Monday, 24 April 2017

CCP SERIES STUDY WEEK 1 – PRAY FOR A CHANGE… FAITHFULLY

11:44 Posted by Matthew Beaney No comments
PRAY FOR A CHANGE (STUDIES BASED UPON OUR PREACHING SERIES AT COMMUNITY CHURCH PUTNEY)
You can listen to all the messages at 
Introduction
Prayer is a subject about which many of us would say that we are passionate, we know it’s vitally important, but few would say that they are praying as we, or Jesus, would want.
Jesus as the perfect man was a man of prayer. He prayed a lot and taught on it; for example, to press home persisting in prayer He said,
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up…’  (Luke 18:1-8)
Christians are ‘Disciples’; another term for this is ‘learner’. A disciple learns from a teacher and seeks to become like the teacher. The first disciples, after Jesus’ death and resurrection were told to wait to be empowered by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). On the day of Pentecost the promised Spirit came upon this embryonic church. Despite having such power, they did not deviate from the pattern of Jesus: they devoted themselves to praying together a lot (Acts 2:42).
The best things are often the hardest to attain. Great things in life may, on the surface seem easy, but they are not! Prayer should be easy, but it isn’t! We are invited to come to God freely, with confidence that He loves us and hears us because our faith in Christ has cleansed us from all sin; so surely it’s simply a matter of making some time each day to be with the Father and seek Him to act in on our behalf – should be easy! So why do you and I struggle to make it happen personally or with other brothers and sisters?
Learning from Paul
During this series we will be learning to pray by studying the prayers of Paul. I trust and pray that God will teach us to pray individually, in families and as a church.
God is calling us to a deeper devotion in prayer. Everyone’s greatest need is that God to break in and act! As Lloyd Jones challenges us,
‘If you are really burdened by the times in which we live, if you are really grieving in your heart as you see the godlessness of the world, if you have a compassion in your hearts for men and women in the bondage of sin and of Satan, your first duty is to pray for revival.’

We all want to see various things change! We can worry, moan, scheme, and post things on social media; perhaps it’s time to Pray for a change!

WEEK 1 – PRAY FOR A CHANGE… FAITHFULLY (23/4/17)

COMMUNITY GROUP STUDY 1
Pray for a change... Faithfully
We live in an age of the new, where we are encouraged to leave the old behind, that the new is always better. We want our phones, computers, Internet speed to not just be quick, they have to be super fast, and our lives can end up that way also!
Faithfulness is a term that is falling out of use. Whether it’s in marriage, a job, a church, a ministry area, and prayer, the order of the day seems to be, if it doesn’t excite you, leave it behind.
Faithfulness is crucial for any kind of success in life, and this is also true in the realm of spiritual growth and praying with impact, so Paul says,
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12)
Discuss/think/pray about
Read 1 Thess. 1:2-3 & 2:13.
·      What do these verses teach about the regularity and content of Paul’s prayers?
·      What is your current prayer routine and how would you like to develop?
·      Writing a prayer list (see page 7) is very helpful if one wants to be faithful in prayer. For the duration of this 7-week series, we are encouraging everyone to write and use a prayer list. Spend some time discussing your prayer list
·      During this series we are asking you to commit to praying for at least 20 minutes every day. We learn to pray according to God’s will by using scripture as a guide to our devotions. Praying the scriptures is a vital skill to develop. In the following text notice the regularity and content of Paul’s praying:
2 Thess. 1:11-12 ‘With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.’
·      Using Paul’s Prayer above as a guide, what are the various things that one is to pray for?
Spend some time praying for Community Church, others that come to mind and one another out of 2 Thess. 1:11-12


Going deeper (personal devotional) week 1 – Pray for a change... faithfully
Monday: Praying faithfully is an act of love
Begin by meditating (reading slowly, repeatedly, with feeling) on this text:
Romans 12:9-13 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
To love is to do and want what is best for others even at your own expense. Surely love for others will drive us to pray faithfully for them; to bring them and their needs before our loving Father even at the cost of our time and missing that TV show.
Now pray for yourself and the church using Romans 12:9-13 as your guide. 
Write a prayer list (see the bottom of this page). This is very helpful if one wants to be faithful in prayer. For the duration of this 7-week series, we are encouraging everyone to write and use a prayer list.
Tuesday: Consistency in prayer leads to a deep knowledge of God
Begin by meditating (reading slowly, repeatedly, with feeling) on this text:
Ephesians 1:15-17 …Ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Add to your prayer-list some people that you would like to ‘keep asking’ that they would, by the Spirit, ‘know Him better’.
Wednesday: Pray in the Spirit on all occasions
Begin by meditating (reading slowly, repeatedly, with feeling) on this text:
Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
To pray ‘in the Spirit’ is to pray with an awareness of God’s powerful presence ‘in the room’. We are to do this on ‘all occasions’. Let’s make it a habit of pray, not just in prayer meetings etc. but through the day as people or circumstances come to mind.
Spend some time praying for ‘all the Lord’s people’ as the Spirit brings them to mind, and people that you have put on your list. If you haven’t done so already please add the eldership team to your prayer list and pray for them regularly.


Thursday: Devotion to prayer makes you a protector
Begin by meditating (reading slowly, repeatedly, with feeling) on this text:
Colossian 4:2-4  Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
To be ‘watchful’ means to be ‘awake’; this means 2 things: engage your mind when you pray; secondly, pray for people whom you know or sense are going through trials.
Add to your prayer-list some people whom you are concerned about.
Friday: Constantly pray with dependence upon God’s grace
Begin by meditating (reading slowly, repeatedly, with feeling) on this text:
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at the various things that Paul ‘constantly’ prays for them but notice how he ultimately trusts in the ‘grace of God’ (God’s power). It is those who trust in God’s grace – His loving kindness to act for the undeserving – who will pray faithfully for they know He always hears and responds.
Now pray for yourself and the church using this text as your guide. Be sure to finish in thanking God for His grace in hearing your requests.   
Saturday: Consistency in prayer is born out of love
Begin by meditating (reading slowly, repeatedly, with feeling) on this text:
1 Thessalonians 3:10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.
What does this text say about Paul’s Christ-like love?
Pray for yourself and Community Church that we would have such a heart.


WRITING A PRAYER LIST
We will never be faithful and consistent in prayer if we just ‘go with the flow’. Using a tool like some kind of prayer list is very helpful in our endeavour to ‘pray and never give up’.
Tools
In the past I have used a notebook with different sections for different days and different topics. Over recent years I’ve moved to using a computer-based list so that it can be easily updated and is more secure.
Organise
Decide on a set of topics around which you can organise your prayers and requests. Here are a few examples:
·      Personal 
·      My Family
·      My church (it's leaders, growth etc.)
·      Others (those who have asked you to pray, those struggling)
·      My witness (people whom you’d like to see become a Christian)
·      The nation and beyond (This and other nations; those whom you know serving God overseas)
·      Add scriptures, developments, prophetic words, as you go along.
Use it every day
Tools need to be used. Let’s not be like those who are excited by some new gadget that we see advertised only to leave it gathering dust somewhere.
Let’s be spurred to action by Jesus’ promise for those who “Ask, seek and knock”; they will “Receive, find and doors will open”. Surely we all want that! Well, we can all have that!
This tool will help us to be like Paul who wrote,
We constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.’ (2 Thess. 1:11-12)

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