Bible Study:     How to Develop a Powerful Prayer Life Study Guide (By Dr. Gregory Frizzell)      

Week # 8

 

Beginning 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. Protect us O Lord from evil devices. Keep us covered under Jesus’ blood day and night.  AMEN

 

Let’ s start with some key points:

 

KEY POINTS – The Biblical Path to a Powerful Prayer Life

 

1).  Meditation is the intentional act of listening to God.

2).  Tragically, many people approach Bible reading and prayer without expecting to hear a personal word from God. We must expect to hear from Him.

3).  The more we know and meditate on God’s Word the easier we will recognize His voice when He speaks.

4).  When you fill your life with Scripture, God revolutionizes your prayer life and your walk with Him.

5).  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.

 

 

Subject:   Phase Five:  Hearing God’s Voice through Meditation

Meditation is a form of prayer because it is communication 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.  It is essential to remember that genuine prayer is a relationship and not just a habit or ritual.  A genuine relationship requires both talking and listening.

 

There can be no real relationship unless it is two way. After all, how would you feel if your spouse talked all the time and never gave you a chance to speak?  That would make for an extremely poor marriage and it also make s for a poor relationship with God!  Meditation is that time when we specifically listen for God to speak to our heart.  The more we know and meditate on God’s Word the easier we will recognize His voice when He speaks.   

 

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 actual recording 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.”

 

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).

 

Today we are blessed with some innovative ways to be filled with God’s Word.  Some examples are:

 

Playing tapes of Scripture reading while you drive.

Playing music that is primarily made up of songs with Scripture lyrics.

Participating in one of today’s Scripture memorization programs

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.

 

Please turn to page 95, look up the scriptures, answer the study questions and pray the prayers for daily growth on page 96.

A BRIEF WORD ABOUT FASTING:

 

Spirit-led fasting is one of the most neglected spiritual disciplines of our day. Perhaps this is a telling symptom of the “general lukewarmness” that characterizes much of American Christianity. Many today are in bondage to the flesh and are heavily influenced by fleshly appetites and desires.  For this reason, to many the idea of foregoing meals to pray and seek God seems very strange indeed.  Brethren, this is a strong indication of just how desperately we need revival. The Bible clearly assumes that God’s people will fast in their devotion to the Lord. The Scriptures leave little doubt that God expects Spirit-led fasting to be a definite part of our relationship with Him. The examples are numerous, but two have special relevance: 

Joel 2:12-13 – “Now, therefore says the Lord, Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, and weeping, and with mourning.  So rend your hear, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.”

And in Matthew 6:16-18 – “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance.  For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting.  Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”

Prayerfully consider how God may lead you in this area.  An appropriate question to ask is: “How much are you really hungering for God Himself?”  Pause now to ask God to enable you to fast by the leading of the Holy Spirit with the purpose of turning aside from other things in order to more fully focus on Him.  Ask Him to show you the type of fast He desires for you. There are many different types of fasting.  Some examples are:

A complete fast for short periods

Water-only fasts

Juice fasts

Fasting from certain types of food

Fasting from certain activities or recreation.  (Some of the most powerful fasting can be giving up favorite activities to spend intense time alone with God.)

 

Ending Prayers:

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.

 

Week# 8  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?

4). What has God spoken to you about fasting?

5). In your own words, what are the two special examples with relevance for fasting?

6). Meditation is a form of what?

7). After reading you should pause and ask God what question?

8). Today when you completed your daily reading time what did you write down in your journal?

9). The more we expose ourselves to God’s Word what happens? Explain.

10). Name some innovative ways to be filled with God’s Word.

11). Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9

12). Read Romans 8:26

13). Read Joel 2:12-13

14). What have you learned in this lesson?