Lesson # 8 - Prayer & The Believer

This is lesson number eight of John MacArthur's fundamentals of the faith lesson number eight is on prayer and the believer the memory verse was

Philippians 4 6 & 7 and this Of course says be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving Let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all

Understanding that's how I memorized it But it says all comprehension will guard your hearts in your minds in Christ Jesus, so that's the

NASB I believe but whatever translation you memorize it in that's that's fine

John MacArthur begins the purpose of prayer is to express our Submission to the sovereignty of God and our trust in his faithfulness

Prayer is the means by which we express all that is in our hearts to our loving and wise

Heavenly Father Prayer is not to give God information Because God knows everything prayer brings us into reverent communion with God Worshiping him and acknowledging him as the giver of all things so the way

I like to Describe this is prayer is talking to God when we read the

Bible That's God talking to us. So we have a relationship with God in that way.

We talk to him in prayer he speaks to us through the scripture in the leading of the Holy Spirit and To really know someone and to have a relationship with them

There has to be communication. So without prayer The communication really breaks down So starts out number one the nature of prayer

For the believer prayer is a learning experience that must be developed into a spiritual

Discipline nobody's born into this world. Just knowing how to pray If anyone thinks that or that well, yeah,

I just automatically know how to pray It's because you've seen other people do it. You've heard other people do it

So it's something that has to be taught you have to learn it

And why do we say that because in Luke 11 verse 1? What did the disciples ask of Jesus?

Teach us how to pray now you might assume that they already knew how to pray

Shouldn't they have already known how to pray How would they have known? Maybe they realized after spending some time with them that maybe they did for but in being with him they realized

Sure Yeah, and even if you thought you did know how to pray if Jesus is with you

You're gonna ask him anyways But obviously as Jews growing up in the synagogue and having the

Psalms they knew something about prayer already But they they wanted to hear it from the

Lord. So Jesus, how does he respond? He responds by giving them the model prayer?

the Lord's Prayer So, how should we pray? What's the first? What's the first instruction in the

Lord's Prayer? Yeah, you know first of all we pray to God the

Father and We pray that his name would be kept holy. So that that's where you start.

Did I see a hand in the back? you said The book of Psalms that they had access to was excellent prayers in there, right

Yeah, so we would go to The Lord's Prayer obviously because that's Jesus instructing his disciples how to pray the

Psalms would be the other book To turn turn to because the Psalms not only are they yes, they are songs and they're poems

But many of them if you read them their prayers as well So and there's all different types of prayers in the

Psalms There's you know, David is thanking God and praising God. There's worship

Then there's those prayers where David feels like God has forgotten about him and Lord.

Where are you? There are the imprecatory Psalms where David is calling down judgment on his the

Lord's enemies So that's not something you hear much about today, but there's all different types of prayers in the

Psalms read Romans 8 26 and Then that will answer this question that according to the

Apostle Paul who assists us in our prayers The Holy Spirit Sometimes people ask well, can

I do I have to pray to God the Father? Can I pray to Jesus? Can I pray to the

Holy Spirit I Don't think there's anything wrong with praying to Jesus or praying to the

Holy Spirit But I think the Holy Spirit we pray in the Spirit the Spirit assists us

But I don't know that we would direct our prayers to the Holy Spirit Can anyone think of an example where somebody directs their prayers to the

Holy Spirit? I couldn't think of one off the top of my head So I just try to stick with what

Jesus said, you know pray to the Father I wouldn't say the others are wrong necessarily, but I just try to stick with what

Jesus said. So the Holy Spirit We do not know how to pray as we should but the

Spirit himself does what? He intercedes for us with groanings too deep

For words, so those times we don't know how to pray We can't really put it into words.

God knows. He knows what we're trying to express So the Holy Spirit somehow in some way he communicates that to the

Father B That's a so be in light of that What should we do when we are not sure what to pray for?

Says pray and express our uncertainty to God and trust the

Spirit to intercede for us Now if you're doing a public prayer some you know

Public prayer is tends to be a little different than private prayer Public prayer.

Well, can anyone think of differences if you were to pray publicly? How might that look different than your private prayers to God?

Yeah, yeah, I mean because everyone else is listening so it's it's Probably gonna be a little different, but if you're praying to God one -on -one

You can just tell them whatever you're thinking. However, you feel you're less likely to do that if 50 people are listening to you

Because God knows anyways, so you might as well tell them what you're thinking and how you're feeling because he already knows

So it says prayer is communication with God Scripture tells us that God is very interested in our personal struggles

What does Psalm 34 verse 15 say about the Lord? What does this say?

Okay His eyes are toward the righteous and his ears are open to their cry is there an implication in That could you draw something out of that?

His eyes are toward The righteous who are the righteous? Yeah believers the

Saints his people and his ears are open to their cry

What might you? extrapolate from that Yeah Carolyn Right, yeah that if you're not a believer his eyes are not towards them and he doesn't hear their

Prayers or their cries now, it's not really a Popular thing to say today.

I do think that God does answer the prayer of an unbeliever When they cry out

Lord save me and then they become a believer But really an unbeliever who has no faith in God and is not obeying

God They logically cannot expect to receive anything from God God is not going to hear their prayer.

This is a little off topic, but turn to Isaiah chapter 1 And The book might cover this as well

I went through it and I forget if it mentioned this or not But Isaiah chapter 1 Isaiah is a prophet and he's addressing.

Of course the children of Israel and He says hear the word of the

Lord you rulers of Sodom that's verse 10 Give ear to the law of our

God you people of Gomorrah. Well, is he actually talking to Sodom and Gomorrah? Now there's

Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed a long time ago. He's addressing his people his covenant people who are not living

In fellowship with him notice what he says in verse 13 bring no more futile sacrifices

Incense is an abomination to me the new moons and Sabbaths and the calling of assemblies

I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred Meeting your new moons in your appointed feasts my soul hates

They are a trouble to me and I am weary of bearing them. So who's talking? God is talking to The disobedient

Israelites and he says in verse 15 when you spread out your hands I will hide my eyes from you even though you make many prayers what

I will not hear so that is

Biblical it is something that you can take away if somebody is not a believer And if they're not walking with the

Lord, they cannot expect God to answer Their prayers and they probably wouldn't pray to God anyways, because they don't think that God is either there or that he cares or that He's going to answer prayers, but this is very important in order to have your prayers answered

We need to be walking with the Lord, okay, any questions or comment, yeah

Crying out to God, right Yeah, I saw I think someone mentioned this last week in church.

There's that football player that collapsed, right? And I guess everyone on the field the players and the coaches like people started to pray and that's good

That's good. We want to see people praying but they interviewed

I Don't know if he was one of the coaches or who it was, but he's like, yeah, you know We were praying and that's what we need to do.

It doesn't matter what faith you belong to It doesn't matter what you believe you just need to pray and it's like you're missing the whole

Point Who are you praying to I mean this is the most basic thing of all how do you pray

Jesus teach us to pray pray to Allah pray to Buddha pray to the grand architect of the universe.

No pray to who? you have to believe in the Heavenly Father and It does matter what you believe and what you're doing if you believe

Isaiah chapter 1 But on the other hand that person who is living in disobedience and rebellion to God They can be living that way right up until the time of their prayer and they can have that prayer answered if God sees that their

Heart is sincere Yes, Marcus you got it, okay

What did you find Okay, okay

All right three, how are we encouraged to approach God Hebrews 4 verse 16

Says let us draw near with confidence to the throne of Grace, okay, draw us near or let us draw near with confidence or the translation

I'm most familiar with as I alluded to a moment. It was come boldly right before the throne of grace.

Why is it? Bold or why do we need or how can we come with confidence?

Yes, Carolyn Because of Christ, right and you'll often hear

Pastors say something like that doesn't mean you come arrogantly to the throne of grace, but you come boldly

And it's really not about you that you have this standing with God It's that Christ has the standing with God and you're coming through through Christ Okay for Though we have the privilege of access

What caution does Ecclesiastes 5 verse 2 advise? it says do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought let your words be

Okay, so can anyone give an example of what it might look like to be hasty in word or impulsive in thought?

when you are Praying to God or approaching God Mark Yeah Yeah hasty in word

When we're talking to God, I mean we do want to Be mindful of what we're saying and who we're talking to You know some people will say

I probably said this that you know when I talk to God I talked to him as though he's my he's my friend

I talked to him as he's my buddy there in the car driver and you know, Jesus did say

I've called you friends and Abraham was a friend of God. I mean there's something to be said for that.

But at the same time He's the the Lord of Glory, he's not just your buddy.

So I mean how you talk to God Again, you should be mindful of how?

How you don't want to be hasty in work. Okay, so however you understand that Stacy would your hand up?

Yeah Right Right That's a easy thing to do to view

God as like a genie in a bottle or he's Santa Claus and you're just coming to Him with your wish list and Lord do this for me and do that and do that You know, what about the things that he wants you to do?

You probably should start with that and then the petitions Are last or supplication is last if you go by the acrostic acts

ACTS which we'll talk about. Did I see another hand? Yeah There is a nearness and a closeness in that relationship and yet, you know honor your father and your mother so right

Yeah yeah, there's probably you know one side where it's a little too formal and You're too careful with every word then there's the other side where you're just Too too relaxed and too casual.

I don't know All right five what comfort does first Peter five six and seven offer believers

Says casting all your anxiety on him because he cares

For you. That's one thing about prayer. You have to believe that God cares

If you don't think that God cares and that's what the devil would want to convince you of that God really doesn't bother

God. He doesn't really care about you and your troubles And if the devil can convince you of that or if you convince yourself of that Yeah, why why pray because doesn't seem like God cares

Anyway, like you there's certain people probably that you know in your life and you probably

Figured out that they don't really care about you and what you're going through right? There are those people they really don't care

About you and your problems. Are you gonna go to those people and talk to of course not?

They're the last people you would go to you go to the people that you know care

One thing that troubles me especially lately because it seems so many of my friends

Have passed away Some no one so that's great Some I don't think did and and they're those left behind their widows are probably

Believers and you want to you want to share these verses blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted and you want

You want you want to somehow? Direct them towards, you know, the comforter the

Holy Spirit. Yeah But you have to be careful that you're not

Making promises to them that don't apply to them. So I'm really torn

I Have to write Yeah and what

Bible verses to use. I want so much for, and this is for all my classmates, we seem to be getting together at funerals all the time now.

But that's a common prayer, Lord. Give me the words to say.

How do I approach this? What do I tell them? All right.

I guess, I think, I'm sorry to be at such a talking thinker, except I guess

I'm just gonna use Jesus' words, things that he said, forget which ones.

Okay. C, prayer is effective. It can change situations and people.

We are encouraged to pray expecting results. This is one of those things where, well, if God knows the future, or, you know, we get the mindset, what's gonna happen is gonna happen, so what difference does it make for me to pray because, you know, the future's already fixed, at least in the mind of, that's another thing that people will fall into that way of thinking and, yeah, why pray?

If it's gonna, is it not, is prayer gonna change things or is it not? Well, what does the scripture say?

Does prayer change things? Yes. Yeah. Well, at the very least, it changes you and your response to what

God will do, but there are examples, remember where God was gonna wipe out the Israelites?

He said he was gonna do it. God says he was gonna do it. I take him at his word, he was gonna do it until Moses interceded on their behalf and then

God showed mercy. So God was, and then the city of Nineveh, Jonah went to preach judgment to the city of Nineveh and God was gonna do that and then the people repented.

So sometimes things do change. God does change his mind, that's what the scripture says. So prayer does change things.

I don't know how it all works and the sovereignty of God and his foreknowledge and I don't understand it all, but the scripture does say that prayer changes things.

So the first question, for whom did the church pray in Acts 12, verse five?

Peter, who is in prison. How did God answer their prayers? Acts 12, verse seven.

Yeah, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell and he struck

Peter's side and woke him up saying, get up quickly and his chains fell off his hand.

So there was a angelic jailbreak. Broke Peter out of prison and of course, you remember the story, then

Peter actually showed, they're praying for him to be released. God releases him, answers their prayer.

Peter shows up, knocks on the door. The woman answers it, Rhoda, is that who it was?

She answers the door and there's Peter and she like shuts it and goes back and his angel is here.

Like she didn't even really believe it was him. She doesn't even let the guy in. So it's just strange.

They're praying for him to be released. God answers the prayer and it's like they're shocked. And sometimes we do pray and God answers and we're surprised.

We shouldn't be surprised. Okay, three, besides answers, what else does

God grant to those who pray? Philippians four, six, and seven. Let your request be known unto

God. Yep. And he gives the peace that passes or surpasses all understanding.

So God gives peace. Have you ever felt peace after praying?

James 5, 16 says the effective prayer of a righteous man availeth much or can accomplish much.

This is section number two, the practice of prayer. Throughout the Bible, God encourages and commands believers to persevere in prayer.

So notice it's not just, well, you know, you should. I mean, prayer is a commandment. It's something that we are supposed to do.

In Luke 18, verse one, the disciples were taught that they should always pray and what?

Not lose heart. Why did Jesus say that? Because he knows that people pray and they do lose heart.

Two, what is God's will for believers in Christ Jesus? First Thessalonians 5, 17, that believers should?

Pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. I think we understand that doesn't mean that you are to pray 24, you know, every waking moment you are to spend in prayer because even

Jesus himself didn't do that. So what is it saying? Pray a lot.

Continually throughout the day. Not just, well, okay, I prayed yesterday and that kind of covers me for the month.

No, I prayed in church on Sunday that covers me for the week. No, pray without ceasing.

Three, when should believers pray? Ephesians 6, 18.

Always at all times. Okay, so I think that's pretty clear.

B says in the Bible, you will discover many guidelines to help you develop the practice of prayer.

In this parable in Luke 11, what did Jesus teach his disciples to expect if they persisted in prayer?

That's Luke 11, five through 10. Ask and it shall be given you.

Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Okay, so yeah, everyone who asks receives.

So the whole purpose of this is, you know, at home during the week, you go through the book, you look up the passages, you write the answers, but you should also come in with questions or maybe insights.

So does anyone up until this point, do you have any questions or maybe something for, it's a discussion topic, something you've thought about for a long time, or maybe just a few days about prayer?

Maybe there's something you don't really get about, like this part doesn't really make sense to me.

Does anyone have anything like that? Because this is the time for that. You know, when

I'm preaching, you don't get to really ask questions and give your input. This is the perfect time.

So yes, Carolyn. Going back to everybody was praying for that football player or whatever.

Yep. And the coach saying it didn't matter who you prayed to. Well, if there's believers praying,

God's answering their prayer. But then all these others are gonna be, see, I told you.

Now, how do you tell somebody, no, he's answering the believer's prayer.

If you're gonna pray to whoever, then forget it. You don't need to tell them.

Yeah, well, I don't know. I guess that how to respond would depend on many factors.

I don't know. I would start by asking, yeah, who are you praying to?

I mean, if I were there and I heard that, that's what I would say. I would start, you know, who are you praying to?

Because you're asking for something. Who are you asking? Who do you expect to do this? And why do you expect this

God that you're praying to that you, do you know this

God? Like, I don't know. That's a hard thing. But the idea that people have is that, hey, as long as you're sincere, it doesn't matter.

That's the prevailing wisdom in our culture. As long as you are sincere, it doesn't matter what you believe or who you pray to.

It's good enough. That's kind of people's attitude today. And that's the way it is.

People believe that because people around them think that. People believe that because that's what they've heard.

That's what they've been told. So we need to patiently teach them what the scripture says.

So I wouldn't want to respond like in a sarcastic way. Well, listen, no, you know,

God isn't gonna hear you. What are you doing, you fool? Or something like, you want to be kind and patient because they really don't, a lot of them really don't know any better.

This particular friend has been here for a while and something very serious came up.

And of course, it all goes out on Facebook. You know, you have to pray, pray, pray. And I'm praying.

And then she says, I even asked my father who died, who's in heaven, if he couldn't send help.

Yeah. Right, I mean, that's, yeah. Well, I mean, some people, there are churches that will say that you can pray to your deceased loved ones and the saints and, you know,

Mary, and you're praying to all these different people. So someone who's been in an evangelical church like ours,

I mean, you would think they would know better, but I mean, who knows? Maybe they weren't paying attention.

I don't know. But I would just go back to, are you following Christ?

Just go back to their relationship. Make it about Christ. Are you praying to God in Jesus' name?

Are you following Christ? I would make that the issue instead of, you know, all the other stuff.

Yeah, Marcus. I might say that, well,

I pray to God, and I'd be happy to tell you why

I pray to him rather than anyone else, is because he created all things.

He created everybody. He created Adam and Eve, from which eventually

Mohammed and Buddha and Sun, Moon, and I don't know,

I don't say anything. Okay, yep. Nobody else can hear your prayers.

You know, your deceased great -grandfather might've been a great guy. He might've been a godly man, but the idea that he could hear your prayers, number one, and that how would he have the power to answer them?

He's not God. Like, there's some sort of disconnect of why someone would even do that or think that that's possible.

But again, they probably picked that up from somebody else. I would also warn them that trying to talk to dead people is a very dangerous thing to do because an evil spirit is gonna probably start to pretend that they are that one, and hey, you're talking in the spiritual realm, and when you get in the spiritual realm, which prayer is, just make sure it's the

Holy Spirit who is, you know, the third person of the Godhead. Right, yeah, because that's really, it's necromancy, speaking to deceased loved ones.

You can call it prayer all you want, but it's divination, witchcraft, necromancy, and it's something that the scripture obviously teaches against.

Right, right, you had something? Well, I was gonna basically say what

Marcus said better than I would have, but also I was thinking maybe a good way to not offend the friend is to then ask back as something along the lines of, well, that's interesting, where did you see that in the

Bible? I'd love to read that myself. Something that makes them think about what they said and to offer a scriptural reference to that, and then maybe it'll prompt them to think about what they're saying instead of you pointing a finger that makes them think about it.

Yeah, it's good advice, good advice. Okay, it says, we can start to understand praying without ceasing by looking at the life of our

Lord himself since he did that. He was obviously in constant communion with the

Father, and we see him in scripture rising up early to pray. We see him spending all night in prayer.

It must have been an unending and nonstop communion between himself and the

Father. Hebrews tells us that he offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears.

That is a fascinating insight. There was an intensity in the prayers of Jesus that is utterly unique, that is utterly amazing.

When he prayed on a number of occasions, there was a great agonizing, and we can assume that even though the scripture does not chronicle for us all the details of his praying, it had much of the same kind of intensity as those prayers that we do not see and have revealed to us in the text.

When the Bible tells us that he went to the Mount of Olives and prayed all night, there was no doubt an intensity in that kind of praying that we know very little about, if anything.

I think it would go without saying that the prayer life of Jesus is at a whole other level.

So when you read about Jesus praying all night long, you probably feel like, oh man, like I've never done that or something.

Maybe some of you have, but there's often a discouragement when you hear things like that, or there's a quote from,

I think it's from Martin Luther, that he said, I pray four hours a day, and the days where I'm really busy,

I pray even more. You hear stuff like that, and you're like, oh man. But even if you're praying two minutes a day, we don't wanna shame people or make them feel bad about it because that's gonna make them pray.

It's not gonna make them pray more when you take that approach. So we want to encourage and teach people to maybe build on that three minutes and turn it into six or five and turn it into 10 and go in that direction.

And your prayer life is not gonna be like the prayer life of Jesus, okay? It's just not.

But it can improve, and our prayer life should be improving. Yes, John?

So I'm gathering that my ability to pray is probably a little inadequate, so something to work.

But I find myself, oftentimes, I'm not the greatest sleeper. Sometimes it takes me a while to get to sleep.

And what I've done is I've just gone into conversation. I start off in prayer, but then in my head, it's just a conversation between,

I'm just talking to God, and I'll just go and go and go, and then the next thing I know, it's tomorrow.

I've just put myself to sleep. I just have that conversation. A lot of times, it starts off in prayer, but then

I just, you know, go to bed. Yeah, it's a good. Then I start snoring. Yeah. That's a good way to start.

Now, somebody, there's some guy out there who would hear that, and, you know, you need to be on your knees, and you need to show

God, well, I think doing it more, doing it on your knees, yeah, there's room for improvement with all of us.

I do the same thing, by the way. You know, I think if you're really gonna pray without ceasing, you need to be able to do it in bed.

You need to do it in the car when you're driving. That's an example. Here's another thing. You don't need to close your eyes when you pray.

Do you know that? There's no example anywhere in Scripture that, again, correct me if I'm wrong, there's nowhere in Scripture that says you have to close your eyes.

Because if you have to close your eyes to pray, that severely limits when and where you can pray.

So, yeah, keep it up. I think the more you mature in the

Word, the more you want to pray, and the easier it is.

Yeah, yeah. You know, there's a legend about James, the brother of Jesus, that his nickname was

Old Camel Knees or something. You know, this might be some legend or something, but the idea is he spent so much time on his knees that he had these massive calluses on his knees.

That was just like a picture of how holy he was. And, again, that might not even be true, but that type of thing really is an exalted level that, quite frankly, most people are never gonna reach.

But. I pray a lot in cross places. Yeah, there you go. You probably have those pads, though, on your knees.

No, I'm just a layman. Okay. What does

Jesus teach as a requirement for answered prayer? John 15, verse seven.

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what?

What? Well, and it shall be done unto you. Right, okay. So, if you abide in me, and my words in you, ye shall ask what you wish, and it will be done for you.

Obviously, there are those passages that make it sound like, you know, if you are just walking with God, if you just have enough faith, you can ask for anything, and God will give it to you.

There are those verses that sound like that. So, in theory, Lord, you know, and you pray some carnal thing.

Lord, give me a Lamborghini, you know. I tend to think if somebody is truly being led by the

Holy Spirit, they're probably not gonna pray for that. I don't know, but I mean, some people do. There's one statement about if you have faith, you will be able, you know, faith as a mustard seed, you will be able to move mountains.

You should say to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea. There are certain things that you don't take in that ultimate literal sense, because even

Jesus himself didn't say to a mountain, be removed and cast into the sea. That like, you're kind of missing the point there.

But God will give us what we need. He will give us the desires of our heart, and then when we pray the correct desires, those are the things that he answers whatever we wish.

And there's another verse about, you need to pray according to what? God's will. Where is that?

First John. I remember I said that in a Sunday school class years ago, that, you know, if you want your prayers answered, you should pray according to God's will.

And a woman in the back, she said, well, that just ruins it then, she said. And I'm like, okay, according to First John 5 .14,

what is our confidence as we pray? If we ask anything according to what?

His will, he hears us. So it is First John, okay.

Matthew 6, nine through 13, Jesus's prayer or pattern for prayer.

So we pray to God, our father in heaven. We exalt him saying, hallowed be thy name.

May your name be kept holy. We submit to him praying, your kingdom come, your will be done.

We look to him seeking our daily bread, our sustenance. We confess to him pleading, forgive us our debts or our sins.

We depend on him asking, do not lead us into temptation.

And we trust in him requesting, deliver us from evil.

And it says, look up the following verses and list some of the hindrances to answer prayer.

So Psalm 66, verse 18 says, if I regard wickedness in my heart, the

Lord will what? Not hear. Okay, so if there's any sins you're doing and okay,

I'm not turning away from this, I'm going to do it. I don't care what the Bible says, I'm going to do it anyways.

You just can't really expect God to hear your prayers. James 4, verse,

I mean, he will answer one prayer. Lord, forgive me. I mean, he'll answer that. That's the place to start.

James 4, 3, you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Isaiah 59, one and two, your iniquities have made a separation between you and your

God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Okay, so this then talks about that acrostic TULIP or the acronym for important areas of prayer.

So A -C -T -S, acts. So A stands for adoration,

C, confession, T, thanksgiving, and then the last one is

S, which is supplication. So asking God for things should be last if you follow this acrostic.

So adoration, reflect on God himself, praise him for his attributes, his majesty and his gift of Christ.

Confession, admit to God that you have sinned, be honest and humble. Remember, he knows you and loves you.

You know, you can pull the wool over other people's eyes sometimes. You can't pull the wool over God's eyes. Thanksgiving, tell

God how grateful you are for everything he has given you, even the unpleasant things.

Your thankfulness will help you see his purposes. And the supplication, make specific requests.