3rd Session
Growing in Prayer
Br.Jonny Jones
(Mark 1)
-The secret to fruitful prayer is to pray
-In the midst of a busy schedule the first thing to be left out in our lives is prayer. But Jesus even through. He was God and was very busy in His ministry, but He never neglected prayer(Is 35)
Prayer
1)Shows our dependence on God eg.Jesus depending on the Father through prayer.
2)Reveals our desire to seek God.Lock of prayer shows our lack of desire to seek after God
3)Exercises our spiritual muscles and helps us to be spiritually [envigonted] just like physical exercise [envgavates] our physical bodies
4)Reveals our love for others by our praying for them
Problems associated with Praying
1)Falling asleep while praying
2)Not praying according to God's will. The cure: Read the Bible and pray based on what you have read. This solves two problems.
1)We don't sleep as our eyes are kept open when reading the Bible and then we should start praying. If we feel sleepy while praying we can open the Bible again and start reading it again, especially on areas that burden us and return to prayer when our sleepiness goes.
2)We are able to pray according to the will of God ie.praying biblically on the basis of what we have read
Content of Prayer
(John 17)
1)Vs 15
Jesus prayed to the Father that the believers should not be taken away from the world but remain in this sinful world without evil so that sinners can come to Christ. There is no way a non-believer can be drawn to the light if it does not dwell in the darkness. On the other hand there is no [point] in that light it is like the darkness as it does not serve the purpose of Christ. As believers we should attract believers to Christ through our life and word while still living in this sinful world
thus as Christ's Prayer was of this manner, our prayer for ourselves and each other should be the same.
2)Vs 20
Jesus prayed for he elect who are to believe and be saved and so must we.
3)Vs 21
Jesus prayed for believers unity as one body. This unity should not be at the expense of basic biblical truths. But even if two believers don't agree on a point in the Scriptures that should not be a reason for them not to have fellowship and bind together and pray for the lost t be saved. By this the world may know that Christ was sent by the Father. In this way the Lord's Prayer and will in this matter concerning believers is fulfilled.
Thus believers who don't agree on all matters in the Scriptures can still show fellow ship but need not have ministry on from a church together as this requires unity in all areas as prayed for by the Lord.