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Bible Study Tuesday?Prayer

02/02/2010 12:52 PM

Hi, Everyone,

This is the last of the foundational chapters of Princess Unaware. As I told my small group this morning, if this was all you would read of Princess Unaware and truly understand and live it, that would be enough for your life time. Our lives are all about relationship with God. Without that nothing else matters. So, dear friend, as you read today’s notes, sink deep in relationship with your heavenly Father Who is crazy about you. It is all about relationship.

Wow. This was a tough one. Looking over the truths of God discussed in chapter 3, and seeking God’s guidance on which one to address today, I was thinking, hmm, we covered God is love pretty well last week. Sovereignty of God—yep, that’s good, especially for moms. The faithfulness of God—oh, now that’s a good one for moms! Then came the section on prayer. Ugh. I’m definitely not qualified to dig in to that (I know I wrote that section!). And then that’s all. What to do? Back to prayer. My prayers of late have not been great. Maybe God is trying to tell me something.

As I struggled to decide which part of the doctrinal elephant of prayer to bite off and attempt to digest for you, I asked myself, “What does God want me to know about prayer?” As I hinted, my prayer life has been lacking. What’s the deal? Then I asked God, “What does He want you to know about prayer?”

First let me tell you my deal and see if you can relate. In a few moments of raw honesty I admitted why my prayer life is lacking.

• Many prayers seemed to go unanswered for a very long time.
• My prayer list became more of a grocery list. Read it and check it off.
• I wouldn’t have said it, but my thoughts and actions revealed I was believing the lie that my prayers weren’t working. (Hint—problem in my theology)
• So many situations not changed. So many people still in hard times or not walking with God. Were my prayers making a difference?

I allowed Satan to stir up discontent and disbelief in me. That took away my passion to pray and put distance in my relationship with God. When I’m not in relationship with God, I’m not praying.

God showed me four truths that we all need to know and cling to.  But first we need to have a working definition of prayer. This is deep so be ready to take notes—Prayer is relationship. Yep, that’s the crux of prayer—it is relationship. Turn to someone near you and tell them, “Prayer is relationship.”

The first relationship with God started in the Garden of Eden. God was “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8). It doesn’t say exactly why God was in the garden, but it is implied that it was His habit to meet with Adam and Eve there for a time of fellowship and possibly teaching. Look back to 2:15-17. God surely taught Adam how to care for the garden and He also tells him about the trees in the garden and not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In verse 22 God set up the first blind date—He introduced Adam to Eve. I’m sure that after a brief introduction God didn’t need to do much else. Adam probably took one look at the woman straight from the Creator’s hands and said, “I’m in!” See the interaction between God and Adam from the very beginning. God is all about relationship. It must have been a fun time in the Garden of Eden while it lasted.

 

So in that relationship what does God want us to know?

 

1. He cares. He cares deeply about our lives and everything that concerns us. Psalm 144:3, “O LORD, what is man that you care for him, the Son of Man that you think of him?” Never think God is too busy or your situation is too small. God thinks about us. O-o-o. He cares about us. Thinking God is too busy is contradictory to who God is so it is a lie. We are doing warfare on lies this semester.
2. He hears. Psalm 145:18-19, “The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.” God hears us. We don’t have to get His attention. We always have it. We don’t have to wait till God is in a good mood. He is always has time for us. He always hears us.
3. He answers in His sovereign will. John 11:1-44. This is the story of Jesus and His very good friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Read 1-6. V. 4—Jesus states the point of Lazarus’ illness. We almost never know the point of what God is doing in our lives or our loved ones’ lives at the beginning. (expound) V. 5-6–Jesus loved this precious family. He knew that in order to glorify God and accomplish His will these dear people would suffer deeply.

Verse 11—15. Lazarus has died and now Jesus is on His way. The disciples don’t get it, and to us observers it seems a bit late. Again in v. 15 Jesus states the purpose of His delay—“and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.”

Verses 21–Martha tells it like it is. “If You were here, if You came when we sent for You Lazarus would still be alive.” Then she adds in her faith in Him, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” She believes, but she doesn’t realize the power of God or Jesus.

Verses 28-36 tell of more of the story, but let’s jump to verse 37. Oh , the Monday-morning-armchair quarterbacks! They like to suppose and speculate. But they don’t know Jesus or His power.

Verses 38-44. God’s sovereign will revealed.

God always has a sovereign will that will be accomplished. Isaiah 14:26, “For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart Him?”

God is God and He loves us. Put both of those together and we can trust His sovereign will for us. We may not understand it. Think of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Try to add up everything the angel told her, Joseph’s communication with God, knowing Jesus and witnessing all of His life and then the death He died, His resurrection and His ascension. But still all was not well. Life was still hard. Most people still did not believe.

Which brings me to the last thing I think God wants us to know.

 

 4. He wants us to rest in Him, abide in Him, and trust in Him.

Remember, prayer is relationship. Relationship is doing life with God. John 15:5-7. “Remain in Me,” “Abide in Me,” “Come to Me. . .Take My yoke” (Matthew 11:28-29)—it all means do life with God. When we do we can rest in Him and trust in Him. 

Living It 

How will all of this doctrine help me live a fabulous life? Prayer is relationship. (Turn to your friend and remind her that prayer is relationship.) In a minute we will have our three minutes of prayer. Be raw honest with God about what is the problem in your prayer relationship (which is your whole relationship) with Him. Then continue that conversation with whatever is on your heart. Maybe you just want to sit in the love of God for the rest of the time. That’s great, because why—prayer is relationship—and in relationships we don’t do all the talking all the time. It’s great to just sit with God and be with Him. Maybe you want to open your Bibles and meditate on a verse or two that God is speaking to you through. Whatever. This is the beginning of a lifetime of relationship with God. When our 3 minutes is up, continue on in relationship with God, talking to Him throughout the day and being aware of His presence continually.

Three minutes of prayer.

Did you start a lifetime of prayer/relationship with God today? I would love to hear about it.

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