Prayer

For those of you who read my lessons, I hope they are encouraging to you in some way. We all get so caught up in our busy lives that we really tend to "go through the motions" most of the time. Take a moment to really reflect on your prayer life. This is one area in my life that I really struggle. Taking some time to stop and talk to God and focus on Him and His word. I do pretty good at the little "thank you's" during the day but fail to take some time to truly meditate. I pray God will soften your heart so that you can open up to Him and let Him in your life. He is always listening! What a comfort!

Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships
Winter Quarter ’06 -‘07
Teen Girls Class – Wednesday nights

Song

Ground rules

1. Respect others and their points of view.
2. There are no “dumb” questions. (must be relevant)
3. Only one person speaks at a time.
4. No "Put Downs".
5. Open up and have fun!
6. Always bring your Bible.

Tonight we will be talking about prayer. So let’s first start our class by saying a prayer.

Prayer is one of the most important parts of a Christian’s life. However, it is often overlooked or neglected. Many times we get the wrong impression of prayer…like it’s more of an obligation like thanking Him for the food or saying a bedtime prayer. We teach these to our kids and pick up those habits as kids that we many times forget what prayer is really for. So why pray?

Let’s look at some of the things genuine prayer can do for us:

1. Prayer can help you fight off temptation. Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 10:13 – “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” The New Living Translation - “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. We can let God know our temptations and ask Him to help us to see the way out. Philippians 4:6 states – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
2. Prayer brings forgiveness when you mess up. God just wants you to ask and He will forgive you. There’s no magic formula and no punishment. He forgives you, period! The best part is that He remembers those sins no more. They are washed from the slate when you genuinely ask for His forgiveness.
3. Prayer can make your life happier. Happiness is not found in things of this world, such as alcohol, drugs, sex, money, TV. It’s not even found in good things in life such as friends, sports, or hobbies. If you are looking for happiness, you’re on the wrong road if you look anywhere but up! That’s not to say that nothing bad will ever happen to you though. We all have trials and tribulations. We just discussed temptations. But, always turning to Him will bless your life in so many ways.

God has given you a direct phone line to Him, but it’s up to you to make the calls.

We’ve all heard kids pray. Isn’t it funny sometimes the things they pray for? One of the things we can learn from these prayers is openness. We need to really open up and let God into our hearts. The best way is to talk to Him. It’s just like getting to know a friend of yours. The best way to get to know them is to talk to them. Some of my closest friends are ones that I can go to and confide in. We’ve spent many hours just talking. God wants to be that person in your life. He wants you to lay down all your burdens on Him. He is listening always. No matter how silly or petty the requests are.

So let’s take some time to figure out the “how-to’s” and the “how-not-to’s” of prayer.

1. Be open to God’s answer. It may not be the answer you wanted, but be on the lookout for one. He may say “Yes”. He may say “no”. He may even say “not right now”. You must also do your part when you ask God for something. He’s not going to let you pass your exam if you don’t do your part and study. Also, you can’t ask Him to help you grow spiritually if you are not making an effort to grow yourself.
2. Make sure your heart is clean. Psalm 66:17-20 – “I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!” We need to make sure our hearts are right when we make requests of God. If you have sins you need to confess and ask God’s forgiveness, do that first. Confessing our sins every day is like taking a spiritual bath. Also, do you think God wants us to say, “Please forgive me if I have sinned today,” or does He want us to tell Him specifically what we did and what we plan to do to avoid that in the future? I’ll admit, I’m really bad about just saying, “Please forgive me of my sins.” Can we really be repentant if we’re not really sure what those sins are?
3. Talk like you would to a friend. Do you sometimes find yourself repeating big words or phrases that you normally only hear in prayers at church? Can you think of any in particular? If you know what these mean, then it’s fine to use them to show respect to God in your prayers. But, don’t use them just to sound impressive in your public prayers. We shouldn’t be any more showy in our public prayers than we are in our private talks with God. Luke 18:9-14 – “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Write down what you think the verses are warning us against.
4. Prayer particulars.
· How many minutes per week would you say you spend in praying to God?
· Do you plan times to pray or do you just pray when you feel a special need to?
· Where do you usually pray?

So how often are we to talk to God?
Once a day?
Constantly?
Morning and night?
At devotionals?
Before Meals?

What does 1 Thessalonians 5:17 say? “Pray continually.” So how do we do that with all the other things going on in our daily lives? Does that mean that we’re suppose to stay home all day and continuously talk to God? If you are doing what God says, your whole life will be a form of communication with Him. Prayers don’t have to start out “Dear God” and end with “Amen”. They may consist of a simple “thanks” when things go good or “help” when you’re in trouble.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of praying only when we need something from God. He wants your devotion all of the time. Have you ever had a “friend” who came around only when he wanted money or some special favor? That’s how a lot of us treat God. We don’t seem to care much about Him until we really need Him to get us out of some kind of mess.

Write down which five minutes of your days this week you could set aside to pray. It could be early in the morning, at lunch time, or whenever works best for you. Give God those five minutes each day this week and then try to increase to ten minutes a day for the next week. Find a quiet place where you can be alone, read several Bible verses, and just talk to God.

Prayer Bracelet:

Color: Light Blue
Subject: Blue is a calming color so whenever you look down and see your bracelet this week, take a deep breath, relish in the moment, and say a little prayer to God for you.

Warm Fuzzy assignment:

Say a prayer for someone in this class. Then, write them an encouraging note and let them know that you prayed for them.

Prayer