Growing in a Life of Prayer

Summary

This midweek service unfolds the many sides of prayer through two messages. The first preacher describes intercessory prayer as a mark of spiritual maturity: like a child who moves from milk to solid food, we begin by praying for our own needs and grow into carrying others before God. He shows that such prayer is born of love - Abraham pleading for Sodom despite his break with Lot, Jesus looking on the rich young ruler "and loving him," and Aaron and Hur holding up Moses' tired arms until the battle was won. Recalling that his own father had died exactly two years before, he speaks of how deeply we feel the loss of someone's prayers.

The second preacher draws three lessons from the prayers of Elijah. At Mount Carmel his prayer was short, clear, and bold, and fire fell before the watching crowd, so be ready to pray simply and with faith even among unbelievers. On the mountain he bowed with his face between his knees and prayed seven times until a cloud the size of a hand appeared, so keep praying until the answer comes. Under the broom tree, exhausted and ready to die, he prayed honestly in his weakness, and God answered not with rebuke but with strength.

A healthy prayer life, the preachers urge, holds all of these together - public, persevering, and private. Pray for the lost, for those in need, for one another's healing, and for those in authority. The service closes by interceding for the church, the sick, the nation, and a coming season of revival.

Key Points

• Prayer matures: we start by asking for ourselves and grow into interceding for others.
• True intercession is born of love, as it was for Abraham and for Jesus toward the young man.
• Hold up one another's tired hands in prayer, as Aaron and Hur did for Moses.
• Bold prayer can be short, clear, and full of faith, like Elijah's at Carmel.
• Keep praying until the answer comes, as Elijah did seven times for rain.
• God welcomes honest, weary prayer; He answered Elijah with strength, not scolding.
• A full prayer life is public, persevering, and private all at once.