Daily Disciplines Series 3: Connecting with Christ Through Prayer

Connecting with Christ involves walking with God daily in prayer.

Jesus’ Prayer Life

During His ministry on earth, Jesus put high priority on prayer.

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Mark 1:35 (NIV)

Priority of Prayer

Mark describes a day in the life of Jesus’ ministry in Mark 1. After calling his first disciples, they go to Capernaum, where Jesus teaches and drives a demon out of a man who was there (vv. 21-28). After they leave the synagogue, he takes his disciples to the home of Simon and Andrew, where he heals Simon’s mother-in-law of a fever. New spreads and Jesus spends the evening healing various diseases and driving out demons to those who gather at the door of the house. By any ministry standards, that’s a busy day.

Mark 1:35 tells that the first thing Jesus did after getting up very early the next morning was to find a quiet place to pray. He could have decided to get more rest to be ready for another day filled with teaching and healing, but instead he went to his Father in prayer for the strength He needed for the day.

Perseverance in Prayer

Jesus included the topic of prayer often in His teaching, including the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

Luke 18:1 (NIV)

The parable tells of a judge “who neither feared God nor cared what people thought” and a widow “who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary” (Luke 18:2-3 NIV). The judge finally decides to see to it that she gets her justice, but only “because this widow keeps bothering me”. Jesus tells his disciples that God will not ignore the pleas of his people in need of justice, so his followers should “always pray and not give up”.

Prayer is a way we show God our dependence on Him. By persistently pleading with Him, He will provide for our needs, including justice. God hears our prayers and provides what we need. However, He doesn’t always answer prayers in the way we expect or in the timeframe we want. He loves us and cares for us, and asks us to trust Him and to pray without giving up.

Promise of Prayer

Jesus put priority on prayer both in his personal prayer life and in what he taught his disciples. He also wanted to make sure his followers would continue in prayer after he returned to the Father.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15:7 (NIV)

In his discussion with his disciples at the Last Supper, Jesus promised them that their prayers would be answered if they remained in Him. In John 15, he tells them He is the vine and they are the branches. By remaining in Him, they would bear fruit and show themselves to be His disciples (John 15:1-8). Remaining in Him means continuing to have faith and trust in His promises, which we can express through our time in prayer.

Jesus’ promise on prayer means that we will bear fruit for Him. As we pray and obey his command to love one another (John 15:17), we will show the world how God loves us through our answered prayer. The fruit of prayer is not only blessings of answered requests in our lives, but also the building of faith in the lives of those who we pray for.

Learning to Pray

Jesus’ disciples saw His amazing prayer life and wanted to learn how to pray.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

Luke 11:1 (NIV)

Disciples Prayers

The disciples recognized that prayer is a learning process. By the time they asked him to teach them to pray, they knew the basics of prayer. Many were Jews who had prayed and seen others pray since early in their lives. However, they saw something different in Jesus’ prayer life. They could see that they needed to learn how to pray, and knew that John had taught his disciples about prayer.

Prayer is a learning process. We tend to grow in our prayer life from presenting our requests and feelings to God to a point where we listen to learn His will in our lives. We then ask for guidance so that we can learn how to act on His will. Finally, we boldly pray for strength so that we can learn to rely on Him and not our own skills and abilities. God uses prayer to teach us how to live by faith.

Searching Prayers

Richard Foster makes some interesting observations about prayer in his book “Celebrations of Discipline”:

• “Perhaps the most astonishing characteristic of Jesus’ praying is that when he prayed for others he never concluded by saying ‘If it be thy will'”.  Nor did the apostles or prophets when they were praying for others.  They obviously believed that they knew what the will of God was before they prayed the prayer of faith.” (emphasis was Foster’s)
• We pray asking if our prayers are God’s will as we are “yearning in our hearts to know the will of God”, what Foster calls a “searching prayer”.  Then we ask for guidance and “follow the lead of our Master who in the garden prayed ‘Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done’ (Luke 22:42)”.
• Foster goes on to tell us that as we get more in contact with God’s will, we learn to pray in faith for what they need.  He compares this aspect of our learning to pray to radio signals – there are many going through this room right now but we don’t hear them because we are not tuned to the proper frequencies.  Once we are, we hear them clearly!

As we pray “searching prayers” and ask for more guidance, God teaches us and we learn to better express our prayers on the “frequencies” that match those of God’s will. Continue to pray and to consider your prayer life a learning process.

Ways to Pray

When His disciples asked him to teach them to pray, Jesus offered an example prayer we know as the “Lord’s prayer” (or “the disciples’ prayer”).

² He said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
³ Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.”

Luke 11:2-4

While we can pray these exact words, it’s beneficial to consider it as a type or prayer, or a prayer method.

Prayer Methods

The Lord’s prayer follows a pattern for us to imitate. It includes first acknowledging God, our Father, and blessing His name, asking for His kingdom to arrive. It then asks for God to provide for our needs, forgive our sins and not lead us into temptation. Christians for centuries have prayed the Lord’s prayer and used it as a model for their own prayers. It’s a prayer method that Jesus used and taught to demonstrate the deep prayer life He shared with God the Father.

1 Timothy 2:1 provides an interesting list of different forms of prayer:

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people.

1 Timothy 2:1 (NIV)

Different Greek words are used that describe items that we often view as part of prayer:

• Petitions (Greek deeseis): “supplications (KJV)”, earnest requests, asking God to meet our needs.
• Prayers (proseuchas): a request specifically to God, from the same root word as precarious: “dependent on circumstances beyond one’s control” (see dictionary.com).
• Intercession (enteuxis): a request where God gets involved, usually on the behalf of others.
• Thanksgiving (eucharistias): acknowledging the ways God has given to us, especially in answering prayers!

Any of these could be considered a way to pray, or the could be included as a method of praying. A well-known prayer method that includes the elements of the Lord’s prayer and the list in 1 Timothy follows the acronym “ACTS”:

• Adoration: Praise and Worship, acknowledge God for being good and for his love.
• Confession: Lay our sins before God, confess that He is Lord of our lives.
• Thanksgiving: Gratitude to God for answered prayers and for blessings He has provided.
• Supplication: “Petition” for what we need; “Intercession” for the needs of others.

I often use the ACTS acronym to remind me to Adore, Confess and Thank God when I pray. For me, it’s easy to focus only on Supplication, or asking God to meet my needs and those of others.

Other Ways to Pray

Just as there are various ways to study the Bible, there are many ways to pray. We can pray in many different places and times of the day, and using many different forms. The following are some different ways to pray:

• Pray through the Psalms or though the prayers of Jesus or others in the Scriptures.
• Make a prayer list: ask others about their needs and make a list. Keep track of how and when they are answered.
• Keep a prayer calendar: mark a calendar for upcoming events and other items for daily prayer.
• Have an all-night prayer session, either alone or with others. Night is a great, quiet time for extended prayer.
• Take prayer walks: walk through your neighborhood or around work and pray for everyone.
• Practice “Flash prayers”: Richard Foster mentions flashing a prayer in someone’s direction as you go. For example, flash pray that the guy in the next car will learn to not cut you off!
• Pray with your spouse, children, others: share your requests together before God and teach others how you pray.
• Do “prayer evangelism”: While reaching out to people, ask their needs and offer to pray for them, right there with them or later.

Whether you model your prayer after the Lord’s prayer, follow the ACTS prayer method, or use one of the suggestions above, be sure to let your prayer connect you with God. Know that He is listening and quietly reflect on how He is connecting with you through your prayer time.

Prayer Practicals

Along with praying in different ways and with different methods, here are some practicals to consider for your prayer life:

• Find a quiet place to pray. Make sure you are free of distractions. You can pray anywhere, but taking care to create a good “prayer environment” will help you to focus as you pray.
• Keep a journal of answered prayers. This will build your faith and you can also share them and build up the faith of those included in your prayers.
• Ask others to pray for you and your needs. Prayer is a powerful way to serve others, so give those close to you the opportunity to serve you in prayer.
• Be specific in your prayers. Of course God already knows the details, but it will help you to better understand your needs and what your’re thankful for as you pray specifically about them.
• Be bold in your prayers. God is mighty and can do mighty things with our faith. If you have great faith, pray to our great God to do great things.
• Pray… and don’t give up. Remember the persistent widow and Jesus’ lesson on persevering in prayer.

Prayer and Fasting

Prayer is often associated with fasting. Fasting refers to abstaining from food for a spiritual purpose. The practice of fasting is found throughout the Old and New Testament.

Purposes for Fasting

Some of the purposes mentioned in the Bible for fasting include:

• Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29-34).
• Making decisions (Judges 20:25-28).
• Expressing repentance (Daniel 9:1-5).
• Seeking help from God in times of distress (for example 2 Chronicles 20:1-19 where Jehoshaphat was facing war and called for a group fast).
• Preparing for ministry and doing great things for God (Esther 4:15-20, Matt 4:1-3).

Note that the Bible doesn’t call us to have a regular discipline of regular fasting. Instead, the focus is on expressing humility to God related to our sin and repentance or for guidance from Him in specific circumstances. It is often associated with prayer, so we should consider fasting when needed as part of our prayer life. Some examples of fasting’s connection to prayer are:

• Humbling themselves to seek a safe journey back to Jerusalem (Ezra 8:23).
• Seeking God’s will when finding out the bad news about Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:4).
• After discovering what the Scriptures said about the desolation of Jerusalem for 70 years, and to seek repentance for the sins of Israel (Daniel 9:3).
• Anna at the temple, waiting for the coming of the Messiah (Luke 2:37).
• In questioning Jesus, the tax collectors mention that John the Baptists’ disciples fasted and prayed but Jesus’ disciples didn’t (Luke 5:33).
• When the prophets and teachers in Antioch send off Paul and Barnabas, which also involved the laying on of hands (Acts 13:3).
• When Paul and Barnabas appointed elders along their missionary journey (Acts 4:23).

Fasting should be used to help us focus on prayer. The examples above show that fasting was done with a purpose in mind, usually accompanied by requests to God. Fasting should help us focus on our prayer and show God the earnestness of our request and humility to depend on Him.

Practicals for Fasting

In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave some practical advice for “when you fast” (Matthew 6:16-17):

¹⁶ “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ¹⁷ But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:16-18 (NIV)

Since fasting is meant to focus on our humility in prayer, it’s not a time to draw attention to ourselves or to go to extremes in suffering for our fast. Here are some practicals to fast safely and to stay focused:

• It’s ok to fast from food, but be sure to drink water!
  • The human body can go without food for weeks, but cannot do without water for more than a few days.
  • Drinking water will help prevent you from getting dehydrated. Dehydration can cause headaches and other discomfort.
• Fasting is not for selfish motives like weight loss, as a mere tradition or to draw attention to oneself.
  • In Matthew 6:16-18 (quoted above), Jesus challenges the religious leaders who liked to call attention to their piety by making it obvious they were fasting. Fasting should be done in humility and not hypocritically with a concern for how it makes us appear.
• Care should be taken with fasts longer than a few days. Though the Bible mentions 40 day fasts, do not attempt long fasts without getting advice. Longer fasts should be under the supervision of a doctor.

Summary: The Daily Discipline of Prayer

Prayer is an important daily discipline for growing in our faith and maturity in Christ. It connects us to God as a way for us to speak to Him, and He can answer us through His Word and His Spirit.

In summary:

• Prayer is a learning process:  learning what God’s will is and then boldly pray for it.
• There are many types of prayer, and many ways to pray.
• Prayer and fasting go together. Fasting should help us focus on our prayer.
• The Lord’s Prayer, ACTS, and other prayer methods can be helpful as we grow in our prayer life.
• Pray and never give up (Luke 18:1).

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Suggested Memory Scriptures

Luke 18:1, John 15:7

Discussion Questions

1. In what ways are you “learning to pray”?  In your prayers, do you mostly seek to learn God’s will or to ask Him to use you to do His will?
2. What are some prayers that God has answered in your life?  What are some prayers that have not yet been answered?
3. With a group of friends or in your small group, put together a list of prayer needs.  Pray for them and use the list this week in your personal prayer times.