Sunday May 20, 2007

The Spiritual Disciplines – Prayer, part III
Psalm 86:1-7

I. Introduction

The story is told of a certain 9-year-old who is sitting at his desk in school when all of a sudden there is a puddle between
his feet, and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop, because he knows when the boys find out, he'll never hear the end of it. And when the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again as long as he lives.

The boy puts his head down and prays this prayer: "Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat." He looks up from his prayer, and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he's been discovered.

As the teacher is coming to snatch him up, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl filled with water. She stumbles and dumps the goldfish bowl in his lap. He pretends to be angry but prays, "Thank you, Jesus! I'm saved!"

Now, rather than being the object of ridicule, this kid is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and
gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. When he comes back to class, all the kids are on their hands
and knees cleaning up around his desk. This sympathy is wonderful!

Finally, at the end of the day, they are waiting at the bus stop. The boy walks over to Susie and whispers, "Susie, you did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Susie whispers back, "I wet my pants once too."

(As told in a sermon by Dr. Robert Tuttle, Jr.; submitted by Ron Watts, Cape Girardeau, Missouri)

A few weeks ago I introduced one of the disciplines we practice as we grow in our relationship with God – the
discipline of prayer.

After establishing the importance of prayer, I began to share that there are different types of prayer – let’s quickly
review those.

A. Prayer of Confession

B. Prayer for Help

C. Prayer of Thanks

II. Types of Prayer

Let’s take a look at three more types of prayer.

D. Prayer Declaring Our Need

I believe that next to the prayer of confession, the prayer that acknowledges our need for God is foundational to our devotional life.

Why do I say that? Because to acknowledge our need is a sign of humility and God draws near to those who are humble.

“For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy
place, and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive
the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15, NRSV)

Is this not what devotions are all about? Is this not why we practice the spiritual disciples? We want to draw near to God!

Then determine to live in humility. Acknowledge God for who He is and understand your place in the light of His glory.

“He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.” (Psalm 25:9, NRSV)

“And all of you must clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for ‘God opposes the
proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” (1 Peter 5:5, NRSV)

Sample prayer declaring our need:

“Hear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. 2 Guard my life, for I am devoted to you. You are my
God; save your servant who trusts in you. 3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I call to you all day long. 4 Bring joy
to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 5 You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to
all who call to you. 6 Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry for mercy. 7 In the day of my trouble I will call
to you, for you will answer me.” (Psalm 86:1-7, NIV)

E. Prayer of Uninhibited Praise

“Happy are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance; 16 they
exult in your name all day long, and extol your righteousness.” (Psalm 89:15-16, NRSV)

The NIV translates verse 15, “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of
your presence.”

Do you want to be blessed? Then learn to give the festal shout of praise! What is the festal shout?

“So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpets, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell down flat; so the people charged straight ahead into the city and captured it.” (Joshua 6:20, NRSV)

The word translated “great shout” is the same word that is translated “festal shout” in Psalm 89.

And if that is not enough, when it says the people shouted at the beginning of verse 20 it uses a different Hebrew word that means “to split the ears (with sound)”, i.e. “shout (for alarm or joy).”

Why all this shouting? They were praising God for the victory – even before they saw it in reality, they believed that the victory was theirs.

Blessed are those who have learned to give the festal shout!

All of this speaks of uninhibited praise and it is a vital part of your prayer life – so when you come out for worship and
there is an opportunity to shout unto God, I urge you to do so with all your heart.

You may not feel like giving uninhibited praise to God, but that may be just what you need to break out of your depression and break through into a place of victory!

You do this by faith, not just by how you feel.

Sample prayer of uninhibited praise:

“Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy. 2 For the Lord, the Most High, is
awesome, a great king over all the earth. 6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm.” (Psalm 47:1-2, 6-7, NRSV)

F. Prayer of Intercession

Often we tend to be self-centered even when it comes to prayer.

We pray only about our own needs, issues and problems, but the very heart of Christianity is that we are to be centered
on another – and that is God.

This is why the prayer of thanks that we spoke of a couple of weeks ago and the prayer of praise that I just talked about
are both so vital to our spiritual growth.

They get our focus off ourselves and our own needs and onto the One on whom we should be focused anyway.

Christianity also should lead us to be concerned for others, and this is what the prayer of intercession is all about.

Paul urges Timothy to pray by saying, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet
and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” (1 Timothy 2:1-3, NRSV)

Intercession in the context of prayer means that we approach God on behalf of another person. We seek God’s favor for people, circumstances, governments and nations.

Jesus is our great example as He interceded for us through His death on the cross, and “consequently he is able for
all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”
(Hebrews 7:25, NRSV)

One of the most life-changing ministries we can engage in as Christians is the ministry of intercession.

It is not the most glamorous and you will not receive many earthly accolades, but intercession is precious in the sight of God.

Like Jesus we can literally stand in the gap for another human being. That person may not be crying out for God to work
in their life, but we can release the hand of God to work in their life through the prayer of intercession.

You don’t think this is an important ministry? Listen to the Word of God through Ezekiel:

“And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of
the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. 31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; I have returned their conduct upon their heads, says the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 22:30-31, NRSV)

III. Conclusion

Today we have looked at three additional types of prayer: the prayer acknowledging our need, the prayer of uninhibited praise, and the prayer of intercession.