Warren D. Carter
Wien, Österreich
19.1.97
Principles of Prayer – from: Anatomy
of the Christian Life – Prayer
1) Prayer
reflects and helps refine
our image of God
Ps 86 [excerpts]
Hear O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Guard my life, for I am devoted to You. …
Bring joy to Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift
up my soul.
You are kind and forgiving, O Lord, abounding in love to
all who call to You. …
Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord; no deeds can compare with Yours.
All the nations You have made will come and worship before You, O Lord; …
For You are great
and … You alone are God.
Teach me Your way, O Lord,
and I will walk in Your truth;
give me an undivided heart,
that I may [reverence] 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 my soul from the depths of the grave. …
You, O Lord, are a compassionate & gracious God, slow to
anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
You, O Lord, have helped
me and comforted me.
2) If we need to know the Lord’s will,
we can determine it in prayer
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault
3) The Holy Spirit often uses prayer to guide
and direct us
Neh 2:4-5 The
king said to me, “What is it you want?”
Then I prayed
to the God of heaven, and I answered the king,
“If it pleases the king and
if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me
to the city in Judah where
my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
4) When life seems dreary or depressing, a Godly response is to pray
Neh 1:4 When I heard these things [the desolation of Jerusalem –
v.3] I sat down and
wept.
For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the
God of heaven
5) If you
need help in what to say to
God, His Word can teach us
how to pray
Matt 6:9-13 the “Lord’s prayer”
Ps 69:30 I
will praise God’s name in song and
glorify Him with thanksgiving
6) We
draw near to the Lord in prayer …
and He will always listen
I Peter 3:12 For the
eyes of the Lord are on
the righteous, and His
ears are attentive
to their prayer
7) It’s almost
unbelievable that the God of the
entire universe listens
to each one of our prayers
… but even more remarkable is that He
answers each prayer!
Ps 81:6-7 [God is speaking, and] says, “I removed the burden from their
shoulders; their hands were set free
from the basket. In your distress you
called [to Me,] and I rescued you,
I answered you out of a
thundercloud; …”
8) God
enjoys it when we pray
Pr 15:8b the
prayer of the upright pleases Him
9) But to
really please Him, we must try
to come clean before Him …
Ps 66:18-20 If
I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not
have listened;
but God has
surely listened and
heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, who
has not rejected my prayer
or withheld His love from me!
10) We can speak to the Lord without
fear and trembling – He is your
friend
Phil 4:6 Do
not be anxious about
anything, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God
11) In fact, prayer can be God’s vehicle for over-coming fear or
for combatting spiritual attack
Neh 6:9 + 16b They
were trying to frighten us, thinking,
“Their hands will get too
weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”
But I prayed,
“Now strengthen my hands.” …
[v 16b] our
enemies lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had
been done with the help of our God.
12) God’s
peace is available thru prayer
Phil 4:7 [when you present your requests to
the Lord – in v.6] … the peace of God, which transcends all
understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus
Ps 94:18b-19 Your
love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me,
Your consolation
brought joy to my soul.
13) It is through prayer that
we express our devotion to the
Lord … much of Psalms is devoted to this type of
worship
Ps 63:1-8 O
God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You;
my soul thirsts for You
my body longs
for You, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen
You in the sanctuary, and
beheld Your power and Your
glory.
Because Your
love is better than life, my
lips will glorify You.
I will praise
You as long as I live, and in Your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied
as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will
praise You.
On my bed I remember
You; I think of You through the watches
of the night.
Because You are my help, I sing
in the shadow of Your wings. I
stay close to You; Your right hand
upholds me.
14) We humans are rather forgetful
though, and need to develop a
discipline of prayer;
just like an athlete or
body-builder needs to develop a discipline
of exercise and proper diet.
Rom 12:12 Be
joyful in hope, patient in affliction,
faithful in prayer
The body-builder’s discipline in not
an occasional work-out … but a commitment to regular
exercise.
15) Paul reminds us to be in
an attitude of prayer all the
time …
especially ready to pray for
others.
Eph 6:18 Pray
in the Spirit on all occasions,
with all kinds of prayers and requests …
be alert and always
keep on praying for all
the saints
16) We can encourage
others with our prayers too,
& we can figure out new ways to
encourage people through prayer
II Tim 1:3-7 [excerpts] I thank God, … as. night and day I constantly remember you
in my prayers.
Recalling your tears, I long
to see you, … I have been reminded of your sincere faith, …
For this reason I remind you
to fan into flame the gift of God,
which is in you …
For God did not
give us a spirit of timidity,
but a spirit of power, of
love, and of self-discipline.
I’m sure Timothy’s breast was beating with
excitement and encouragement as he read the words of Paul in this letter, but
one of the key words here is self
discipline. We all need to take caution, however, since it would be very
easy to fall into a legalistic, dry, empty prayer habit.
17) The Lord wants you to
be joyful in your prayer life
– Life is just that – living,
alive, dynamic – prayer is not dull!!
Eph 5:18b-20 be
filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another
with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving
thanks to God the Father for everything,
Ps 67:3a + 4a May
the peoples praise You, O God …May the
nations be glad and sing for joy
PrayerPrinciples
19.1.97