A.W. Tozer once said the key to prayer is simply praying. We know prayer is of utmost importance, but we often overcomplicate it and give up before we even get started. In this series, our goal is to offer you a simple guide for how to pray in hopes of helping you enter into a life-long and life-giving practice.
Keep it Simple, Keep it Real, Keep it Up
Speakers
Josh Blount
Lead Pastor
Worship
Notes
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God wants you to be a person of prayer.
1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray continually
Ephesians 6:18
Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying…
Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer
Luke 18:1
Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Jesus was a person of prayer!
Prayer was the heartbeat of the life of Jesus, the hinge upon which all other activities turned.
R.C. Sproul
When you study the life of Jesus, you can't help but be struck by His commitment to prayer. He was often found in solitary places, seeking the Father's guidance and strength.
Billy Graham
Prayer is for today and prayer is for you!
God wants you to be a person of prayer
1. Keep It Simple
2. Keep It Real
3. Keep It Up
1. Keep It Simple
The more you're trying to do everything, the less likely you will be good at doing anything.
Jesus simplified things.
Matthew 6:7-8
The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.
Matthew 6:9
In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Hebrews 10:19
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
Prayer is simply a child talking to a father
The essence of prayer lies in the simplicity of a child speaking to their Father, opening their heart, and sharing their deepest concerns and joys."
John Stott
2. Keep It Real
Luke 18:10
“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 2 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ 14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God.
Jesus can’t fix the problems you pretend not to have and the person you pretend not to be!
Matthew 6:8
For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray
Prayer is a legally established channel through which God interacts with us on Earth.
Where you're holding back in prayer, you're holding back God.
To pray, means willing to be naïve.
Emilie Griffin
It is not the arithmetic of our prayers, how many they be; nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they be; nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they be; nor the music of our prayers, how sweet our voice may be; nor the logic of our prayers, how argumentative they may be; nor the method of our prayers, how orderly they may be; nor the divinity of our prayers, how good they may be - which God cares for. Fervency of spirit is that which availeth much.
Charles Spurgeon
3. Keep It Up
Prayer is like throwing rocks into a swamp. People think you are crazy; you think you’re crazy. Each prayer just disappears under water and out of sight. It feels like you’re wasting your time. But keep going long enough, keep throwing rocks, and the swamp will eventually be filled. One day a rock will be thrown that will not sink. Solid ground will appear and you can walk across. Don’t give up on prayer too soon.
Frank Laubach
Mark 6:31
Come with Me privately to a solitary place, and let us rest for a while.
Develop the discipline of a daily quiet time
Here is the great and inescapable truth, taught in Scripture, modelled by Christ and advocated, without exception, by all the heroes of our faith: you cannot grow in prayer without some measure of effort and discomfort, self-discipline and self-denial. Just as you cannot get physically fit without regular exercise and a healthy diet, so your spiritual growth will be determined, to a very significant extent, by the prayer exercises you choose (or do not choose) to establish and sustain.
Pete Greig
Delight without discipline eventually, inevitably dissipates. When we delight and discipline relationships, they thrive, mature, and endure.
Pete Greig
Mark 1:35
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Luke 21:37
Each evening he went out to spend the night on the hill called the Mount of Olives
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.