Cultivating a Life of Prayer

Session 1: An Intimate Friendship

I.Understanding Our Relationship:

In the discussion of how we are to develop an enjoyable and effective prayer life we need to take into consideration that no one will spend much time seeking God if we believe He is far off or unapproachable. The truth is that we were redeemed out of darkness for far more than just the washing of our sins; God wants us to enter into relationship with Him on so many levels. When we know who we are to God we relate to Him far better. We need a right view of God so that we interact with Him and respond to Him the way He desires. This session is intended to help us understand what privileges we have in God.

  1. Wrong Thinking:

Foundational to our life of prayer is cultivating a right view of God. Many have a wrong view of God that sees Him as an angry taskmaster forcing us to endure conversation with Him (prayer) in order to prove our devotion to Him. If however we begin to perceive God as our tender Father and if we see Jesus as our passionate Bridegroom King then we will be energized in our spirit to confidently seek Him with all our heart in the place of relationship.

  1. Example in Christ:

Jesus came and set the example for us in incredible way; He showed us how to have a personal relationship with the living God, the scriptures say that He is in closest relationship with the Father.

“grace and truth came through Jesus Christ…who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father (and) has made him known (Jn. 1:17-18).”

  1. Opened the Way for Us:

Jesus made the Father known to us. Now all of us are permitted to relate to God with the same kind of relationship that Jesus has.

“I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them (Jn. 17:26).”

II.We Have Been Sought After:

God really wants relationship with people; in fact it would be quite an understatement to say that God has gone out of His way to fight to be in relationship with us. We serve the most amazing God, He is gracious to love even those who hated, Him those who even after redemption had nothing to contribute to the relationship.

  1. God Likes People:

We have become perhaps too accustomed with John 3:16 to properly understand what is being communicated to us about what God thinks about people. He likes us. Trying reading the verse with this slight change of language.

“For God so loved the world (liked people so much) that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (Jn. 3:16).”

  1. He Desires Humanity:

God made man so that man would choose Him. He desires humanity to turn to Him.

“he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2Pe. 3:9).”

  1. He Loved Us When We Were Unlovable:

When our hearts we were dark and unlovable God reached out for us and offered us a way into fellowship with Him through the sacrifice of His own Son; He couldn’t have expressed His love in any greater of a way.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Ro. 5:8).”

  1. He Loved Us First:

It was this unbelievable act of love that caused our hearts to become His, He won us over by loving us first.

“We love Him because He first loved us (1Jn. 4:19).”

  1. His Kindness Draws Us:

The love that God feels for us compels us to pursue Him. This didn’t cease after salvation; in fact that was merely the beginning. To understand how God feels about us causes the doors of our hearts to open to love Him more. This relationship is sustained through communication, which we call prayer.

“Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance (Ro. 2:4)?”

III.Becoming Part of His Family:

  1. We’ve Been Bought by God:

We have bought out of the world’s systems and so have become a new person with a new purpose; we’ve joined God’s family and many things are different now. The old man is done with and so are the old purposes for which we used to live. Now we are new creations and we no longer live according to our earthly pleasures or our former ways of life, instead we now live for the purposes of Christ.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ (2Co. 5:17-18)”

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Ga. 2:20).”

  1. Invited into His House:

When we were saved we were brought into the eternal household of God (1Pe. 4:17). He loved us enough to invite us into His home and as a result we are now those who will dwell in His house forever.

“Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Ps. 23:6).”

  1. We’re Now Called His Children:

We were once children of the world, even children of the devil and his purposes but now we have been born again and our new identity is that we are His children.

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God (Jn. 1:12-13).”

  1. Become Part of the Family of God:

We’ve been joined in that house together that we may pursue Christ in relationship with one another. Our lives are no longer independent; it is God’s great pleasure to call us His family and we want to get perspective about what it means to be have been brought into something so dear to His heart Him as becoming His family.

“Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for…you do love all of God’s family…we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more (1Th. 4:9-10)”

  1. The Father’s Heart:

Encountering the father heart of God is foundational to a growing prayer life. Jesus prayed for us that we might know that the Father loves us as He loves Jesus, this gives us great worth.

“That the world may know that You…have loved them as You have loved Me (Jn. 17:23).”

IV.Loved Even in Our Weakness:

  1. Dark But Lovely:

There is freedom found in understanding that God knows us completely, that we are genuine lovers of God while we still struggle against sin; or that we are dark but lovely in His sight.

“I am dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, Like the tents of Kedar, Like the curtains of Solomon. Do not look upon me, because I am dark, Because the sun has tanned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me the keeper of the vineyards, But my own vineyard I have not kept (SS. 1:5-6 NKJV).”

  1. Weak Movements of Our Heart:

God loves us and has invited us into that love counting even the smallest movements of our hearts to be real and valuable. He sees the motives of your heart, He knows perfectly your desires and He delights in you. He is full of compassion, mercy and grace, He loves perfectly, always forgives and embraces us just where we are.

“Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths of the grave…But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness (Ps. 86:11-15).”

“You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes (SS. 4:9)”

  1. Confidence that He Enjoys Us:

We can have the assurance that we are enjoyed by God even in our weakness (Ps. 18:19, 35, 130:3-4). We pray very differently when our spirit is confident before God with the assurance that He enjoys us. The Father is filled with tender mercy; He is gentle with our weakness as soon as we repent, even during our compromise. The below passage was written by King David as he came up out of a season of great compromise.

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me…He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me (Ps. 18:16-19).”

V.Focusing on How He Really Sees Us:

All of this means that Godlooks at us very differently than the way we view ourselves. His thoughts about us are fixed and it is critical to our prayer lives that we begin to see ourselves through His eyes.

  1. He Calls Us His Bride:

One of the Jesus’ titles in the scripture is Bridegroom. This designation tells us many things about our relationship to Him. Understanding that Jesus is our Bridegroom and we are His cherished Bride greatly helps to equip us in having a vibrant prayer life.

“Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast (Mt. 9:14-15).”

  1. Experiencing His Affections:

As children of God we are in position to inheritthe Kingdom as heirs of God’s power and purposes (Re. 3:21; Ro. 8:17). But as the Brideof Christ we are given the incredible privilege of experiencing the affections of God’s heart now.

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge (Eph. 3:16-19)”

  1. Foundation for Our Interaction:

We need to learn to measure our success based on the reality of this two-way love relationship; I love God and He loves me.

“I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine (SS. 6:3)”

  1. Leaning on the Wrong Things:

We have to base our thoughts about how God sees us off of the unchangeable truths of the Word and not based on our emotions, which are ever changing,nor merely our actions, which are so inconsistent. To lean on either of these causes us to be prideful when we do good and weget depressed when do bad; both are wrong approaches and are subtle poisons to our walk.

  1. Setting Our Mind on Truth:

We need to embrace the right perspective, the truths of the scripture that benefit the soul. We are to know the truth, believe it and then set our minds on it that we may behold Christ.

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God (Co. 3:2-3).”

VI.Knowing God’s First Priority:

Our first calling in this life is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, it is called the first commandment and it is the primary thing with which God is concerned. This is the major message that the Holy Spirit is communicating to the Church worldwide in this hour.

“Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment (Mt. 22:37-38).”

  1. He Calls it First:

This commandment is called first because loving God with all our heart is the first thing that God wants from His Church. His request is for us to love Him and so we want to find practical ways to live out this great commandment all the days of our lives.

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love (Eph. 4:1-2).”

  1. Restoring Love in Our Hearts:

The Spirit uses the message of God’s affection to impact our hearts and so empower the restoration of the first commandment back to the first place in the Church. His love made known to our hearts causes us to respond back to Him in wholehearted love and obedience.

“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them…Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them (Jn. 14:21-23).”

  1. Impact on Our Ministries:

When we grow in lovewith God it leads to great impact on our hearts, which then impacts our ministries. Lovers will always out work the workers because loving God leads to loving ourselves and loving people better. To love Him with all our hearts has both a power immediate impact and it also serves as a dynamic means to an end. Good fruit starts in our heart and then overflows into our leadership and decision making for that sake of ministry.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best (Php. 1:9-10)”

VII.Life of Devotion:

  1. Wanting More:

People of extravagant devotion are asking the Lord a different set of questions than those simply trying to get by. We want to be asking questions like, what is the most that God will enable me to give Him? It has become far too normal however for us to try and see what is the minimum required of us and identify what we can get by with. God’s desire is for us to go way beyond the minimum requirement of salvation.

“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him (2Ch. 16:9).”

  1. Pure and Simple Devotion:

There are many things that seek to lead us away from a tenderhearted connection to the Lord. We must consciously carry our hearts in such a way that we can sustain a heart of devotion. Cultivating a spiritual atmosphere in our lives trains our hearts to be responsive to God each day with wholehearted love.

“I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ (2Co. 11:3 NASB).”

  1. Wise Way to Life:

This is the wisdom God; clear instructionto live a life with sustained focus of devotion to the Lord. The world calls this weak and foolish but it is the very things that God esteems and rewards.

“God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and...the weak things of the world to put to shame the...mighty (1Co. 1:27).”

  1. Returning to Pure Devotion:

Intrinsically we know this is wisdom from the day of our salvation because our hearts bore witness of the pleasure of intimate devotion when we first came to know Him. It is common to lose the freshness in our love relationship with the Lord but He desires to return us to that vibrant heart again and again.

“I write to you this second epistle...I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder (2Pe. 3:1).”

VIII.Avoiding Distraction:

  1. Pursuing the Great Commandment Not Ministry Growth:

We have too many options in our culture, too many choices for our career, our ministries and hobbies. The problem is that options have crept into the Church as well; options about what should be the goal of our ministries and efforts. In the pursuit to be relevant many ministries changeministry directions in order to pursue the latest trends in ministry. We must look to the Bible and leading of the Lord to decide our ministry not ministry focus and not the culture around us. God’s Word is a reliable light of revelation in this dark world so that we never have to guess what God delights in.

“The law of the Lord(the Word of God) is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes (the Word of God) of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord (the Word of God) are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord(the Word of God) are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord (the Word of God)are firm, and all of them are righteous (Ps. 19:7-9).”

  1. Repent of Half-Heartedness:

Service without the foundation of extravagant devotion leads us to spiritual burn out, disappointment and leaves us feeling wounded about our effort. This kind of service cannot be sustained over decades. Jesus used a teaching moment while at Mary and Martha’s home to illustrate that we were never intended to serve God outside the context of a heart of devotion.