Book: Prayer, God’s Secret Weapon (Vol. 2)

“Jesus [asked] the Father to glorify Himself and to communicate that glory to this strangely disjointed band of leaders who would one day be known as the disciples. He wanted the glory of God to be passed on to them and, He added, to us as well. What an incredible thought. But then, what an incredible God we have. The Father’s glory has been given to us. If there was an overriding thought in [His] prayer, it was that His glory is ours. The Father’s glory is His.”

“The glory of God, Beloved, is what sets God apart from everyone and everything else. It is that which causes man to bow down and adore Him. His character is so incredibly different from man’s that it represents glory! We talk of power, but we don’t understand power until we see the power of God. We talk of wisdom, but we don’t understand wisdom until we see the wisdom of God. The glory of God is that which comes from the revelation that God and His ways are so much higher than ours that we cannot even fathom them apart from the Spirit’s revealing them to us; and we fall down as we behold His glory.”

“It is not surprising that the glory of God in the Old Testament was often revealed by a blinding light. It was a physical portrait of a spiritual truth. That truth is that God is so awesome in power, majesty, wisdom and love that nothing man can imagine can even come close to grasping His nature and His attributes. So God did what He so often does: He created a physical miracle to demonstrate something that would one day be a spiritual reality for all believers.”

“Glory, you see, is not something man can retain. You cannot receive glory, because it is a garment worn only by God. When you try to put it on, it turns to ashes. … The more you die to yourself and allow Christ to shine through you, the more of His glory others can see. You become increasingly invisible; God becomes increasingly visible.”

“[There are] two ways we steal God’s glory. We either deny God the right to reveal His nature through us by refusing to cooperate with His ways (which are as much higher than ours as the heaven is from the earth), or we try to invade His glory by taking credit for what He has done in us or through us as though we had something to do with it.”

“The glory of God. Jesus asked the Father to give it to us, so we could give it back to Him. It is His gift to the church. He pours His very life into ours and as long as we do not resist His will, as long as we do not share His glory, and as long as we return that glory through worship, praise, and thanksgiving, the glory multiplies.”

1- What comes to mind when you think of the glory of God? Why is it important to always give God glory?

2- In what ways can we reflect the glory of God? What happens when we try to steal God’s glory for ourselves? How do death and glory go hand in hand?

3- What is the difference between doing something for God and allowing God to glorify Himself through you?

4- Worship is a way in which we can give God glory. How does worship, when you have the right attitude, not only give God glory, but also fill you up to overflowing? Can you explain this circle of glory? What is your favorite song of worship?

“For God to be glorified, the time must come. The Father would demonstrate through the Son, what God looks like on a cross. He looks like perfect love. Perfect love, you remember, is any time God is glorified. It is when every one of His attributes (all of them), are demonstrated in such a way that man falls down and worships perfect love. That’s what the cross was all about and therefore the Father’s nature was revealed to the Son as he died on the cross, and the Son gave the glory back to the Father.”

“There are three great lessons to be learned and they all should affect the way we pray. (1) God’s timing is crucial to God’s glory; (2) God’s ways are so much higher than ours; (3) For God to receive maximum glory, we must surrender to His timing and rest. … Learn to pray, Beloved, not only for the will of God but for the timing of God. And remember, the longer He makes you wait, the more reason you have to praise Him because the longer you wait the more glory is building.”

“God is glorified through every act and activity that you let Him accomplish in your life. But I believe there is special glory accrued to the Father when we allow Him to finish whatever He’s doing in us, either in terms of character or in terms of ministry. … For the most part, toward the end of the road, many of us decide to pull off and try to find someplace to rest. I believe there’s extra joy in the Father’s heart when He can look at you and look at me and say, “It’s finished”.”

“Three things that steal the glory from God: (1) The cross ceases to be central in our teaching and in our preaching and in our witness and in our counseling and in our lives – a gradual moving away from the simplicity of the Gospel to any other gospel, no matter how good it may be. (2) We accept glory that belongs to God; He uses us and we begin to glory in it, not in Him, and the minute we do, the glory departs and His heart is broken. (3) Weeds get left in the garden – tiny weeds it seems nobody knows about but us; e.g. lustful thoughts. Instead of being able to finish the race you end up on the bench, and even if it doesn’t come out in the open, like a cancer inside of you, it eats you away because the holiness God planted in you cannot coexist with it.”

“Do you want to behold God’s glory? Do you want to enter Glory accustomed to His face? Then it’s time to get back on track for some of us, and finish the course well. What God wants of you and what he wants of me is that we finish the course with joy. And then in a moment of time, we will enter eternity and we will behold His glory.”

1- How does God use even the perfect timing of taking His saints home for His glory? Why is it always important to pray for God’s perfect timing as we pray?

2- How do we know when our task is complete? What if Jesus had not gone all the way to the cross, but instead stopped when the going got rough? Who were some figures in Scripture who did not complete their tasks? What happened to them?

3- What has taken the place of the teaching of the cross in many of our churches today?

4- Many times we awake in the morning seeking to glorify God in all that we do that day, only to find that by the end of the day we are frustrated and weary. What can cause this to happen? What do we do with the guilt it can bring? How can we turn our frustration into praise?

“We who call ourselves Christians were to be so unified in love, so constant in our concern and acceptance of one another, that a contentious world would stand in awe and say, I want to know that God.” … [God] chose to love us, and He chose to place us in a family of believers who were made out of the same unlovely material as we are. Clothing us all in His blood, we were to be cloaked in a cloud of glory, the result of which would be a kind of love, a quality of love, and a duration of love the world would have never seen before. It would be a love which would suffer long and be kind. It would be a love that does not envy, is not puffed up, and does not behave itself unseemly.”

“Jesus asked the Father to “make us one as He and His Father were one.” Just what does that mean? (1) Jesus and the Father were one in substance. They were different in function, but one in substance. They were inseparable, though they were separate. (2) Jesus and the Father were also one in purpose. It means their hearts were of one accord. They had the same purpose in their relationship with man. (3) The Son and the Father were one in Spirit as well. They don’t ever feel pulled apart by different motives or methods.”

“Reconciliation takes place at the cross, is possible only at the cross. and takes place only because of the cross. We have only one thing to glory in: not in our buildings, not in our doctrine, not in our numbers, not in our ministries. We glory in the cross. That’s our common theme. That’s our common denominator. The cross was the agent of reconciliation. It brought man back to God. It made Jew and Gentile one again, and it is designed to take all who name His name and give them the common cause for life itself – to proclaim that cross.”

“Do we compromise our doctrinal positions? Absolutely not. But do we glory in them? Positively not. Do we ever exalt doctrine above the cross? Not on your life. Much of the dissension in God’s body comes from the same root cause that destroyed the [fallen] angelic host. Pride. We think we have the answers. If we have the answers, anybody that has different answers is less spiritual. Not true. Only the Spirit knows who is spiritual and who isn’t spiritual.”

“In the home, as in the church, the kind of love demonstrated would be the vehicle for showing a lost and dying world that there was something better than what they had. The essence of the Jewish-Christian principle that made the marriage relationship a portrait of man’s relationship with God has nearly vanished from sight. The home was to be the place where a potential battlefield could be turned into a new garden of Eden, a place where peace and love would rule and through which all men might know that we are His disciples, by the love we have one for another.”

“Husbands are to love their wives, regardless. Why? Because God said to. It is a picture book. Wives are to be loving and responsive, regardless. Why? Because God said to. It is a picture book. What God is looking for is Christian homes where both husband and wife behave as godly representatives of the kingdom for which they are living. It has nothing to do with feelings. It has everything to do with choice. Believing husbands and wives are to be one, even as the Son and the Father are one. By this the world will know that they are His disciples.”

“We will behold His glory as one. One unit. One family. One body. All of us who name His name will marry the Lamb. The divisions and the power structures we have constructed in the church will be gone. We’ll all be there, and we’ll all be as one. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. That will be glory, indeed.”

1- What did Jesus state as the purpose for wanting us to be unified? What are the characteristics for the kind of love we are to have for each other?

2- The lesson points out that the Trinity is our pattern for unity. Jesus prayed we would be one just the same way that He and the Father are one, so what is our basis for unity as human believers in (a) Substance? (b) Purpose? (c) Spirit?

3- It’s fairly obvious that churches across America are not displaying unity. What would you say are the divisive issues?

4- What practices might be described as peripheral doctrines?

5- Is it possible to be unified with those who, for example, (a) Ordain women? (b) Champion gay rights? (c) Approve abortion? (d) Speak in tongues?

6- What is the one unifying tenet we must agree on, and what sort of projects could we engage in together without compromising our doctrinal truths? How would that really work?

7- We probably all agree that the breakdown of family life in America is a terrible thing and could spend an entire session on that one issue, but sticking to character flaws such as pride, what do you think is really behind the instability in our homes? Does God ever really give second chances when you’ve blown it? How should the rest of the congregation treat those who don’t have a perfect record in this area?

8- Review: How should this lesson affect our praying?

“Eternal life is not something you attain, it is something you receive. It is an experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ as the one true God, sent from the Father to save man from sin. The word “experiential” differentiates it from that which is pure knowledge. You don’t receive eternal life by knowing that Jesus Christ died for your sins. The devil knows that and trembles. You receive eternal life by knowing Jesus Christ, who died for your sins. Eternal life is a person.”

“The word “eternal” takes it out of the realm of that which can and will dissipate or deteriorate and places it into the realm of that which cannot decay, cannot decline, cannot diminish, cannot be lost. Eternal life is different in quality, because it is one of God’s qualities imparted to man, and it is also different in duration, a reflection of the timelessness of God. If eternal life could decay or decline or cease to be exactly what it has always been, then God could not be trusted, for He is eternal, and we are placing the total weight of our salvation upon His nature. If He could become in any way less effective, less powerful, less stable, or less secure, our hope would be in vain.”

“If you are questioning how His eternal nature could abide in you without your help, you are also questioning how His truth could remain in you without your help; how His mercy could continue to uphold you without your help; how His grace could continue to empower you without your help. When you do that, you defy the very nature of God. Unless His power is proved inadequate, you will have that mercy, that grace, that love, that holiness, and yes, that eternal nature, resident within you forever.”

“[Why were the disciples] guaranteed eternal life? Were they so spiritual? Were they so faithful? Were they so adorable? Give me a break. Not one of them even stood by Him in His hour of need. Not one. No, Jesus had kept them. Now, He was giving them (and us) back to the Father, so the Father could keep them and us forever. Forever? Yes, Beloved, forever. He gave unto us eternal life, and we shall never perish. He said, “Holy Father, keep them.” Ultimately, we will experience eternity in the presence of our Eternal God because His Eternal Spirit has guaranteed it.”

“In eternity past, He, knowing you would be one of those who “believed on Him through their word,” placed you in [His] keep forever. Do you deserve it? Absolutely not. Will you ever earn the right to be there? Positively not. But will anyone or anything, even your own foolish straying, ever release you from his grasp? No! No one and no thing can ever take you out of the Father’s hands. [Jesus] said so. He cannot lie, and He cannot change His word. If you have come to Him on His terms and been born again, you are now being “kept by the power of God unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5). Praise God, you are eternally safe.”

“(1) We ought never to pray without first thanking God [for keeping us].  (2) Our prayer lives should be clothed in humility [because of His acceptance]. (3) We ought never to stop praying for those who are in Christ but out of His will. They are still His, and He is longing for them to return from the far country. Pray often and pray humbly. It could be you. (4) Pray daily that you will never disgrace His name because you have been presumptuous with His grace.”

1- Why is it impossible to lose our salvation? What would happen if our salvation were dependent upon ourselves?

2- What is “the keep” that we have been placed in? Can Satan enter into that place of protection? If Satan is barred from entering into the keep, why are we still facing struggles and temptations and trials?

3- How can we find joy in the fact that we are kept by God? Does that mean only good things will come our way?

4- How does the knowledge of our security in Christ affect our prayer life? Do we live our lives as though we have a God that is able to keep us from falling? If we did, how would that change our lives?

“His Word, empowered by His Spirit, was to be the Holy bubble which would encase us in His love while we not only remained in, but went out into, this unholy, desperately wicked world that would hate us because we are not of this world. We were to infiltrate the world, invade the world, and penetrate the world, without ever becoming a part of the world.”

“If we truly maintained the level of holiness in our lives that God intended, those parts of the world who are bent on wickedness would resent that holiness, defy that holiness and even attempt to destroy that holiness, just as they did when Jesus Himself walked this earth. They were to be convicted of sin because of the godliness of our lives, and that conviction would force them to make a decision. It would be that decision that would either cause them to love us or hate us.”

“(1) [Christians] are a chosen people. We are those who, according to John 17, the Father has given to the Son. As such, we are a sanctified people, those whom the Father has set apart to send into the world. (2) We have a distinct purpose in life. We are ambassadors of our new King, on assignment in a place called Earth. We have one reason for living, Beloved: To declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light. (3) We have a completely new existence and thus a completely new calling. We are here to call people out of darkness into light. (4) As a new creature in Christ Jesus, we have a new citizenship in heaven. We are to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, and we are called to live different lives before unbelievers. (5) We have been given a mission. We aren’t to keep ourselves holy so we can be proud of our holiness or use it to condemn those in darkness. [Jesus] is sending us on a rescue mission. So unless somebody stays in the world, lives an exemplary life to draw people to their senses, and tells them how to find the light, they will be condemned to an eternity of darkness.”

“The goal is not simply a holy life; the goal is the salvation of the lost. Anything other than a holy life brings about degrees of disqualification for that task. It dilutes the power and destroys the image. But, Beloved, we’ve been set apart, not just for the sake of holiness, but for the sake of reaching the world.”

“(1) It is time for the church to pray for revival, and to begin by returning to the standards of holiness God ordained in His Word. (2) It is time for us to stop struggling with being unique. We are, in our generation, infatuated with conformity. The call is for us to return to God’s standards of holiness and live such unique, holy, Christ-filled lives that we will see men and women drawn to want what we have. (3) It is time we understand that we are called out to go forth. We were left here in this world to penetrate this world for Christ. Our homes. Our businesses. Our neighborhoods. Our churches.”

“We’ve got to get out of our holy huddles and get out of our cocoons of spiritual self-righteousness and go. “Wherever He leads, I’ll go,” we sing. But some of us aren’t honestly asking Him where He’s leading, so we won’t have to go. It will only take a few who mean business, who are willing to spend hours or days, if need be, on their knees before God, pleading for His Spirit to come upon this nation and upon our lives with such power that we will never, ever be the same again.”

1- What’s the difference between remaining in the world and not being of the world? (a) What extremes do you observe in either direction although people are believers? (b) What can we do to avoid being assimilated by the world?

2- How would you define the word “sanctify?” What plan does the Father have for keeping us from the evil one and bringing us to sanctification?

3- In the last few years many of us have read Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life. Having a written purpose statement has, in Christian circles, almost reached the status of an 11th commandment. (a) How do you feel about writing out your own purpose statement? Is it a struggle? Do you have clarity about one for yourself? Do you think it is absolutely necessary? Or if you have one, does it ever change? (b) What did Russell recommend in this lesson as a good Scriptural purpose statement for us? How might that be reworded to apply to your life or to your family?

4- Scripture teaches us that when we are born again we are a new creature. We’re not just something which has been cosmetically remodeled. What does the lesson mention about some “new” things implied by this in addition to a new purpose?

5- In light of those, how then are we to live among unbelievers? (a) What should be our goal? (b) Where does purity come in?

6- What would we then conclude is the reason God leaves us in the world instead of taking us home as soon as we have been adopted into the family? (a) In light of that, what should be our highest prayer focus? (b) What method for seeing revival occur has God given us in Scripture? (c) What do we try to substitute or what do we shrink from including in meeting His requirements for revival?

“If we really want to learn how to pray, we have to begin by learning to pray for our enemies. Never has the world more desperately needed to see the reality of what this principle can bring into play. The word enemy means adversary or foe. Sometimes the Bible describes the enemy as a person, sometimes it describes the enemy as a nation, and sometimes it describes it as an individual.”

“The source of all enemies is found in the heavenlies. His name is Satan. The enemy is a person — one person. He has an agenda to perform and he has a host of troops to help him carry out his agenda. His agenda is to separate man from God, and man from man. He does this by using a tactic known as conflict. He uses man’s natural desire to rebel against authority and man’s natural desire to be like God. He has two primary battlefields: They are the nations at war and individuals in conflict, but they must not be confused the one with the other.”

“God has a plan for national security carefully outlined in the Word of God. It is not to love your enemy. It is not to turn the other cheek. It is not to lay down your arms and surrender. It is a call to defend your borders, know your enemy, and when necessary, fight to the finish. The cost is high, but peace is worth the price. That’s the scriptural principle. (1) Wherever the Jews are, there will be hatred and war will be inevitable. The reason is, they represent God, and Satan hates that. He still wants to destroy the Jew. He always has and he always will. (2) War will always break out whenever a government attempts to remove an awareness of Jesus Christ from the mainstream of human existence. It may be a dictator who wants to squelch the concept of a God Who is greater to the people than he is. Or maybe it’s a false religion that takes over a nation and dominates it so that Christianity has no freedom. There will always be war and the battle is not between nations, it’s between Satan and God and the battlefield just happens to be in the halls of government.”

“Individual conflict  has a totally different set of principles attached to it. It takes place in the heavenlies, but the stage in which this drama unfolds is in homes, in churches, in schools, etc. Satan attempts to bring conflict between people because so long as man is in conflict with man, Satan can take our eyes off of a God of peace, and off of the peace of God. He does it by justifying all human failure by transferring blame to another. We buy the lies and blame them on the physical issues that spawn them rather than realizing the real enemy is not the boss, or your mate, or the president, etc. The real enemy is Satan.”

“Who is your enemy? It is anyone or any group that deprives you of a right you think you have or of the acceptance you think you deserve. I know you may not categorize them as enemies, but these are people you do not love. They may be personalities or they may be performances that cause you grief. They are people that you think took from you rights you assumed you had, or destroyed the reputation you assumed you had. And the result is that you don’t necessarily want something good to come to them. You don’t love them, you don’t bless them, you don’t do good to them, and you surely don’t pray for them, except maybe that they’ll get theirs.”

“There are three categories of enemies: (1) Those from your past that you’ve never forgiven or never let go of. 2) Those in your life now who are persistent sandpaper. (3) The day-to-day intrusions in life caused by men and women who may not be constant irritations, but at a given time and place, they caused you grief and harm, and you didn’t like it. Are you praying for them? Until we learn to turn all three categories into new prayer lists, we aren’t really ready for the rest of this study on prayer. Until we begin to see that they are not the problem — Satan is – we’ll always be focusing our anger on the wrong places and seeking solutions in the wrong way. The more conflict Satan brings into your life, the more reason you have to rejoice, because he’s just adding to your prayer list and deepening your character.”

“In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus said our enemies are: Those who: (1) Curse you (wish you evil); (2) Hate you (imply ill will, not love or appreciation); (3) Despitefully use you (act with insolence, disrespect); (4) Persecute you (pursue with animosity; cause to flee).  How do we love our enemies? Jesus said: (1) Bless them (speak well of; invoke God’s blessings); (2) Do good (do things of beauty and love); (3) Pray for them (intercede; ask God for good on their behalf). This applies to: (1) Those who have been our enemies in days gone by; (2) Those who are your enemies today; (3) Those who pass by and through your life who hurt you as they pass. God allowed them to hurt us, offend us, or frighten us, so that somebody would love them and so somebody would pray for them before it’s too late.”

1- Who is the source of all enemies? How does knowing this help you to pray for your enemies?

2- Do you think there is a difference between how Israel’s enemies were treated in the Old Testament and the way we should treat our enemies today? How does God use even national conflict to promote the gospel message?

3- How does Satan use personal conflict to try to ruin the kingdom? What does God say should be our response to our enemies? Is it possible to pray for your enemies without forgiving them?

4- Why does Satan delight in pitting Christians against each other? Why is the hurt from a Christian brother significantly more painful than from someone outside the faith? Why is it necessary that we harbor no ill will against our Christian brothers?

5- How did Jesus respond to His enemies? Can you think of times when Jesus prayed for his enemies?

6- Why would prayer be the tool God uses to turn hatred into blessing?

“The issue of authority, Beloved, goes far beyond our immediate circle of relationships and it reaches into the confines of the capitol building, into the mayor’s office, into the Supreme Court, into the Houses of Justice and government where kings, presidents, chancellors, judges, and prime ministers rule and reign. And God has called you and God has called me to play a part in the process of governing through an incredible gift He calls prayer.”

“Before we can understand God’s commandment to pray, we must understand the reasons for authority and the principles behind those reasons. [Man] simply hates to have anyone or anything rule over him. Thus, all of Scripture is about the heart of God drawing the heart of man back under authority. We are constantly in rebellion to our mates, to our bosses, to our government, to our spiritual leaders, or to anybody who dares to tell us what to do. We do not seem to understand that the powers that be are ordained of God. We still shake our fist at the people, rather than accepting that the people are only there because a sovereign God put them there or allowed man to place them there.”

“The key is the sovereignty of God. Unless you can believe that the powers that be are ordained of God, you will not be able to be subject to those higher powers. If you judge the integrity of the office by the integrity of the one holding the office, you will always be able to negate this commandment. If you judge the right of those enforcing the law by their standard of moral excellence, you will, in this fallen world, always have a reason not to obey the law, and even to resist the authorities. If you assume that posture, you will never understand how to pray for those in authority over you. You will pray judgmentally, condescendingly, or vengefully. You will pray from your perspective. We don’t have that right.”

“You [must] stay in subjection to authority. Why? Because the powers that be are ordained of God. God put those people there to govern you. In eternity past, He selected that person – who would violate moral principles, become self-serving, vacillate in his or her policies, even do things that would dishonor the very office – to be placed where they are. When you resist the authorities God has placed over you, you are in essence resisting God Himself. And when you do, divine judgment is your reward.”

“You pray continually for those in authority. You begin with the highest authority in the land. The one God has allowed to bear the mantle of leadership in the nation is your first priority. Not just in your own nation, but for key leaders of other nations in the world, particularly those nations which are in positions of authority in the world system and those where there is evidence of warfare, conflict, or serious distress. You then follow with the names of others in positions of authority in your own country. Now, how do we pray for them? We pray that they might come to know “the one God, and the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5). We pray for spiritual transformation.”

“Why don’t we pray? (1) We don’t think it will work; (2) It all seems so far removed; (3) We’re not sure Christ will make the difference; (4) We are not used to obeying just because God said to.”

“God wants us to obey those in authority over us because He placed them there, and we are obeying the office, not the man. In so doing, we are obeying God. God wants us to pray without ceasing for the men and women who hold those offices that they might come to a knowledge of the truth. His goal? He desires that they and those under them might be saved.”

1- Why does God use authority to both direct and build our lives? Who is the ultimate source of authority over us?

2- What should be our response when we disagree with the authority over us? How does prayer help us with our attitudes toward those over us? Do you believe that God has control over unbelievers who are in authority? What about those in authority over hostile nations?

3- When we pray for those in authority, what kinds of things should we pray for?

4- Can you give examples from the Bible when God changed the heart of the one in authority because people prayed?

“How do we pray for those who are not our enemies? How do we pray for our friends? Our loved ones? Those in our church body who are hurting? And conversely, how does learning how to pray for others affect how we pray for ourselves?”

“Paul’s prayers are beautiful. He had such a grip on who God is, such a handle on what God wanted, and such a sense of authority as he prayed, that he was assured that God was going to answer. Paul’s expectancy was not a presumptuous inference that God was beholden to him to move as he thought necessary. No, that expectancy was that Paul’s heart, a heart so intertwined with God’s that it literally could not speak of God without extolling His nature, longed to actually transfer that awe of God to the hearts of those for whom he prayed. So he asked God to do that. He asked God to open the hearts of certain people and pour His life in. Paul wanted us to see that all of prayer has to do with Who God is.”

“(1) Paul acknowledges Christ’s presence in those for whom be prays; (2)  Paul always thanked God for those for whom he prayed; (3) Paul makes mention of people [by name] in his prayers; (4) Paul asks God to impart certain of His attributes to those people. He was praying that they would come to have God’s kind of wisdom, the kind that sees beyond the circumstances of life into the spiritual significance of those circumstances. He was praying that they would have such insight into the things of God that whatever transpired in their lives, they would be able to greet it with arms of praise and a heart of hope.”

“We so often pray for things to happen. Or we pray for burdens to be lifted. Or we pray for crises to pass. But the things may be happening to bring us to our knees. The burdens may be there so we can learn to trust our burden-carrier. The crises may be God-ordained events which will arrest our hearts and transform our lives, if we view them from the vantage point of heaven. So when you pray for those on your prayer list, ask God to acquaint them with His nature, with His ways, and with His perspective in such magnitude that whatever is happening in their lives might further reveal Jesus personally to them.”

“God’s plan for prayer: (1) Focus upon some aspect of the nature of God, then place those we pray for into God’s bosom and ask Him to reveal those aspects of His glorious nature in their lives. (2) Pray through God’s character and learn to lovingly ask God to reveal that character in and through the ones for whom you intercede. If they are [open] and teachable, they will begin to realize a resurgence of conviction, a new hunger for truth, an inexplicable kind of discernment in spiritual things. God will move in their lives. But they can resist. They can refuse. If they do, don’t stop praying. Pray all the more.”

“The faithfulness of God – there is no end to what that one quality of God can produce in man. His faithfulness produces faith. So you can claim His faithfulness as you pray for those who are struggling to trust Him. His faithfulness produces purity, so you can claim it for those who are struggling in the flesh. His faithfulness produces steadfastness, so you can claim it for those who are not stable in their convictions. His faithfulness produces consistency. And that is just one aspect of His nature.”

1- What would it mean to you if someone told you that they “cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers?” Do you think it is important to tell people what we are specifically praying for them?

2- How are worship and intercession intertwined? Why is it important to verbalize Who God is in worship as we intercede?

3- What are some of the things Paul prays for the Ephesians? Does he pray for spiritual things or physical? Is it wrong to pray for circumstances? Did Paul ever pray for circumstances to change? What was his emphasis in prayer?

4- Can you think of one area of God’s nature that you would like to have others pray for? Share this with someone this week and watch God work in your life.

“The great focus of [Paul’s] prayer life … is that all that matters is Who God is; and that all God is, is available to each of God’s children. That’s what counts. … The bottom line is this: Paul wants us to be filled with all of the fullness of God, all of it. The fullness of God equals the nature of God released through the lives of his children, “in ever-increasing splendor, from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV). He wants to teach us how to pray that that splendor would be released a measure at a time in the lives of … all of those for whom we pray. The choice is theirs, but the responsibility to pray that God would draw them is ours.”

“[Paul’s suffering in prison] was causing the church at Philippi to be strengthened; and even the guards who were standing by Paul were being convicted of sin and converted to Christ. It wasn’t Paul’s suffering that did that. It was God’s character being revealed through Paul in his suffering. Now think about it. Had God answered prayers to relieve the pressure and send Paul home, God’s will would not have been done, Paul would not have experienced God’s grace to that measure, and those who were being strengthened and converted would have missed the whole thing. You’ve got to remember that when you pray for circumstances. [Paul wrote:] “Paul, prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the will of God.””

“Until we grasp more fully the love of God, we can never feel comfortable making Him at home in us. We can never really communicate His nature to those about us. Love is the key — God’s love. It is the love that saw us and all our sin yet loves us still, the love that saw us and loved us the more, that loved us enough to die for us. So Paul … lifts up his brothers and sisters to the throne of God. He prays that they not only grasp a glimpse of that love but that they begin to see the whole spectrum of it. He was praying they would learn to appropriate God’s love in all of its splendor, and then free God, Who is now resting comfortably in their hearts, to pour that love through them to others.”

“When we’ve come to grips with the magnitude of His love, we no longer listen to Satan when he begins to taunt us and say, “If God loved you, He wouldn’t allow suffering, if God loved you, He would never let that happen.” … There is no such phrase as “if God loved you”. … And every time the enemy whispers, you only resist the more in Christ. And the answer comes back, “Of course, he loves me. He died for me. He ever lives to make intercession for me. He is coming back for me. Love me? No greater love has man than this, that He would lay down His life for a friend.” His love never fails. [For those we pray for] we ask God to quietly place in their heart of hearts that calm assurance that God loves them so much that they need never fear or doubt again.”

“Pray for others: (1) That they will be strengthened with might in the inner man; (2) That Christ would dwell in their hearts by faith; (3) That they will be rooted and grounded in love; (4) That they’ll become so at home having God at home in their hearts that, as they trust Him, they will allow Him to usher them into the inner chamber of His heart. You’re praying that they will begin to lose sight of their own rights, their own reputation, their own desires, and be filled and flooded with the very nature of God, until His love flows and overflows and reveals itself.”

“No, you can’t make it happen, but with an answer to prayer, Beloved, God can. He can infuse you with His love. He can overwhelm you with His compassion. He can energize you with His sensitivity. And He can make you actually experience the love of Christ until you are filled with all the knowledge of Him. You say, “But you don’t know me; you don’t know my personality.” Maybe so, but it’s not the way God is, and God is in your heart if you’re a Christian.”

1- How does prayer redirect the way we view our circumstances? Even though God could have freed Paul from prison, what became the greater blessing by Paul remaining in prison?

2- What does it mean to be filled with all the fullness of God? Russell says, “Until we grasp more fully the love of God, we can never feel at home making Him at home in us.” How can we grasp more fully the love of God? What hinders us from totally accepting God’s love for us? Have you ever felt God’s love pour out upon you? When? Is it possible to love others with a greater love than what we ourselves have experienced with God?

3- How does God’s love poured out on you and in you affect your ministry and your whole outlook on life? Can we love others in and of ourselves? How would praying the prayer of Paul for ourselves as well as others affect our world today? What is it that young people are most desirous of today? How could you best pray for our young people?

4- How has Paul completely taken the Ephesians mind off their circumstances through his prayer? Will you begin praying Paul’s prayers for yourself and other believers today?

“Our prayer notebook should have four sections in it, at least: (1) The character section: The first part is a list of the character qualities or the attributes of God; the second part is a list of the attributes that God wants man to reveal through Scripture, as a result of Who He is. (2) The worship section: The first part is where each day we choose to worship God for one aspect of His nature, plus a list of verses that relate to that aspect of His nature; the second part is a remembrance section [where] you put down the things God has done that you want to remember and to thank Him for in years to come. (3) The daily section: A list of the people we pray for every day — your wife, your husband, your parents, your children, your friends, etc. – people that God has laid on your heart to pray for every day. (4) The rotating section: Seven sets of pages, Monday through Sunday [with] groups of people to pray for on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, etc., in addition to the ones we pray for daily.”

“Spend at least the rest of your life meditating on the character of God. Did you know that every absolute in Scripture is tied to one of God’s attributes – every one. So that’s why when God says, “Thou shalt not lie,” you don’t say, “Well, okay, God, if You say so”. It isn’t like that. Why did God say, “Thou shalt not lie”? It is because God is truth. … So each of the absolutes in Scripture is tied to one attribute of God and [thus] every character quality that we pray into the lives of other people.”

“As you pray for yourself, and as you pray for others using Paul as an example, instead of praying for circumstances, why not pray that God’s nature would be manifest in that person’s life? For instance, don’t just pray that Johnny will get that promotion or that job or that raise, pray that Johnny will become content. … According to I Timothy 6:6, Johnny’s greatest need is to learn to trust God. When you pray that way (you don’t know if it’s God’s will or not for him to get a raise), you’re praying according to the will of God. [Or if Mary is under strain,] why don’t you pray that God’s peace would so establish Mary that she would stop worrying and begin to praise God? This situation may have come into Mary’s life so that God could test her faith and her ability to rest in Him. So ask God to give her wisdom and faith and peace.”

“You pray because God said to, you pray because it pleases God’s heart, you pray because it benefits the kingdom and because it’s the will of God. That’s why you pray. And so we need a pattern for some of us. We don’t wait till we feel like praying – often we won’t. We need something and even though it seems mechanical, please don’t throw away the idea [of this prayer list pattern]. It may be that some of it can be helpful to you. … Remember, systems and methods are nothing more than ways to implement obedience.”

1- Why is it hard to follow through in the things we know to do that are true? How can we avoid the pitfalls of making prayer a legalistic ritual as the Pharisees did?

2- Why is it important to spend the first part of your prayer time just looking at God and worshipping Him? Do you find Satan putting questions in you mind during your prayer time, or do you ever find your mind wandering to other things? How do you deal with these distractions?

3- What is the difference between a section containing God’s attributes and a second section containing Godly qualities? Why do we choose to pray for circumstances rather than character qualities?

4- Why is it important to have a “Book of Remembrance” section? What do you learn from rereading your “Book of Remembrance?” Is it hard to find time to fit a scheduled prayer time into your daily schedule? What have you found that has worked for you that you could share with others?

“It’s time to do what we have been talking about for these many lessons. It’s time to drive a stake in the ground and make a commitment to the Father where prayer is concerned. It’s a new commitment for some of you. As we proceed, let me remind you that the issue is not to create some legalistic form that makes prayer into a meaningless habit. It is, rather, to transparently create a groove in our hearts that leads us to the throne of grace. The plan must not become the prayer. But, oh, Beloved, without a plan, most people mean well but seldom follow through.”

“There has to be an appointment. Do you have one? I mean, a regularly scheduled time to meet with God and pray? Why do we go to work every day? We have a commitment. In exchange for something called a paycheck, we made a promise to someone to whom we are responsible to put arriving at the workplace at the top of our list of priorities. Why do you show up every day to pick up the children at school? They are depending on you. You told them you would come. You made a commitment. You love them, and because you love them you promised them that you would be there for them.”

“To say that prayer is the most important discipline in the Christian life and yet not make a specific appointment with God that will keep us from overlooking it, just doesn’t make sense. … We allow our time in God’s presence to vary and to wane. We determine that time in the presence of the King of kings is when we have spare time, or if and when some deep disaster strikes. … We’re to be praying all the time for all men fervently, and we should be in the presence of God worshipping constantly. … God has let us be the determiners of when and where we meet with Him. And doesn’t that make it even worse when we tell Him we just can’t find the time?”

“First of all, we need a place. It ought to be: (1) Quiet; (2) If possible, a place where no one else can see or hear [a “prayer closet”]; (3) Free of as many distractions as possible. Secondly, we need a time. Make an appointment with God. Set a time and place, and you will be much more likely to keep it. An appointment not made is easy to break. Finally, we need a pattern. It shouldn’t become a substitute for the Spirit’s direction, but rather the superhighway on which the Spirit moves along to take you where you need to go.”

“There are many patterns for prayer, but if you don’t have a pattern, try ARIAS = Adoration, Restoration, Intercession, Abiding Rest, Singing hearts. Adoration = Praise Him for Who He is, what He’s done, what He’s promised you. Restoration = Who God is overtakes you. You are a sinner, redeemed by grace. We begin to feel that we cannot venture further into the Holy of holies until we confess our sins. Intercession = Taking to God the needs of others and finally the needs of our own hearts and asking Him to hear our requests and answer them according to His precious will. Abiding Rest = Meditate on verses or on a thread of verses that remind you of what it means to rest in Christ. I believe that this is the missing ingredient in most of our prayer lives. Singing hearts = You get up from your knees and you begin to sing and to praise. You enter the fray with a song in your heart and with praise on your lips.”

“Let’s make a commitment, Beloved. [Prayer] is where the spiritual battles in our lives, in our churches and in our worlds will be settled. … They will be settled in the corner of a closet somewhere day after day as you and I meet with God for adoration, restoration, intercession, and abiding. It will be multiplied as we get up from our knees, singing and praising God, that though our prayer time is over, it is just beginning.”

1- What does it mean to you to make a commitment? Can or should commitments be easily broken? Upon what is a commitment based?

2- Do you find yourself hurriedly praising God and declaring you love for God, so that you can get to the “real heart of prayer”—intercession? Why do we need to come before God with an expression of love and worship?

3- Why do we need to be humble and contrite of heart before we intercede? Why is it important to confess specific sins to God?

4- Listening is also a part of prayer. How do we listen for God’s voice to determine our part in helping those for whom we intercede? Do you think taking time to listen to God heightens our sensitivity to others?

5- How can we make our commitment to pray to God daily into an attitude of praying without ceasing?

“God wants us to know His heart, to do His will, and to give Him glory. So He designed this thing called prayer to bring that to pass. Man has tried to redesign the purpose of prayer. Man has said that prayer is an exercise in which we determine what God needs to do and tell Him to do it; or in the name of faith, we dare Him not to. That is the exact opposite of what God intended prayer to be. Prayer is God’s way of getting man to behold His glory, surrender to His plan, and be filled with His nature. Prayer is coming to understand the mind of God by spending time in the presence of God until we are so enamored with the nature of God that all we want is the will of God.”

“Portrait of how to pray: (1) [At Gethsemane] Jesus took His inner circle into the prayer chamber with Him. He gave them a very simple command. He said to watch and to pray. They didn’t. (2) Jesus took His team apart to pray, fell down before the Father and began to pray with all of the intensity of His soul. (3) Jesus didn’t mince words with the Father. He said, “Father, My soul is troubled, I’m in agony. If it be possible, Father, let’s don’t do this – but Thy will be done.” Just an honest expression followed by an honest request. (4) Jesus prayed the same prayer three times. Seldom do we go back before the Lord and lift up a person again and again the way He asked. (5) Jesus never told the Father what to do. His heart was so in tune with the Father’s that the only thing He cared about was that the Father’s will be done. He was not agonizing because the Father didn’t see it His way. He agonized because He wanted to be certain He prayed it the Father’s way.”

“Asking [in prayer] generates the nature of God in you, but you have the need to tell Him what is on your heart. It is not your ability to communicate that will make the difference. It is your willingness to communicate that will make the difference. It’s not how great your words are; it’s how pure and honest your heart is.”

“”Our Father who art in heaven.” reminds us that He lives in heaven. He has a home in heaven, and one day, if we trust in Christ, that home will be ours as well. “Hallowed be thy name” means every quality that makes God Himself is a part of His name. God’s name is Holy, God’s name is Truth, His name is Grace. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.” You are asking God’s kingdom to come on Earth, and you are asking Him to do whatever it takes for Jesus to take first place in your life.  “Give us this day our daily bread.” means asking for enough to take care of everyday needs for one day at a time. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” – If you forgive not others’ trespasses then what? Neither will He forgive you your trespasses. It says that. He must mean that.”

“The choice is up to us. God will keep His end of the bargain. He always does. He will be there waiting for you when you come. He will always hear us whenever we pray according to His will; and when He hears us, we will always have the petitions we have desired of Him. That’s a promise. And God always keeps His promises. The only question left, my friends, is will we?”

1- In this fast-paced world we live in, do you think “praying as you go” is replacing a regular time of prayer? What is the difference between having a committed time alone with the Lord and praying in traffic, as you wait in the doctor’s office, or other similar places? Explain how both have their place.

2- Why is it important that our prayers both begin and end with giving glory to God? How is God’s glory revealed?

3- How is prayer really a relationship? What elements do you need to have in a relationship in order for it to thrive?

4- How has this study on prayer affected your personal prayer life? After studying these lessons, why do you think prayer is called the most effective weapon against the enemy?