A.W. Tozer once said the key to prayer is simply praying. We know prayer is of utmost importance, but we often overcomplicate it and give up before we even get started. In this series, our goal is to offer you a simple guide for how to pray in hopes of helping you enter into a life-long and life-giving practice.
Ask Like It Matters
Speakers
Josh Blount
Lead Pastor
Notes
First Time Guest? Let us know!
Matthew 6:9
In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
One of the primary purposes of prayer is asking God for help.
To pray is to ask for help. It is the earnest plea of a soul reaching out to its Creator for strength and guidance.
Martin Luther
It’s ok to ask
Philippians 4:6
Pray about everything.
Everything - Pas - each, every, any, all,
Pray about everything = To develop a state of mind in which we are turning everything in our lives over to God.
A day without prayer is a boast against God.
E.M. Bounds
Romans 8:32
“Since God did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he who gives us Christ also give us everything else we need?”
Nothing is too big for God to handle and nothing is too small for God to care about.
James 4:2
You don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.
Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”
Corrie ten Boom
God requires you to ask.
Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance but laying hold of His willingness. God requires us to ask, not to inform Him, but to position ourselves to receive what He is already eager to give.
Smith Wigglesworth
Mark 10:46
As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus, was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me! 48 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.
Bartimaeus' cry for mercy illustrates that God requires our acknowledgment of need. Asking is not a demand but an opening for God's grace to flow into our lives.
E. Stanley Jones
God's heart is moved when we come to Him in prayer. He requires us to ask, not because He is unaware, but because the act of asking draws us into a posture of dependence and trust.
Beth Moore
Asking is a kingdom rule
Psalm 2:6
I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. 7 I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
1. Asking Is Relational
God's invitation to ask in prayer is an expression of His desire for relationship. He requires us to bring our needs to Him, not as a duty, but as a way of deepening our connection with the One who cares for us.
Tim Keller
2. Asking Declares Dependency
Prayer is the language of dependence. It is the heartfelt cry of a soul in need, seeking God's help in all circumstances.
Andrew Murray
Prayer at its essence is an acknowledgment of our dependence on God, a reaching out for His strength in our weakness.
A.W. Tozer
3. Asking Is Intentional
Prayer is Powerful & Paramount
God does not act the same way whether we pray or not, Prayer exerts an influence upon God’s action, even upon his existence.
Karl Barth
We are not locked into a pre-set, deterministic future. Ours is an open, not a closed, universe. We are ‘co-labourers with God’… working with God to determine the outcome of events.
Richard Foster
Your asking in prayer matters
Not praying, is sinful.
1 Samuel 12:23
Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord how? by ceasing to pray for you
Sin - to miss the mark
Matthew 6:10
Your kingdom come. Your will be done
1 Timothy 2:1-2
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
The forgiveness of sins and the healing of the land are entirely contingent on the intercession of God’s people. What task could possibly be more important, more urgent for our world today?
Pete Grieg
To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.
Karl Barth
The real business of your life as a saved soul is intercessory prayer… Prayer does not fit us for the greater works; prayer is the greater work.
Oswald Chambers
1. Get Informed
Do a little reconnaissance.
2. Get Inspired
Get inspired by the possibilities.
3. Get Indignant
Intercessory prayer is spiritual defiance of what is in the way of what God has promised.
Walter Wink
4. Get in Sync
Matthew 18:19-20
Truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.
Matthew 18:19
“Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness. It is asking God for help with the certainty that He is both able and willing to provide.
E.M. Bounds