Notes and quotes from the 9Marks Journal – The Church Praying.

1. Pastors have the desire to pray – “We will devote ourselves to prayer” – but so often they find that though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak and their eyes are heavy.

2. Why should pastors’ pray for their people? 1) Not praying for your people is a sin; 2) Praying for your people glorifies God; 3) We are called to imitate leaders who pray for their people; 4) Praying for your people reflects the priority of New Testament Churches; 5) Praying for God’s people will lead them to change; and 6) Prayer is how ordinary men do extraordinary things for God.

3. Prayerlessness is a sin (1 Samuel 12:23). “A pastor who fails to pray for his people is as unbiblical as a pastor who refuses to preach God’s Word.”

4. “To leave God’s people un-prayed for is to leave them uncared for, unprovided for, and unled, like sheep without a shepherd.”

5. Advice of John Newton in one of his hymns:

Come, my soul, thy suit prepare:
Jesus loves to answer prayer;
He himself has bid thee pray,
Therefore will not say thee nay;
Therefore will not say thee nay.

Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;
For his grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much;
None can ever ask too much.

6. “If you survey great leaders of the Christian church, one thing they have in common is they were committed to prayer.”

7. Prayer as a primary means of promoting sanctification of God’s people. Look at Paul’s prayers.

8. “Corporate prayer – whether in a worship service or a week-day gathering – isn’t much to look at. We show up. We bow our heads. We ask God for daily needs and for gospel success. Then, we do it again. Week after week, year after year, the same people bring the same concerns in the same way to the same God.”

9. Why should a church gather to pray? To remember three essential things, which are that “we’re entirely dependent on our God, we need every member of the body, and we have a spiritual mission.”

10. In corporate prayer there are no celebrities.

11. When someone leads the congregation in prayer, we are active. We don’t just watch, we pray with them.

12. Two suggestions for corporate prayer: The person leading prays “We” not “I”; and the congregation says “Amen” to let others know that what has just been prayed is their prayer too.

13. Those who lead the church in prayer are praying to God and teaching the congregation how to pray, for better or worse – in manner, topics, content.

14. Scripture sets the agenda for the topics we pray about and it also should shape what we pray for concerning those topics.

15. Pray the “Big Four” – Adoration; Confession; Thanksgiving, Supplication – when we gather together.

16. Prayer should be a primary part of any elders’ meeting. 7 categories to pray at elders’ meetings: 1) Pray for humility and wisdom; 2) Pray through a passage of Scripture; 3) Pray for each other; 4) Pray for deacons, staff, and supported workers; 5) Pray for the sick; 6) Pray for church members by name; 7) Pray spontaneously as needed.

17. Set aside a significant portion of the elders’ meeting to pray for the members of the church, working through the church’s directory. Contact the individuals or couples beforehand to solicit specific prayer requests.

18. “If we define discipling as deliberately doing spiritual good to someone so that he or she will be more like Christ, then certainly prayer plays a critical role in our discipling relationships.”

19. Psalm 122:6-9 encourages us to pray for the economy of the city, the safety of city, the politics of the city, and the people of the city.

20. Congregants would give small slips of paper (prayer “bids”) to Jonathan Edwards during the week, and he would refer to them during his congregational prayers the next Sunday.

21. Pastors who put prayer front-and-centre each week are demonstrating that dependence upon God in a practical, biblical way.

22. Why have a weekly prayer service or prayer meeting? It reminds our people of the importance of prayer; it models for our people how to pray; it unites our people around God’s purposes; and it prepares our people for God to act.

23. “Prayer isn’t sexy. It’s not entertaining. It’s often not easy or convenient; it requires effort and work.”

24. “When we pray together, our needs become public. When he answers, his glory becomes public.”

25. God uses prayer meetings in Acts to give power to preach the gospel; courage and boldness to face persecution; deliverance in suffering; wisdom for ministry; launch new churches; share sorrows; build strong community.

26. “God can pick sense out of a confused prayer” but God may not have shared that ability with the majority of the people present in a corporate gathering.

27. “Praying without preparation should be as natural to us as sharing the gospel with someone. It is simply what we do as Christians. No, Christian should need a manuscript to share the gospel, and no Christian should need a manuscript to pray!” Yet… “The Spirit can work through my preparation on Saturday as much as he can work through my spontaneity on Sunday.”

28. “There is no shame in reading scripted prayers, but generally speaking the congregation shouldn’t be able to tell. So be sure to write for the ear, not the eye.” Use also language that communicate passion and tenderness like Paul’s prayers do.

29. Four of most important things we can pray for ourselves are: 1) Growth in holiness; 2) Unreserved commitment to God’s sovereign will over one’s life; 3) Perseverance; and 4) A heart of joy in God.

Notes and quotes from How should we pray at prayer meetings? by Ryan McGraw.

1. “Prayer meetings are a vital aspect to the life and ministry of the church.” Sadly many people don’t prioritise them or understand their importance.

2. Problem of a lot of prayer meetings is that instead of focusing on prayer, they spend much of the time taking prayer requests or with a Bible study.

3. “The primary purpose of prayer meetings should be to promote the Father’s glory through spreading the kingdom of His Son, doing His will by the Spirit’s power.”

4. Participation in prayer meetings is either by praying themselves or by saying “amen” to the prayers of others.

5. Prayer meetings should prioritise the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer – praying for the Father to glorify Himself through spreading the gospel of His Son; praying that the Spirit would spread the kingdom through blessing the preaching of the word, especially on the Lord’s Day. This will mean praying meetings dominated by praying for the conversion of unconverted people, the work of missionaries, church planters, seminaries, and the evangelistic efforts of our own and other local churches.

6. We should pray for other matters in the light of the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. For example, praying “for the sick so that they might know Christ better through their illnesses or come to know Him under them. We should pray that the sick would recover, but we must remember that this is a secondary end in praying for them.”

7. Praying with the right end limits gossip in sharing requests as we don’t need more than generalised details in order to pray for them.

8. “Praying using scriptural language and content is the best way to be assured that God will answer our prayers and that we will gain the consent of others in the prayer meeting.” This is the best way of honouring God and edifying believers.

9. Do not spend too much time on prayer requests. The whole purpose of a prayer meeting is to pray, not to be undated on the latest news.

10. Starting with Scripture/Bible study is a good way of preparing to pray, but it can easily stop prayer from happening if it goes on too long.

11. Respect the private details of people’s lives is important in prayer meetings so don’t be too specific. God knows the details.

12. “Using “we” in prayer is a good indicator of whether our petitions and praises are appropriate to the prayer meeting. If you cannot preface your requests or adoration with “we,” then your prayer is likely not fitting for public use.”

13. When others pray at prayer meetings, remember that their prayers are your prayers.

14. Repeating prayers: a) when you have something to add that has not yet been included in a previous prayer; b) when it represents a peculiar burden on the hearts of those who are present.

15. “It is better for a diverse group of people to offer a few praises and a few petitions each than for a few people to try to pray for everything or to pray for some items in too much detail.”

16. Time won’t be an issue – having to rush or extend prayer time in the meeting – if most of the time is actually devoted to prayer rather than to requests or Bible Study.

17. Don’t turn your prayers into sermons. “Your goal in prayer should be to express the desires of others through your voice and not to change their opinions and practices through the content of your prayers.”

18. Prayer meetings are for children and where they can be taught how to pray brief prayers.

19. Both men and women should participate in praying, but men should be willing to take the lead in praying.

Notes and quotes from Why We Pray? by William Philip.

1. Why do we find throughout the book of Acts the church at prayer? Because they had grasped the essential truth “that the God who ordains the end of all things has also ordained the means of its accomplishment.”

2. For the Christian there is “nothing more important” and “nothing more difficult” to maintain than a meaningful prayer life.

3. “Prayer is the work and preaching is gathering up the results.”

4. Want to learn about prayer? Learn about God!

5. Interesting thought – Creation prays. It speaks back its praise to God.

6. Speech creates and sustains relationships. When a relationship is broken, communication breaks down. Huge implications for prayer.  “God created us for speech, for communion, for relationship with Him, and yet we have broken that relationship because we have refused to respond.”

7. “Prayer is responding to God’s gracious word of salvation in his wonderful promise of his saving gospel.”

8. When preachers exhort the people to pray, it is more likely to make them feel guilty rather than make them more likely to pray more.

9. The “perfect relationship of father and son was visible in his obedient life but also audible on his lips in the constant two-way communication between Jesus and his heavenly Father. Not only did Jesus pray constantly to his Father in heaven but also his Father in heaven answered him.”

10. Every prayer Jesus prayed was heard. His prayers will always be acceptable to the Father. He has infinite and unlimited access to Him.  Why? He is the true Son of God and the true and holy man.  What does that mean for us? We can pray, and God will hear us.  “God sent his Son, Jesus, that we might receive all the status of Jesus and therefore all the privileges that are his and, above all, that marvellous privilege of intimate access to our heavenly Father in real prayer.”  When He hears you, He hears the voice of His Son.

11. Prayer is thinking God’s thoughts after him.

12. Because God is sovereign I can pray and I must pray and I will pray.

13. “If we pray in line with God’s sovereign purpose, truly thinking his thoughts after him, we are praying in alignment with God’s goals. And if that is so, then of course those prayers must be answered because God will surely achieve his own purpose.”

14. To say that we pray in Jesus’ Name and that we pray with real faith is another way of saying we pray in the Holy Spirit. It is through the Holy Spirit we are enabled to pray in line with His good and perfect and acceptable will. Prayer made though the Spirit in Jesus’ Name is praying Jesus’ prayers after Him.  We can be certain those prayers will always be answered.

15. “Just as only the Holy Spirit can make us into real pray-ers, so only the Holy Spirit can make our prayers real Christian prayers, that is, prayers that truly are in line with the sovereign will and purpose of God. The Spirit leads us in prayer that will be aligned with that sovereign purpose through his ministry to us through the Scriptures.”

16. How do we pray in the Spirit? Praying in the Spirit is not a strange mystical thing. We pray in line with the clear revealed will of the Holy Spirit which is found in the Scriptures.

17. It is not a lack of faith to pray “If it be your will.” If we are praying for what God has not revealed certainly and clearly in the Scriptures, it is not wrong to pray “Lord, if it be your will.”

18. “Jesus is the real pray-er. But his Holy Spirit will make our prayers real too, if we’ll be guided in them by all his words to us through the Scriptures.”

Notes and quotes from Praying the Bible by Don Whitney.

1. Why don’t people pray more? Why don’t people enjoy prayer more? The answer Don Whitney gives is that people have a problem with their method.  “When they do pray, they tend to say the same old things about the same old things.”  I think he’s right and I think he gives the right solution too – praying Scripture.

2. The issue is not that Christians generally pray for the same six things: 1) your family, 2) your future, 3) your finances, 4) your work or schoolwork, 5) your Christian concerns, and 6) the current crisis, no it’s that you pray the same thing each time for these.

3. “When you pray, pray through a passage of Scripture.” Yes! But I think Whitney makes two missteps in this solution.  The first is that he encourages us to pray the psalms in particular, which we definitely should do.  Yet I don’t think it is easy to do this because before we can pray the Psalms ourselves, we need to first work out how Christ prays them and then how we pray them with Him.  There are more straightforward parts of Scripture to pray through.  The second is that he’s not worried if we use the words of a particular verse to pray about things the verse has nothing to do with.  “Just speak to the Lord about everything that occurs to you as you slowly read his Word.”  Far better is to pray the point the verse is making not just the words it uses.

4. Scattered throughout the book are some brilliant quotes from John Piper:

“If I try to pray for people or events without having the word in front of me guiding my prayers, then several negative things happen.  One is that I tend to be very repetitive… I just pray the same things all the time.  Another negative thing is that my mind tends to wander.”

“Open the Bible, start reading it, and pause at every verse and turn it into a prayer.”

“For me it is absolutely essential that my prayers be guided by, saturated by, and sustained and controlled by the word of God.”

“Praying the Word means reading (or reciting) Scripture in a spirit of prayer and letting the meaning of the verses become our prayer and inspire our thoughts.”

5. Praying the Bible doesn’t stop you from praying for the same old things, but it will help you to pray about them in fresh ways. You’ll also pray more broadly and about subjects you might not have considered praying about before.

6. “Turn the Bible into prayer… This is the best way of knowing the meaning of the Bible, and of learning to pray.” (Robert Murray M’Cheyne)

7. Praying Scripture is a good way to keep focused in prayer.

8. A great blessing of using this method is that it turns prayer from being a monologue to God to a conversation with God as you respond to what He says.

9. Praying the Bible encourages meditation on Scripture. “You are not only praying the Bible; you are absorbing it.”

10. Every passage of Scripture can be turned into prayer.

Notes and quotes from Prayer Life by Winfield Bevins.

1. Prayer is “the greatest of all the spiritual disciplines because it brings us into direct communion with the Lord.”

2. How should we think of prayer? In intimate terms. Like a conversation between friends.  Words like “loving, caring, warm, sincere, personal” come to mind.

3. Helps for personal prayer: Schedule a regular time; choose a private place; limit distractions; have a list to guide; pray in Jesus’ Name according to God’s Will; use Scripture. But also keep commandments, keep believing that God will hear our prayers, and keep going by being persistent.

4. 7 P’s of the Lord’s Prayer:

Position – God is our Father in heaven and we are His children.
Praise – Hallow God’s Name by acknowledging and praising God.
Purpose – pray for His kingdom to come and His will to be done.
Provision – ask God to meet our needs and take care of His children.
Pardon – confess our faults and sins to God.
Protection – lead us away from temptation and deliver us from evil.
Power – God is able.

5. “The first thing you should do each morning is ask for God’s protection throughout the day.”

6. Meditative prayer is when “we allow God to speak to us through His Word and His Spirit” as we call to mind, think over, dwell on, and apply the “works and ways and purposes and promises” of God.

7. “Meditative prayer is sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing His Word.”

8. We need to allow time to sit and listen for the voice of the Lord.

9. Intercessory prayer is earnestly pleading with God on behalf of another.

10. Sometimes we have to pray in generalities if we don’t know specifics, but it is good if we can to be direct and specific when we pray.

11. 5 main areas of intercessory prayer: our family and friends; our church; the city; our nation; our world.

12. If we are commanded to “pray always” it means we must develop a lifestyle of prayer.

13. “When was the last time you can remember spending an entire day with the Lord?”

14. It’s not a surprise that the great heroes of the faith spent many hours praying (and fasting) unto the Lord.

Notes and quotes from A Call to Spiritual Reformation by Don Carson.

1. “One of the foundation steps in knowing God, and one of the basic demonstrations that we do know God, is prayer – spiritual, persistent, biblically minded prayer.”

2. Much praying is not done because we do not plan to pray – a system therefore can be helpful. I think this is true not only when it comes to private prayer but also public and corporate prayer too.

3. Work at your public prayers. Yes! Something I’ve been trying to do.

4. “It was because Jesus’ disciples observed his prayer life that they sought his instructions in prayer.”

5. Public praying is a pedagogical opportunity. Those who pray in public need to realise that this is an opportunity to instruct or encourage or edify those who are hearing the prayer.

6. Why pray? “We ask our heavenly Father for things because he has determined that many blessings will come to us only through prayer.”

7. I’m always struck by this story about Spurgeon. “[He] did not mind sharing his pulpit: others sometimes preached in his home church even when he was present. But when he came to the “pastoral prayer”, if he was present, he reserved that part of the service for himself.  It arose from his love for his people, his high view of prayer, his conviction that public praying should not only intercede with God but also instruct and edify and encourage the saints.”

8. Look for signs of grace in the lives of Christians and give thanks to God for them.

9. “Paul prays that God himself might count them worthy of his calling. That means these believers must grow in all things that please God so that he is pleased with them, and finally judges them to be living up to the calling that they have received.”

10. What should be at the heart of all our praying? A biblical vision. What does this vision consist of?  “Who God is, what he has done, who we are, where we are going, what we must value and cherish.  That vision drives us toward increasing conformity with Jesus, toward lives lived in the light of eternity, toward echoing the church’s ongoing cry, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”  That vision must shape our prayers, so that the things that most concern us in prayer are those that concern the heart of God.”

11. Once you’ve worked through Paul’s prayers and observed how often he prays for others; you need to work through them again to find out what it is that he asks God for them. How does this compare to what you normally ask for?

12. “We need a prayer life that thanks God for the people of God, and then tells the people of God what we thank God for.”

13. Challenging comment: “Our prayers may be an index of how small and self-centred our world is.”

14. Why don’t we pray? 1) I am too busy; 2) I feel too dry spiritually; 3) I feel no need; 4) I am too bitter; 5) I am too ashamed; 6) I am content with mediocrity.

15. If you are too busy to pray, you are too busy. Cut something out.

16. Sometimes the reason we don’t pray is that we want to keep on sinning in a particular way or avoid forgiving that person who has hurt us.

17. “The Bible insists that we pray, urges us to pray, gives us examples of prayer. Something has gone wrong in our reasoning if our reasoning leads us away from prayer; something is amiss in our theology if our theology becomes a disincentive to pray. Yet sometimes that is what happens.”

18. God expects to be pleaded with.

19. Prayer does change things, but it doesn’t changes things in some absolute way that catches God out.

20. Christians learn to pray by listening to those around them.

21. Our prayers need to be renewed and reformed by the Word of God, just like every part of our lives needs to be.

22. To know that you are praying in line with the declared will of Almighty God is truly wonderful.

23. God-centred prayers asks for that which when answered will bring glory to God.

24. Paul grasped the truth that real prayer will include “struggle, discipline, work, spiritual agonising against the dark powers of evil.”

25. “We need to pray that God will send us undershepherds who are wise, spiritual, godly, disciplined, informed, prayerful, faithful to Scripture. But we also need to pray that their ministry will be acceptable to the saints.”

26. In response to our prayers, God may give us what we ask for, or he may make us wait, or he may decline. Whatever his answer to our prayer is, it will always be for his glory and for the good of his people.

27. “Part of this business of prayer is getting to know God better, part of it is learning his mind and will; part of it is tied up with teaching me to wait, or teaching me that my requests are often skewed or my motives selfish.”

Notes and quotes from Calling on the Name of the Lord by J. Gary Millar.

1. Millar defines prayer as ‘calling on the name of the Lord’. What does that mean? It means asking God to deliver on the promises he has made to us in the gospel.

2. Calling on the name of Yahweh in the Old Testament is equivalent of praying in the name of Jesus in the new Testament.

3. Where is the first prayer in the Bible? The pre-fall natural conversations of Adam and Eve with God are not described as prayer. “It is only when we come to the end of Genesis 4 that we find anything that looks unambiguously like prayer.”  The birth of Seth, the people calling on the name of the Lord, linked to Genesis 3:15 and the search for one particular ‘offspring’.  “There is a growing sense that the promise of 3:15 may not be fulfilled immediately.  It seems that at this point the realisation begins to dawn on the Adamic community that the fulfilment of promise may take some time.”

4. “The beginning of the post-Eden ‘conversation’ between humanity and God begins with ‘crying out to God’… When this phrase is used in the Old Testament, it is asking God to intervene specifically to do one thing – to come through on his promises.”

5. When God’s people call on the name of the Lord, they are responding to “God’s promise-making initiative by asking him to act to fulfil his promises”. This idea of calling on the name of Yahweh “is intrinsically related to God’s commitment to rescue his people and deliver on his promises.”

6. “Prayer begins in the Bible as a cry for God to do what he has promised – to deal with the reality of sin by delivering on his covenant promises.”

7. To pray is to “ask God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. It is to admit our weaknesses and appeal to his awesome strength.”

8. “The starting point of all our discussion of prayer should be the initiative of God in the gospel.” What we see in Genesis is God calling to Adam before Adam calls on him. “Prayer starts with the gospel and is made possible by the gospel.”

9. Millar argues that prayer is designed for a fallen world. It is what we do now. In the new heavens and the new earth, we will have “immediate conversation along with celebration” and there will be no need to call on the name of the Lord.  What about the prayers in Revelation?  The point is made that they are prayed in John’s “present”.

10. “One of the twin privileges enjoyed by Israel is the proximity of Yahweh when they ‘call on him’, which clearly carries with it the implication that he hears and answers, acting on their behalf.”

11. A distinction seems to be maintained in the Old Testament between prayer, “which is what we do in crying to God for deliverance” and praise, “which is what we do after God has delivered us.”

12. “The tension between the rebellion of God’s people and God’s determination to bless will be resolved by a mediator who comes from the outside – who will not only pay a ransom but will be a ransom, who will both declare righteousness and bring righteousness, who will make it possible for our prayers to be heard, even though we are deeply unworthy.”

13. The psalms are important because they tell us how “God’s people can, should and must call on him.” They are “first the prayers of the Messiah, which, in the kindness of God, become the prayers of the Messiah’s people as he draws them into relationship with him.”

14. “It would be highly misleading to suggest that prayer is limited to asking God to honour his promises. The richness of the rest of the prayer makes clear that other things can and must be said to Yahweh, but the entire prayer is shaped by the expectation that God is a promise-making and promise-keeping God who can be expected to forgive.”

15. How should Jesus’ followers pray? Jesus insists on succinct, private prayers.

16. The eschatological nature of the Lord’s Prayer: “All three [requests] are primarily a plea that God will act so decisively in judgment and salvation that his glory will be unveiled, and all (as a result) enabled to see him as the holy, almighty King he truly is. It is thus a prayer for the End, for the consummation of the kingdom of God, and for the bringing into being of the new earth and the heavens that the End entails… The bread we will receive on the Day (and therefore a participation in the eschatological messianic feast). Similarly, forgiveness is end-time forgiveness, and the prayer concerning temptation either seeks strength to continue in faithfulness until the last day.”

17. Prayer in the Old Testament is asking God to send the Messiah and establish his kingdom. Prayer in the New Testament is asking God to continue to build the church of the Lord Jesus until he returns.

18. Persistence in prayer is required, but we are to do so “confident in the knowledge that God keeps his promises and will act to vindicate his people.”

19. “Jesus’ prayers – all share one thing: they are focused on his mission. His prayers are not for himself. Right to the end he continues to call on the name of the Lord, not to deliver him, but to work out his purposes through him.”

20. In the book of Acts, the main concern of prayer is for the spread of the gospel. For God “to give boldness in speaking the word, to protect its agents and to provide opportunities for the word to be heard and believed.”

21. In Paul’s letters, the gospel shapes the prayers of the church. He “prays that God will work by the Spirit to help them to grasp the gospel and so trust him” and “that God may apply the benefits of Jesus’ death and resurrection to their lives, and continue his work of perfecting them until the day when all things are brought together under Christ” and for them “to continue to live and speak the gospel in the middle of the raging spiritual conflict.”

22. It used to be that prayer was “a reliable index of spiritual maturity and commitment” in Christians.

23. One problem caused by the small group programme in local churches (which has a good benefit of getting people engaged in the life of the local church) is that weekly church prayer meeting has disappeared. There was a time when “Sunday’s teaching was accompanied by some kind of prayer gathering through the week.”

24. Why is the church praying less? Millar suggests the following reasons: 1) Life is easy; 2) The communications revolution – we expect instant answers; 3) Rise of Bible Study groups; 4) Availability of good Bible teaching – people less reliant on their pastor to teach them so don’t pray for him as once did; 5) Dominance of pragmatism – more in control so pray less; 6) Cynicism.

25. “Once we realise that God’s agenda for us is nothing less than transformation into the likeness of Jesus, and that God is passionate about enabling us to live wholeheartedly for him all day, every day for our whole lives, then our need to pray – and the kinds of things we need to pray for – becomes rather obvious.”

26. This is such an encouraging word – “Let us make sure we do not think that if prayer is hard, that is a problem – it is supposed to be like that. It is hard because we live in a fallen world.”

27. When we pray, “we are free to ask our Father for things, knowing that he will not give them to us if they are bad for us, or bad for his kingdom (or plain stupid).”

28. There are some prayers that God has said he will always answer. Five that we are encouraged to pray are 1) for forgiveness; 2) to know God better; 3) for wisdom; 4) for strength to obey/love/live for God; 5) for the spread of the gospel. “How do we know God will answer these prayers?  Because, in the first place, he says he will.  But more than that, because these prayers sum up the work of the gospel.”

Notes and quotes from Enjoy Your Prayer Life by Mike Reeves.

1. What is prayer? “It’s never been put better than by John Calvin, who in his excellent little chapter on prayer in the Institutes calls prayer ‘the chief exercise of faith’. In other words, prayer is the primary way true faith expresses itself.”

2. Your prayer life is very revealing. It reveals how much you want communion with God, and it reveals how much you really depend on Him.

3. Love this! “If your tendency is to think you’re rather wonderful, just remember your prayer life.” So, so true.

4. The world, the flesh, and the devil conspire to stop you from praying.

5. We should not be surprised that Scripture and prayer go together. If prayer is the chief exercise of faith, and faith is birthed by the gospel – see Romans 10:17 – it’s no wonder that this is the case. Great example of this is when Daniel as he read Jeremiah is prompted to pray (Daniel 9:1-3).

6. “We should long that our eyes might be opened to see the beauty of the Lord and that we might be drawn afresh to want him – and then prayer is simply the articulation of our heart’s response.”

7. Prayer is enjoying and pleading for the friendship and friendly assistance of God. God wants us to argue His promises and character with Him, for then who He is becomes an ever more conscious reality for us.

8. “Prayer is learning to enjoy what Jesus has always enjoyed.” When we pray, as John Calvin said, we do so as it were through Jesus’ mouth. “The Father has always longed to hear the prayers of his dear Son – and we pray in his name. The Son gives us his name to pray in so that we pray as him.”

9. When we think of prayer as an activity we will find it boring. When we focus on the One to whom we pray, it changes the way we think of it.

10. “Prayer is not actually a one-way conversation, us to God. No, in prayer God speaks through us to God. We’re brought into the divine fellowship. The Spirit of the Son cries to the Father through us.”

11. Praying together should be the most normal and natural thing to do. It is the Christian life in a nutshell. The family of the Father coming together to Him to share His concerns. The great benefit of doing this is that it fosters unity.

12. Cry like a child to the Father. Don’t try to be impressive.

13. “Prayer is not an abstract activity; it is the chief exercise of faith. It is exercising belief that the Almighty is my willing and kind Father, and that, accepting me in the Son, he wants to hear me and bless me.”

Notes and quotes from A Call to Extraordinary Prayer by Steve Nation.

1. “A strong Biblical church is a church that gives its attention to Word and prayer.” The book of Acts is where we see how these two go hand in hand.

2. Read the book of Acts and you see the way Christians pray is largely corporate in nature.

3. “As we plant and water, it is ongoing and dependent prayer that connects with the extraordinary God who can do in and for us what we could never do in our life and ministry.”

4. “Pray for God to pour out His Spirit to exalt His Son through the gospel; save the lost: locally and globally; build His church: locally and globally; grow His people in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.”

5. Two features of the early church weave in and out of the narrative: The ministry of the Word (Acts 2:41, 6:7, 11:21, 12:24, 13:49) and the ministry of prayer (Acts 1:14, 2:42, 3:1, 4:24, 6:4).

6. The book of Acts should be read descriptively, “while at the same time seeing that the positive picture of Word and prayer ministry should shape our life and ministry today”.

7. The first thing the disciples did, after Jesus ascended to His heavenly session, was hold a 120-person prayer meeting (Acts 1:13-14).

8. “Prayer, in its simplest form is ‘the created capacity to communicate with the Creator’; it is the ‘personal, conscious awareness and communication with the living and true God’.”

9. God chose to command His people to pray, to hear their prayers, and to respond in His time and His way.

10. We all want our churches to grow: could it be that we do not have because we do not ask God?

11. “The church gathers to pray and prays when it gathers.” If a church doesn’t pray together there is something seriously wrong.

12. The Holy Spirit directs the prayer, creates the prayer within us, leads us to cry out ‘Abba Father’, and empowers us to pray and keep praying.

13. Planned prayer meetings and spontaneous prayer meetings should be a normal part of church life.

14. Jeremiah Lanphier lunch-hour prayer meeting followed this format:

A hymn of praise to begin.
A portion of Scripture read to ground the prayers in the Word of God.
Floor was opened for prayer requests – focus was evangelistic.
Each individual was to pray for no longer than five minutes.
People could come and go as they pleased.
Five minutes before the hour was up, they sang a hymn and then a pastor delivered a benediction.

15. Evangelistic prayer meeting to pray for opportunities, as well as for boldness, and for God to open doors to the gospel and enable you to speak the gospel clearly. Creating opportunities for Christians to gather to pray evangelistically is essential for Bible-believing churches today.

16. Adopt an unreached or unengaged people group and pray for them until there is a viable church in that country that is able to reproduce and permeate their society.

17. Paul wrote many of his prayers down for us. They are models for pastors/elders to be ministers of Word and prayer.

18. Why attendance is poor at our church prayer meetings?

Guilt over not praying.
Lack of understanding about what prayer is.
Individuals who dominate the meeting with long prayers.
People who pray unfocused prayers that are difficult to follow.
Too much time spent on teaching about prayer and sharing requests rather than actually praying.
Time they take place.
A failure to remember and celebrate answers to prayer.
Poor leadership of the meeting.

19. Ask a simple question at the end of conversation you have with other members: “Can I pray about this right now?”

20. Jeramie Rinne asks “What would happen in our local flock if Jesus’ under-shepherds gave themselves to prayer the way they give themselves to budgets, emails and policies?”

21. Prayer is a sign of new life.  Prayerlessness is a mark of someone who is not taking the Bible seriously, nor the life God calls us to.

22. “The difficulty of prayer is nothing new. Jesus had to teach His disciples to pray. The Apostle Paul had to continually remind (even command) Christians to pray.”

23. Churches that are strong on sound theology and expository preaching yet are poor in prayer, are not strong churches, but weak.