and the Kingdom of God “first” as spoken in Matt 6 vs 33 – how
would that affect our prayers?
*What does it mean to pray in
accordance with God’s Will. – God wants to Love one another, and if He wants us
to love one another—how should that affect our prayers focus.
Praying Together
Lesson 4
Head
Prayer? Or Heart Prayer
Head-Prayer? Or Heart-Prayer?
Class Purpose: To understand the Difference between
Head-Praying and Heart-Praying,
At the start of the lesson, I encourage you to look up the article at the
following link:
http://cynthiaprayblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/have-a-heart/
This article is a good discussion leading into our lesson. We may not realize it, but we often pray
with our minds making our prayer lists, and checking them off, one by one. In fact, we may be so accustomed to praying
this way that honestly it may be time now to stop and ask yourself, how often
do we sincerely pray from the heart?
Let’s go a step further and raise the question: have you ever taken to time to recognize the
difference between head-words and heart-words? Heart words or phrases
are like: ‘I received...’, or ‘bless’, or ‘love’, or ‘I am troubled’, or
‘compassion’. These are only a few heart
words or phrases. There may be many
others.
I had a situation that came up in the past for me which may help illustrate
the use of how the use of heart words helped.
To help explain what I mean, I would like to share a personal experience
with you:
A number of years ago, I had a difficult problem in my office which actually
arose out of an issue of wrong perception. When issues are perceived
wrongly, the results can be devastating. That wrong perception did
occur. Being troubled and devastated, I sought counsel. The advice
that I was given advised me to go to the person and let them know how I
received what happened. That
approach is biblical. I also sought God’s help. Finally, I made
myself go to that person. When I went to our meeting, God helped me to use
heart-words as I sought to come to an understanding with the other person.
It was difficult for me, but I shared how I received what had been said by the
other party using heart-words. That is difficult for a man
to do, but again, I could not have done it without God’s help. Those
heart-words were received by the other person, and they began a major turnaround
in my office toward my work. God used that trial to teach me to let my
heart speak, and God was there with me, helping me. The issue that
occurred had arisen when only minds spoke, and the heart did not speak. The
resolution came when the heart had a chance to speak.
When it comes to prayer, a study of scripture shows that God listens to the
heart. That is what the article that was
mentioned at the beginning of the lesson is about. Further, to help us with heart language and
speaking from the heart, God has given us help through His Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit works in our hearts to help us love the Lord Jesus. Love
is a heart action. The Holy Spirit also helps us to relate and connect
with others, which are heart-actions. The Holy Spirit directs our hearts
when there are issues of brokenness, fear, rejection, and shame. God’s very nature of redeeming love comes
from His heart. God’s help is available to us if we ask for
it. Take time and read Proverbs chapter 2, the whole chapter all the way
through and continue to Proverbs chapter 3 verse 6. This passage is very helpful.
Now let’s talk about head-praying and heart praying: Head-praying applies logical
understanding. It is important that it
be based on God’s Word. When the heart and mind are “in sync” and work
together, the mind may use scriptures that have been learned, and help discern
what God wants. The heart brings compassion and love based on God’s Word,
into our prayers.
What then is needed when we pray? Mind-Prayer or Heart-Prayer?
I Corinthians 14 vs 15 says: “What is it then? I will pray with the
Spirit, and I will pray with understanding also”. This scripture could
mean letting the Holy Spirit of God work in our minds and our heart as we
pray. We need to pray both with understanding and with compassion as the
Holy Spirit of God guides our hearts.
If you have not learned to let your heart help you pray, take time to
reflect on this lesson, examining God’s word, and asking God’s help. One thing that the Lord used to help me, was
to identify words that are heart words and use them. When I did that, it was a start of really
learning what praying from the heart meant.
Take time to review the Reflection Questions and exercises at the
end of this lesson. They can help
challenge us to understand heart words and mind words. As you do, share your thoughts here in the
lesson comment section on Pray.Network. Also, as you learn to identify heart
words, God will, help you to use them and make a wonderful difference in how
you pray.
Reflection questions: Take time to reflect on one of the questions below
and share your thoughts with the class.
Why is it we can do something intellectually, but
when it comes to prayer, it does not seem as if prayer is intellectual or
contributing?
Is our personal time alone with the Lord important
before we pray with others?
Is there a conflict between the heart and
intellect? Why might this be?
Where is our heart in prayer?
Exercise—look at how we pray. Then write down
keywords that you use:
What do these words reflect? Are they words of issues, principles,
convictions, judgments, problems, or strategies? Or are they truly heart
words of feeling, love empathy, compassion, desire, connection, relating?
Praying Together
Lesson 5
Preparing Yourself for a
Prayer Partner
The Lord gives us a powerful encouragement to pray together
with others. Matthew 18:19 (KJV) says: "Again I say unto you, that if two
of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall
be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." The encouragement to
pray together was given in this verse, came from our Lord Jesus. He wants us to have answers to prayer.
Having a prayer partner gives the opportunity to encourage
both others and ourselves. We find the
action of encouragement spoken of in scripture in Heb 3:13 (KJV) "But
exhort one another daily... "
Take a moment and consider what we have just shared. There is a wonderful promise of answers to
prayer when we pray with others. Second,
we are encouraged to find ways to encourage each other. This can be done through praying with someone
or reaching out to someone with God’s love moving through us.
For years I have been part of a
several prayer groups. One, I did not
find people connecting with each other.
I am not sure of why we did not connect, except that we never had an
encouragement from sharing God’s word together.
We just started praying, not taking time to connect with others. Also, in that group, I never sensed that we
really prayed for each other. I would
like to contrast this with another group which I have been a part of for about
8 years. All of those on the call have
grown in the Lord and there is connection with each other has developed through
taking a personal interest in each other.
We start with a very brief devotional thought that we use to help us
begin our prayer time. Our connecting did not come overnight, but through God’s
presence and help, it has come. We have
taken turns sharing a thought about God’s word.
Our prayers are not the same every time, though we do have a pattern or
basic structure to the prayer time. We have
taken the time to listen to each other and pray for each other. We share personal answers to prayer. I sense in this group that the scripture
found in11 Cor 5:14 is what is happening as we pray together. That verse says: “For the love of Christ constraineth
us;”
The purpose of this lesson is to take time and examine some aspects of
interpersonal relationships that affect our joining together with others.
There are factors that affect relationships and
praying together.
Let's start by examining what roles affect our
Christian relationship. In building a prayer relationship with others, we
should focus on the role of God's Holy Spirit:
With this approach in mind, we should ask ourselves a question about our
motives in praying with others. If our motives do not line up with God's Word,
they can block us from following God's example. A question in looking at
motives which we should
If we do want to join together with others in prayer,
then why not ask the Lord's help in following His example of encouragement?
See: Phil 2:1-5: "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any
comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any
Now let's move forward and look at
personal preparation for praying with others.
In preparing ourselves, there are
several areas to consider and respond:
·
First, we should allow God to search us (Psalms
139:23-24). In so doing it invites God's
presence and His Holy Spirit to identify to us, personal issues that have
prevented us from effectively praying for others. Then, we should seek His
wisdom on how to overcome them.
o
This can be done by letting the Lord show you issues
in your heart that need clearing and have prevented or hindered you from coming
to Him. Then ask God to help our heart
to be open with others whom we pray with.
·
Second, we need to spend regular time reading and
studying God's word. Getting into God's
Word, putting it into practice, and asking God's help helps us to open our
hearts to the Lord.
Many of us when we read God’s word do not realize that when
we read God’s word, that coming to the Lord is like coming into the presence of
a King. When we come into the presence of Christ we are in the presence of a
Holy King. Before the priest could enter the Holy of Holy 's, he had to prepare
and go through a ceremonial cleansing. The veil that stood in the way of our
entry to the King of Kings was torn from top to bottom when Christ was
crucified, symbolizing that Christ has made a way to come to the Father:
We now have direct entry to come to the King of Kings through prayer and
reading God’s Word because our sin has been paid for and we stand righteous
before Him.
We live in a sinful world. The Apostle John gave us a
way to stay clean.1 John 1:9 (KJV) says "If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
So much of our western Christianity approach has been to share Christ,
and indeed that is part of the Great Commission. However, we need to guard our
hearts. Here are some verses about
guarding the heart meditate on.
Proverbs
4:23 (KJV)
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it
are the issues of life.
Philippians 4:6 (KJV)
And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
John 14:27
(KJV)
Peace I leave
with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Now, moving forward in preparation in praying with
others, let's look at some common issues frequently faced about prayer, and
look at what God's word says:
·
When you pray with others, are you afraid to be open?
Consider if any of the following applies:
·
Is our fear of being open to others rooted in our
struggle to keep our feelings private?
·
Are you afraid to share problems, such as ones that
are very personal?
God's word offers help, but we must be willing to apply it. In James 5:16 it says: "confess your
faults one to another and pray for another that you may be healed.". It is
easy to say that verse, and many of us have encountered issues from other
people when we have opened up about faults. And that response sometimes has
been negative. However, if God says to
do it, then God will find a way to help us obey his word. Most likely, trust is
an issue here. Many of us are really afraid to open up with others.
·
Do you
feel responsible for answers to prayer? Do
you feel as though they depend on you? God's word tells us that it is God's job to hear and answer
our prayer. See I John 5:14-15. Consider
the following story: There is the story of a father who will fix things. A son
brought a broken toy to him. The father put it where he placed things to
repair. The son later grabbed it back. When he found it was not fixed, he asked
his father why it was not fixed. The
reply was, ‘son, you came to me with the broken toy, but you did not leave it
with me to fix.’ —How many of us grab things back that we take to the Lord in
prayer?
·
Another question to ask is:
Do you feel you cannot pray good enough in front of others? We should
not be praying "to be seen". We should be praying out of a heart
concern for others. I Sam 16:7 says God looks on the heart. He is the one we
want to hear our prayers. We are not to
try to be eloquent as the Pharisees tried to be. Often they would pray to be seen by
others. Christ spoke to that issue. See Mathew 6:5-8.
Most likely, when you look at yourself and examine various
issue points that affect us, you will find some of the possible issues are
listed above apply. There may be many
others. What we are focusing on here is about taking
the time to examine the fears and issues that we may have. Then we should
examine the scriptures to help us see what God's word actually says. Then we can ask God to help us align our
hearts with His word. That process involves reading and obeying God's word. Obeying God’s word allows God to work on our
behalf to encourage us in our faith and our prayer.
After you have taken time to prepare yourself, there are a few other
important issues that may relate to standards, should also need to be
considered, which will affect our relationship in praying with others. You
might call these "basic standards for being
a prayer partner". Consider the list below -- are these issues true of
yourself?
·
What is your relationship with Jesus? Is he your
Savior? Are you allowing Him to help you obey His word.
·
Trust worthiness—Confidentiality and the danger of
making judgements.
·
Safe haven—Sensitivity, Confidentiality
·
Are you a mature believer—and take time to pray and
study God's Word?
A personal relationship with Jesus is important. There are people who attempt to pray, but do
not have a personal relationship with Jesus.
They have not committed themselves to trusting Jesus to be their
personal savior, and receiving the life that He gives to us. That life comes through the Word of God, and
obeying God’s Word. If you haven’t
placed your trust in Jesus to be your savior, I encourage you to take the time
now to ask Jesus to be your savior and tell him that you follow Him and His
word in the Bible. If you have just made
that commitment to Jesus, write the date and time down now: ___________________________
There are also people who have made a commitment to trust Jesus
but have not taken the steps to obey God’s Word.
Continuing, a word about
confidentiality:
The nature of concerns shared in prayer are often extremely
confidential. Confidentiality must be protected. Confidentiality encourages
trust and offers a safe haven.
A word about safe haven:
It is important to realize that if we make a judgment or
criticize what is shared, those judgments and criticism can hinder another
person's sense of trust and ultimately destroy the safe haven, confidentiality,
which had been built on trust. It can create a situation where we put up guards
and are not free to receive what God has for us. Judgment _and criticism will
block the work of God's mercy and purpose and can grieve the Holy Spirit. (See
Rom 14 vs 13).
Friends, as God enables you to pray with others, you should
find that praying with them may help you with greater direction and purpose, which
will also help you encourage your prayer partner as
In conclusion, if you are not already praying with others, consider making
that commitment, and letting God's Word help you.
Reflection on this lesson:
*Why
would understanding God's word be important in praying with someone else?
*Why is it
important to look at our personal attitudes before we pray with someone?
*What
harm may happen if we allow gossip to occur? How does this affect other's sense
of confidentiality? See Prov 11:13
*What
happens to a relationship if prayer is all about ‘ME’?
*Why is it important that we understand God's truths that are in
the Word of God, and have them in our heart, when it comes to prayer?
*Does it help to base our
prayer requests on God's Word? One
thought: If you spell the word ‘Joy’
out. What might the letters stand for?
·
J stands for
________________________________________
·
O stands for _________________________________________
·
Y stands for _________________________________________
Keeping
that order in focus can help us in prayer with others.
(The
answer is Joy: Jesus, Others, You. Take note: the third letter of JOY
represents You which comes last.)
Praying
Together
Lesson 6
Personal
Preparation Before Prayer with a Prayer Partner
Personal Preparation Before Prayer with a Prayer Partner
Recommended
Anyone who has been involved in physical activity should understand the need
of warm-up activity before starting strenuous work.
Personal preparation before prayer with others is needed before praying with
others. Anything that is worth doing, and that includes praying with others, takes
work; and it needs preparation to do it well.
A major part of warm up when it comes to prayer is setting aside a daily
time with the Lord. It is important before praying with others that
we should take personal time alone with the Lord first. This
time is essential to us.
There are several things which personal time with the
Lord allows us to do:
1. It enables us to have an
opportunity to give to the Lord our personal issues. The Lord
wants us to trust Him with our many concerns and cares. In fact, He says
in I Peter 5:7 that we should be “Casting all your care upon him; for He careth
for you.”
This verse is telling us that Jesus will listen, and He wants to help us with
our cares. Taking personal time in prayer and God’s Word is an
opportunity to let Him help us. All of us have many cares. Those concerns
may be about our family; they could be details about getting everything done;
Or those concerns could be dealing with interpersonal issues that we face at
work or home. Whatever the case, giving those cares to the Lord – “first” --
will clear our minds and be able to focus on praying for others. 1
Peter 5:7 (KJV) says “Casting all your care upon him; for He careth for
you.” God wants us to do this. Yes, you can still bring those up, but in so
doing remember—Jesus is the one helping us. In this time of coming to
Jesus first give Him the opportunity for us to experience his help to us. Bringing personal issues to the Lord,
helps us release them to His care, and frees us up to pray for others.
2. Another reason for taking personal
time in prayer before praying with others is spending time in God’s Word with
the Lord. It enables us to experience
the benefits of a day-by-day relationship with Jesus. Taking time in
God’s Word and prayer daily provides is a discipline which can help us. God’s Holy Spirit will help us and will give
us wisdom to prioritize our daily goals (God is interested in our domestic
issues), to focus on Jesus, and help us to be thankful. No matter how hectic or difficult the
circumstances may be, He will bring order to our lives. A daily personal time focusing on Jesus helps
prepare us to meet the challenges of the day. Remember the word JOY—Jesus
first, then Others, then You.
J-O-Y spells
Joy! This day by day coming to Jesus will also help us encourage
others to also do the same.
3. It is important that when we
spend time with the Lord, we must be careful that time does not become like a
weight that controls you in a way that you one might come to eventually resent
that time. Our love for God should
motivate us to spend personal time with the Lord. A regular time set
aside to be alone with our Lord is important. Otherwise, we find the
opportunity to be alone with Our Lord slips away. If we find difficulties
in ordering our time for a personal time with Jesus, there is One who can help
us. That person is Jesus. He wants us to learn the reality of Is
40:31: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength”.
Why not ask Jesus to help you.
Here are some additional thoughts about developing
Personal Prayer when you take time with the Lord:
- Make
it a priority to establish your relationship with God-You may want to
consider the example given at the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our
Father”. It denotes a
relationship. See Matt 6: 9. Then present your day to
the Lord; Invite Jesus to be in charge asking Him to order your
steps. Do not be afraid to be specific about each
detail/activity/your plans/or needs. (Commit your way unto the Lord
Ps 37:5, Prov 3:5-6). As we commit ourselves to the Lord, we are
actually presenting ourselves to the Lord. Look up Rom
12:1.
- Give
praise to God for who He is – see the Lord’s prayer, Matt 6:9, and Ps
22:3. Giving praise to God is not always easy, because when things
are “off kilter”, so to speak—or not right -- we have a hard time giving
praise and worship to God. If that is the case, take time and ask
the Lord to show you the issues then take time of confession and follow I
John 1:9.
- Do
not let sins go unconfessed. Confess them. The Psalmist
also knew the importance of confessed sin. See Ps 139 vs 23-24 Those
verses speak of confessing sins. Also look at where it says “Lord
Search me…” -- Do you ever feel condemned? Satan wants us to feel
so condemned that we are ashamed to come before God. Satan wants
us to struggle with guilt to the point that we can’t’ even pray. The
Lord has provided a way out of this condemnation. It is called
confession. In I John 1:9 we are instructed to confess sin so we can
be cleansed of it. Unconfessed sin separates us from God and can
block our prayers. See Is 59:2. If you take care of sin throughout
the day, you will not have to be dealing with it when a need comes up for
prayer. Occasionally the question sometimes comes up, I have
confessed my sin in obedience to God’s word, yet I still feel condemnation.
How do I get out of condemnation that keeps returning? Personally, I
have found three steps that have helped me, and these steps can also help
where we have difficulty forgiving a deep hurt. They are:
A.
Obedience to God’s word.
B.
Forgiveness Matt 6:14
C. Blessing-Ask God to help you speak only words that
bring life, especially to the other person. Heb 3:13. It has been found
that blessing others reduces the need of bringing past problems up again.
Note: There is one other thought—there may be times
when you need to go to someone and with God’s help and clear issues. Unfortunately, many of those issues are all
around us. Their presence has blocked
God’s light from shining through. We
need to obey God, and out of our love for God, go to others where there has
been an offense. -- you might not have
seen this work, but I would like to share a thought that came through
experience. I had a grape vine which did
not give much fruit. There was a tree
that blocked the sun that I eventually removed.
That let sunshine shine on the vine.
One year later, I harvested about 16 times the amount of fruit than what
I had been getting. God’s love is light
to us, and removing offensives allows God’s love to shine in. In time, we will see fruit—much fruit come
because we obeyed the Lord and cleared the offense.
As we move forward in our personal relationship with the
Lord and our prayer life, consider-- the more we ask God to keep us in His
perfect will, and in relationship with Him, we will be more prepared to
pray with others.
God has chosen to work on earth in partnership with those
who want and welcome doing His will. John 9:31 says that if any man be a
worshiper of God and does His will, He hears Him. 1 John 5:14-15 (KJV) says
”14And this is the
confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his
will, he heareth us: 15 And if we
know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions
that we desired of him.”
There are many ways that joining with, in praying with
others can be done. We could join with a group at a prayer meeting.
There are some who are not comfortable with prayer in a group, and they might
want to consider praying with a prayer partner. There are people who
might be ones who will pray ‘On the spur of the moment’ when the need
arises. Whatever the case, prayer with others should not be forced, but
grow out of our relationship with God, and with compassion for others.
God has chosen to work on earth through partnership with those who want
and welcome doing His will. John 9:31 says that if any man be a worshiper of
God and does His will, He hears Him.
Taking time regularly with the Lord helps us be prepared
to pray with others.
Reflection Questions:
What benefits do we have
when we take steps to keep our relationship right with the Lord? Why are
those steps important?
Try writing down
impressions you get when you take time with the Lord? Do you find those
impressions helpful? In what way?
Why is taking daily
personal time with the Lord helpful in being able to focus on others?
Have you experienced what
happens when sin issues are cleared? How
did clearing an issue with someone else affect your relationship with them, and
how did that action help you in your prayers?
Praying Together
Encouraging People to Pray
Lesson 7
Encouraging People to Pray
Recommended
Over the past several lessons, many of us have learned to
identify some things that block our praying together. In previous lessons, we have learned that some
items which can make a difference, especially when it concerns being able to
pray with others. Let’s take time now to
review a few areas that affect our praying together. To start, let’s look at providing a safe
environment.
- A
safe environment provides an atmosphere where one can “open up” about
their personal prayer needs and to pray comfortably with others.
- A
safe environment also avoids being critical or judgmental.
When there is the slightest judgment or criticism, it can destroy any
incentive or desire to pray with others. Judgmental responses
and/or remarks destroy an atmosphere of acceptance, love, and concern…It
definitely does not encourage the other person to feel encouraged to pray.
- A
safe environment provides an environment where requests that are presented
are significant. When requests are
ignored, it sends a signal that neither the request nor the person is important. That is contrary to God’s word, which
says in I Peter 5:7, “Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for
you.” Our cares are important to
God.
- A safe
environment should generate positive actions of love and support.
The items above help provide the atmosphere where we can
consider praying together. Another area
that affects our praying together is our Understanding of Prayer Types.
Understanding of various ways that people pray—ways which are often related to
one’s nature and personality is very important. Keep in mind that the
way God has created and gifted us can and does affect the way we pray.
The way we pray can be called prayer types. In learning about various prayer types,
we find:
- A reflective
type person will usually pray reflectively.
- A
person with a “driver personality” would probably pray shorter
direct prayers.
- A
person who has a “compliant nature” would probably pray using
structure in their prayers.
- A “Conversational-heartfelt”-a
person may suggest a topic by praying for it, and others can
follow, praying alongside him/her.
In addition to understanding various prayer types, above,
and there may be other prayer types, which we encounter that have differing
prayer formats. Each of the types of
prayer approaches and utilizes different formats. In addition to the recognition of varying
prayer types, the understanding of prayer formats used also helps us to better
understand how others are praying when we pray with them. Here is a listing of some formats of
prayer that are frequently used:
- Format
of the Lord’s Prayer.
- Praise
in prayer.
- Worship
in prayer.
- Some
intercessors have interceded through using prayer lists-Those
who do so are sometimes referred to as ‘list’ prayers.
- Crisis
Prayers-People who pray in crisis often focus on immediate needs.
- Prayers
by personal intercessors-often have a specific focus in prayer related to
the person for whom they are praying.
- Strategic
intercession or spiritual warfare-The area sometimes used by experienced
intercessors or by a seasoned mature intercessor, focuses on what you
might call warfare issues—what some call “spiritual warfare”.
This list of prayer formats could
go on and on, and there are many methods of prayer that have been used over the
years. They can and are various formats are
sometimes used when praying together. The important thing to
remember when we pray, it is not the method that is important;
but when we pray it should be from the heart. God sees the heart. See I Samuel
16:7. Recognizing prayer types and formats should help us to appreciate
the many different ways of bringing heart issues to the Lord. It is important that regardless of which
format we used when praying, that we let the Holy Spirit of God lead us when we
pray. This thought is shared by O.
Hallesby in his book titled “Prayer”.
**At this point, let’s look at some helpful
“Praying Together Pointers”:
- When
“Special Needs” are presented, and they often are—when possible, every
session of prayer should allow some time for special needs. If a
special need is presented, make sure someone prays for it—Hearing
your request prayed for is a powerful relationship builder and knowing
that someone agrees with you in prayer, builds hope and faith.
- The
pattern of prayer in a group should be flexible to accommodate
diversity of prayer styles.
- In
group prayer:
*Short prayers -- are generally better, and allow others to join in.
*Do not worry about periods of silence. Those periods of
silence allow time to ponder requests and to listen to the Lord. If
we are too busy praying and not taking time to listen, then we and miss out on
ways listen to God’s Holy Spirit speak and guide us as we pray.
At this point, I would like to make a special comment
about a way that can encourage people to pray in a group. It is important to understand in that when
we pray with others, the use of Amen as a prayer is important. ‘Amen’
is a statement of agreement, and it can actually be a prayer. If one
is not ready to join in with prayer in a group.
It may be possible to encourage that person to say ‘Amen’ at the end of
another person’s prayers. (Note: in some subcultural contexts, the word ‘Amen’
is a conclusion, and people may think you are finished, when you really are not
finished. If you do experience that, then instead say a phrase where you
might have said ‘amen’, and example of such a phrase might be ‘Yes Lord’ indicating
you have heard the other person’s prayer and are in agreement.)
In encouraging group prayer, other areas to consider are:
·
how do you start prayer
in a group—sometimes it is good to use scripture, especially when there
is a special need or direction needed to our prayers. It does help.
·
In a group it is important
to try not to dominate the prayer time, even if you have a
lot to pray about. Let others have an opportunity to pray.
·
An important courtesy is, when
someone finishes praying, do not jump in so fast and start praying too
quickly. That keeps others from having
the opportunity to join in. (Jumping in quickly when someone finishes
praying can also cause a sharp turn in the direction of prayer and prevent full
follow through on the current focus of prayer.) Take time “to listen”
to the Lord and others before you pray.
The Bible says the Lord speaks with a still small voice. I Kings 19:11-13
·
Remember that when we pray
together, we have a helper, Jesus. He is with us. Jesus said: “For
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them.” Matthew 18:21
When we make our requests in prayer, remember the Bible
encourages us in I John 5 vs 14 that our requests to be in-line with God’s
word. This is especially important for
group prayer. The following are some
principles that we should consider in group praying.
·
Guidance Proverbs
2:1-11 “ My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with
thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart
to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice
for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for
hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the
knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh
knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous:
he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment,
and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness,
and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine
heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee,
understanding shall keep thee:”
- Ask
God to knit our hearts together as we pray.
- II
Chronicles 7:14 encourages A spirit of humbleness as we pray.
- Matt
6:11 encourages us to ask for spiritual food Matthew 6:11.
- To
help us confess sin-which is anything that would block our prayers and
it helps us to ask God to give us recognition of what is sin that we need
to confess. See Psalms 139:23-24.
- Wisdom
to know the difference between false guilt (that which may come from
personal interpretation and judgment) and what God’s word actually says.
- Asking
the Lord to be present and to come alongside of us.
In conclusion: Prayer is an act of love
and is like living water to a wilted plant. It is the living water that
brings encouragement and provides us with a safe place for us when we are
praying with others. Recognizing the types and formats of prayer that people
pray and use, can help us to “join-in” with them. Finally, showing courtesy
when we are praying with others helps us encourage others to “join-together in
prayer”.
Reflection Questions:
When your requests have
not been prayed for by others, how do you personally feel?
We talked about
understanding Prayer-Types. How do you feel when someone prays their own
way but fails to reflect “an understanding” of your need? How does this
lesson help you possibly better understand how to respond to that
person?
Does it help you to know
different formats of prayer? In what ways has it benefited your ability
to pray successfully with others?
It has been stated that
when someone prays for you, it is an “act of love”. It may be difficult
for you to project your reaction to this statement on paper, but could you give
it a try?
Praying Together
Developing
Relationships and Prayer
Lesson 8
Developing Relationships and Prayer
Note: This lesson is about reaching out to
others because of our relationship to Christ and having others join with us in
prayer due to a relationship based on our mutual relationship to Christ. Our relationship to Christ in prayer has been
a central focus in this course.
When we pray for others within our prayer group, we can
encourage them to share God’s compassion in reaching people for Christ because
of God’s love for them. Relationship with others because of our relationship
with Christ gives opportunity for that love to be seen. God’s Love can operate when we build
relationships and friendships when we reach out to others.
A major focus in praying together should include “praying
for others”. This may start with the
people in our group’s immediate circle, which could be considered ‘our
Jerusalem’. Prayer for others should come naturally, for a good reason “because
the Love of God compels us,” II Corinthians 5:14. People need someone to stand with
them through life’s struggles: By allowing the Holy Spirit to help
us, as we pray with others, we can extend to them Christ-like care, comfort,
and words of encouragement – which reflect God’s grace and love. Praying
for others in your group can also have a domino effect. Those prayers help individuals in the group
to reach out and establish relationships with others outside of the prayer
group. This allows people from beyond the borders of your prayer group to
receive both spiritual care and personal connection. Caring action by members
of the group bring forth a dimension of ‘caring’ and ‘love’. Those actions have been reported to be
possibly significant reasons that have encouraged people to come to know
Christ, and as well as to grow in Christ.
As we pray together, remember that there are people who
need the Lord Jesus as their Savior. We are encouraged in I Timothy 2:1-8, to
pray for all men. Although there are many ways to pray, one good way to
start is suggested in I Timothy 2:4 -- by praying for all men (our friends, our
loved ones, our business associates, and our leaders) “to be saved, and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth.”
As we look around us, there are many people who need to
know Christ. How do we relate to them? It might surprise you that
there are three distinct levels of relationships that we can identify our
interaction with the unsaved. Let’s take note of these three types of
relationships and briefly see how they relate to us:
1. There are unsaved people whom you may know,
and who freely will share personal concerns with you—When they do, this gives
little risk of rejection when it comes to sharing.
2. There are unsaved people whom you know, but
who have not disclosed personal concerns with you.
3. There are unsaved people whom you do not
know personally, but you have a yearning to reach out to them.
When a developing relationship with others starts, there
is opportunity for new friendships that can be built—With this opportunity,
let’s ask ourselves some questions about it.
Do you have regular contact with
those who you have started to build a relationship with? If not, can you
take steps to develop a friendship?
Contact is very important in relationship building.
What
about someone God has laid on your heart. When God reveals someone to you, take
time to regularly pray for that person whom God has laid on your heart.
Ask God to prepare his/her heart to be receptive to you and to Him. It
is very helpful when others pray with you in this process. I
include a caution here: In friendship development, it is best to
develop one with someone of your own gender.
Also, when you pray for the unsaved person, ask God’s
leading for ways He could use you to “be a friend”.
As you consider
what we have covered, please read and study the following guide which is
available and provided to help you. Try to identify areas where God could
use you for His glory, in becoming a Godly friend to someone. In the ‘Friendship Guide’, we have put
together so many items that can help us.
For that reason, our friendship guide and is provided below in the
lesson, or it can be accessed at the following link: http://www.wheatlandministries.blogspot.com/2013/07/friendship-guide.html
on the internet.
Friendship Guide
1. Identify what people would say about the
relationship you have with someone. Why would they say this?
2. How have you been a friend to others? Take time to list ways you have shown friendship:
3. How can you become a better friend?
Consider:
·
Could
you learn to “be a good listener”?
·
Could
you consider joining him/her in some activities, but being careful not to
compromise your faith? Examples of activities might be sharing your
hobbies, or personal interests, or just being ready to offer help with projects
they are doing. Be careful not to talk too much about
yourself. Take time to take an interest in him/her! Here is a guide that we will call a
friendship guide.
4. What are some possible common interests
between you and the other person? Take time to review the following list of
ideas to help build friendships. Consider:
·
Their
likes
·
Their
dislikes
·
Their
hobbies
·
Their
goals
·
Their
dreams
·
Their
fears
·
Their
hurts
·
Their
joys
·
Their
struggles
·
Common
Interests
5. Are you willing to
be vulnerable and share your personal responses or feelings and opinions? To be free to do so will open yourself to
being vulnerable. In some cases, if you
are not willing to listen to different opinions it could hinder building a
relationship. However, if you are
willing to listen, that can be a form of being humble which lets people know
you are a real person.
6. Can you “be sensitive” to them in
your approach, avoiding judgment?
7. Can you “be
faithful” to follow-up, being true to your word and commitments?
8. Are you willing to
take time and not rush a friendship? It may take several years.
9. Are you willing to find ways to encourage them?
10. Will you avoid gossip at all times?
11. When you talk
with others, ae you are speaking of your own opinion, or are you actually listening to where the other person is at. Are you taking
an interest in them? See Philippians 2:4
Don’t look out only for your own interests, but
take an interest in others, too.
Further notes on
developing relationships:
- Relationships are built over time.
- Do not jump to a spiritual encounter, prematurely-Ask the
Lord to guide you.
- Ask them if they would appreciate your praying for them, and
if they would allow you to follow-up on your prayer for them. If
there has been an answer to prayer, they would probably be eager to share
what has happened.
- Consider taking reasonable prayer requests to the Lord, for
them. ---Unreasonable requests
sometimes come up. Don’t pray for unscriptural ones—when such a
request occurs, consider asking the Lord how to discern and pray for the
real need.
- Remember, it is important that we allow the Spirit of God to
work in the other person.
- Developing
friendships involves listening to the Lord and His Holy Spirit
- Allow the Holy Spirit to work, as you pray for God’s wisdom
and direction.
- The Lord can provide others who will pray for us, and who
will also keep us accountable in developing relationships.
- As a relationship develops, the Lord will show you how you
can find ways to minister to his/her spiritual needs. The Lord can
also help you to encourage them to meet other Christians in events they
enjoy.
Finally, as the Holy
Spirit of God works in a person’s heart, be responsive to his/her requests.
- Answer questions clearly and compassionately
- Encourage and introduce them to other Christians.
- Be clear when presenting the Gospel.
An important concept to
remember from this lesson is that joining together in prayer for others
provides the opportunity to bring God’s help to them—giving the opportunity to develop
relationships with others, and also helps in building relationships with people
who are not a part of the group, who may not know the Lord. It also gives the opportunity to share Jesus
with others.
Reflections:
The reflection exercise
for this lesson is an exercise of what we have learned to-date in the
course. It is intended to encourage you
to practice some of the principles we have learned which relate to prayer and
building relationships. It is possible that not everyone may be able to bring
a group together to pray. If that is so
and there is a group already praying, consider joining that group, then answers
some of the questions in the reflection.
The exercise is a
practicum to bring people together in prayer and observe how they respond to
group praying. It may take some
time to pull your observations together about praying together. Your observations should relate back to what
we have learned. Those of you who are pastors and are a part of the
class, it would be good to hear from your point of view. Those who are
not pastors, your reflective comments are also very important. To help
lay-students get started, perhaps they could ask their pastor if he/she would
welcome your bringing people together for a prayer group. If they do,
that too is an excellent opportunity to learn and observe. Sharing those
observations with others on Pray.Network, could encourage someone else in the
class. Maybe you will observe some other issues about prayer in a group that
you would like to share for discussion – that too would be helpful.
Here are some possible
ways to bring people together for prayer—consider praying for an event that
your church is having, for example:
With the help of God’s
Holy Spirit, both pastors and lay students in the course, together, can offer
their reflections and comments to the class on Pray.Network for
discussion. Doing this would benefit all in the course, and it will help
us have a deeper understanding of praying together. During the
exercise, we will continue with our lessons, covering the following: praying in
groups; prayer circles; looking at the power of a praying church; and
developing a prayer-culture in the church.
If you are
actually able to do this exercise, in one form or another, I pray that the Lord
will make it a meaningful exercise. For
those who cannot do the exercise, please work on the reflections below, and
draw from your past experiences in answering.
Exercise
Reflection:
- How can we encourage prayer to move from inward
self-focus to outward focus on others, but not forgetting the
inward-personal need?
- What have you observed about the action of prayer helping
to build relationships?
- If you could identify critical elements in “encouraging
prayer with others”, what are they? Why do you think they are
important?
- Ask your prayer group to discuss what factors they
consider important that encourages others “to belong” to a prayer
group. -- Have the elements they have identified helped them to
reach out to others who are not in their prayer group?
You may have other
observations--please feel free to share them. When your project is
complete, please share it on pray.
SHARE IT -- WHILE IT IS FRESH!
If you
have any questions, please ask!
Looking
forward to the upcoming reflections about this lesson!
Praying Together
Reflection Week
Lesson 9---Reflection
Week
For those who have worked the lessons in this class, we have now
completed this course. It is a time now to review and
reflect on the material which was presented in the course.
Also at this point, it is especially important to hear from our students; we
would appreciate receiving some constructive comments that may help us to
improve this course and to better encourage people to pray.
Here are a few areas to consider. You may have other thoughts that you
may want to share.
- Has this course helped you
grow in the Lord? Whether you say ‘yes’ or ‘no’, please include
in your answer: Did you take time to do any (or all) of the
following—study the material; look up the Scriptures, and work some of the
reflection questions.
- Were there areas which had
been covered in the class that you felt should have been more
enhanced? If you say ‘yes’—could you give a suggestion?
- Some of you may have some
ideas to consider for using as a specific prayer-activity. If
so, please share your thoughts with us and the class.
- Regarding the concepts of ‘heart
prayer’ and ‘listening with the heart’, was the teaching
helpful? If it was helpful, please share how it helped you.
- What are some ‘other
thoughts’ that you might like to share with us?
We have appreciated all who have contributed to sharing in this
class. After this reflection period—we will soon be readying a ‘course
completion certificate’ to present to those of you who had participated—at
least twice—sharing comments during the ‘Praying Together Course’.
We do want to recognize all your efforts of class
participation.
I would like to give a personal testimony
about the class. When my wife, Sylvia, sensed that the Lord wanted her to
help edit the course, three things happened: One, she contributed much
information that has helped develop the lessons---sharing ‘nuggets of thoughts’
which came from her heart. Her sharing of Scripture and Godly insights
was so important that I have considered her as a Co-Author.
Secondly, in working together and praying together, God’s Holy Spirit brought
us closer together as a couple, (Matthew 18:20). That was a great
blessing!
Now back to the course—Please, even if you started the
course late in the session, after we started, and have not completed the course
(there are a number of you in this category), share what you can at this point
and do keep working on the course. We have observed spiritual growth
in those who really worked the lessons, for which we praise God. As you
work through this course, and get deeper into God’s Word, you will grow
in your Christian walk and relationship with God. God does want His
Children to grow, and there has been much spiritual meat presented in this
course.
We thank you for taking time to reflectively respond to this lesson.
Praying With All Your Head? Or Praying with your Heart?
Cynthia
Bezek, Editor
http://cynthiaprayblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/have-a-heart/
Developing A Yearly Rhythm for Church Prayer
By
Phil Miglioratti
http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/11625419/
Also, other recommended
reading: Bondage Breaker, by Neil
Anderson
Praying
Together
Possible papers:
A. Study Ps
119:154 examining the words Plead and Cause—looking at the meanings of the
words developed from using the meanings of the Hebrew letters and relating them
to the function of a family. Include
Romans 8:26-7 and 34, I John 5:14 and other related scripture.
