Dynamic Devotions
Dynamic Devotions
DYNAMIC DEVOTIONS
LESSON #1 “PRAYER”
Intro. One of the most important decisions we will make as believers is to develop a consistent devotional life.
Tonight we’re going to talk about our life of prayer and next week about how to effectively read God’s word.
My purpose isn’t to guilt you into devotions but encourage you in how much richer your life with God will be with consistency.
A devotional life will help build our sense of confidence and security in God.
It will help us sense His presence more.
We know that Jesus has promised never to leave or forsake us, that He will be with us always until the end.
But this promise will become more real to us the more we pray and dig into God’s word.
I. CULTIVATING A MEANINGFUL PRAYER LIFE
I use the word “meaningful” intentionally. Prayer was never meant to me a dull, dry, “meaning-less,” duty.
We are meant to enjoy our relationship with God and much of that comes through our prayer life.
I believe God wants us to experience Him and sense His presence more!
Luke 11:1 (NKJV)
Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
Our life with God and prayer will grow over time. Jesus will teach us and help us to pray as He did with His first disciples.
A. IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A CONSISTENT PRAYER LIFE
IT NEEDS TO BECOME MORE MEANINGFUL (FULL OF
MEANING) TO US
We shouldn’t base a successful prayer life around feelings but more around the promise of God.
Jeremiah 29:11–13 (NKJV)
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
B. THESE VERSES GIVE US INSIGHT INTO HAVING A
MEANINGFUL PRAYER LIFE
1. We need to know God is interested in us!
I used this portion of scripture in our last series on expectation and hope and include it again because it tells us about God’s thoughts and plans for us.
God really is interested in us!
Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
This is one of the most important factors in us being more interested in Him!
If we are going to have a meaningful prayer life we have to know that God is really interested in us!
Jeremiah 31:3 (NKJV)
The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
God is interested in us and wants to meet with us and allow us to get to know Him better.
again, Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NKJV)
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then (When? After or when we know His thoughts about us are of peace and not of evil, to give us a future and a hope.) Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Our motivation for cultivating and developing a meaningful prayer life comes from our truly believing that God likes us, loves us, wants to spend time with us, and wants us to get to know Him intimately.
I’ve been thinking about David and his relationship with God. The words he pours out about everything in his life in the Psalms.
From, “How long will you forget me, O Lord, forever?” To, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”
I’ve been reading through the Psalms in my devotion time and David talked to God about everything in his life, his doubts, fears, enemies, and the intensity of his longing and love for God.
That’s what we need to know about prayer. We can talk to Him about everything. He is concerned about the big and little things in our lives!
II. SUGGESTIONS TO HELP US PRAY WITH MORE
MEANING
I wrestle with this because I know that as individuals we all have a unique relationship with God. How we pray, the time we spend, the method we use, and many other things factor into our prayer life.
A. OUR POSTURE IN PRAYER
1. Our posture in prayer has a LOT of flexibility
The following are examples of the variety of postures in prayer through the Word of God.
• kneeling (I Kings 8:54; Ezra 9:5; Daniel 6:10; Acts 20:36)
• standing (Jeremiah 18:20)
• sitting (2 Samuel 7:18)
• lying prostrate (Ezekiel 11:13)
• in bed (Psalm 63:6)
• in private (Matthew 6:6; Mark 1:35)
• with others (Psalm 35:18)
• anywhere (l Timothy 2:8)
• silently (1 Samuel 1:13)
• loudly (Acts 16:25)
• for everything (Genesis 24:12-14; Philippians 4:6; 1 Timothy 2:1-2) • at all times (Luke 18:l)
B. A MEANINGFUL PRAYER LIFE IS MORE ABOUT AN
ATTITUDE OF HEART
Luke 18:9–14 (NKJV)
9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
1. The key here is humility
I’m not suggesting that we need to beat our chest and cry out, “God be merciful to me a sinner!” We asked for His forgiveness when we got saved and we are forgiven!
But our attitude of humility is important.
It isn’t, “I’m no good and worthless!”
Humility is simply recognizing our need of God. That we can’t do life on our own.
“God, I need You!
Psalm 42:1–2 (NKJV)
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
B. TIME SPENT IN PRAYER
How much time we spend in prayer isn’t as important as quality time is.
If you haven’t spent much time in prayer before I’d suggest starting with 10-15 minutes of focused prayer.
1. A “set time”
I think it’s important to have a time set aside for prayer. It may not work for everyone to pray in the morning but for me it helps start my day right.
Psalm 5:3 (NKJV)
My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.
C. A TEMPLATE FOR PRAYER
Over the years I’ve used the Lord’s Prayer as my guide. I’m careful not to let my prayer life become a ritual without meaning. Jesus gave the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern for praying. Our prayer time should be personal and meaningful.
Matthew 6:9–13 (NKJV)
9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
1. I begin my prayer time with praise and
recognizing God’s presence
I spend some time thanking God for saving me. Then I recognize Who He is. “There is no one like You…”
Proverbs 3:5–6 (NKJV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
2. Using the Lord’s Prayer helps me focus on Him
and then the needs I’m praying for
I spend time praying God’s will over my life and family, over needs of people in the church, the nation, etc.
I take some time to thank Him for His provision, “daily bread.”
I thank Him for meeting our needs and then for His word to me.
The first thing I do in the morning is read the Bible. I’ll talk about this next week but I will thank Him for His word to me that day. “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God.” I thank Him for His word to me. (daily bread)
3. I thank Him for His forgiveness and if I think of
some one I need to forgive, I call them out and
pray blessing on them
Him
Every one of us needs to find what works best for us.
At the end of my prayer time, I try to take a few minutes to wait on Him. I want to listen for anything He wants to speak to me in my heart.
Psalm 27:14 (NKJV)
Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!
The Hebrew word for wait is qavah. The root word of qavah is rope. Waiting on God means to entwine our hearts with His.
Notes from the Passion Bible. “The Hebrew concept of waiting on the Lord is never a passive thing but an active one, full of hope and expectation.”
This connects us with what I finished in the last series, “Expectation and Hope.”
I want to encourage you in your expectation in prayer. We should expect to meet with God and Him with us!
PRAYER AND CONFESSION: Thank You Father, for loving me and for Your desire for me. It’s incredible that You wanted me and sent Jesus to reveal all that You are and have for me. Help me to grow in my prayer life. You are worthy of my time and I will set aside some of my day to pray and wait on You. Thank you for helping me grow in knowing You, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
LESSON #1 “PRAYER”
Intro. One of the most important decisions we will make as believers is to develop a consistent devotional life.
Tonight we’re going to talk about our life of prayer and next week about how to effectively read God’s word.
My purpose isn’t to guilt you into devotions but encourage you in how much richer your life with God will be with consistency.
A devotional life will help build our sense of confidence and security in God.
It will help us sense His presence more.
We know that Jesus has promised never to leave or forsake us, that He will be with us always until the end.
But this promise will become more real to us the more we pray and dig into God’s word.
I. CULTIVATING A MEANINGFUL PRAYER LIFE
I use the word “meaningful” intentionally. Prayer was never meant to me a dull, dry, “meaning-less,” duty.
We are meant to enjoy our relationship with God and much of that comes through our prayer life.
I believe God wants us to experience Him and sense His presence more!
Luke 11:1 (NKJV)
Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
Our life with God and prayer will grow over time. Jesus will teach us and help us to pray as He did with His first disciples.
A. IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A CONSISTENT PRAYER LIFE
IT NEEDS TO BECOME MORE MEANINGFUL (FULL OF
MEANING) TO US
We shouldn’t base a successful prayer life around feelings but more around the promise of God.
Jeremiah 29:11–13 (NKJV)
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
B. THESE VERSES GIVE US INSIGHT INTO HAVING A
MEANINGFUL PRAYER LIFE
1. We need to know God is interested in us!
I used this portion of scripture in our last series on expectation and hope and include it again because it tells us about God’s thoughts and plans for us.
God really is interested in us!
Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
This is one of the most important factors in us being more interested in Him!
If we are going to have a meaningful prayer life we have to know that God is really interested in us!
Jeremiah 31:3 (NKJV)
The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
God is interested in us and wants to meet with us and allow us to get to know Him better.
again, Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NKJV)
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then (When? After or when we know His thoughts about us are of peace and not of evil, to give us a future and a hope.) Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Our motivation for cultivating and developing a meaningful prayer life comes from our truly believing that God likes us, loves us, wants to spend time with us, and wants us to get to know Him intimately.
I’ve been thinking about David and his relationship with God. The words he pours out about everything in his life in the Psalms.
From, “How long will you forget me, O Lord, forever?” To, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”
I’ve been reading through the Psalms in my devotion time and David talked to God about everything in his life, his doubts, fears, enemies, and the intensity of his longing and love for God.
That’s what we need to know about prayer. We can talk to Him about everything. He is concerned about the big and little things in our lives!
II. SUGGESTIONS TO HELP US PRAY WITH MORE
MEANING
I wrestle with this because I know that as individuals we all have a unique relationship with God. How we pray, the time we spend, the method we use, and many other things factor into our prayer life.
A. OUR POSTURE IN PRAYER
1. Our posture in prayer has a LOT of flexibility
The following are examples of the variety of postures in prayer through the Word of God.
• kneeling (I Kings 8:54; Ezra 9:5; Daniel 6:10; Acts 20:36)
• standing (Jeremiah 18:20)
• sitting (2 Samuel 7:18)
• lying prostrate (Ezekiel 11:13)
• in bed (Psalm 63:6)
• in private (Matthew 6:6; Mark 1:35)
• with others (Psalm 35:18)
• anywhere (l Timothy 2:8)
• silently (1 Samuel 1:13)
• loudly (Acts 16:25)
• for everything (Genesis 24:12-14; Philippians 4:6; 1 Timothy 2:1-2) • at all times (Luke 18:l)
B. A MEANINGFUL PRAYER LIFE IS MORE ABOUT AN
ATTITUDE OF HEART
Luke 18:9–14 (NKJV)
9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
1. The key here is humility
I’m not suggesting that we need to beat our chest and cry out, “God be merciful to me a sinner!” We asked for His forgiveness when we got saved and we are forgiven!
But our attitude of humility is important.
It isn’t, “I’m no good and worthless!”
Humility is simply recognizing our need of God. That we can’t do life on our own.
“God, I need You!
Psalm 42:1–2 (NKJV)
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
B. TIME SPENT IN PRAYER
How much time we spend in prayer isn’t as important as quality time is.
If you haven’t spent much time in prayer before I’d suggest starting with 10-15 minutes of focused prayer.
1. A “set time”
I think it’s important to have a time set aside for prayer. It may not work for everyone to pray in the morning but for me it helps start my day right.
Psalm 5:3 (NKJV)
My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up.
C. A TEMPLATE FOR PRAYER
Over the years I’ve used the Lord’s Prayer as my guide. I’m careful not to let my prayer life become a ritual without meaning. Jesus gave the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern for praying. Our prayer time should be personal and meaningful.
Matthew 6:9–13 (NKJV)
9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
1. I begin my prayer time with praise and
recognizing God’s presence
- “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.”
I spend some time thanking God for saving me. Then I recognize Who He is. “There is no one like You…”
Proverbs 3:5–6 (NKJV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
2. Using the Lord’s Prayer helps me focus on Him
and then the needs I’m praying for
- Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
I spend time praying God’s will over my life and family, over needs of people in the church, the nation, etc.
I take some time to thank Him for His provision, “daily bread.”
I thank Him for meeting our needs and then for His word to me.
The first thing I do in the morning is read the Bible. I’ll talk about this next week but I will thank Him for His word to me that day. “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God.” I thank Him for His word to me. (daily bread)
3. I thank Him for His forgiveness and if I think of
some one I need to forgive, I call them out and
pray blessing on them
- “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
Him
- “And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
Every one of us needs to find what works best for us.
At the end of my prayer time, I try to take a few minutes to wait on Him. I want to listen for anything He wants to speak to me in my heart.
Psalm 27:14 (NKJV)
Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!
The Hebrew word for wait is qavah. The root word of qavah is rope. Waiting on God means to entwine our hearts with His.
Notes from the Passion Bible. “The Hebrew concept of waiting on the Lord is never a passive thing but an active one, full of hope and expectation.”
This connects us with what I finished in the last series, “Expectation and Hope.”
I want to encourage you in your expectation in prayer. We should expect to meet with God and Him with us!
PRAYER AND CONFESSION: Thank You Father, for loving me and for Your desire for me. It’s incredible that You wanted me and sent Jesus to reveal all that You are and have for me. Help me to grow in my prayer life. You are worthy of my time and I will set aside some of my day to pray and wait on You. Thank you for helping me grow in knowing You, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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