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Prayer is the most fundamental practice in the Christian life. The place to begin a discussion of it is with the person of Jesus Christ and what he is doing.

My professor cited the Ascension (Heb. 4:14-16) as all-important. It is the fact that Christ ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of God that is key to our prayer life. Why? Because he is our mediator. He has all-power and authority and he is constantly interceding for us (Rom. 8:34). And, because he shared flesh and blood with us at one time, because he himself was tempted by every sin known to man (but did NOT sin: Heb. 4:15), he understands us. It is for this reason that we pray in Christ’s name (John 14:13 and 16:24). It is because of this that we can go with confidence (one Bible version says "boldly") into the throneroom of God with our prayers (Heb. 4:16). Christ has opened its door to us and to our Heavenly Father.

How can we be sure that God will answer our prayers? In John 15,in the vine and the branch passage, Jesus says, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask what you wish and it will be done for you.” That’s his promise. Jesus keeps his promises. I do, however, want to add one qualification. This passage does NOT promise that God will say yes to everything we want. He will say yes ONLY to those things that line up with his will. That means we need to learn what his will is through prayer, Bible study and teaching, through sermons, etc.

I have had some people tell me that they don’t know how to pray. I always tell them to talk to God the same way they would talk to a parent, a sister, a friend. In other words, hold a conversation with him. Some people worry about not being able to pray in a fancy fashion, but you don’t have to be a great speaker to pray. God hears the simplest prayers (Matt. 6:5-8). And, in reality, words aren’t even essential to prayer. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we can’t articulate ourselves at all (Rom. 8:26).

I remember hearing Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth, tell the story of the family cat that decided to have her kittens on the bed in the guestroom. Not wanting them there, Mrs. Graham made up a cozy bed of blankets in a box and placed it, with the kittens in it, in the kitchen. The mother cat then proceeded to take the kittens one by one back to the bedroom. However, she neglected to take the runt of the litter. He remained alone in the kitchen.
After awhile, the kitten, lonesome and probably afraid, cold and hungry, made a tiny, barely audible squeak. Within seconds the mother cat glided swiftly into the room, grasped the kitten by the scruff of its neck and delivered it safely to the bedroom. Despite the fact that she had been two rooms, three doors and two hallways away, she had heard that pitiful little cry and came to her baby’s rescue.

Jesus is like that. At three o’clock in the morning, if I am in tremendous pain and don’t have the energy or the words to pray, I can just whisper the name of Jesus and he is there. He is that faithful!

A good model for prayer is the one Jesus taught his disciples (Matt. 6:9-13). The Lord’s Prayer begins with three petitions that focus on the Father, followed by three petitions that focus on ourselves. We start with God to put our needs in perspective. We see our needs and problems and responsibilities in light of who he is and what his purposes are.
For an in-depth article on the Lord’s Prayer, go here:

http://bible.org/page.php?page_id=1106

It’s also important to purposely make prayer part of your daily routine. No matter how busy the day, don’t let everything else crowd it out. I seem to recall there’s a book entitled Too Busy NOT to Prayer. Pick a time of the day and a location where you can be alone with no distractions and don't let anything keep you from praying.

Prayer, of course, isn’t just us talking to God. It’s listening for his voice. Therefore, it demands moments of silence and turning an attentive spirit toward him. How do we discern the voice of God? That’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. John Calvin introduced the phrase “inner witness of the Holy Spirit” into the Christian language.

Four dimensions of the Spirit’s witness

1. Assurance of Divine Love – the Spirit witnesses to our spirits that we are the children of God, that we have peace with him because of his grace, that he chose to love us even though we were yet in our sin. See Rom. 5:5 and Rom. 8:13-17.

2. Conviction of Sin – the Holy Spirit gives us an understanding of our sin, convicts with the result that we feel guilty and repent. See John 16:8.

3. Illumination of the Mind – the Holy Spirit allows us to see and understand God’s truth. God’s truth dwells in us as God’s Word dwells in us. He helps us discern what is of God and what is not of God. See John 16:8.

4. Spirit Guides us Re: Choices – the Spirit helps us make choices both individually and corporately as a congregation. Paul provides an excellent example of this. His ministry was in response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 13:1-3, we read that the elders in the church at Antioch prayed and the response came to them to set aside Paul and Barnabas for the work that God called them to do.

Next up -- a look at what Ignatius Loyola, John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards had to say about prayer and the witness of the inner spirit.

The Bible doesn’t give a detailed explanation of how the inner witness of the Holy Spirit works. Therefore, it’s instructive to look at those who experienced it for understanding and guidance.

Martin Luther battled Thomas Munster over this issue. Munster and his group refused to allow themselves to be critically examined re: inner promptings by fellow Christians according to Scripture. Luther knew that everything MUST line up with God’s Word and that, if something did not, then it was not of God.

John Calvin spent a lot of his life fighting spiritualists who refused to be informed and guided by the Bible. That made him hesitant to accept individual claims of hearing from God.

One of the most obvious examples of abuse of the inner witness of the Spirit is the Mormon religion. That church basically teaches that if it feels good, it’s from God. The devil, of course, is thrilled to encourage warm and fuzzy feelings for his lies.

So, for the purposes of authentic Christian belief, practice and spiritual formation, we must remember this: The subjective witness of the Spirit MUST be balanced, informed, assessed by the objective witness of the Spirit through Scripture and through the Christian community. As a Protestant, I recognize that the Scripture is the final word and that the teachings of the church are second to it in all matters.

There are three distinct voices that help us in the area of discernment – Ignatius Loyola, John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards.

Ignatius Loyola (16th-century) wrote The Spiritual Exercises. They include instruction for discernment, explaining how the Holy Spirit functions and how the evil one responds together with the human mind. I studied these exercises in a course on the history of the Christian Church and admit to sheer laziness when it came to sitting down and actually applying them in my life. Therefore, I can’t give my personal opinion on how successful they are for those seeking to know the will of God. But the one thing I can tell you is this: they are geared around constantly thinking of God and Scripture all the time – and that’s a good thing!

For Ignatius Loyola, the fundamental question was one of allegiance. We must consider the end for which we were created, that is, to praise and honour God. We cannot hear from him unless we are clear re: where our loyalty and priority lies. Ignatius also tackled the affective aspect of discernment. He demands that we discern our feelings to determine which ones are genuinely in response to God and ones that are in reaction to something that is not of God. He also stressed the importance of humility. Only when we see ourselves in truth can we be open to hear from God.

John Wesley uses language that differs from that of Loyola, but the ideas are similar. Wesley affirmed the priority of a heartfelt experience with God. When his “aha” moment of authentic conversion came, he described it as “My heart was strangely warmed.” In other words, he felt God’s assurance that he was loved and forgiven. But Wesley lived in an era (mid-18th-century) when people were suspicious of anything that didn’t seem rational. Added to that was the fact that he belonged to a church (Anglican) that was strongly hierarchical (much like the Roman Catholic Church). In fact, the church considered him a fanatic because he asserted that the individual Christian could have a direct experience of God. He based this on Paul’s statement that the Spirit witnesses to our spirits (Rom. 8:16, Gal. 4:6). Wesley believed that the inner witness of the Spirit would have an outward expression. People would see the Holy Spirit at work in a person by his or her godly character and the fruit he or she bore. But he stressed safeguards to that inner witness – Scripture and the Church. Wesley echoed Loyola re: the vital importance of humility.

Jonathan Edwards is best-known for writing Religious Affections. He wrote it in the midst of a revival in the United States in the 18th-century which is now known as the Great Awakening. His desire was to recognize and affirm where and when God was present and at work and when supposed manifestations of God’s presence could not be attributed to God at all. Some viewed any emotional outpouring as wonderful, a sign of God’s presence. Others saw them as nothing more than emotions out of control and enthusiasm that had nothing to do with God at all.

Doesn’t that sound a little like what has gone on with regard to Pentacostalism and the charismatic Vineyard Movement? In my neck of the woods, it was the Toronto Airport Vineyard that caught everyone’s attention. There was supposed to be this incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit there. I never attended it, but a friend did and she told me that she thought God was doing good things there, but that when she saw people down on all fours roaring like lions, she had to question that as being of God. In other words, where God is, you can expect the devil to be around trying to counterfeit true experiences with the Holy Spirit.

So how do we tell the difference between what is of God and what isn’t? Edwards interviewed thousands of people to arrive at an understanding of how the Holy Spirit works. First of all, he looked at the fruit of the experience. For example, if you truly feel great grief from sin, this should be seen by your moving away from it in your daily life. If you feel joy in worship, then that joy should be present in your daily life even in difficult circumstances.

Edwards concluded that what mattered was not the depth of emotion, but whether the person’s life was changed and whether there was evidence of spiritual growth. He stated that a genuine inner witness of the Spirit could ONLY come from that which is spiritual, that it arises only from a mind that is enlightened by God’s truth, that it results in humility and a change in a person’s nature to one that is more Christ-like, and that there would always be fruit where a Christian was truly hearing the inner witness of the Spirit – conclusions not unlike those of both Ignatius Loyola and John Wesley.

For further reading:

Bible scholar, J. I. Packer writes about the ministry of the Spirit in discerning God’s will here:

http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=3437

Lastly, what does the Bible say about prayer? There’s a list of Scripture verses here:

http://bible.org/page.php?page_id=5378

Thank you Mary Lou

We lose so much when we do not read the stories and insights of those who have gone before us .... especially those who were giants of the faith.

We do not stand on our own .... and the church did not begin with evangelicalism, nor even with the reformation - these were just necessary reform movements to correct errors. But if we do not learn then there will be another reform movement to correct our errors.

Thank you, this is so good!

in Christ

Dinah

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Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Luk 11:1 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."

Prayer is very important, and for this reason, we all need to, "be taught how to pray", I much regret that instruction on this vitally important subject is sadly neglected in todays Church, in fact I have only ever heard one message on this subject in all the 49+ years that I have been a Christian.

For this reason therefore, I would like to share with you what I have learnt so far on this vital topic..

Anyone can quote.

Mat 7:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Mat 7:8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

And think that this is all that needs to be said. But what about the person who also reads.

Mar 11:24 "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

And then asks himself, what does this verse mean? how can I make myself believe?

He then read.

1Jo 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
1Jo 5:15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

And now has the additional problem of, how can I possibly know in advance that what I am about to pray for is in fact in accordance with the will of God?

Well what about.

Mat 6:8 "Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

Could this verse I wonder, mean that God who knows before you ask, that what you are about to request, is in fact in accordance with His will, and because of this, He puts the, "belief", into your heart (gives you the assurance) before you start to pray, that your request will be granted?

Further Divine advice on how to pray is given bellow.

Mat 6:5 "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
Mat 6:6 "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Mat 6:7 "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
Mat 6:9 "In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

You are to address God as, "Our Father".

"Our", draws your attention to the fact that you are to have others believers in mind when you pray, and not just yourself.

I do trust the above is of help.

Edwin