Living out a culture of Prayer

Prayer. As Christians, we all say we pray. But I imagine if we were truly honest with ourselves, we probably don’t pray near enough as we ought. We don’t pray near what scripture exhorts us to pray. Our flesh doesn’t want to pray, the enemy of our very souls does not want us to pray. Our schedules get in the way of our living a life of prayer. Perhaps it is more our discomfort with the idea of prayer that gets in the way and we use the schedule as the excuse. Prayer does not come naturally to us because the natural man is unable to understand the things of God, and prayer is not a natural activity it is a spiritual one. Paul expresses this thought in 1 Corinthians 2:

“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:13-14 ) Prayer is like that, is need and its justification is not found in the wisdom of man, prayer is spiritual, and only can we understand our need for prayer through the Holy Spirits’ revelation of it to our spirit.

Prayer, or a derivative word like “Pray” or “Prayed” is used 159 times in the New Testament. Out of 27 books of the Bible comprising the New Testament there are 159 references to Prayer, that’s an average of 5.8 times per book of the New Testament. Combined in both the Old Testament and New Testament there are 280 references to prayer. Seems to me like there is an emphasis on prayer in scripture, like maybe the early church was encouraged to live a culture of prayer.

This last Sunday I preached on the church having a culture of prayer. That culture of prayer is expressed in three chief characteristics:

The first of these is the church must have a praying pastor: the shepherd must be deeply connected to the heart of the Father for his congregation (see Jeremiah 3:15). and the church must have a praying pastor to lead and create a culture of prayer within the church.

The second of these characteristics is the church must be filled with praying believers. We need to not be believers who pray, i.e pray when crisis or calamity show their ugly faces, but rather praying people who pray as part of their lifestyle. As part of this point we talked about a practical model of prayer that can be easily applied to our lives to begin to pray more consistently: The A.C.T.S. model of prayer:

“A” Stands for Adoration – Adoration simply means An attitude of worship characterized by love and reverence towards God. “Lord I love you, I stand in awe of your majesty, splendor and glory. To you alone is due all glory and honor and power and strength. There is none like you oh God amongst the heavens or in the earth. There is none worthy of worship but you. Lord I worship you today. Meet me here today Lord as I pray.”

“C” Stands for Confession – “Lord you know my nature and my heart, You know as like Paul said in Romans 7  how he wanted to do that which was right yet found himself failing and doing those very things that he desired not to do. Lord forgive me of my sins, I thank you that your word says in 1 John 1:9 that “If we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.”

“T” Stands for Thanksgiving – Lord I thank you for the promise of your forgiveness, Lord how you have removed my transgressions from me as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103). I am grateful for the blessings you have given me in this life, Lord for my wife and children, they are a strength to me, Lord for my job and the provision you have given into our lives. Lord for relationships and this faithful church you have placed me in. Today Lord I am grateful for these things and so many more that I cannot even put to words.”

“S” Stands for Supplications – This is really just a fancy word for asking, but it also includes the elements of humility and honesty… What do you have need of, Who do you know that has needs you can intercede for their needs.

The third characteristic of a church that has a culture of prayer is the church prays corporately together. It needs a defined time for no agenda, no programmatic elements of activity just a community of like-minded believers who love each other, love the Lord, and desire to see his kingdom come in their lives, their families, their church, and their community.

If today you find prayer boring, unfulfilling or you even just struggle to find the words to pray; press into a life of prayer for within the life of prayer you will find a joy that you have yet to experience as the Lord promised in Isaiah 56:7 “Even them 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 nations.”” Jesus declares my house shall be called a house of prayer and thereby makes the promise that we will find joy when we obey Him and make His house today a house of prayer.

If you would like to read more on the subject of prayer here is another article you might enjoy: https://fatherslegacy.org/prayer-the-secret-of-the-secret-place/