Month: July 2021

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A Heart for God

In these blog posts I have been revealing bits of my most recent Bible study Teach Us to Pray—The Practice of Prayer: Learning to pray from the Lord’s Prayer and teachings of Jesus. From the last post, in Lesson 1 we learn there are two main Prerequisites for a life of prayer: Relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ and Fellowship with God and growing in our faith walk.

Pursuing the second Prerequisite for prayer, we discover that a vital aspect of Fellowship with God is having a heart of love and longing for God. But how do we get that? Are there ways to deepen our love for God? Are there things we can do to nurture a heart of love and longing for God?

Doing Our Part

Yes, there are things we can do to draw closer to God, not just wait for him to zap us to love him more. He is already doing his part drawing us to himself.

One thing we can do is pray the Psalms; they are a wonderful place to nurture such a heart of love and longing for God. This idea is developed in the lesson and an opportunity is given to actually put it into action.

Photo by gleangenie natash44sepia adj.

Another thing we can do is form new habits to deepen our fellowship with God. Along with your other daily Bible reading, try starting your time with God each day by reading a psalm. Focusing on God in praise as we approach him in prayer helps us develop love and longing for God. This is vital for a rich prayer life. This and other factors are considered in Lesson 1.

At the end of Lesson 1, there is the first built-in prayer time, as there is at the end of each lesson. This allows you to put into practice things discussed. Learn then do.

Do you need to nurture a heart of love and longing for God? What are you willing to do to accomplish it?

These are a small taste of what is in store in Lesson 1 of Teach Us to Pray. More in the next post.

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The Two Prerequisites for Prayer

Prerequisite – something that is necessary to an end or to the carrying out of a function.[1]

Did you know there are prerequisites for prayer, or specifically, for what we term a “prayer life”?

Anyone can call on the name of the Lord at any time to seek salvation through Jesus Christ. The only prerequisites for that are humility, repentance of sin, and faith in Jesus Christ as one’s Lord and Savior, as the gospel of God teaches us. And this is the starting point.

But from that point on, to develop a lifestyle of prayer as a disciple of Jesus, one must meet the prerequisites for it. Without these two prereqs, there won’t be such a thing as a “prayer life” in one’s life.

Disciples Only Need Apply

The Lord’s Prayer—the prayer Jesus taught his disciples in response to the request, “Teach us to pray”—was not meant for those who do not yet know Christ as their Savior and Lord. It was and is meant for disciples, learners, followers of Jesus Christ. We’ve already bowed the knee to him in repentance and faith and want to continue on with God.

Relationship: the starting point

The first Prerequisite then, should be obvious from what we’ve just said: it is Relationship. When we come to Christ for salvation, the starting point, we enter a new relationship with God: he becomes our Father in heaven, we become his children. Everything is different. As the Scripture says, “All things become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). And that newness anticipates further growth and change. We don’t stay the way we were before. This is where the second Prerequisite comes in.

Peter said, “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word [God’s Word], so that you may grow in respect to salvation” and “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18, bracket added).

These are not simply nice sounding options; these are commands to obey.

Fellowship: a new lifestyle

Growing and changing, just like babies do, involves a more intimate level of communication with God. We call this Fellowship, the second Prerequisite. And it has nothing whatever to do with coffee and donuts after the church service.

Fellowship with God has to do with what Peter said about growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Learning and obeying his word, doing his will, daily seeking him, and depending on him. It is submitting to the Holy Spirit’s teaching and guidance, developing a heart for God. And so much more.

This is just a taste of what we are calling Prerequisites for Prayer (Lesson 1). These characteristics must be present and growing in your life. We show you how to start and maintain that process as we unpack these prerequisites more completely in Lesson 1 of Teach Us to Pray, a study of the Lord’s Prayer. 

Where are you on the continuum of faith? Do you have a Relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ? As a child of God, are you growing in your Fellowship with him?

If you want to pray as Jesus taught us, these are the starting points.

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prerequisite

Photo by cbcs BibleRead-2 via Morguefile

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Going Beyond the Surface of the Lord’s Prayer

Have you ever recited the Lord’s Prayer in a church service? Some churches recite it frequently; others, such as the churches I grew up in, not so much. As a consequence, when I was in a church service where the congregation did recite the prayer, I stumbled along, trying to remember the words I was vaguely familiar with but hadn’t committed to memory. (I have memorized it since then and I encourage memorizing it for everyone.)

The Lord’s Prayer wasn’t a big focus for me growing up. I didn’t understand it. Well, on a surface level, yes, I did, but not in a deep way. It was somewhat of a mystery to me. I didn’t quite know what to think of it or what to do with it, even though it did have some lovely turns of phrase.

More Than Meets the Eye

In recent times, however, after a more thorough study of it, I have come to highly value the Lord’s Prayer. It’s like Jesus gave us, in the Lord’s Prayer, a key to unlock a great treasure, one we didn’t even know was there. Or that we needed.

The Lord’s Prayer came about when one of Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray.  He knew that John the Baptizer taught his disciples to pray, and this unnamed disciple of Jesus’ was apparently hungry enough to go deeper with God, to ask Jesus to do the same for them.

Unlocking the Treasure of Prayer

So, Jesus gave his disciples a model prayer, a pattern for crafting our own personal prayers to God. It is a teaching tool with which to build our prayers, guiding us to go deeper with God, teaching us how to pray.

Teach Us to Pray—The Practice of Prayer—Learning to Pray from the teachings of Jesus, with practical application is a Bible study that takes us deeper into understanding the Lord’s Prayer, unlocking that treasure trove God has for us, and drawing us closer to God our Father.

Come along with me as I blog about the lessons in this Bible study of the Lord’s Prayer, and get a taste of what I mean.