In the Old Testament, the literature of adoration reaches its high-water mark in the Psalms (compare especially the group Psalms 95-100), where the ineffable majesty, power and holiness of God are set forth in lofty strains. In the New Testament, adoration of the Deity finds its most rapturous expression in Revelation, where the vision of God calls forth a chorus of praise addressed to the thrice-holy God (4:8-11; 7:11,12), with whom is associated the Redeemer-Lamb.” One of many examples of adoration being offered is found in the book of Psalms. . “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Ps. 103:1-2). “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever” (Ps. 107:1). “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing” (Ps. 100:1-2). How often have we started our prayer with this type of adoration or homage to God? So often we just approach prayer with request and not in the spirit of adoration.
Month: October 2011
Prayer and Adoration
At least five parts of prayer can be found within the Bible. They are prayers of adoration, confession, supplication, intercession and thanksgiving. The first part of prayer is adoration, and is a word that never occurs in the English Version of the Bible. “The word is derived from Latin adorare meaning, “to speak to, to beseech, entreat and to homage. Homage is from the Latin os (onis) mouth. Adoration is intense admiration culminating in reverence and worship, together with the outward acts and attitudes which accompany such reverence. The highest form of adoration is that which is directed immediately to God Himself, His kingly attributes and spiritual excellencies being so apprehended by the soul that it is filled with rapture and praise, and is moved to do Him reverence. A classical instance is the vision that initiated Isaiah into the prophetic office, when he was so possessed with the sovereignty and sublimity of God that he was filled with wonder and self-abasement (Isaiah 6:1-5).
Prayer and Religious Iniquity
Personal iniquity that comes in the form of religious service can hinder our prayer life.
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (II Cor. 4:7). I mention this form of iniquity to call each of us into a personal internal exam of our religious service. How often have we gone through the formality in our confessions, worship, praise and shown indifference in supplication, so that when the exercise is over, we cannot honestly declare that we really meant what we acknowledged? Two sources can influence this within our hearts and life actions. The first is God and the second our own motives. This is when we allow ourselves to go through the diligent religious formality of all we may do in church or our prayer life and it has become a religious formality. If our religious exercises have progressed only to this stage then our prayer life is hindered. We may even be praying and acting like everything is wonderful when in reality we have not given of ourselves completely to God. Why should we evaluate this area of our life? “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Cor. 5:17). Lord help us not to just have the outward appearance of Christian worship and praise yet our hearts are not acting like “all things are become new.”
Prayer and Purity of Heart
Everything we do has some degree of personal requirements. With prayer these requirements are purity of heart, faith in Christ’s name, and praying according to God’s will. King David speaks of the great works of God and the importance of purity of heart. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: but verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer” (Ps. 66:18-19). “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lust” (Jam. 4:3). The Christian whose drives are dictated from within by his own unregenerated nature, and from without by the pressures of a corrupt society, is out of touch with the Holy Spirit. If we allow within our hearts, minds, thought life, that which stands between us and God our prayer life will be hindered. King David cries out to the Lord and understands he must not have anything in his heart that hinders his prayer life. What iniquity is within your life today that might hinder your prayer life?
Public Prayer
The fifth kind of prayer involves the opportunities to pray at public events. “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Col. 3:17). At times you may have the opportunity to pray at special events or the opening of a new business or organizations. This practice is not followed as often today as it was years ago. If you pray in public always follow this scripture “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.” “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartly, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Col. 3:23). Prayer at public events can be used of God to help convict the heart of individuals that need Christ. Prayer at these events can strengthen those who are Christians in an open witness of the love of God through Christ Jesus. If these public prayers neglect Jesus Christ and the Word of God then they have no eternal value. Public prayers also include our praying for food we are about to receive when in a public eating establishment. Prayers have been offered before the start of court and legislative sessions. Our country was founded upon Christian principals and prayer. Help us O Lord not to run from public prayer that lifts Christ and his love.
Group Prayer #3
Group prayer can take many organizational forms and still support the decree of God. Some meet before church for prayer time, others hold altar calls, some have prayer rails on the pews, others only offer steps to kneel at for prayer. Some have special times during the worship service for prayer and encourage everyone to participate. Some have provided a private prayer room where people rotate praying during the actual preaching service. Some have special time for men or women to pray together. Many publish a prayer list for the members to help guide specific needs of the membership. Others have individuals that call others on the phone or contact them over the internet and pray together. The process is not clear in scripture only the command that we gather and pray. A church that does not offer some form of prayer time for members is neglecting the scripture. Also those that gather and pray for “things” outside the clear teaching of scripture will not find the answers they seek.
Group Prayer #2
Group prayer is normally for two or more individuals and involves the lifting up of specific needs for God’s answers. “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me” (Rom. 15:30). Strive means, “to enter into a contest, to fight against adversaries, to exert strong effort or energy to obtain something.” Paul encouraged the Christians in the church at Rome to pray with a strong effort as if they were fighting in a contest for victory. Paul was seeking the fervency of these Christians in prayer for God’s power within him. It is never out of place for us to ask within the context of group prayer and to other individuals for God to create within us and keep alive a spirit of fervent prayer. How fervent are we in our prayers for others within the church or even for other Christians that may not be a member of our local church? Group prayer is found in multiple places in the Bible. Find someone you can pray with today and strive for answers from God.
Group Prayer
A fourth kind of prayer is group prayer. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). Here is the greatest reason why believers should pray together. That they can have a single focus on the accomplishment of Gods perfect and complete will upon this earth. Christ is emphasizing the importance of the role of the church. The previous binding and loosing (vs 19) was done in Heaven. The time/space implementation upon earth of that which has already been eternally bound and loosed in heaven is God’s work through His local churches. The church on earth can only confirm that which God has already put in place. When we gather and pray God promises to be in our midst. The size of the church is not the issue, it is the fact that two or three gather, seek the fulfillment of God’s divine plan then wait upon His answer. The church’s action is contingent upon God’s decree; it is not the other way around. Help us O Lord to spend more time in prayer as a church seeking your direction and guidance as your family.
Family Prayer Time
Family prayer time can take many forms. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God” (Phil. 4:6). We should pray before each meal and thank God for what He has provided for us. Some families have special prayer time together during the day. Others pray together when faced with specific challenges or in need of physical healing or strength. Some families pray before they leave for a trip and ask God for His protection and care. Other families share praying together and each member is allowed time to pray. How we may approach the process is not as important as the need to pray together as a family. Prayer as a family helps strengthen the family and provides a source of spiritual direction that can only come from Christ. We seek advise from friends and often need counseling for problems that may exist within our life. Why is it we do not seek the power of God through prayer together to help solve the issues our family face?
Family Prayer
A third kind of prayer is family prayer. The phrase “prayer and family” or “prayer with the family” is not found within scripture. “A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to all the people and prayed to God always” (Acts 10:2). Cornelius was a man that sought God and his personal and family life was changed. The qualifications for a bishop are, “One that ruleth well his own house having his children in subjection with all gravity; For if a man know not how to rule his own house how shall he take care of the church of God” (I Tim. 3:4,5). In Acts 16:30-31 the conversion of the Philippian jailer states, “And brought them out, and said Sirs what must I do to be saved? And they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Prayer with our families should be a natural outflow of our spiritual walk. We all often falter in this area of our prayer life. Lord help each of us become praying families. May children remember above all else when they reflect back upon childhood that mother and father prayed together and with them.
The Prayer Closet #3
“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall rewardthee openly” (Matt. 6:6). It is very important for us to notice the special stress that is placed upon the singular number of the personal pronoun. When counted the personal pronoun is used eight times. This arrangement is unique in all the Word of God. Nothing should bring out the strong imperative for all of us to find and pray in that place that would allow this aloneness with God and nothing else. God has made this powerful statement in the use of this process and personal pronoun so none of us can find an excuse for not having our own “secret place” or “prayer closet” for daily time with God. The world must be completely shut out and then we are in a position that only God can influence us.
The Prayer closet #2
A powerful example of praying alone or within one’s own prayer closet is the record of Jesus praying in the garden before He is placed on the cross. “And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed…And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:41,44). When we enter our prayer closets for private prayer this can often be the occasion for prayer that will pour from the very depths of our souls. Agony, tears, hurt, pain, will all be consumed in our approach to our Lord during this time of private prayer. Maybe we should ask a basic question of ourselves concerning private prayer? If we do not practice private prayer, as the example that Jesus has given us, then maybe our physical and family life is not what it should be because we are not spending this private time with Christ? The Bible clearly teaches us that the Holy Spirit seeks to reproduce Christ in us. Start praying in your prayer closet or private place today.
The Prayer Closet #1
When we pray “in the closet”(Matt.6:6), the words suggest not only a silent and secluded place, but also a stated place. When David received the message concerning the death of Absalom he “went up to the chamber over the gate” (II Sam. 18:33). Christ also made a practice of praying in a specific place when possible, we read, “went”(for the specific purpose of making supplication to God) as He was wont (accustomed) to the mount of Olives” (Luke 22:39). The Greek word for “closet” only occurs four times in the original New Testament. In Matthew 24:26 it is translated “secret chambers.” When the widow Zarephath told Elijah of the death of her son the prophet, “carried him up into a loft where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed” (I Kings 17:19-20). Two expressions in Matt. 6:6 suggest the need for seclusion, “when thou hast shut thy door” and pray to thy Father who is in secret.” Our “closet” for prayer is that place where we will not be hindered by outside sources. It is vital that each of us find this place in our prayer life. Start seeking today and the Lord will help you discover it.
Prayers Made In Secret
A second kind of prayer is when we pray in secret. “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matt. 6:6). Jesus is distinguishing emphatically between His disciples and the hypocrites whom He has just described. The Pharisees like to be seen by others when they pray. This is not what the Lord had intended for man in prayer. Our Father is one from whom no secrets that may abound in our life can be hid. He rewards the closeted prayer warrior because He is able to hear us when all of the world is bared. The instructions from the Lord for every child of His is for us to close the door and enter into prayer between our hearts and the throne of grace upon which sits our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Do we have a place in our homes where we can go and be alone to pray? What is it that keeps us from praying in private to the Lord? Are we just busy and time does not permit?
Prayers Made Hurriedly
What are the main kinds of prayer found in the Bible? Prayers made in a hurry, in secret, in the family, in group’s, and in public. The first in this list are those prayers we may utter when the situations of life cause us to be in a rush. An example is the prayer of one of the two men hanging on the cross near Jesus. “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom” (Luke 23:42). This man was about to die and he cried out in faith to Christ to save him. He was rushed in this prayer because soon he would die. God has given me the opportunity many times to experience the conversion of a person as they approached death. I have also been in a situation often where a person was taken to the hospital with critical injuries and it was vital that we prayed for them immediately. One day the Lord allowed me to witness a severe wreck. A lady was thrown from the car and was flat on her back in the middle of the road with severe injuries. I immediately parked my car and ran to her side. This was a situation that not only called for immediate medical help but also immediate prayer. I took her by the hand and had prayer with her.
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