Spiritual Exercises

Lesson #4 / part 7

(Please see Lesson #4 / parts 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & 6 for preceding Lesson content…)

WHAT MUST I PRAY FOR EVERY DAY – WITHOUT FAIL?

Read Matthew 6.5-15

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 

⁶ But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁷ “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 

⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 

⁹ Pray then like this:

“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 also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

¹⁴ For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 

¹⁵ but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

The 10 ‘Prayer Prompters’

Here is a summary of the 10 prayer prompters – then we will begin to address them in a little more detail as they apply to our own personal particular prayers concerns:

1. I must pray every day without fail… to delight in God
2. I must pray every day without fail… with confession of my sins
3. I must pray every day without fail… for the grace of God to forgive those who have offended and violated me in any way
4. I must pray every day without fail… for the salvation of those who are lost
5. I must pray every day without fail… for my church’s ministry – for the pastors, teachers, elders, deacons, and leaders of my church
6. I must pray every day without fail… interceding for pressing needs I know of that are afflicting those I know
7. I must pray every day without fail… for my personal growth in grace and in knowing Jesus Christ – that is, Christlikeness
8. I must pray every day without fail… for God’s will to be fulfilled and accomplished in my day’s activities 
9. I must pray every day without fail… that God will improve my preaching, teaching, and witnessing to make me more effective in ministering His Word [this is for me – you will need to adapt it to your personal prayer needs…]
10. I must pray every day without fail… that God’s Word will run throughout the whole earth and that Christ will be proclaimed and glorified…here, there, and everywhere

NOW, LET’S TALK ABOUT EACH ONE AND HOW TO PRAY THEM…

9. I must pray every day without fail … that God will improve my preaching, teaching, and witnessing to make me more effective in ministering His Word

Prayer Prompter Words: “Your Kingdom come”

When you pray to our Father in Heaven “Your Kingdom come…,” you are also praying that He will use you and work through you fully and effectively to make His Kingdom come … and you are submitting, volunteering, and offering yourself to serve in whatever capacity and role He gives you to fulfill to bring His Kingdom into reality in our human experience here on earth.

Now, as I have been saying all along, all of these ‘prayer prompters’ from this Disciples’ Model Prayer are for my own use. I have developed them over the past few years to help me keep myself on task and on track concerning what I must be praying for and praying about constantly and daily.

So, when I pray ‘that God will improve my preaching, teaching, and witnessing to make me more effective in ministering His Word,” this is my personal prayer for the particular activities and exercises of the ministry that God has called me to fulfill.

And, even those roles have changed especially over the past most recent years with changes in places of service and transitions in the assignments and roles He has given me to fulfill. But, I am still preaching – though not regularly – and I am still teaching regularly. And so, I’m still praying that I will continue to grow and improve in those gifts and exercises.

And, of course, I am still witnessing as a Christian and a believer and a disciple/follower of Jesus. Every one of us will share this Kingdom role alike with one another even though our other specific roles and tasks may be different than each other’s.

But, more on that here in just a minute…

Now, when you apply this prayer prompter to your own service for Christ, you need to recognize and evaluate how God has gifted you and called you to serve Him – and what opportunities for service He is giving you. Every one of us will not exercise the same gifts … all of us will not serve in the same roles … every one of us will not do the same tasks as the others of us do.

But, every one of us is called by Jesus Christ to serve Him in His Kingdom.

Here’s the way Paul described our service in Colossians 3.23-24 [HCSB]:

Whatever you do, do it enthusiastically [or, from your heart, whole-heartedly], as something done for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.

Do whatever you do in Jesus’ service the best you can – and continually pray you can do it better!

That’s why I am using Jesus’ words from The Disciples’ Model Prayer “Your Kingdom come…” to prompt us all to pray that God will improve us in the exercise of whatever it is we are doing in His Kingdom.

When Jesus describes who we are and what we do as His children, His disciples, His followers, He always begins with our relation to Him in His Kingdom. Just read the Sermon on the Mount. Every characteristic Jesus commands us to live out is in our relationship with Him in His Kingdom.  We are ‘sons of the Kingdom.’ We are born again into His Kingdom. We are citizens of His Kingdom. We are servants in His Kingdom. We are commanded to ‘seek first the Kingdom of God…”

And so, when we pray to Him “Your Kingdom come…,” it is understood that we are answering His call to obey Him, serve Him, and do whatever He is calling us to do and whatever He is giving us to do to make His Kingdom come.

Jesus Christ has given us the royal calling and the high privilege to labor and serve with Him to bring His Kingdom into physical and spiritual reality here in the world around us.

And so, whatever Jesus gives you to do to serve Him in His Kingdom, then pray that you will do it the best you can do it – as God helps you to grow and improve in the doing of it. It may not even be visible. It almost never will be glamorous. Sometimes it is menial. Nobody but Christ may even see what all you are doing in His Kingdom. But, be faithful in the doing of it, do it the best you can with the ability God gives you, and do it for His glory and to please Him!

Here’s how Peter describes how we are to humbly serve one another:

Above all, maintain an intense love for each other, since love covers a multitude of sins. ⁹ Be hospitable to one another without complaining. ¹⁰ Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God. ¹¹ If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. ~ 1 Peter 4.8-11 HCSB

And, pray that you will keep on doing whatever you are doing in God’s Kingdom faithfully, and that you will keep on growing and improving in the doing of it! Never stop growing! Paul wrote this to Timothy to encourage him and incentivize him to keep practicing, training, and improving his ministry roles:

Do not neglect the gift that is in you; it was given to you through prophecy, with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. ¹⁵ Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. ~1 Timothy 4.14-15 HCSB

Now, getting back to witnessing to others, each one of us should be praying that God will improve your witnessing to make you more effective in ministering His Word to others. Each one of us should consider yourself to be an “ambassador” for Jesus Christ [2 Corinthians 5.20] – a representative of Christ and a spokesperson of His Kingdom –and a “witness” to the Gospel to everyone God gives us to interact with.

Luke 24.46-48: …and [Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

“You are witnesses of these things” means me, you, everyone of us!

“You are witnesses of these things” means me, you, everyone of us!

So, how does each one of us pray this prayer for ourselves?

When you pray, “Your Kingdom come…,” you are praying that God will give you opportunities to witness to your lost family members, neighbors, your network of friends and acquaintances, associates, co-workers, and anyone else He may bring you into personal contact with so you can tell them the Good News / Gospel of Christ and His Kingdom.

When you pray “Your Kingdom come…,” you are praying that the Holy Spirit will convict them of their sins and give them the faith to believe in Christ and trust Him and be born again to see and enter the Kingdom of God.

Each of us should and must pray continuously that God will keep our hearts on fire with love for Jesus Christ and with a burning passion to see lost people saved … and with the flaming desire for the Holy Spirit to use us as His witnesses and speak and work through us to make the Kingdom of God come in the hearts and lives of many others!

So, whatever service and ministry Jesus Christ is giving you to do, and whatever work He is giving you opportunity to serve Him in, pray every day that He will grow you and improve you in the doing of it – and especially in witnessing to Him to others!

Before I move on to the last prayer prompter, I want to talk directly to some of you will read this lesson or hear it … and you are discouraged, you feel like you are useless, and you are tempted to believe that none of what I have been saying means anything to you. Maybe you are homebound. Maybe you feel isolated, secluded, and maybe even forgotten. Maybe because of age and physical weakness and infirmity you are tempted to believe that all the days of your usefulness to God are long past and will never come back. Maybe you feel like you have no part to play, no role to fulfill, no service to give in the on-going work of the Kingdom of God.

Please! May I plead with you not to think any of that or feel any of the feelings I have just described. Listen again to these prayer prompter words: “Your Kingdom come…” Those are not just ‘prayer prompter words’ … those words are the prayer! Can you not pray those words? Can you not plead that prayer? Yes! You can! There is no sickness, no weakness, no infirmity, no restrictive circumstance or secluded environment that can keep you from praying this mighty prayer to God! Your physical weakness in no way restricts or impedes the strength of this prayer!

You may be restricted to one small space in your house, or even to a bed of sickness and weakness, but your prayer from there can help bring in the Kingdom of God in all the world! Jesus even commands us to go to our secret, hidden place of prayer when we pray!

I’ll even go farther than that – those who are more actively working and serving out in their various more public fields of service want and need your prayers to God on their behalf! We have often said that when those who have been more prominent and public in their ministry profiles stand before Christ, if there is fruit that has been harvested through their ministries, it will be not only because of their more public gifts and labors – but maybe even more because of the hidden and secret prayers that were prayed to God on their behalf to empower their ministries and make their more public work effective.

So, please, wherever you are, whatever you are suffering, even if you can’t leave the room where you are, or the chair you’re sitting in, or the bed you’re lying on … pray this prayer that Jesus teaches us to pray: “Your Kingdom come…!”

And, as Jesus promises, “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” ~Matthew 6.6. 

10. I must pray every day without fail … that God’s Word will run throughout the whole earth and that Christ will be proclaimed and glorified…here, there, and everywhere

Prayer Prompter Words: “Your Kingdom come”

I know we have used these words “Your Kingdom come…” to prompt a number of these prayers that we must pray every day. But, “Your Kingdom come…” encompasses pretty much all that God purposes to do and is doing to do His will on the earth like it is done in Heaven.

The Kingdom of God IS God doing His will on earth like He does His will in Heaven!

So, I’m using these same words this time to prompt us to pray for world missions. We must be praying every day that the Kingdom of God comes and that God’s will is done on earth as it done in Heaven … not only in our own personal lives, not only in our local church, not only in our own community and city – but also in all the world … everywhere!

So, I’m going to quote some Scriptures – some familiar and some maybe not so familiar – but all of them will emphasize what God’s will is for His Gospel, this Gospel He has given us to proclaim! Pay attention to where God commands us to proclaim His Gospel, and that will pretty much explain why I am saying that we must pray every day without fail “that God’s Word will run throughout the whole earth and that Christ will be proclaimed and glorified…here, there, and everywhere!”

Matthew 24.14: This good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world as a testimony to all nations. And then the end will come.

Matthew 28.18-19: Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…”

Mark 16.15: Then He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation…”

Acts 1.8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Romans 16.25-26: Now to Him who has power to strengthen you according to my Gospel and the proclamation about Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, according to the command of the eternal God to advance the obedience of faith among all nations—

Colossians 1.5-6: You have already heard about this hope [of Heaven] in the message of truth, the Gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and recognized God’s grace in the truth.

Revelation 14.6: Then I saw another angel flying high overhead, having the eternal Gospel to announce to the inhabitants of the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.

Now, what do you read – and what do you hear – in all these words that will express what God’s will is for His Gospel?

What does God want for His Gospel of the Kingdom?

Where does God want it to be proclaimed and preached and told and heard?

Where does God want it to go? Where does God command us to take it?

How does God command us to care about His Gospel world-wide?

How does God command us to pray for His Gospel world-wide?

I have expressed this prayer prompter this way: ‘I must pray every day without fail … that God’s Word will run throughout the whole earth and that Christ will be proclaimed and glorified … here, there, and everywhere’ because that word “run” is precisely the word Paul used and the way he told the Thessalonian church to pray for him as he himself ran throughout the world preaching it… 

2 Thessalonians 3.1 [ASV]: Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, even as also it is with you…

The word that Paul uses for his missionary advance of the Gospel is “run” – just the common word for “run.” And, he requests and pleads with the Thessalonian church [and all of us] to please pray for him “that the Word of the Lord may run and be glorified…” Another way to say it would be “Please pray for me that the Gospel may speed ahead…or spread rapidly…everywhere I preach it – here, there, and everywhere!”

I assure you that this is what your missionaries are pleading with you to do for them and with them.

So, here’s how you and I pray this prayer prompter:

Pray for your missionaries by name.

Find out who they are and where they are.

Learn what they are doing and what their needs are.

Ask them what they need, what their struggles are, and how they want you to pray for them. They know more and best, and they will be glad to share them with you.

And then, more than anything else, and in every other prayer you pray for them, pray that the Gospel they are witnessing and preaching and proclaiming will “run” into people’s hearts by the living power of the Holy Spirit … that the Holy Spirit will use their witness of the Gospel to convict people of their sins, bring them to faith in Jesus Christ, and transform their lives by the life-giving power of the new birth!

Let’s get in sync with the heart of God and with Jesus Christ. Jesus wants Him and His Gospel to be preached to every person in every nation, tribe, language, and people. He wants us to love, care for, support, and pray for all those who are proclaiming His Name and His Gospel to all the peoples of the whole world!

So, let’s do it!

I must pray every day without fail … that God’s Word, the Gospel of the Kingdom, will run and spread rapidly throughout the whole earth and that Christ will be proclaimed and glorified … here, there, and everywhere!

“For Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen”

HERE IS THE LINK TO THE YOUTUBE LESSON:

https://youtu.be/opjv_RtfTkE  /  Length 32:31

HERE IS THE PDF COPY OF THESE SAME LESSON NOTES: