Xenos Christian Fellowship
Christian Growth
Week 8 - Prayer and Body Life (Part 1) as a Means of Growth

Introduction to the means of growth

Prayer as a means of growth

Prayer is contentful interaction with a personal God.

Matt. 6:7 "And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words . . . Pray, then, in this way . . .”

Through prayer we have access to God.

Heb 10:19 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Many Christians struggle with prayer.

“If I wished to humble anyone, I should question him about his prayers. I know nothing to compare with this topic for its sorrowful self confessions.” ¹

(Rom. 8:26,27) And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; (27) and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

(James 4:8)  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

(Oswald Sanders) "You are as close to God right now as you habitually choose to be."

Remember to listen in prayer.

Types of Prayer

1. Praise and Thanksgiving

Praise

Psalm 147:1 Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.

(See also Psalm 100 and Revelation 5:9)

Thanksgiving

Col. 3:15-17 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. (16) Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (17) And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Why is this type of prayer so important?

How can you improve praise and thanksgiving in your own prayer life?

2. Petition

Phil. 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything  . . . let your requests be made known to God.

Since God already knows what we need before we ask him (Matt. 6:8), why must we ask him?

3. Intercession

Col. 4:12,13 Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. (13) For I bear him witness that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis.

Why is intercession so important?

·

(Oswald Sanders) "The goal of prayer is the ear of God. Prayer influences men by influencing God to influence them. It is not the prayer that moves men, but the God to whom we pray." (Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership, p. 133).

(Hudson Taylor) "It is possible to move men, through God, by prayer alone."

·

4. Confession

Ps. 51:3, 4 I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. (4) Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.

Why is confession so important?

Heb. 3:7, 8, 13  . . . Today if you hear his voice, (8) do not harden your heart . . . (13) But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Qualifications:

Heb. 10:22 Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Psalm 139:23,24 (23) Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. (24) See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

5. Warfare

Eph. 6:18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view (previous context is spiritual warfare), be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints . . . 

Key aspects of prayer warfare

· We should pray for alertness and insight into Satan’s tactics

· It also involves remembering and appropriating Christ's authority (Matt. 28:18-20) over

Qualifications:

Practical Guidelines for Prayer

Maintain involvement in different types of prayer.

Maintain involvement in different modes of prayer.

• Spontaneous , throughout the day

1 Thess. 5:16-18 (16) Rejoice always; (17) pray without ceasing; (18) in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

• Planned Private Prayer

(Matt. 6:5,6) When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you..”

Tips:

“Pray until you pray: What is meant is that Christians should pray long enough and honestly enough, at a single session, to get past the feeling of formalism and unreality that attends to little praying. We are especially prone to such feelings when we pray only a few minutes, rushing to be done with a mere duty. To enter the spirit of prayer, we must stick to it for a while. If we 'pray until we pray,' eventually we come to delight in God's presence, to rest in his love, to cherish his will."²

• Corporate Prayer

Matt. 18:19 "Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.

Tips:

Reasons for Ungranted Requests

1. Our request was not according to God's will.

Matt. 7:7-11 Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. (8) For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. (9) Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? (10) Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? (11) If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

2 Cor. 12:8, 9 Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. (9) And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

1 Jn.  5:14,15* This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. (15) And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.

Doesn’t God answer my prayers if I pray in his name?

John 14:13,14 And whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (14) If you ask me anything in My name, I will do it.

Doesn’t God answer my prayers if I have enough faith?

(John Stott) "Prayer is not a convenient device for imposing our will on God, or for bending his will to ours, but the prescribed way of subordinating our will to his. It is by prayer that we seek God's will, embrace it, and align ourselves with it. Every true prayer is a variation on the theme `your will be done.'"³

Matt. 6:10 "your will be done, your kingdom come "

Matt. 26:39b "not my will but yours be done"

Biblical Prayer Priorities:

"Most of us . . . get bogged with down with trivia: Jane's sinus trouble, Ben's discouragement, Mary's problem with her mother-in-law . . .  All of these may be important, but prayer, like warfare, calls for strategy. It is said of Napoleon that he would watch the development of his battles from a vantage, quietly analyzing the situation while he watched. His key general would watch with him. 'That farm,' he once said to Marshall Ney, 'that farm that you can see on the ridge there. Take it. Seize. Hold it. For if you can, the battle is won.' In praying for the Ephesians, Paul was aware that if the key to the whole battle was won, lesser skirmishes would sort themselves out rather easily. Smaller problems are so often symptomatic of larger issues . . . Prayer must be directed to that which is the key. It concerns itself with strategy, not with tactics . . . If therefore one thinks that Paul's prayer is spiritual and not practical, it is a sign of how blind he is to what life is all about . . . "⁴

1. More practical insight into scripture so that you can apply it to your life

Col. 1:9,10 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God

2. Better understanding of what God has given you in Christ (Eph. 1:16-19) and how much God loves you (Eph. 3:18,19).

3. Greater love for other people (1 Thess 3:12) and better discernment on how to love them effectively (Phil. 1:9).

4. Opportunities to witness and the courage and wisdom to make the most of those opportunities (Col. 4:2-4; Eph. 6:19,20).

5. Spiritual empowering and protection for ministry (2 Thess 2:16-3:3).

6. Exposure of attitudes that are counterproductive to your spiritual growth (Phil. 3:15; Ps. 139:23,24).

7. Wisdom to understand what God wants to teach you through adverse circumstances that are in your life (Jas. 1:5).

8. That God may raise up more workers (Matt. 9:36-38)
   
   

Great book: D. A. Carson, "Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers

2. Our request was answered, but not according to our expectations.

Examples:

2 Cor. 12:7-9 “to keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. (8) Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. (9) But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me”

3. God's timing for answering our request is different than ours.

Examples:

See Luke 11:5-13; 181-8.

Why does God sometimes delay answers?

4. We have a legitimate request, but asked with wrong motives.

James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

Examples:

Qualifications:

4. You have a legitimate request, but you have a controversy with God.

James 1:6-8 But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. (7) For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, (8) being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Ps. 66:18 If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear;

1 Pet. 3:7 You husbands likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Example:

4. God will not normally violate a person's free will to grant your request.

Examples:

Conclusion

We are not saying that we can always determine why God has not granted our requests. God will not always reveal (in this life) the specific reasons for this. He chose to explain to Paul why he wouldn't heal him (2 Cor. 12), but he evidently didn't explain to Job why he lost everything. We should evaluate the possible reasons on our part, do our best to eliminate those reasons or amend our prayers--and then trust him with it and go on.

Prayer as it relates to the other means of growth

Recommended books

Joel Commiskey, Appointment with the King

Bill Hybels, Too Busy Not to Pray

Mark Bair, Mobilized Weakness

O. Hallesby, Prayer

E.M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer

Body Life as a Means of Growth – Part 1

Introduction

koininia

Things we often associate with fellowship:

Why the term “body life’?

What is the biblically normative level of involvement in the Body of Christ? How involved in Christian fellowship should I be?

1.

(1 Cor. 12**; Rom. 12**)

(1 Cor. 12:12-14**) For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. (13) For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (14) For the body is not one member, but many.

(Rom. 12:3-5**) For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. (4) For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, (5) so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

What does it mean to be involved in the Body of Christ in a way that is consistent with our new identity?

• We need to regularly receive the life of Christ from other members.

(1 Cor. 12:21) And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you;" or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."

• We need to regularly give the life of Christ to others.

(1 Cor. 12:15,16) If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.

Giving love does not come naturally:

2.

(Jn 13:34,35) "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

The epistles unpack this command to us through several "one another" imperatives. What are the aspects of “loving one another” mentioned?:

(Gal. 5:13) For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

(1 Thess. 5:11)Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

(Col. 3:16)Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another 

(Jas. 5:16) Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.

(Eph. 4:32) And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

(Eph. 4:2)  . . . with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love . . . 

(Rom. 15:7) Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

(Gal. 6:2) Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.

(Rom. 12:10) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor . . . 

(Rom. 12:16) Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly.

“What does this have to do with how involved I should be in fellowship?”

Conclusion:

Memory Verses

1 Jn. 5:14,15* We can be certain God will answer our requests when they are according to his will.

Rom 12** & I Cor. 12** Christians are members of the Body of Christ and therefore members of one another. This is the basis for interdependent involvement with other Christians Assignment

Assignment

Complete the Word as a Means of Growth Assignment.

Read chapter 16 of Walking in Victory.

Week 8 Exam Review Guide

1. Know the main types of prayer, and one reason why each is important.

2. Know the reasons why prayer requests may go unanswered.

3. Be able to answer the question of how involved a Christian should be in fellowship (involved enough to live consistently with your new identity or involved enough to love one another as Christ loved us). Use biblical references to support your answer (Romans 12, 1Cor. 12).