Lesson 38 - The Church: Her Worship in Prayer and Thanksgiving

     Prayer is discussion with God. It is motivated by different causes and takes different forms. Most often prayer is an appeal to God to change a difficult or helpless situation. Sometimes God changes our situations as we request (i.e., concerning employment, health, finances, family matters, etc.), and sometimes He leaves the difficult situation and seeks to change our attitude (2 Cor. 12:7-10). When God does not remove a difficult situation as we request, then He intends for us to deal with it by faith (Jam. 1:2-4). God uses difficult situations to remove pride (Dan. 4:37; 2 Cor. 12:7-10), and to develop our Christian character (Rom. 5:3-5). It’s almost always the case that we prefer God change our circumstances rather than our attitude; and yet, it seems both biblically and experientially that God prefers to do the opposite. Though the Lord is concerned about our difficult situations, He’s more concerned with developing our Christian character than relieving our discomfort. However God chooses to answer, He has His reasons and they always glorify Him. A challenge to us is to trust that His plan is better than ours, wherever it happens to lead us, or however difficult the journey becomes.

1. Basically, one can address God as Father only as a member of the family of God (Matt. 6:9; John 1:12; Gal. 3:26; 1 Pet. 3:12).
2. Prayer can be taught (Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4).
3. Prayer should be directed to God the Father (Matt. 6:6; Luke 11:2; Eph. 5:20; 1 Pet. 1:17), in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:13; 15:16), and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 6:18).
4. God conditions some things on prayer (Jam. 4:2).
5. Believers should claim God’s promises when praying (Ex. 32:11-14).
6. God’s past actions provide a historical precedent to encourage believers in prayer (Ps. 22:2-5, 11; 44:1-4).
7. Praise is often a response to answered prayer (Ex. 15:1-21; Ps. 28:6-7).
8. Both the Holy Spirit and Jesus intercede for us to God the Father (Rom. 8:26; Heb. 7:24-25).

Types of Prayer

1. Submission (Matthew 26:39-44)
2. Lamentation (Psalm 55:1-7)
3. Confession (Psalm 32:3-5; 130:2-4; 1 John 1:9)
4. Crying out (Psalm 13:1-2)
5. Intercession (2 Samuel 12:16)
6. Imprecation (Psalm 69:22-28; 109:4-20; 140:9-11)
7. Thanksgiving (Eph. 5:20; 1 Thess. 5:18)

Basic Parts of Prayer

1. Confession of personal sin (Ps. 32:3-5; 66:18; 1 John 1:9).
2. Thanksgiving to God for His goodness (Eph. 5:20; 1 Thess. 5:17-18).
3. Intercession for others (Eph. 6:18).
4. Intercession for self (Heb. 4:16).
5. Willingness to accept God’s will (2 Cor. 12:7-10).

Reasons Why Some Prayers Are Not Answered

1. Lack of faith (Jam. 1:5-8).
2. Selfishness (Jam. 4:2-3).
3. Worship of other gods (Jer. 7:16-18; 11:12-14).
4. Failure to take in Bible teaching (Prov. 1:24-31; 28:9; Zech. 7:11-13).
5. Carnality (Ps. 66:18; Mic. 3:4; Isa. 1:15; 59:1-3).
6. Lack of harmony in the home (1 Pet. 3:7).
7. Lack of obedience (Deut. 1:43-45; 1 John 3:22; 5:14).