Prayer

What does Prayer Look Like?

Phi 4:6  Never worry about anything, but in every situation let your petitions be made known to God in prayers and requests, with thanksgiving.  7  Then God's peace, which goes far beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  - ISV

“There is a care of diligence which is our duty, and agrees with a wise forecast and due concern; but there is a care of fear and distrust, which is sin and folly, and only perplexes and distracts the mind. As a remedy against perplexing care, constant prayer is recommended. Not only stated times for prayer, but in every thing by prayer. We must join thanksgivings with prayers and supplications; not only seek supplies of good, but own the mercies we have received. God needs not to be told our wants or desires; he knows them better than we do; but he will have us show that we value the mercy, and feel our dependence on him. The peace of God, the comfortable sense of being reconciled to God, and having a part in his favour, and the hope of the heavenly blessedness, are a greater good than can be fully expressed. This peace will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus; it will keep us from sinning under troubles, and from sinking under them; keep us calm and with inward satisfaction.” -Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary, Philippians 4:6-7

“saints should not be anxiously, or in a distressing manner concerned for the things of this world, but be content, whether they have less or more; nor be over much pressed with what befalls them, but should cast their care upon the Lord, and carry every case to him, and leave it there:”

“with thanksgiving; for mercies received; for a man can never come to the throne of grace, to ask for grace and mercy, but he has mercies to bless God for, and so to do is very acceptable to God; nor can a person expect to succeed in the enjoyment of future mercies, when he is not thankful for past and present ones: in this manner therefore, at all times, upon every occasion, in a way of humble petition and supplication, joined with thankfulness for all favours,” - John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible, Phil 4:6

“Be careful for nothing - That is, be not anxious or solicitous about the things of the present life. The word used here - µe??µ?a?te  merimnate - does not mean that we are to exercise no care about worldly matters - no care to preserve our property, or to provide for our families (compare 1Ti_5:8); but that there is to be such confidence in God as to free the mind from anxiety, and such a sense of dependence on him as to keep it calm; see the subject explained in the notes on Mat_6:25.”

“Let your request be made known unto God - Not as if you were to give him information, but to express to him your wants. God needs not to be informed of our necessities, but he requires that we come and express them to him; compare Eze_36:37. ‘thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.’”  - Selected paragraphs from Albert Barnes’ notes on the Bible, Phil 4:6

Be anxious for nothing?
What does that mean for me?

Mat 6:25-34  "That's why I'm telling you to stop worrying about your life-what you will eat or what you will drink-or about your body-what you will wear. Life is more than food, isn't it, and the body more than clothing?  26  Look at the birds in the sky. They don't plant or harvest or gather food into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. You are more valuable than they are, aren't you?  27  Can any of you add a single hour to your span of life by worrying?  28  And why do you worry about clothes? Consider the lilies in the field and how they grow. They don't work or spin yarn,  29  but I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.  30  Now if that is the way God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and thrown into an oven tomorrow, won't he clothe you much better-you who have little faith?   31  "So don't ever worry by saying, 'What are we going to eat?' or 'What are we going to drink?' or 'What are we going to wear?'  32  For it is the gentiles who are eager for all those things. Surely your heavenly Father knows that you need all of them!  33  But first be concerned about God's kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be provided for you as well.  34  So never worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

If God knows everything, then why pray?

Mount Sinai:
Exo 32:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you."  11  But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?  12  Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people.  13  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'"  14  And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

Why does God want us to pray?
  - To change our attitude into one that is learnable, teachable
  - To Teach us about:
    - His Character
    - His Plan
    - His Timing

How does Rom. 12:1-3 fit into this?

Does Prayer, then, in a way, prepare us for Christian living, or in other words, prepare us mentally, emotionally, spiritually for service?

So God uses Prayer to Change out Attitude into one of servitude, and teaches us his will through it.

Prayer is the key behind the Christian life.   Weather it is victory over sin, facing rough times, or needing a payment for a bill.  Prayer is more than a piggy bank of investment.  It is God’s tool to change his people, to show his children who he is, and to get them to need him.

So what do un-answered prayers mean?

My Opinion

    So, why do we worry so much?  Because we don’t have anything in control, but when we come to the realization that God is in control of every aspect of our lives, not only realizing but Giving up our lives to God’s control, that is when God’s peace, through the holy spirit, fills our hearts and lives to the point of abundant joy.   This Joy in return is what the world will see in our lives that shows Christ‘s Life in us. 

    I would like to suggest that God through his infinite sovereignty, knows our troubles far beyond what we can comprehend. And Dare I say that He sees them as miniscule, compared to the task of keeping the universe from self implosion.  Then what is the great need of “repeating” these needs to God if he knows them more intimately then we do?  It is not for his sake or benefit, but for ours.  So that we may know him more in all things.

    The importance of prayer is for our walk with God.  With out it, we would not see our need of Him, our lives would be chaotically destroyed by hectic disasters.  Without prayer we would not know God’s character manifested to us through his providential answers to our prayers, or the results of un-answered prayers. 

    Far too often we, as Christians, tend to focus more on the needs at hand in our prayers, than he Giver of Life.  We tend to focus more on our situations than what God has to teach us.  God always answers our prayers, and I’m not just saying he says; “yes”, “no”, and “wait” God, in my opinion answers prayers on a level of institute and spiritual growth. 

Example; Relative is dying of cancer; we pray that God will heal them and get the cancer out. Relative dies, we curse God and say he never answered our prayer.  God teaches us later that our relative suffered and died to get us to realize our need to share the Gospel with everyone, or that this relative died securely knowing the peace of God.

    God always tends to see things on a much bigger plane than we do.  We tend to focus so much on the here and now, physical world, that we miss, so often, God’s will and plan in it all.  So much so that sometimes we even miss Him in it all.

So why does God tell us to pray?  There are many answers, the biggest one to remember is that he wants You to know Him more.

Ya know how Camp has stuff for the AACC well I made this up for the CAPC or Cap, (Camp Ao-wa-kiya Paintball course, or just nix the course) let me know what you think, maybe we can get it to be official!