Prayer: A Study and Practical Application in Communing with God
C. The Position of Prayer
Our position, purpose, or function in prayer may vary as the Holy Spirits leads or as the situation may merit. Recognizing and engaging the right position is necessary for our spiritual growth, maturity, and contribution to the Body of Christ. The position that we take in prayer can reveal our expectation, motivation, and alignment with the will of God.
i. Personal/Devotional Prayer – prayer “for you”, not necessarily about you or your needs, but prayer that ministers to you and strengths you.
a. Psalm 55:17, Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud:
and he shall hear my voice.
b. Jude 1:20-21, But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
c. Psalm 35:13, But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth:
I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
ii. Petitions – Prayer requests, asking in a relationship of trust and dependence a. Ephesians 6:18, Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
b. Philippians 4:6, Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto
God.
c. 1 Timothy 2:1, I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
iii. Intercessory Prayer – prayer that is a “go between”, “bridge” GodWillman a. Colossians 4:12, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
b. Isaiah 59:15-16, Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no
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Prayer: A Study and Practical Application in Communing with God
judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
c. Genesis 18:16-17, 19-24, 32-33, And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; … For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the
LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. And the
LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom:
but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that [are] therein? … And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place…. Genesis 19:29, And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
iv. Warfare Prayers – Prayer is effects things in the spirit realm (2 Cor. 4:18) a. Ephesians 6:1, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places. (See Ephesians 6:10-13).
b. Daniel 10:2-3, 12-14, In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks.
I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. … Then said he unto
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Prayer: A Study and Practical Application in Communing with God
me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of
Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now
I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.
c. Zechariah 3:1-2, And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the
LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
d. Jude 1:9, Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
v. Praying in the Spirit – praying in tongues
a. 1 Corinthians 14:14-15, For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
b. Ephesians 5:18-20, And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
vi. Praying with Understanding – praying according to what you know and understand, yet still submitted to the Holy Spirit and yield to the will of God a. Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4 – The Lord’s Prayer (a topical pattern) b. James 5:14, Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church;
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
c. Ephesians 6:18
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Prayer: A Study and Practical Application in Communing with God
Week 3 – Offensive & Defensive Reality
Matthew 6:10, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Luke 11:2)
Matthew 26:42, He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if
this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
Matthew 11:12, And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Matthew 16:18, And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build
my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Romans 12:2 KJV - And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect,
will of God.
1 John 5:14-16 KJV - And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any
thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we
ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. If any man see his
brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them
that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
1 John 5:16, If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and
he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say
that he shall pray for it.
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