When we don’t know what to pray or how to pray, the best thing to do is to go to God with it. Have a chat. He’ll figure it out…

How’s that for calibrating? We first world folks have the greatest danger of serving and trusting in mammon. (Mammon means “wealth, assets” according to the Strong’s Concordance.)

Now is a good time to search our hearts in prayer. Where ever there is a stronghold of trusting in the wrong thing and serving that wrong thing, we can re-calibrate by going to God with it, repenting, and asking His help.

You know, the way you might think about your favorite loved ones or friends…

Here’s a sweet, old poem by Fredrick W. Faber:

Only to sit and think of God,

Oh, what a joy it is!

To think the thought, to breathe the Name

Earth has no higher bliss.

(from A. W. Tozer’s Knowledge of the Holy)

Exercise: Give it a few minutes. Think about God, his name, who he is, what he is like…

Or despiseth thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering: not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Romans 2:4 KJV

God’s riches are:

Goodness- kindness, gentleness

Forbearance- putting up with us, giving us time to grow

Patience- self-restraint from One who has the power to act with retribution

When we think on these things, what a gratitude we can have! Everyone has something that God is working on in his/her life: love of money, pride, gossiping, gluttony, selfishness, etc. His constant goodness will help us to repent: thinking and living differently in His power.

Exercise: What is God working on in your life? Pray about it and in gratitude, look for His goodness, forbearance, and patience at work.

If I’m going to get organized in life, I have to know what my priorities are. What is most important? What must be addressed first?

In prayer, most of the time (emergencies excepted), the priority is God- relating to Him and understanding who He is.

You can’t pray trustingly if you don’t know Him well.

So, how do you get to know Him well?

1) Meet Him daily in His Word (Scripture).

2) Praise Him for what you do know (C.S. Lewis says that we praise the things/people we love). You can do this by taking some Scripture and re-wording it so that it is a conversation between you and God.

Exercise:

Take this Psalm and pray it to God. See what happens in you and in your prayertime.

I sing to You, Lord a new song- one that I am learning just now.

I sing to You, Lord, and watch for all the earth to join me!

I sing to you Lord, bless Your name!

I proclaim the good tidings of Your salvation for me from day to day.

I  tell of Your glory to my friends and family- about what you have done for me and the nations.

I tell of Your wonderful deed among all the peoples.

For great are You, Lord and greatly to be praised.

Psalm 96:1-4 personalized

Don’t rest from your work, work from your rest.

That could mean a bunch of different things, but when I read it, it speaks to me of this verse:

For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength  (Isaiah 30:15, biblegateway.com)

Returning: to Who? God

Rest: How? in prayer and waiting

Quietness: Why? in order to listen and hear His voice

Confidence: in Whom? if we were capable of doing what we must or surviving the latest trial, we wouldn’t need God. He puts us in positions where we use up our talents or wisdom and can only persevere by our confidence that He will do the work in and through us- and that He will be glorified

What happens next? We are saved and find strength.

Assignment: Pray about the places in life you feel stretched thin or worn out. Ask God about it. Meditate on Isaiah 30:15. What is it saying to you?

Back in 1720, the American colonies were in moral decline. Pastor Jonathan Edwards was greatly grieved by the condition of his church- the worldliness and dryness of his flock. He began to passionately pray for God to send revival.

One Sunday, God moved. Edwards was preaching his now-famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Suddenly, the congregation fell in a great repentance and conversion. People were saved. Lives were changed.

The revival swept through the colonies. Thousands came to know the Lord or renew their walk with Him. The culture was changed- jails sat empty, pubs were neglected. People kept busy with their churches, their families, their work, and their devotion to God.

Several preachers traveled through the colonies, used by God to carry the Great Awakening. One of them was George Whitefield. He preached some of his most famous sermons in Philadelphia near what is now called Independence Hall.

Benjamin Franklin enjoyed Whitefield and brought his friend, Lawrence Tribble to hear him. After a moving sermon, Tribble went home and wrote a poem describing the movement of the Great Awakening.

One man wakes, awakens another.

The second one wakes his next door brother.

Three awake will rouse the town and turn the whole place upside down.

Many awake will cause such a fuss, it will finally waken all of us.

One man wakes with dawn in his eyes,

Truly then it multiplies.

What if we all took this poem and made it a prayer? We could pray it for our country: That folks would wake with dawn in their eyes, that God would multiply an awakening, a revival!

We had an adventurous week here on the East Coast.

First there was an earthquake: 5.9 on Richter Scale.

Where was God during the earthquake?

He was right there with you and with me.

Then there was a hurricane. Only a Level 1 hurricane, but a hurricane nonetheless.

Where was God during the hurricane?

He was right there with you and with me.

Sometimes it is difficult to feel attached to the Lord (and hear His still, small voice) when the world is crazy. Here is a good prayer project:

Daily ask God to help you be sensitive to His presence in you and around you. The more you look for Him, the easier it will get. (Then during really scary times, it will be harder to forget!)

Paul felt it important to teach Timothy about prayer.

He told Timothy who to pray for and the types of prayer they needed.

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

For kings, and all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.- I Timothy 2:1,2

Paul wanted Timothy to pray for:

1. Kings

2. All that are in authority

Who are the kings we pray for today?

1. Our president

2. Leaders of other countries as God brings them to mind (our country’s friends AND our country’s enemies)

How do we pray for them?

1. Supplication- ask God specifically for something you or others need from them (for instance, wisdom on ruling the country well, good decisions about the war or education policy)

2. Intercession- ask God specifically for things these leaders need (for instance, to walk with God, to know Christ, to live righteously, good health)

3. Give thanks for them and what they do- (whether or not you like a leader, we are to give thanks for them)

4. That they may lead our country and world in a way that we could live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty.

How can you incorporate Paul’s prayer list into your life?

The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.

What would happen if you caught your first thoughts of the day and directed them straight to God (before deciding the schedule of the day, what to wear, what the weather is like)?