How to Develop a Powerful Prayer Life Study Guide
(By Dr. Gregory Frizzell)
DATE: 1/7/14
CHAPTER (6)
Phase Three: How to Pray Dynamic Prayers of Petition
THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THIS CHAPTER
IS FOR YOU TO LEARN HOW TO PRAY PETITIONS THAT ARE
BIBLICALLY BASED AND CENTERED ON GOD'S WILL
This is the type of prayer that brings your list of needs and wants to God.
It is the type that comes the easiest for most people.
§ There is definitely nothing wrong or selfish about bringing your desires and needs to God. Our Father longs to give His children the desires of their heart. (Psalm 37:4), "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart."
§ A major sign of intimacy with God is your freedom to tell Him every desire and need of your heart.
§ Modern believers desperately need to learn how to pray petitions that are biblically based and centered on God's will. That is the primary objective in this chapter.
§ With many believers, petitions focus mostly on personal needs such as physical problems, general emotional needs, personal desires, financial or job concerns, school needs, relationship problems, etc.
§ Every believer needs to mature to the point where personal petitions also reflect the top priorities of God.
We desperately need to understand the difference between prayer requests that are temporal and those that are Kingdom-oriented.
§ Temporal requests primarily relate to earthly needs and concerns (a new car, a better job, a physical healing, etc).
§ Kingdom requests are those which focus on issues that are eternal (your personal growth in the fruit of the Holy Spirit, overcoming a temptation, tearing down a spiritual stronghold, increasing your ministry, leading people to Christ, revival in your church, city or nation, etc.).
Make a List of Prayers in each Category
THREE STEPS TO POWERFUL PRAYERS OF PETITION
STEP I
Regularly pray through each fruit of the Holy Spirit and ask God to develop the image of the holiness of Christ within you.
§ God's top priority for your life is the development of Christ's character and holiness in your life (Romans 8:29).
§ Your personal petitions should relate to the development of His image in your life.
§ Galatians 5:22-23 contains one of the most concise and perfect picture in all of Scripture. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."
§ You could not possibly pray more in the will of God than to pray each spiritual fruit for your life daily.
§ Many believers prayers are so general they have little focus and thus very little power. On the other hand, the fruit of the Holy Spirit are very specific and provide biblical petitions for powerful spiritual growth.
§ With each fruit you not only ask God to fill you with that trait, but you also ask God to reveal how you are not living that particular fruit.
How to Daily Pray the Fruit of the Spirit
As you pray through each spiritual fruit, you will discover this process becomes an opportunity for God to search and cleanse your life.
§ God will answer these prayers because you are praying His Word and you are praying in the absolute center of His will!
§ Another great advantage of praying the fruit of the Holy Spirit is the fact that God uses such character words to immediately convict and correct His children.
§ Pray through each fruit, then pause and ask God to show you how you are not living up to that character word.
§ If you ask God to search you at the point of each fruit, you will hear His voice and God will perform a deep cleansing work in your life!
§ This type of prayer is the very heart of pursuing God's holiness (Hebrews 12:14).
§ You are not required to pray all nine fruits each day. Though it is certainly possible, you may want to focus on only one or two fruit each day.
Turn to page 72-75 in the book to pray through the sample prayers for each fruit. You will find a bookmark entitled "Sample Prayers for each Fruit of the Spirit" located in the back of this guide that you can keep in your Bible for a handy reference.
Next to each part of the fruit of the Spirit, write what God lays upon your heart to pray.
Love___________________________________
Joy____________________________________
Peace__________________________________
Longsuffering____________________________
Gentleness_______________________________
Goodness________________________________
Faith____________________________________
Meekness________________________________
Temperance______________________________
What has God taught you while you prayed through the fruit of the Spirit?
_________________________________
STEP II
Regularly pray through the Beatitudes and ask God to conform you to these godly characteristics (Matthew 5:1-10).
§ With each beatitude you can follow the same prayer pattern that was outlined for the fruit of the Spirit.
§ Each character trait becomes both a specific prayer and point of personal examination for your life.
§ Praying in the center of God's will gives incredible confidence because of the promise of 1 John 5: 14-15 "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us; And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."
§ Allow God to lead you in praying through all or some of the Beatitudes on a daily basis.
Blessed is the poor in spirit…
What does it mean to be poor in spirit? ____________
Look up Romans 22:4; Proverbs 29:23; Luke 18:14.
What do these verses tell us about the low in spirit? ______________
Blessed are those who mourn…
According to Psalm 34:18; 51:17; Isaiah 66:2; 2 Corinthians 7:10; what are other words for those who mourn? ________________________________
Mourning signifies pain and it is through pain that we learn to trust God. What is God's promise to those who mourn? _____________________
Blessed are the meek…
What does it mean to be meek?____________________
1 Peter 2:2; 2 Chronicles 15:15.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness…
1 Timothy 4:7; 6:11; Luke 4:11; Acts 2:4; 4:8; 4:31; 7:55; 11:24; 13:9; 13:52.
What do these verses have in common? ______________________
When we hunger and thirst after righteousness with what will we be filled? _____________________
What will be the results of that filling? ________________
Blessed are the merciful…
In Micah 6:8 does the Lord require of you? _________________
In James 2:13 of what should we be merciful? __________________
Blessed are the pure in heart…
In Psalm 23:3-4 who may ascend the hills of the Lord? ____________
In 1 Timothy 1:5 from where does love come? ___________________
What is the promise for the pure in heart? ______________________
Blessed are the peacemakers…
In Proverbs 12:20 what is in the heart of those who plot evil? ______________
What is in the heart of those who promote peace? _________________________
Can you think of a time when you plotted evil? What feelings did you have?
Think of a time when you promoted peace. Compare those feelings to those of plotting evil.
In Luke 20:36 what is the promise for the children of God? ___________________
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness…
Jesus was despised and rejected, endured humiliation, mocked, reviled and crucified.
What type of persecution do you suffer because of righteousness?
What is the promise for enduring persecution? _______________________
STEP III
Regularly pray through other character words that are found in Scripture. (Those besides the fruit of the Spirit and the Beatitudes)
§ Examples of other key biblical character words include: the anointing, power and filling of the Holy Spirit, genuine humility and brokenness, spiritual zeal and diligence, wisdom and discernment, immovability, steadfastness, spiritual soberness, a spiritual passion and fervency, a spirit of genuine worship, purity of motives, a quickened mind, a spirit of revelation and understanding, boldness and spiritual authority, spiritual protection from sin, self, Satan, and the world.
§ God will reveal several biblical character words to use in your personal prayer petitions and He will guide you as you adjust your focus from day to day.
& KEY POINTS – The Biblical Path to a Powerful Prayer Life
& Since God's priorities are on the eternal, shouldn't our personal petitions reflect this same priority?
& We often treat God more like a Christmas wish catalogue than the sovereign God who desires above all to conform us to the image of Christ!
& Most believers are praying petitions that are much too general.
& Far too many are mostly temporal and have little to do with eternal issues.
& Until prayers become biblical and specific, they have little power with God.
& If you allow God to make your petitions specific and in line with His will, you will experience growth like you cannot imagine (1 John 5:14-15).
& God will guide you into mature praying and the Holy Spirit is an excellent teacher.
& All you have to do is familiarize yourself with these basic prayer principles and give God significant time in daily prayer. He will do the rest!
Please turn to page 79. Review the study questions, look up the scriptures and pray the prayers for daily growth on page 80.
QUESTIONS:
1. In your own words, describe the difference between temporal and Kingdom-oriented prayer petitions.
2. Why do you think Kingdom-oriented petitions have greater impact than temporal petitions?
3. In what way would praying through the fruit of the Holy Spirit conform you to the image of Christ?
4. Why is praying character words far more important than merely praying for earthly needs and comforts?
PRAYER:
Father, cause us to pray according to Your priority of holiness and sanctification in our daily life. Cleans and transform us by the washing of the water by the Word (Ephesians 5:26). God, instill the spiritual fruit and the Beatitudes into the very fabric of our hearts. Reveal many Scriptures to claim for personal holiness and transformation. Help us hide Your Words in our heart that we may not sin against You, Lord; Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment