Notes from January 10

Andy asked me to help with the blog a long time ago and, with one thing and another (like a baby...), I'm just now getting around to it.  I'll be posting announcements and notes for the weeks 

I'm there.  If I'm not and you happen to think about it, please email your notes to the leadership team.  Let's make this a resource for all of us!

-Melissa

Andy’s intro

Write down what you want to pray for in categories;

• Neighborhood
• Nation
• Something outside of your “normal”
• Ask God to work in ways that are bigger than me

Write it down, keep it in your Bible, and see what happens this year

40 Days of prayer and fasting as a church – Jan 1 through Feb 7 – groundbreaking

Bruce Dalke – Guest speaker (for 3 weeks)

Disclaimers/rules

• I walk – my mouth and my feet work together.
• There are no rhetorical questions and I will call on people
• We will not speak “christianese” (aka “tongues”).  Use terms we all understand

Born in April 1937 – in a church pew.  Enrolled in the “cradle roll” in August.  So I was a sinner for only 3 months.  J

There were traditions and practices that I learned that I didn’t fully understand.  Like sermons on the names of God.

Etymology of “God” in 1611 the translators use colloquial words.  God meant “something to be worshiped” in a small tribe.  It’s like calling someone “guy” or “gal”.  So understanding His names helps us understand something about who He is.

Next weeks we will focus on having conversational relationship with God.

What is prayer?  (Group answers)

• Talking to God
• Listening to God
• Being together

Hebrew and Greek lead us to:

• Petition
• Intercession
• Adoration
• Confession
• Thanksgiving
• Based on the thought that God rewards those who seek Him.

First mentioned in the Bible Genesis 4:26 but it started before that – Adam and Eve walked and talked with God in the Garden.

Prayer is conversation with God

Patriarchs: prayers were direct
Hannah (Samuel):  eloquent and silent and full of passion
Moses: spoke face-to-face with God
Prophets:  approached God directly, immediately and freely
Daniel:  got him in trouble
Psalms:  “loftiest heights attained by a spirit of prayer”

In light of these things, how have I treated prayer?

Christian views of prayers come from Christ’s prayers.

Group work/responses

The Habits of Christ in Prayer

• Gives thanks to God/Thanksgiving
• Time alone with God
• Seek to do God’s will and glorify Him
• Prayed for His friends

Taught in Parables

• Expect faith
• Expect that prayer works
• It’s interactive
• Don’t give up, be repetitive (beg, beg, beg)
• Humility, repentance and forgiveness

 Incidental sayings

• Pray for those who persecute you
• All things you ask for you will receive (?)

Purpose of this exercise:  Communication is something God created us to have with Him.  By looking at the perfect Man, we can see how to model our own lives.

Interweave what we’ve learned, heard and read into how we communicate with God.  Think about intimate conversations with our Holy Father.  Am I head over heels in love with God?

Prayer is not an event; it’s a lifestyle.