Consistent in Prayer Colossians 4:2-6

Consistent in Prayer Colossians 4:2-6

In the past weeks we have seen that every Jesus Follower, every Disciple, needs a Paul to teach them and a Timothy to teach. We also learned we are to help our disciple, our Timothy, to be a person of the Word. Last week we saw that our disciple needs someone to teach them to pray. Today we look at one aspect of a Disciples prayer life, Consistency.

Two men in a raft… stop I see a ship!

Our scripture today tells us to continue steadfastly in Prayer.

1.       Continue
A. an action started in the past and carried into the future.
B. courageously persistent in prayer
C. Constant in prayer Romans 12:12
D. 1 Thess 5:17 Pray without ceasing
E. Luke 18:1 always pray and not lose heart.

2.       Second important word is steadfastly
A. courageously
B. steadfastly in the face of resistance
C. resistance within ourselves,
D. Resistance from our schedule
E. Resistance from others
F. Daniel 6:5-10
G. Matthew 14:23
H. mark 1:35
I. Luke 5:16

3.       Encouraging consistent prayer
A. Encourage one another to be consistent in prayer
B. Use a Prayer journal
C. practice it in your time together
D. Discuss your prayer time for the week

If we will learn to be consistent in prayer we will find God consistent in His answers. If we will be disciplined and persistent in prayer we will be blessed. And through our continuing steadfast prayer we will find victory and a closeness to God we have thought impossible.

Teach me to pray luke 11:1-4

Lord teach me to pray Luke 11:1-4

Prayer, it’s one of the pat answers to every problem. Yet how many times are people taught how to pray. Jacob has been trying hard in his chemistry class, the big test is tomorrow and he needs to get a good grade. He wants to ask God for help but how? How do you start and when do you stop? Do you say hello God, this is Jacob, then wait for a beep or something? When you’re done do you just hang up on God?

One of the elders in a church I served prayed in King James, another elder prayed and it was like poetry so beautiful and eloquent. I wonder who taught them to pray. I find more people are like Jacob. Does God hear me, or have I really lost it and I am just talking to myself?

1.      Teach us to pray

a.      Found only in Matthew and here in Luke.

b.      Never referred to again

c.       If you start it out congregations will finish it

d.      Start it in a nursing home and people who have forgotten everything else will finish it.

e.      Not meant to be recited, it is meant to be an outline.

f.        Focus on vs 1 “Lord, teach us to pray”

2.      Teaching others how to pray

a.      Take time to explain prayer, what it is and what it’s not.

b.      It is not running down a shopping list

c.       It is like talking to a friend.

d.      There are time to speak and times to listen

e.      Lead them in prayer then let them pray

f.        Do I stand, kneel or sit in a chair?

g.      Do I fold my hand and whisper or raise my hands and shout?

3.      Study the prayers in the Bible

a.      John 17

b.      Psalm 108:1-6

c.       Psalm 109:1-5

d.      Psalm 28:1-9

e.      Psalm 23

f.        1 chr 4:10

g.      Mark 14:32-37

There are no magic words that get God’s attention. There is no format that is needed. Just share your heart and mind with God like you would a close friend and know He hears you.

Teach them to pray.

Meditation, Joshua 1:8&9

 We live in a world that values responding more than thinking. Social media, video games, and smart phones push information at us in an alarming rate. Our natural response when things are thrown at us is to catch them, to respond. We value action movie heroes and sports figures who can make split second decisions under pressure. In our scripture today we find that God tells Joshua to take time to think, time to meditate on God’s word.

Joshua is told to take time throughout the day and night to think about God’s Word and be careful to live according to all that is written in it. Then he is given the promise of prosperity and success. The word meditate is used directly about 20 times in the Psalms. We find people in the Bible meditating from Abraham, the prophets like Daniel, the apostle John who described it as being in the Spirit, and even Jesus made a regular habit of going off alone.

Meditation gets a bad rap because when you use the word meditate we think of people trying to empty their mind. We conger up visions of people sitting cross-legged on a mountain top chanting ummmm.

The meditation we find in the Bible is not emptying your mind but filling your mind. Filling your mind with God’s word and reflecting on it. This time of meditation has a purpose, “that we would be careful to do according to all that is written in it. “

For Bob the most valuable parts of his day was the drive to and from work. At the start of his trip he listened to Greg Lorrie on the radio then shut it off and used the rest of the drive to think. Before the day came upon him with all its pressures, he had some time to think about God’s Word. On the way home was a time to reflect and decompress, 45 minutes to think about how God wanted him to handle things.

 

1.      The push to respond

a.      Heroes

b.      Information push

c.       Natural to catch

2.      Joshua is told to meditate

a.      Ideas of meditation

b.      Biblical meditation

c.       20 times in Psalms

d.      Abraham, prophets like Daniel

e.      Jesus went to quit places

f.        John and Peter describe times of being the Spirit

3.      Meditation

a.      Bob

b.      In your reading and in your study take time to reflect

c.       What is this about? What can I do with it?

4.      James 1:19-27 for 7 minutes.

5.      14 minutes a day

a.      7 minutes to read

b.      7 minutes to reflect

6.      God’s promise

a.      To Joshua

b.      To you

The challenge: 14 minutes a day for God. You will be amazed how it could change your life.

2 Timothy 2:14&15 How to Study Your Bible

2 Timothy 2:14&15  How to Study Your Bible.

We have been looking at how to pass on your faith to others through Discipleship. Last week we talked about the importance of reading your Bible. This week I want talk about how to study your Bible. 2 Tim 2:14&15 “rightly handling the word of truth”  When we are reading what happens when a scripture strikes us? When we are part of a weekly Bible study how do we prepare? When spending time with your Barnabas or your Timothy you will want to take time to study together.

1.      Pray

2.      Read it twice

a.      Once slowly by itself.

b.      Second in context, before and after.

3.      Look for words

a.      Words you don’t know or are unsure of.

b.      Logic words, therefore, if, and, but, will, must, not…

c.       Where are subject words used elsewhere in the Bible.

d.      Concordance, subject index, cross references.

4.      Now look at the notes

a.      Study Bible Notes

b.      Bible Study Book

c.       Commentary

5.      Write down what it says or means

a.      In your own words.

b.      What would it mean to the org readers?

c.       What does it mean to us today?

d.      What does it tell us to do?

6.      Pray

James 1:19-26 “Hearing and Reading”

James 1:19-26  “Hearing and Reading”

We have talked about our need to be deliberate in passing on our faith. We have talked about the need to have a Barnabas and the need to have a Timothy. I gave you a challenge of getting together with one person for coffee and discussion. I also talked about how important the Bible is to our life. Today I want to talk about how to help your Timothy make the Bible their reference point for life.

In the passage we read today James talks about looking into the word like intently looking into a mirror. It is reading Gods’ Word in a way that is focused and with a purpose in mind. So we should have an intentional time of reading the Bible. A time that is intentional in that it is planned for each day. And Intentional in that it is with the intent of doing what it says.

When you are training your Timothy challenge him or her to read their Bible every day. When you meet with them take time to read together God’s Word and then reflect on it. Take as little as 7 minutes each day.

2 Timothy 3:16 says All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for ….

(Repeat 3 times.)

Psalm 119:106

Now we memorized two verses.

Why every day?
Have you ever heard a song in the morning and cannot get it out of your head? What if we replace that song with a Bible passage? All through the day it will be there for you to think on and get understanding and focus from.

When I taught guitar I always stressed the you end your daily practice by doing the song right, because I know that our mind will repeat that last time. For good or for bad it does it.

Also you have no hope of following Gods’ word if you have not read it.

(Please get out your Bible and turn to Matthew 5. I am setting 7 minutes of our time today to read Matthew 5,6, and 7. We will all make different amounts of progress. But we will all accomplish the same thing. So read with the intent of finding what God desires for you to know and do.

Read your Bible with your Barnabas and your Timothy. Challenge them to read it just 7 minutes a day. Read it with the intent of doing what it says. Look for what you can apply to your life. Then put what you have learned into action.

Your challenge for this we is to read your Bible every day for 7 minutes each day. Also continue to meet with the person you have met with for coffee the last two weeks and now include 7 minutes of reading the Bible together.