Praying | When You Pray . . .
๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ฃ
โข What are some of the things you do to see your most important relationships grow?
โข How do you invest in your health or personal growth? Share at least one thing you do weekly in light of this.ย
โข Who do you run to when youโre in need? How confident are you that this person would help you?ย
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐
โ๐๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ.โ ๐ ๐๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ช ๐ฒ:๐ญ
(Read also ๐ ๐๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ช ๐ฒ:๐ฑโ๐ญ๐ฑ.)
As we practice spiritual disciplines, we not only strengthen our spiritual muscles and become more like Jesus, but more importantly, we grow in our relationship with God. Prayer is one of these and is an essential part of our daily rhythms of grace. When we pray, it is a two-way communication with our Father. It gives us the opportunity to speak to Him, it shows us how He listens intently and patiently, and it allows us to hear from Him, too. Today, let us look at what Jesus said about prayer in His Sermon on the Mount.ย
๐ญ. ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐, ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐.
โ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐บ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐บ๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฐ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ.โ ๐ ๐๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ช ๐ฒ:๐ฑ
Prayer is part of Jewish culture. But often, people miss the point and purpose of prayer. Some pray aloud in public spaces in order to be seen as obedient and righteous. Jesus gave a reminder that when we pray, we are to seek God our Father. Itโs important for us to know who weโre praying to rather than prioritizing our agenda or how we look to others. In prayer, we humble ourselves before God, seeking His face and letting ourselves be aligned with His will. We can be confident that when we pray, our heavenly Father hears us (1 John 5:14). How did Jesus begin His prayer (Matthew 6:9)?
๐ฎ. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ.ย
โ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐ฅ๐ง๐๐ฎ, ๐๐ค ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐ง๐ค๐ค๐ข ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ.โ ๐ ๐๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ช ๐ฒ:๐ฒ
Jesus encouraged the crowds to go to their own rooms and pray in secret. This was not about being secretive in prayer or not letting anyone see them pray. But He was encouraging them to seek God and perhaps even to have a dedicated time and place for prayer. Jesus, throughout the Gospels, can be seen praying early in the morning or late at night to commune with the Father. Because prayer is important to us, we ought to make time for it and set a schedule so that we wonโt neglect or forget to do it. Share about your personal time in prayer and instances when you pray with your church community.
๐ฏ. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐๐ธ.ย
โ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐บ, ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ต๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ.โย ๐ ๐๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ช ๐ฒ:๐ณโ๐ด
Jesus said that we ought not to heap up empty phrases or pray to our Father with many words hoping that we will be heard. He made clear that our Father knows what we need and what is in our hearts before we even pray. This doesnโt mean that we ought to not pray or not use words. We pray with confidence that God hears us and knows what we need when we approach Him and that He will answer us according to His will (1 John 5:14). How does knowing that God hears us change the way you pray?ย
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข Who do you pray to? How do you usually pray? What is one thing you can start doing to follow the principles Jesus taught about prayer?ย
โข Do you have a set time and place to pray alone and with your church community? Make a commitment today and ask the Holy Spirit and a trusted friend to help you keep your commitment.ย
โข Is there anyone in your life who needs to know God is our Father who hears us and knows our needs? How may you encourage this person with what we learned this week?
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for the gift of salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ, which has adopted us into His family and given us the privilege to come to Him confidently and freely.
โข Pray for the joy and the discipline as you commit to a specific time and place for prayer. Pray that as you pray in secret and with your church community, you will grow in your knowledge of and relationship with God.
โข Ask God to help you lead others to Him. Pray that you may not just focus on your needs, but He would give you a heart for others as you seek and follow Him.