Gospel-Oriented Prayer

I hear the words echoing in my mind: Prayer is asking and receiving. Though that statement contains truth, I can’t help asking if it paints a very full picture.

Both Tim Keller & Jack Miller talk about the difference between “maintenance prayer” and “frontline” prayer meetings.

If I understand them correctly, maintenance prayer meetings are characteristically mechanical, primarily focused on physical needs, and relatively short. But frontline prayer meetings have three basic traits:

• People ask God for grace to confess sins and humble themselves
• There is an expression of compassion and zeal for the church’s advancement
• There is a tangible yearning to know God, to see his face, and to see his glory.

So just to recap, people get real, get filled with hope, and get focused on God’s glory!

Why is the distinction between “maintenance” & “frontline” prayer so important? Because these authors believe that frontline prayer is always connected to real revival.

Keller says:

Biblically and historically, the one non-negotiable, universal ingredient in times of spiritual renewal (read revival) is corporate, prevailing, intensive and kingdom-centered prayer. 

He sites Acts 4, Exodus 33, and Nehemiah 1 as examples. Our attention is drawn to the disciples in Acts 4 who don’t pray for safety in a time of peril but only asked God for the courage to keep preaching.

I would say that these types of prayer gatherings are a right and natural response to the gospel itself. When we begin to grasp God’s grace, we become focused on Jesus and find freedom from building our own image in the eyes of other broken men. Honesty and repentance are enabled and we can begin to get real. This will be reflected in the way we pray with others.

Are you overly concerned with how much your brothers may find out about you as you pray with them? Take another look at the gospel.

Do you “hedge your bets” when you pray, or do you find yourself asking God to show up in God-sized ways? If you pray small prayers, take another look at what God has already done for you in the gospel.

Do you find yourself coming up dry or pretending when you know you should be praising, worshiping, and seeing God’s glory? Take another look at the gospel. Look at Jesus—in Him we will find & see the fullness of the Godhead!

What do our prayer meetings look like? Maintenance or frontline? Defense or offense? Dead orthodoxy or passionate spiritual renewal?

So is prayer asking and receiving? Yeah, but one of the gospel’s effects in our lives should be to change what we ask for!

Article by Brian Norris

@BrianNorris

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Symptoms of the Heart – Part 4

A friend of mine recently had a conversation with a young man regarding the college basketball coach, Rick Pitino, and the negative media attention he has received concerning allegations that have recently been brought against him. Maybe you have asked yourself, “How could he do such a thing?” After all, people of influence are held to a higher standard; they are expected to conquer the very desires that defeat us. And so the greater question would be: “How could anyone do such a thing?” But the answer is clear; the Bible tells us that all people are affected by sin and selfishly motivated to fulfill their own desires. No one is exempt from the power of lust and self-fulfillment; no one can conquer it on their own.

Many have said, “But I’m not like that, I don’t do such things.” Just because we are able to do some things good viewed from a human perspective, does not mean we are free of sin. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Humans tend to look upon the outward acts and judge them as good; however, God sees the condition of our hearts. Owing to the natural tendency of the flesh, all men are under the control of sin, and are therefore, controlled by their selfish, sinful desires. Isaiah writes, “The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint” (Isaiah 1:5). It is due to the nature of sin that the Bible says, “There is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:12).

The Bible speaks very clearly about the depravity of mankind by alluding to the spiritual nature inherent to us all. In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet writes, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Left for man to decide, morality would become nothing more than the cultural norm defined by lawmakers; but to a righteous and Holy God, morality is set by higher standards. Anything contrary to God’s law is sinful.

Jesus said, “For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, and wickedness as well as deceit” (Mark 7:21). These symptoms of the unregenerate heart reflect a condition that man alone is unable to overcome. It is for these very reasons that Jesus Christ was sent into the world to prevail over sin through his death and resurrection. Jesus said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).

What, then, can anyone do to overcome the problem of an unlawful, sin-filled heart? The answer can only be found in Jesus Christ. The first thing you must do is recognize the symptoms of your own heart and own up to your sin. Apart from the grace of God, the spiritual state and condition of your life is hopeless; the fact is that those very sins are what prevents you from having eternal life with Christ. Second, you must confess your sin to God and ask Him to forgive you in Jesus’ name. The Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” (Romans 10:9-10). Third, by placing your faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ, whom died for the forgiveness of sin, and by asking him to help you turn away from your sin once and for all, you can be saved.

If you’re not sure about your salvation or want to know how to have a personal relationship with Christ, contact michael@michaelwaits.com

Article by Michael Waits

@michaelwaits

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