Faith Baptist Church
09/03/2025 Wednesday Night Service

      • Romans 12.1-2ESV

  • 513 Speak, O Lord
  • Working Definition of prayer?

    Prayer is Relational

    “No verse in the Bible gives us a definition of prayer per se. Consequently, we must discover what prayer is by examining the prayers and references to prayer in the Bible if we want a biblical definition. Prayer is talking to God. It is expressing our thoughts and feelings to deity.” (Thomas Constable, Talking to God: What the Bible Teaches About Prayer, 16)
    Prayer is our response to God – “sometimes jubilant, sometimes meditative, sometimes discursive, sometimes perplexed, and even at time tortured to the point of despair.”
    “God is not flattered by our praises nor shocked by our doubts. Beyond the greatest friend, counsellor or priest, he is the one with whom we are privileged to be in dialogue, listening and speaking in the counterpoint of prayer.” (Howard Peskett, in Teach Us to Pray: Prayer in the Bible and in the World, 29)
    “The Bible does not present an art of prayer; it presents the God of prayer, the God who calls before we answer and answers before we call (Isa. 65:24).”
    “In the biblical history, prayer is not introduced as a separate spiritual discipline: it rises as man’s answer to God’s address.”
    “The richness of later revelation about prayer never does prejudice to this simple reality: prayer is a personal address to a personal God: ‘Our Father, which art in heaven . . .’” (Edmund P. Clowney, in Teach Us to Pray: Prayer in the Bible and in the World, 138)
    God does not respond to our prayers. God responds to us; to our whole life. What we say to him cannot be separated from what we think, feel, will and do. Prayer is communication from whole persons to the Wholeness which is the living God.” (W. Bingham Hunter, The God Who Hears, 13)

    Prayer is an expression of dependence

    “You should know before you go further that I passionately disagree with the notion that prayer is a way to get from God what we want. Christian prayer, as explained in Scripture, seems something else entirely: Prayer is a means God uses to give us what he wants.” (W. Bingham Hunter, The God Who Hears, 12)
    Prayer is an expression (attitude) of total dependence (whole person) upon God in which we express to God our desire to submit to His will; which is only possible through the ministry of Jesus Christ as we walk in the Spirit.
    Philippians 1:9 ESV
    9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,
    I. The Request for Discerning Love (1:9)
    Paul prays for an abounding, ever-growing love (1:9a).
    Paul prays that their love would grow in knowledge and all discernment (1:9b).
    Do you see any relational elements or areas of dependence in Paul’s prayer?
    Philippians 1:10 ESV
    10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
    II. The Results of Discerning Love (1:10-11)
    A. Result #1: The Ability to Make Good Choices (1:10a)
    “Approve the things that are excellent”
    A discerning love enables believers to examine everything and determine what is best.
    Prayer is an expression of total dependence upon God in which we tell God our desire to submit to His will.
    B. Result #2: Holy Character at Christ’s Return (1:10b)
    “Be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.”
    1. Positiely: pure
    2. Negatively: blamelessness
    3. Timing: At Christ’s Return
    Areas of Dependence?
    Relational element? Praying this for someone else builds relationship!
    Philippians 1:11 ESV
    11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
    C. Result #3: Abundant Fruit for God’s Glory (1:11)
    God fills us with the fruit of righteousness.
    2. Christ produces the fruit.
    3. Our fruit abounds to God’s glory and praise.
    Prayer is an expression of total dependence upon God in which we tell God our desire to submit to His will which is only possible through the ministry of Jesus Christ as we walk in the Spirit.
    Main Point: God wants us to pray for discerning love.
    I. The Request for Discerning Love (1:9)
    II. The Results of Discerning Love (1:10-11)
    A. Result #1: The Ability to Make Good Choices (1:10a)
    B. Result #2: Holy Character at Christ’s Return (1:10b)
    C. Result #3: Abundant Fruit for God’s Glory (1:11)

      • Philippians 1:9ESV

      • Philippians 1:10ESV

      • Philippians 1:11ESV

Faith Baptist Church
faith@fbcocon.org
262-567-0040
http://www.fbcocon.org
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