How to Develop a Powerful Prayer Life Study Guide
(By Dr. Gregory Frizzell)
DATE: 1/21/14
CHAPTER (8)
Phase Five: Hearing God's Voice through Meditation
MEDITATION IS A FORM OF PRAYER BECAUSE IT IS COMMUCATION WITH GOD THROUGH PRAYERFUL LISTENING In meditation you are quietly listening for God's voice through His Word and the impressions He speaks to your heart. The more we know and meditate on God's Word the easier we will recognize His voice when He speaks. In that genuine prayer is a relationship, there can be no real relationship unless it is two way.
PRACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR DAILY MEDITATION
1. In your daily Bible reading ask God to speak to your heart.
You must approach the Bible as God's personal word to you on each new day.
After reading a few verses you should pause and simply ask, "God, what are you saying to me?" In this way, prayer and Bible reading become powerfully inter-connected.
2. When you have completed your daily time of Bible reading and prayer, write down key ideas and impressions.
Keep a journal or notebook of your daily time with God. A thorough personal journal is literally a written record of your relationship with God.
Another great advantage of journaling is that you form the habit of writing down the specific promises God reveals to your heart.
When you actually record God's promises, you are much more likely to take them seriously.
Writing down key thoughts and impressions helps you to get into a serious habit of listening for God's voice.
3. Fill your life with the Word of God.
The more we are exposed to God's Word, the more He speaks to us and transforms our life.
Surrounding yourself with God's Word is one variation of meditation. Psalm 1:2 states, "In His law doth he meditate day and night."
Today we are blessed with some innovative ways to be filled with God's Word. Some examples are:
1. Playing tapes of Scripture reading while you drive.
2. Playing music that is primarily made up of songs with Scripture lyrics.
3. Participating in one of today's Scripture memorization programs
4. Placing framed Scriptures in strategic parts of your home or office.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shall bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house, and on thy gates."
Make a cognitive decision to choose one or more of these innovative ways to be filled with God's Word. Write down which ones you have decided to incorporate into your life.
4. When you pray, be sensitive to God's specific impressions through which He leads you to focus on various issues of concern.
Remember, your prayer time is not some preset formula that you mechanically follow each day.
Some days God will lead you to spend much time in praise and little in confession.
On other days, he may greatly burden you to intercede for specific people while focusing little on petition.
"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26).
KEY POINTS – The Biblical Path to a Powerful Prayer Life
Meditation is the intentional act of listening to God.
Tragically, many people approach Bible reading and prayer without expecting to hear a personal word from God. We must expect to hear from Him.
The more we know and meditate on God's Word the easier we will recognize His voice when He speaks.
When you fill your life with Scripture, God revolutionizes your prayer life and your walk with Him.
Do not let any of this seem overwhelming or complicated. Even if you are weak in prayer, God will take you right where you are and do a mighty work in your life.
Please turn to page 95, look up the scriptures, answer the study questions and pray the prayers for daily growth on page 96.
QUESTIONS:
1. How biblical is your prayer life if you do all the talking?
2. Why does a healthy relationship with Christ require both talking and listening?
3. Describe four primary ways to hear God's voice through daily meditation?
PRAYER:
Lord God Almighty, touch our ears so that we may hear Your voice Anoint our eyes that we may see Your ways. Quicken our minds that every thought is captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Touch our spirit daily with the revelation of Your Word. Lord God Almighty, grant us a burning desire to daily hear Your voice by the revelation of the Word and prompting of the Holy Spirit. We pray always to You, in Jesus' name. Amen.
(By Dr. Gregory Frizzell)
DATE: 1/21/14
CHAPTER (8)
Phase Five: Hearing God's Voice through Meditation
MEDITATION IS A FORM OF PRAYER BECAUSE IT IS COMMUCATION WITH GOD THROUGH PRAYERFUL LISTENING In meditation you are quietly listening for God's voice through His Word and the impressions He speaks to your heart. The more we know and meditate on God's Word the easier we will recognize His voice when He speaks. In that genuine prayer is a relationship, there can be no real relationship unless it is two way.
PRACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR DAILY MEDITATION
1. In your daily Bible reading ask God to speak to your heart.
You must approach the Bible as God's personal word to you on each new day.
After reading a few verses you should pause and simply ask, "God, what are you saying to me?" In this way, prayer and Bible reading become powerfully inter-connected.
2. When you have completed your daily time of Bible reading and prayer, write down key ideas and impressions.
Keep a journal or notebook of your daily time with God. A thorough personal journal is literally a written record of your relationship with God.
Another great advantage of journaling is that you form the habit of writing down the specific promises God reveals to your heart.
When you actually record God's promises, you are much more likely to take them seriously.
Writing down key thoughts and impressions helps you to get into a serious habit of listening for God's voice.
3. Fill your life with the Word of God.
The more we are exposed to God's Word, the more He speaks to us and transforms our life.
Surrounding yourself with God's Word is one variation of meditation. Psalm 1:2 states, "In His law doth he meditate day and night."
Today we are blessed with some innovative ways to be filled with God's Word. Some examples are:
1. Playing tapes of Scripture reading while you drive.
2. Playing music that is primarily made up of songs with Scripture lyrics.
3. Participating in one of today's Scripture memorization programs
4. Placing framed Scriptures in strategic parts of your home or office.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shall bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the post of thy house, and on thy gates."
Make a cognitive decision to choose one or more of these innovative ways to be filled with God's Word. Write down which ones you have decided to incorporate into your life.
4. When you pray, be sensitive to God's specific impressions through which He leads you to focus on various issues of concern.
Remember, your prayer time is not some preset formula that you mechanically follow each day.
Some days God will lead you to spend much time in praise and little in confession.
On other days, he may greatly burden you to intercede for specific people while focusing little on petition.
"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered" (Romans 8:26).
KEY POINTS – The Biblical Path to a Powerful Prayer Life
Meditation is the intentional act of listening to God.
Tragically, many people approach Bible reading and prayer without expecting to hear a personal word from God. We must expect to hear from Him.
The more we know and meditate on God's Word the easier we will recognize His voice when He speaks.
When you fill your life with Scripture, God revolutionizes your prayer life and your walk with Him.
Do not let any of this seem overwhelming or complicated. Even if you are weak in prayer, God will take you right where you are and do a mighty work in your life.
Please turn to page 95, look up the scriptures, answer the study questions and pray the prayers for daily growth on page 96.
QUESTIONS:
1. How biblical is your prayer life if you do all the talking?
2. Why does a healthy relationship with Christ require both talking and listening?
3. Describe four primary ways to hear God's voice through daily meditation?
PRAYER:
Lord God Almighty, touch our ears so that we may hear Your voice Anoint our eyes that we may see Your ways. Quicken our minds that every thought is captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Touch our spirit daily with the revelation of Your Word. Lord God Almighty, grant us a burning desire to daily hear Your voice by the revelation of the Word and prompting of the Holy Spirit. We pray always to You, in Jesus' name. Amen.
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