Flourish || Cultivating a Prayer Life
Luke 2:36-38 NLT Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.
DEFINITION OF PRAYER:
Blue Letter Bible: Prayer is to converse with God.
Prayer - Strong’s G1162 means “deēsis means a petition:—prayer, request, supplication.
It is "beseeching the Lord" (Exd 32:11); Beseech is to ask or pray urgently or implore.
It is also defined as a "pouring out the soul before the Lord" (1Sa 1:15); "praying and crying to heaven" (2Ch 32:20); "seeking unto God and making supplication" (Job 8:5); "drawing near to God" (Psa. 73:28);
4 THINGS WE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT PRAYER:
1.CULTIVATING A PRAYER LIFE BEGINS IN THE SECRET PLACE
We cannot cultivate a prayer life without prioritizing the secret place. One of our values in this house is Secret Place (5 More Minutes). “When we set apart time and space to meet with God, Holy Spirit responds to our expectancy with His presence. When we make the secret place our priority, we become the place where Heaven touches Earth.”
Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:6 (NKJV) “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
When we set apart a time and space, Jesus expects to meet you there. You can always find Him in the secret place. We should be setting apart a time and space daily.
Anna dedicated her life to fasting and prayer. Her life was dedicated to remaining in the secret place. She had “a time and space”. She never left the temple but scripture says she prayed day and night. She learned to abide in the secret place.
Ana’s dedication to the Lord and the intimacy between them allowed her to recognize Jesus as an infant. Because she stewarded the secret place, she knew what His presence felt like and knew that the Messiah was in her midst. This is the result of cultivating a prayer life.
Do YOU know what His presence feels like? When the Lord is in your midst, can you recognize it?
2. EVERYONE IS CALLED TO PRAY
“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. Matthew 6:6 (NKJV)
He is not saying when Pastors pray, when leaders pray, when the altar team prays. When YOU pray.
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16 (ESV)
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV)
“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14:13-14 (NIV)
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24 (NIV)
3. PRAYER IS PARTNERSHIP WITH THE LORD
Jesus is the perfect model of this as He is our intercessor. We lift our prayers to Jesus and He takes our prayers to the Father.
Choosing to cultivate a prayer life is choosing to come into partnership with Christ. That means we are not doing this alone. We are praying with Him according to His will. He leads our prayers. We partner with Him but he leads.
Romans 8:34 (NIV) says that Jesus “is at the right hand of God interceding for us”
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
1 John 2:1 (NLT) says that Jesus is our “advocate with the Father” An advocate is “one who pleads another's cause, who helps another by defending him.”
My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.
Hebrews 7:25 (NLT) says that Jesus “always lives to intercede” for us
Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save[a] those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.
4. PRAYER REQUIRES COMPLETE DEPENDANCE ON THE LORD
We all have a role to play. Ours is to pray and His is to take care of the results. We pray believing in faith that when we pray according to His will, He hears us. That’s it! 1 John 5:14
We don’t have to “MAKE” something happen.
Walking with God in itself requires complete dependance on Him and prayer is no exception.
This is what prayer is. Recognizing that He has the answers. He is the way, the truth and the life. John 14:6
Here at EG we teach 7 ways you can go to the Lord in prayer. We say it this way:
We are a HOUSE OF PRAYER
Jesus said that His house would be called a house of prayer. We assemble 7 days a week to seek the heart of the Father and partner with Him in faith, inquiry, intercession, supplication, petition, lament, and thanksgiving.
When Jesus says that His house would be called a house of prayer, He is referring to the body of Christ, His church, me and YOU.
I want to equip you this evening so you can leave here knowing how to cultivate a prayer life so you too can FLOURISH.
Petition
Definition: request, a thing asked for, demand, loan
In 1 Samuel 1:1-15 (NLT)
1 Samuel 2:20 (NIV) Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.”
(KJV) “And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord.
Another word for petition is loan.
When you get a loan from the bank, you have to pay back the loan and pay interest on top of that.
Much like a loan, know that when you petition the Lord, He responds with interest. Hannah petitioned the Lord and presented the loan to the Lord (which was her son Samuel). The Lord responded back with interest, by blessing her with more children.
Things to note:
Hannah petitioned the Lord relentlessly for years.
She sought only of the Lord for her answers.
The word “seek” means to consult of Him only.
Her seeking allowed for her to receive the answer to her petition and interest.
Who do you go to for your answers?
Who do you go to in your time of need?
What do you run to?
CAUTION: There may be some of us here who have decided to take things into our own hands. Who have grown tired of waiting for the answer to their petitions and the Lord is inviting you to repent and do it His way. And today is the day!
The Lord is saying, “DON’T RELENT!!” The answer is on the way and it’s coming to you with interest. In this year of Overflow, interest is the equivalent of when we say exceedingly and abundantly more. YOU WILL FLOURISH AS YOU GO TO THE LORD AND PETITION HIM ONLY!
Lament
To mourn or wail
You can still cultivate a life of prayer and still FLOURISH in lament and in mourning.
There is a difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.
Worldly sorrow leads to depression, anxiety, mental illnesses, isolation.
Godly sorrow - a specific form of prayer and expression of grief that leads to trust in God. You lament WITH the Lord.
Psalm 51 - David’s sin and repentance (David slept with another man’s wife, got her pregnant and killed her husband.)
He recognizes His sin, repents before the Lord, invites God into his lament by asking him to wash him, purify him and make him clean.
You can lament over sickness, death or sin. These are some of the many examples.
HOW DO YOU LAMENT?
Partnering with Him in faith
Faith - Hebrews 11:1 (NLT) “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
James 5:14-16
Matthew 21:22
Matthew 17:20
Acts 3:6
Ministry Moment:
Isaiah 56:7 (NLT) “I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
