Too Busy NOT To Pray

Written by Ed Allen
Sunday, 10 September 2006 08:40

Too Busy NOT To Pray

Points of prayer for this morning

Pray for:

• The leaders of our country
• Our military
• Irag and Afgahnistan
• Our enemies
• Our country and our region

Sermon Notes

Prayer is profoundly simple, but at the same time profoundly complicated.

Prayer must be learned and developed

Why must it be learned?

1. Prayer involves another language (see John 3 & 4)
   • Our encounters with God happen "in Spirit."
   • The rudiments are easy, but the language is ver complicated
2. We can pray wrongly (James 4): we can pray with wrong motives or not in faith
3. You can be unheard by God due to sin in your life (Isaiah 59:2)

How do we learn to pray?

• Start praying
• Learn from the Master: Jesus

Lessons from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:5-13)

Prayer must be:

1. regular
2. private
3. intentional (you have to mean it)
4. God-honoring and God-focused
5. specific

Assignments for this week

1. Get a book on prayer and begin reading it. Recommended books:
   • Experiencing Prayer with Jesus by Henry and Norman Blackaby
   • With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray
   • Too Busy NOT To Pray by Bill Hybels
2. What grade are you in regard to prayer
3. Which aspect of prayer is most difficult for you.

Why is it worth the effort to learn how to pray? What motivates us?

• God gives us His peace which transcends all understanding (Phillipians 4)
• God gives us His power