Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines: Chapter 4 prayer c

PRAYER IS ANSWERED Psalm 65:2 You who answer prayer, to you all people will come. Whitney says all prayer is answered, Matt 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will ﬁnd; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks ﬁnds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”Tuesday 8 May 2012

Andrew Murray comments on Christ’s pledge. “Ask and you shall receive, everyone that asks receives.” Therefore, if you ask and receive not it must be because there is something wanting in our prayers. Maybe God answered in a way that is not obvious to us. Maybe we are asking for things that are outside the will of God or will not glorify Him. Maybe we are praying with selﬁsh motives. Maybe we are failing to deal with blatant sin in our life. God does not mock us with His promises to answer prayer.Tuesday 8 May 2012

C.H. Spurgeon said “I can’t imagine anyone of you tantalizing your child by exciting in him a desire that you did not intend to gratify.When God leads you to pray, He means for you to receive.” We need to discipline ourselves to pray and pray aright so we can experience the joy of answered prayer.Tuesday 8 May 2012

MORE APPLICATION Since prayer is expected will you pray? You need to develop a speciﬁc plan about your prayer life. At what time of the day will you faithfully go before the Father? How long will you pray each day? Will you read the Bible? Will you read books about prayer written by godly men so you can learn how to pray aright? Where will you pray? You need a special place. Will you take action today?Tuesday 8 May 2012

John Piper says, “Unless I’m badly mistaken, one of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant life of prayer is not so much that we don’t want to, but that we don’t plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, ‘Hey, let’s go today!’ You won’t have anything ready.You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. “But that is how many of us treat prayer.We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready.We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure. And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences in prayer.Tuesday 8 May 2012

“The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation, you will probably stay home and watch TV.The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer, you must plan to see it. “Therefore, my simple exhortation is this: Let us take time this very day to rethink our priorities and how prayer fits in. Make some new resolve.Try some new venture with God. Set a time. Set a place. Choose a portion of Scripture to guide you. Don’t be tyrannized by the press of busy days.We all need midcourse corrections. Make this a day of turning to prayer—for the glory of God and for the fullness of your joy.”Tuesday 8 May 2012

Since prayer is learned, will you learn to pray? Will you learn about how others have prayed? Will you meet others to pray? Will you learn to pray by linking Bible reading to prayer via meditation? When will you start? Start where you are. If you are not praying, start. If you are not meditating, start. If you are not reading your Bible, start.Tuesday 8 May 2012

Since prayer is answered will you persistently pray? Matt 7:7-8 is in the present, continuous tense. That means we must pray persistently before answers come. If we fail to persist it may mean that at the heart of our prayer lacks seriousness about our request. God may want us to persist in order to strengthen our faith in Him. George Mueller observed, “The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer, they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it.”Tuesday 8 May 2012

Spuregon said, “Even as the moon inﬂuences the tides of the sea, even so does prayer inﬂuence the tides of godliness.” JC Ryle, "What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference, in nineteen cases out of twenty, arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little, and those who are eminently holy pray much."Tuesday 8 May 2012

Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines: Chapter 4 prayer c

by Richard Chamberlain on May 08, 2012

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