I Prayed About It (But What Does That Mean) – Part 1

Introduction

1 Corinthians 1:10–13 (NKJV): 10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

The Prayer Life of Jesus

Luke 5:15–16 (ESV): 15 But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.

• Notice what gets noticed.

• Be careful when you can pay for what you used to pray for.

Luke 6:12–13 (ESV): 12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:

Mark 1:32–39 (ESV): 32 That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. 35 And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 36 And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, 37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” 38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Luke 11:1 (ESV): 1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

Series Overview

• The Posture of Prayer (My attitude)

• The Content of Prayer (My words)

• The Practice of Prayer (My habits)

• The Accessories of Prayer (My help)

Series Objectives

• Sincerely (Put your heart in it)

• Biblically (Follow Scriptural patterns and instructions)

• Attentively (Be responsive to promptings from the Spirit and your observations)

• Regularly (Make prayer a daily practice)

• Persistently (Pray through delays and denials)

What Does a Response to the Series Look Like Practically?

Prayer’s Big Picture

Your prayer life matters not only to you and your family, but to the world.

Mark 11:15–16 (ESV): 15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.

Jesus Applies the Old Testament

Mark 11:17 (ESV): 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

Lessons from Isaiah

Isaiah 56: 3 (ESV): 3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

Isaiah 56:4-6 (ESV): 4 For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, 5 I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—

Isaiah 56: 7 (ESV): 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Isaiah 56: 8 (ESV): 8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

Insight from Moses

Deuteronomy 4:5–7 (ESV): 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

• Prayer is the result of having confidence in God.

So then what does it mean when a faith community stops praying?

Lessons from Jeremiah

Jeremiah 7:4 (ESV): 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ 

Jeremiah 7:8-11 (ESV): 8 “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.