Previous Page

A Praying Church

Sep 08, 2024 | Tony Hunt

God's Invitation to you

CLICK HERE FOR THE LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE CONTAINING DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Prayer of David (Psalm 139:1-10, 13-18, 23-24)

You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.

Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 8:3-4 “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you haves set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?”

Amen

How well do you know God?  How would you describe him to someone who might ask?

What do your prayers reveal about what you believe and know about God?

What is prayer anyway?  Communicating with God that includes both listening and speaking.  Can even include reading when intentionally receiving. 

Our communication with other people reveals the level of relationship

  • Casual, close, trusting, acquaintance?
  • Our knowledge of each other.

  • Mutual understanding or train of thought.

  • Our limitations and our liberties.

  • Hesitancy to honesty.

David in Psalm 139 prayed what he knew about God’s intimate knowledge of him, the heart of God to engage us, and His ability to transform us.

What do you pray? Does it reveal you know him?  Do you acknowledge how much He knows you? Do you know His spirit, character, and his intent?  Do you welcome His diagnostics of your life?

God’s invitation to you:

  • To talk to Him continually. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

  • Burden Him with what burdens you. 1 Peter 5:7

  • If you are anxious go to Him to calm you down. Philippians 4:6

  • Ask and keep on asking Him what you seek. Matthew 7:7-11

The mission of Jesus is to create oneness with us as He has oneness with the Father.

How do we know this?  We know it by His prayer for us.   John 17:17-26

  • He is sanctified so we can be sanctified.

  • He was sent and now He sends us.

  • He is one with God, and He is one with us.

  • He was glorified and we are given His glory.

  • He knows the Father, He knows us, we know Him.

  • He is in the Father, the Father is in Him, He is in us.

God is drawing us into oneness with Him and with each other. 

We are invited to pray to Him because we are invited into relationship with Him.

Time of Prayer:

  • Oneness with the Father.

  • Oneness with each other.

Series Information

It is one thing to be a church that prays.  It is another to be a church known for being a praying church—a collection of prayerful people.  We begin the journey of prayerful dependence individually, but it becomes a movement when prayerful people permeate the church.  Acts 4:31 “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly."