Devoted to Prayer

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Devoted to Prayer

• Devote yourselves to prayer
• Imperative
• Command
• But can you command devotion?
• Devotion is a response.
• Something always precedes devotion.

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Devoted to Prayer

• In Biblical Christianity,
• The imperative is always preceded by the
  indicative.
• Commands never come first.
• Grace always comes before commands

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Devoted to Prayer

• The call to be devoted to prayer is a response to
  the love God has for us.
• Prayer is about
• a relationship with God.

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Out of Gods Glorious Riches

• I pray that out of his glorious riches
• he may strengthen you with power
• through his Spirit in your inner being,Ephesians
  316

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Out of Gods Glorious Riches

• And I pray that you,
• being rooted and established in love,
• may have power, together with all the saints, to
  grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the
  love of Christ, and to know this love that
  surpasses knowledgethat you may be filled to the
  measure
• of all the fullness of God.
• Ephesians 317-19

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Out of Gods Glorious Riches

• God has made
• a relationship with him possible
• by sending Jesus
• to die on the cross.

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Out of Gods Glorious Riches

• God invites us
• to value that relationship
• by talking to him in prayer.

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• Scripture Reading
• Luke 111-13

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• Who Taught You How to Pray?
• Mom / Dad
• Started with
• Form Prayers
• Personal Prayers

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• Then you met someone who seemed to pray on a
  totally different level.
• Their prayer times
• not measured in seconds
• but minutes hours.

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• Lets be clear
• The length of our prayers is not what gets our
  prayers heard in heaven.
• Jesus warned
• And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like
  pagans, for they think they will be heard because
  of their many words.
• Matthew 67

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• If prayer is all about a relationship with God,
• lets look at the role of communication in human
  relationships.

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• How many minutes of meaningful conversation
  happens between parents and their children per
  day?
• Approx. 3 minutes
• How many minutes of meaningful conversation
  happens between marriage partners per day?
• Approx. 3-5 minutes

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• With that level of communication where do you
  think those relationships are going?
• Marriage Encounter recommends 10/10 each day
• just to maintain the relationship.

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• Back to prayer
• If our level of communication with God is so low,
  should we be surprised that our relationship to
  him does not seem to be growing and has gone
  stale?

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• Most of us would like a stronger relationship
  with God.
• Many of us have met people who are on fire for
  God and have a prayer life that is well beyond
  where we are today.

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• I suspect the disciples of Jesus were
  experiencing the same thing
• They saw Jesus spending hours in prayer.
• They noticed that he had an incredibly close
  relationship to God
• that they did not seem to have.

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• Now dont think that the disciples did not know
  how to pray.
• They were Jewish men
• who had been Jewish boys
• who were taught the Torah and taught Jewish
  prayers

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• Every disciple looks to grow in prayer
• The disciples of John the Baptist asked to be
  taught.
• The disciples of Jesus
• Asked to be taught to pray.

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• The Lords Prayer is a model.
• It was not to become an other
• form prayer
• that is prayed without thinking.

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• But what do you pray about
• so long?

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• Helpful Model for me was the
• ACTSS model
• A
• C
• T
• S
• S

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• The ACTSS model
• A - Adoration
• C - Confession
• T - Thanksgiving
• S - Supplication
• S - Surrender

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• A - Adoration
• Have you heard of the man who hadnt told his
  wife he loved her in the past 50 years?
• I told you I loved you at the wedding and if it
  changed I would let you know.
• We want to be told that we are loved
• In prayer we tell God we love him

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• C - Confession
• Is important in human relationships
• To clear the air.
• Also important in our relationship with God
• Tells God we value our connection to him

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• T - Thanksgiving
• Count your blessings, name them one by one
• Be specific
• Amazing side effect

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• S Supplication
• In healthy human relationships we need to ask for
  what we need.
• With God we do this through prayer.
• We pray with persistence
• Knowing God loves us

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• S - Surrender
• In Ephesians 521 we are told to Submit to
  one another out of reverence for Christ.
• In our relationship with God we submit or
  surrender to God and his will

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• The ACTSS model
• A Adoration
• We come into God presence with love and
  praise
• C Confession
• We honestly admit our sins to God asking
  for forgiveness
• T Thanksgiving
• We thank God for specific blessings
• S Supplication
• We bring our needs and the needs of
  others to God who loves us
• S Surrender
• We conclude by reaffirming our commitment
  to our
• relationship with God

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Prayer Relationship - ACTSS

• Communication helps our relationships to thrive
  grow.
• Prayer, in response to Gods love, helps our
  relationship to Him thrive and grow.