Seasons of Seeking: Finding and Drawing Close to God with Purpose
Prayer: The Action of Seeking / The Avenue of Pursuit
Introduction: In this final lesson on seeking God, prayer is the focus. As with the previous lesson where we focused on the Word of God, this is not a redundant exposition on prayer as a devotional admonishment or religious duty—rather this is a consideration of prayer as joyful conclusion and hopeful/hope-filled means to enhancing your personal relationship God; prayer is an opportunity to pour out your hear to God, to be real with God and also to partner with Him.
Hebrews 11:6, But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
One of the most diligent means of seeking God is through prayer.
Psalms 32:6, For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
Basic Review:
Understand prayer is a critical part of your relationship with God. Any relationship will be stalled where communication is diminished or lacking.
Prayer is about relationship, not about being religious. Prayer is about fellowship and entertaining the presence of God, not about duty or marking of a spiritual task list.
Prayer was taught by Jesus as a pattern of seeking God, which included:
o Reverence and relationship with God as Father
o Declaration and focus on the Kingdom, ushering in God’s rule and reign in one’s personal life and in the earth.
o Unreserved embrace of God’s will that leads to transformation in society and cultures on the earth.
11 | P a g e
Seasons of Seeking: Finding and Drawing Close to God with Purpose
o Includes daily request for divine life/wisdom/understanding/light, o Repentance and receipt personal forgiveness o Release of mercy for others o Spirit-led direction away from temptation (and towards righteousness/purity/holiness/truth/light) o Deliverance from evil
Mat 6:9-13, After this manner therefore [Luk 11:2-4 KJV] 2 And he said unto pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, them, When ye pray, say, Our Father
Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be is] in heaven. 11 Give us this day our done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, day by day our daily bread. 4 And as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead forgive us our sins; for we also forgive us not into temptation, but deliver us every one that is indebted to us. And from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and lead us not into temptation; but deliver the power, and the glory, for ever. us from evil.
Amen.
Prayer is a pursuit of God, a search/seeking of His will…successful apprehension requires the enablement of the Holy Spirit! (So we must yield and seek to yield to the Holy Spirit).
o [Rom 8:15 KJV] 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Cry: 1) To croak, to cry out, cry aloud, vociferate (to give voice to thoughts, words, emotion, and/or desires) / 2) To cry out aloud or to speak with a loud voice
12 | P a g e
Seasons of Seeking: Finding and Drawing Close to God with Purpose
Proverbs 18:21 Death and life [are] in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Note: If you are dying, sometimes the only means of help is to cry out for Someone else to come and save you.
o [Gal 4:6 KJV] 6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
o [Rom 8:26-28 KJV] 26 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. 27
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to [the will of]
God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
The Asking Principle of Seeking God in Prayer:
o [Luk 11:2-4, 9-13 KJV] 2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our
Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. …
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if [he ask] a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
13 | P a g e
Seasons of Seeking: Finding and Drawing Close to God with Purpose
o James 4:1-3, From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Consider the following types of prayers:
Prayers of Supplication
Making earnest requests to God…
o [Psa 6:9 KJV] 9 The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer.
o [Psa 30:8 KJV] 8 I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication.
o [Psa 55:1 KJV] 1 [[To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil, [A Psalm] of David.]] Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.
o [Psa 119:170 KJV] 170 Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.
o [Psa 142:1 KJV] 1 [[Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave.]]
I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.
o [Jer 36:7 KJV] 7 It may be they will present their supplication before the
LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great [is] the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.
o [Eph 6:18 KJV] 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
o [Phl 4:6 KJV] 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
14 | P a g e
Seasons of Seeking: Finding and Drawing Close to God with Purpose
Prayers of Desire
Prayers of expressed longing to and for God.
o [Psa 42:1-4, 7-8 KJV] 1 [[To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of
Korah.]] As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where [is] thy God? 4 When I remember these [things], I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. … 7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. 8 [Yet] the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song [shall be] with me, [and] my prayer unto the God of my life.
Prayers of Surrender
I surrender my life / I seek His will – No one can pray this type of prayer for you.
Prayers of Confession/Repentance
Prayer of agreement with God, turning from sin to righteousness. / see Daniel 9
Prayers of Intercession
Standing in the gap on behalf of others. / see Genesis 18:17-33
Prayers of the Spirit
Path to perfect prayers…trusting the Holy Spirit. / see Romans 8:26-28
15 | P a g e
Seasons of Seeking: Finding and Drawing Close to God with Purpose
Example of Seeking God through Prayer:
[Dan 9:1-12, 14-15, 17-23 KJV] 1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; 2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: 4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: 6 Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7 O Lord, righteousness
[belongeth] unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, [that are] near, and [that are] far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. 8 O Lord, to us [belongeth] confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. 9 To the
Lord our God [belong] mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that [is] written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. 12 And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. … 14 Therefore hath the
LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God [is] righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice. 15 And now, O
16 | P a g e
Seasons of Seeking: Finding and Drawing Close to God with Purpose
Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly. … 17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the
Lord’s sake. 18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God:
for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. 20 And whiles I [was] speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God; 21 Yea, whiles
I [was] speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22 And he informed [me], and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. 23 At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew [thee]; for thou [art] greatly beloved:
therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
17 | P a g e