Growing
Towards
_________
Spiritual
Maturity
Instructor: Dr. Raymond T.
Matthews
Developing Intimacy with God
·
It would be hard
to imagine having a healthy marriage relationship without a husband and wife
talking to one another on a regular basis. Yet it is even more impossible to
comprehend how people could claim to know God, without talking to Him
regularly. The key to intimacy with God
is through a disciplined, regular pattern of communication with God through
prayer.
·
While godly
people in Scripture approached God in prayer in various ways, the one common
characteristic of each was that they put a priority
on prayer. Daniel made it his practice
to pray three times a day. David prayed
through psalms and music. Jesus, even
though He was fully God, made communication with His Father an absolute
priority.
·
The biblical
record indicates a variety of postures in prayer. Kneeling, laying prostrate, raising arms, and
even dancing before the Lord reflect the diversity of expression in
prayer. People pray loudly, quietly, in
unknown languages, through musical
instruments, and in singing. The issue in prayer is not necessarily how it
is done, but rather where it comes from.
While communication from the heart of man seems to touch the heart of
God, external prayers that have no personal meaning do not seem to make any
connection.
·
God desires His
children to draw close to Him through prayer.
Through prayer, we tap into the resources that God has for us to grow into His likeness.
1.
Purposeful
Prayer
·
Why we need to pray may spark us to become
more deliberate and passionate in our prayer life. But why pray?
Since God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving, what purpose
does prayer serve?
·
Prayer is not
needed to inform God about personal circumstances. God knows what His people need before they
ask (Matt. 6:32). Likewise, it is not
for people to try to change God's attitude towards them. God is not a cosmic bully intent on harming
people. Although pagan prayer often were
designed to appease a hostile deity, the true God does not desire this (Matt.
6:25-34). After all, God gives only good gifts (James 1:17).
·
Furthermore,
prayer in not talking God into something that He does not want to do. The Christian's proper attitude in prayer is
submission to God's will, not achieving his/her own (Matt. 6:10). Jesus' prayer as He awaited His impending
crucifixion made this clear, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be
taken from me". Yet not as I will, but
as you will (Matt. 26:39). The believer's
assurance in prayer is, "if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us"
(1John 5:14).
·
The purpose of
prayer is not to change God's mind.
Rather, it is to align one's will with God's will. When we pray to God's will it is designed to
teach us His children a valuable lesson (Gen. 18:16-33).
·
Someone has well
said, "Prayer is for our benefit, not God's."
Being sovereign over everyone and everything that exists, God did not
need human prayer to accomplish His eternal purposes. Yet He chose prayer to be a vehicle He would
us to deliver His blessings to His children.
Prayer unlocks the door to the storehouse of God's riches.
2.
Components of a Rich Prayer Life
·
When we study
Scripture as a whole, we find several aspects of prayer that characterize godly
men and women with rich prayer lives: worship, confession, adoration, praise,
thanksgiving, intercession, and requests.
·
Worship-Entering
God's presence should impress believers
with His worth. A sense of awe and
reverence is the natural response to the presence of the greatest being there
is. When believers meditate on who God
is, a feeling of esteem for God fills their heart.
·
Because "God is a
Spirit", He desires that His children worship Him "in spirit and in truth"; spirit, according to God's "will", truth
through His Son Jesus Christ (John 4:24).
God must be value above all else as we approach Him in prayer.
·
Confession-Every
believer needs cleansing that comes from acknowledging guilt (1 John 1:9). This means that God is absolutely right in
forgiving sin every time believers truly
confess. People often stop growing spiritually because they fail to accept God's
forgiveness. A healthy prayer life
is an antidote to spiritual paralysis.
·
Adoration-Reassured
by the loving forgiveness of the heavenly Father (1 John 4:10), believers need
to tell God how much they love Him. Expressing
love to God by word and obedient action is the only appropriate response to one
who loves believers so much (1 John 3:1; 4:16).
Jesus taught that your first responsibility is to love God with your
whole being (Matt. 22:37).
3.
·
Praise-Whereas
worship appreciates who God is, praise pays tribute to what God does. He deserves praise "for His acts of
power…for His surpassing greatness" (Ps. 150:2). Believers should speak highly of His great
goodness and gracious compassion (Ps. 145:4-9).
Because "the Lord is God to all; he has compassion on all he has
made"…God is honored and Christians grow when they credit Him.
·
Praise projects a
positive outlook on life by remembering God's favors.
·
Thanksgiving-No aspect of prayer is more essential than
thanksgiving. Having received God's
forgiving grace and sustaining strength, Christians owe Him a deep sense of
gratefulness. Ingratitude lies at the
heart of rebellion against God (Rom.1:21).
·
Arrogant, proud
people ignore God, choosing rather to credit themselves for the blessings of
life. This ungrateful attitude has no
place among believers.
·
Thanksgiving is
an attitude for all seasons. Hard times
are as much an occasion for gratitude as good times (1Thess. 5:18).
·
Thanksgiving
gives inwards peace (Phil. 4:6, 7).
·
Knowing that God
is in control and will use this hardship to promote spiritual growth, a sufficient
reason to pray thankfully (Rom. 8:28; James 1:2-4).
·
Intercession-Prayer is a time to ask God to meet the needs
of others (Phil. 1:9-11; Eph. 1:16-23, 3:14-21).
·
Through prayer
you can contribute positively to the lives of others way beyond the limits of
your personal resources and capacities (Phil. 1:19).
4.
·
Prayer Results-Prayer played a vital part in the lives of
God's people in the early bible days in
the Old Testament. In every case God
followed no single pattern in responding to His people requests. He had direct involvement in their lives
through prayer.
·
Whether the
loving divine answer was "Yes, Wait, or No," prayer greatly affected their
lives and the lives of others.
·
Granting of Requests-Israel's early leaders knew the power of
prayer. When Abraham prayed for
Abimelech, king of Gerar, the king's life was spared and his family was able to
have children again (Gen. 20:17, 18).
·
David's
confession concerning his sin with
Bathsheba is a pattern for all subsequent generations (Psalm 51).
·
In His earthly
ministry Jesus' prayers were directly connected with the descent of the Holy
Spirit upon Him at His baptism (Luke 3:21-22).
·
Through prayer
the early church received guidance in the choice of an apostle to replace Judas
(Acts 1:24).
·
Courage to
witness during times of persecution (Acts 4:31).
·
Men of God
released from prison (Acts 12:12; 16:25-40).
·
The appointment
of church leaders (14:23).
·
God guided,
equipped, and enabled the early church for effective ministry in response to
the prayers of godly disciples.
·
Delaying Until a better Time-God does not always answer His people requests
immediately. He sometimes waits for His right time.
·
His delay is not
a no but a lesson to be learned as
with Job. God taught him a valuable
spiritual lesson through suffering (Job 3:11-23; 7:20; 42:8-10 and James
5:11. His lesson could only be learned
through adversity.
5.
·
Married couples
unable to have children waited and yearned and waited again, despairing of ever
having a family.
·
In God's perfect time Hannah conceived her son
Samuel (1Samuel 1:5-7, 20) and Elizabeth and Zechariah bore John the Baptist
(Luke 1:13).
·
Affirming a Superior Way- At times believer's wiser heavenly Father
lovingly denies a request because He knows what's best for His praying
child.
·
Only a cruel
parent would have granted Elijah's (1King 19:4) or Jonah's (Jonah 4:1-10)
prayers for death. Being depressed, the prophets were not thinking clearly, so
God said "NO". Death was no solution for
prophets who had just been instruments for revival.
·
Often God denied a specified request not
because it was foolish or bad, but because He had something better in mind.
·
Apostle Paul
discovered that the spiritual blessing supplied by God's grace in times of
adversity far surpassed any inconvenience or pain (2 Corinth. 12:7-10).
·
Definite Answers to Prayer-Testimonies abound to God's faithful answers
to the requests of His children.
Believers imprisoned for their faith report receiving courage and
spiritual strength when they prayed.
·
The church has
grown in nations where Christianity is illegal or suppressed in answer to
prayers of foreign believers not even allowed in those countries.
·
People lives that
have been wrecked by sin and drugs have been transformed by a conversion
experience that has come after years of faithful prayer by a relative or close
friend.
6.
·
Confident Assurance in Prayer-From a limited human perspective, there seems
to be no value in experiencing disease, hardship, adversity, and
persecution. Given the option,
Christians would veto having these experiences invade their lives.
·
Yet these
problems are a part of the sinful, fallen world in which both believer and
non-believer live.
·
God hates these
terrible results of the fall and has acted decisively defeating Satan who has
the power of death (Heb. 2:14). Knowing
that God "is able to do immeasurably more than all that we ask or imagine,
according to His power that is at work within us" (Eph. 3:20), believers should
pray with confidence. Nothing is too
hard for God.
·
God will answer
prayer just trust Him.
7.