Lifestyle of Prayer
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
How to Make Prayer Your Lifestyle
Pay particular attention to the “P’s” in this presentation because they will provide you with keys that will impact your prayer life. We’ll explore some of the power of prayer. So listen for things that start with “P.”
- Prayer pierces the darkness. —Joyce Meyer
- I’d live in the spirit of prayer. —George Müller
- Pray, and let God worry. —Martin Luther
- When a Christian shuns fellowship, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy. —Corrie ten Boom
- There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful than that of a continual conversation with God. —Brother Lawrence
Did you know that there are over 650 prayers in the Bible?
While the full revelation concerning the foundation, form, and fruits of prayer are before us in the New Testament, we have ample evidence in the Old Testament Scriptures of the efficacy of intercourse with heaven. How those holy men of old could storm the battlements above when there was no way to look but up, they lifted up their eyes to the God who made the hills with unshakeable confidence. At times their approach to God was both unusually familiar and daring. But they were heard in that they feared where they trusted. Prayer, to the patriarchs and prophets, was more than the recital of well-known and well-worn phrases. It was an outpouring of the heart. Beset by perils, persecutions, pains, privations, they naturally turned to God in their need, believing that He was able to redeem them out of all their troubles. If they knew little of the philosophy of prayer, they certainly knew a great deal about its power, as our meditation upon the Word this morning will reveal.
Luke 18:1 KJV:
And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
This verse is right before the parable of the unjust judge and the woman who was always persistent.
Jesus is our best example of prayer. He felt the need to pray, and he spent a lot of time in prayer. He developed prayer as a lifestyle, and he is our example.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV:
Pray without ceasing.
Prayer is a lifestyle. It’s a continual conversation with God.
The Nature of Prayer
| Prayer is a cry from the heart | Psalm 5:1–3 | Psalm 34:15, 107:28, 61:1–4 |
| Prayer is a conversation | 2 Kings 20:1–7 | Moses: Deuteronomy 9:16–21; Nehemiah 1:5–11 Elijah: 1:18:24 Manoah: Judges 13:1–25 |
| Prayer is communion | Hebrews 4:15–16 | Jeremiah 32:16–37 |
Prayer is a Cry from the Heart:
Psalm 5:1–3 KJV:
1 Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. 2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. 3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
That’s not hard; we can do that. We can pray from the heart. It doesn’t have to be with fancy words or a particular posture.
When I was working on the Aramaic Database in the 1990s, it was slow going. There are 107,568 Aramaic words in the New Testament. I had felt that God had inspired me to produce this database so that there could be an Aramaic interlinear and concordance, but I didn’t feel like I was making enough progress. I had been praying about it and asking God to show me how to do it. Then I saw an ad in Computer Shopper for a program, for $59.95, that would import data into a database. I bought it, and it imported the data from my large text file into a database in less than two hours. I never heard about that program ever again. I never saw another ad for it. It was not a company that lasted. God showed me that little ad, and it was just to answer my prayer.
Prayer is a conversation:
We keep our cell phones on so we can receive texts and messages from others at any time. Why would we not have our hearts open to a continual conversation with God, who is our Father?
2 Kings 20:1–3 KJV:
1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. 2 Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, 3 I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
Hezekiah was in the line of David through which the Messiah would come. At this time, Hezekiah did not yet have a son. So the line would have been broken! This was Satan’s ploy to get rid of Hezekiah so that he would cut the Christ line.
2 Kings 20:4–7 KJV:
4 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. 6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. 7 And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered
A conversation can be short and sweet, or it can be hours long.
Prayer is Communion:
Prayer is part of a life process. It’s a relationship.
Hebrews 4:15–16 KJV:
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
In Aramaic, “boldly” means “with open face.”
Later, you can read the record in Jeremiah. Jeremiah knew that Israel was going to go into captivity, but God told him to go and buy a piece of land. God told Jeremiah, I will bring Israel back to this land. It was a huge comfort to Jeremiah to know that, even though Israel would go into captivity, God would bring them back and would still bring the Messiah. That’s the record where God says, Is there anything too hard for me?
The Purpose of Prayer
| Penitence and Pardon | Psalm 51:10–12; Isaiah 41:12–13 | Stephen: Acts 7:60; Jesus: Luke 22:34 |
| Peace | Philippians 4:6–7 | Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane |
| Petition | Matthew 7:7–9 | Hannah: 1 Samuel 1:9–12 |
| Participation | Psalm 91:14–16 | Elijah: James 5:16 |
Penitence and Pardon:
Psalm 51:10–12 KJV:
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
There is forgiveness for us every time we come to God; forgiveness for ourselves and for others.
Sometimes we may feel like we’re not good enough, or because we didn’t do something, we don’t deserve to have our prayer answered.
Isaiah 41:10, 13–15 KJV:
10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Prayer Brings Peace:
Philippians 4:6–7 KJV:
6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Prayer deals with worry and anxiousness.
Prayer is Petition:
Luke 11:9–10 AMP:
So I [Jesus] say to you, ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking [persistently], receives; and he who keeps on seeking [persistently], finds; and to him who keeps on knocking [persistently], the door will be opened.
Matthew 18:19 APNT:
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth concerning every matter that they will ask, they will have [an answer] from the presence of my Father who is in heaven.
This verse trips up many people. The Aramaic makes it clearer. There is a blank, which translators often fill in with “it” or “what they want” or something similar. It could be “an answer,” or “a direction,” or some way to go to get an answer. It’s not a magical formula.
Taking this verse at face value in many translations will make us trust God less because we didn’t get what we prayed for. But the verse means that when we pray, God will always give an answer, a direction, a way to get out of the situation. He will show us what to do. He will hold our hand. That is what we can be utterly confident in.
Prayer is Participation:
We are workers together with God.
Psalm 91:14–16 AMPCE:
14 Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].
15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him My salvation.
Jeremiah 33:3 KJV:
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Psalm 34:4 KJV:
I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
When I had been making good progress on the Aramaic database over a six-month period, I had not backed up my computer. I kept thinking I would get to it, but kept putting it off. When the database contained over 100Mb of text data, my computer crashed. I was panicking. I knew I didn’t have the strength to start over from scratch. I took it to a computer tech, but he was only able to recover a few fragments. I took it home. The next day, I turned on the screen and looked at the small fragment of my once pristine database and prayed. Then, right before my eyes, the file size started growing. First, 1Mb, then 5Mb, then 20Mb, and so on. Within a few seconds, the original, over 100Mb file, was back. When I looked, all the data was there!
The Power of Prayer
| Healing and Mercy | Mark 10:46–52 | Habakkuk 2–3 |
| Intercession | Romans 8:26 | Abraham: Genesis 18:17ff |
| Interrupts Satan’s Plan | Matthew 21:22; Galatians 5:6 | Ephesians 6:18 |
The power is not the result of the person praying. The power resides in the God who is being prayed to. The power of prayer is all in the fact that He has promised healing and mercy. He has promised intercession. He has promised He will interrupt Satan’s plan. He will never, ever, ever fail us.
In the record of Sodom and Gomorrah, we see that Abraham had a conversing relationship with God.
In Joyce Meyer’s book, she lists about 14 reasons for unanswered prayer. We’re too religious. It’s not from the heart. We’re too busy for conversation. We take time to talk to everyone else on the cell phone, but we don’t take the time to talk to God. We think we are a worm. We worry. We give up. We think it’s not in the will of God.
If you don’t get an answer to prayer, you may be praying amiss somehow; change the prayer.
Galatians 5:6 APNT:
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh [is energized] by love.
If we truly believe that God loves us, then it’s easy to trust Him.
Prayer is a power-packed, purpose-filled relationship with God.
See also other teachings on prayer.
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the AMPLIFIED Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987, 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quotations marked (AMPCE) taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Audio teaching also available on the Acts Now Fellowship website.
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