1. PRAYER WORKSHOP
SESSION 1 DESIRING PRAYER – JANUARY 11, 2015
THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER
JOHN R. WIBLE, EDITOR
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2. KELLER AND MURRAY
•Keller will delve into life and offer specific
guidance
•Murray will offer a daily Bible study
•Spurgeon offers commentary
•Washington edits African American prayers
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3. THE SETTING
•Spurgeon’s “Boiler Room”
•Timing
•Books Keller, Murray, Spurgeon, Washington
•Homework
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4. KELLER’S MEDICINE
•He learned to pray in adversity.
•His wife challenged him
•Flannery O’Conner: “Can’t Anyone Teach Me to Pray?
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5. AUGUSTINE’S DISCOVERY
•Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven
• Matthew and Luke
•God is more important than our stuff - or even us
•Must learn to “long to pray”
•Don’t be afraid to let go of your prayers
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6. A CONFUSING LANDSCAPE
•The Beatles’ Eastern Mysticism
•Mysticism by any other name
• New Age
• Contemplative Prayer
• Listening Prayer
• Lection Divinio
• Centering Prayer
•Mysticism is not necessarily bad
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7. AN “INTELLIGENT MYSTICISM
•Role of the Holy Spirit – Romans 8
• Reassures of God’s love
• Enables us to come to God
• Guides our prayers aright
•If we let Him
•John Murray’s “Intelligent Mysticism”
• A good experience
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8. NON-CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM
•Experiential side to all
•Greek Roots – “Hidden”
•Animism, Africans, Druids, Native Americans, et al
•Monists, Pantheists, Islamists, Buddhists, Hindus
•Modern Mysticism – An “umbrella term”
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9. CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM
•Wesley at Aldersgate
•Luther reading Romans
•Pentecostals and “Ecstatic Utterance”
•Catholic Trances
•Henry Blackaby – Experiencing God
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10. KELLER ON MYSTICISM
•Experiencing God is a good thing
•Such an experience is mystical
•Well see this experience in public and private prayer
•Leaving the “Kingdom of Man”
•John Murray on “Intelligent Mysticism – 1 Pet. 1:8
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11. WHAT IS “INTELLIGENT MYSTICISM?
•It’s both
•Affection of the heart
•Convictions of the mind
•Balance is paramount
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12. LEARNING TO PRAY
•Keller, his wife and the Psalms
•Praying regularly
•Meditation
•BID (take twice a day)
•Greater Expectations
•Fruit – more resting and more wrestling
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13. HARD TO WRITE ABOUT
•It is indefinable and we are small and helpless
•Our inadequacies
•P.T. Forsyth – “Touching the Ark”
•Gateway to self-knowledge
•Dumping our false self-image
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14. A REORDERING
•Prayer is an experience, but . . .
•‘It is more – it’s a “reordering of our life”
•We must let go of the handle of our life and let
God do the pumping.
•This is a very scary thing!
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15. MURRAY – PRAYER TIME
•Let’s listen to Murray reading an Introduction
•Now, we shall pray
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16. TAKE AWAY POINTS
•Prayer is universally practiced.
•Prayer is essential to the Christian life
•Prayer begins when we learn to focus on God not us.
•We must relinquish the exercise to the Spirit.
•Prayer is a balance of mysticism and thought.
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17. NEXT WEEK’S ASSIGNMENT
•Ready Murray, Chapters 19 and 24.
•No rules yet, just start praying.
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Editor's Notes
Gathering time - 9:00-9:15
Study and discussion about prayer – 9:15-9:50.
Time in prayer – 9:50-10:15.
As we get deeper into the study, the length of times of study and doing will reverse until at the end, most of the time is actually in the doing of prayer.
We will look at the, necessity for prayer, the kinds of prayer, the purpose of prayer, public prayer, private prayer, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and intercession.
Study book – , Prayer. Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller
Homework Book - With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray. (A copy has been purchased for each class member to be given out on second or third week of class.) (See Attachment.)
Reference books (teacher only)
Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller
Spurgeon on Prayer and Spiritual Warfare, Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Conversations with God -Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans. Dr. James Melvin Washington. (See attachment.) We’ll red some of the prayers and discuss.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) is known as the ‘prince of preachers.’ He was a Particular (Calvinist) Baptist minister in England who saw enormous blessings from God upon his ministryHe said any success he had come from God in answer to their prayers. Spurgeon was often fond of calling these prayer gatherings the church’s “boiler room.” Spurgeon saw the prayers of his people as the spiritual power behind his preaching and ministry.
Components:
Gathering time - 9:00-9:15
Study and discussion about prayer – 9:15-9:50.
Time in prayer – 9:50-10:15.
As we get deeper into the study, the length of times of study and doing will reverse until at the end, most of the time is actually in the doing of prayer.
We will look at the, necessity for prayer, the kinds of prayer, the purpose of prayer, public prayer, private prayer, adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and intercession.
Study book – With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray. (A copy has been purchased for each class member to be given out on second or third week of class.) (See Attachment.)
Reference books (teacher only)
Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Timothy Keller
Spurgeon on Prayer and Spiritual Warfare, Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Conversations with God -Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans. Dr. James Melvin Washington. (See attachment.) We’ll red some of the prayers and discuss.
