Summer Sunday School

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There are two kinds of prayer - Telling God and Asking God.
Praise, Thanksgiving, even Confession all involve tell God stuff. Stuff about Himself. Stuff about what He as done. And Stuff about what is true about ourselves.

Supplication and Intercession involve asking God for stuff, either for ourselves or on behalf of others

Asking and Telling are both elements of prayer.

1Peter 1:3-5 (NIV)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope
    through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and
    into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade— kept in heaven for you,
            who through faith are shielded by God’s power
                until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

This is a prayer, but doesn't involve any requests. What in particular is he praising God for? (His Mercy) Because I'm going to ask you to incorporate what you find into our prayer time.

xrefs:

Titus 3:3-7 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

2Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Now here's an example largely involving asking for stuff.

Eph 1:13,14 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession— to the praise of his glory.

Here is  a prayer that involves requests.

Eph 3:16-21 (NKJV)
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory,
to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
    that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
    that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
        may be able to comprehend with all the saints
        what is the width and length and depth and height——
        to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;
            that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
 
Now to Him
    who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think,
        according to the power that works in us,
to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

What is he asking for?

(Conviction => Submission => Revelation => Transformation)
What examples in scriptures do we have of these links?

xrefs:

1. Belief results in obedience
Rom 1:5; James 1:21-25
2. Obedience results in understanding
John 14:21; Ps 119:100
3. Understanding results in Transformation
Col 1:9-12;1John 3:2,3; Job 28:28

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PRAY CONCERNING GOALS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Just prior to entering the Garden of Gethsemane from which he was taken to judgment, we have a record of Jesus' prayer in John 17. One of the outstanding aspects of his prayer was him speaking of his accomplishments - as if debriefing his Father concerning the mission on which he had been sent. The following is a listing of the accomplishments he mentioned:

John 17:
vs 4 I glorified you on the earth
vs 4 I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
vs 6 I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world.
vs 9 I pray for them.
vs 12 I protected them and kept them safe
vs 14 I have given them your word
vs 18 I have sent them into the world
vs 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me
vs 26 I have made known to them your name

Notice the verbs. What aspects of these accomplishments can we incorporate in our prayer time?

Requests:


"Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." 1John 2:6 So consider among these, what work God has given you to do; what responsibilities has he laid upon you as his servant and what he expects you to accomplish such that at the end of your life you may say, "I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.", and that on the judgment day he may say to you, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!" Mt 25:21

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men." 2Cor 5:10,11a

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