North Dakota District UPCI--Day 5--Bible Study Notes--Philip Harrelson

The following notes are the actual notes that I used in the July 14, 2023 session.  As you can see there is a lot more content than what was covered in the session.  

The Saint Builds, Prays & Remains—vv. 20-21

 

• A true saint will be one who builds his life on the Word of God (v. 20a).

• A true saint will pray in the Spirit (v. 20b).

• A true saint will remain in the love of God (v. 21).

 

Jude affirms that the Holy Ghost helps us to pray.  While we are praying, there is a steady flow of the grace of God given to those who would pray.  Zechariah 12:10 is notable for its promise that a spirit of grace and supplication will come to those who are given to prayer.  A regenerate man should be drawn very easily into the presence of the Lord during his times of prayer.  The priests were to wash in the laver before they went to the altar of incense in the Tabernacle, therefore a New Testament believer needs to come to the laver of regeneration by the work of the renewal of the Holy Ghost (Titus 3:5).  However, even though we are regenerated we still do not pray as we ought (Rom. 8:26) so Jude urges us to pray in the Spirit because of the need to earnestly contend for the faith.   

 

This matter of building up your most holy faith by praying in the Holy Ghost is a very important matter in the life of every minister and every saint.  Perhaps one of the most challenging of the Christian disciplines is the matter of prayer.  Prayer is hard work and prayer needs to be something that we need to learn (Luke 11:1-13).  If you will really have a productive prayer life, it will have to be more than 5-10-minute snippets here and there throughout the day.  A devilish trap to excuse prayerlessness is the idea that we are constantly praying “in our minds” amidst all of the busyness of an overloaded schedule.  But if we could be honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that some of the serious issues that we face in our lives have a direct correlation to our prayerlessness.  Prayerlessness to a saint is like breathlessness to a human being; just as a person needs air, a child of God needs prayer. 

 

Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession—We have far too little conception of the place of intercession, as distinguished from prayer for ourselves that ought to have in the Church and in Christian life.  In intercession our king upon the throne finds His highest glory too.  Through it He continues His saving work and can do nothing without it.  Through it alone we can do our work, and nothing avails without it . . . where . . . we work more than we pray; the presence and the power of God are not seen in our work as we wish.

 

Arthur Mathews—Born For Battle—Prayer was never meant to be incidental to the work of God.  It is the work of God . . . in all work for God; prayer is the working power of all that God could do through His people.

 

Robert Murray McCheyne—What a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more. 

 

I believe that one of the reasons that people have a problem with prayer is not so much a spiritual problem as it is the method of attempting to pray.  As Apostolics, we frequently come to this verse in Jude with the concept that praying in the Spirit is praying in tongues.  Certainly, that is one element of prayer and we cannot get away from.  In fact, there are times that we are so distressed and burdened that we hardly know what to pray and the Spirit rescues us and then ushers us into a place of fruitful prayer (Rom. 8:26).  But on the other hand, learning how to use the Scriptures as an avenue of prayer will keep your mind from wandering about while you are actually praying.  A wandering mind leads to repetitive prayers that the Lord spoke against in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 6:5-8).  When we fall into the trap of repetitive, mindless prayers we are not accomplishing the true intent of prayer.  But prayers that become rooted in Scripture literally opens up the purpose of God into the life of a saint, as nothing else will.    

 

As Apostolics we are accustomed to hearing people praying aloud in a church service or in a corporate prayer meeting.  Over my lifetime, I have been guilty of listening to the prayers of others as they prayed, and it has uniquely shaped the way that I pray both positively and negatively.  What are the common things that you hear people praying for in public church meetings?

 

• Family—Spouses, children, parents, etc.

• Future—Decisions for jobs, change in place where they live, upcoming events, etc.

• Finances—Seeking God’s provisions generally for material matters; cars, homes, bills, schooling, etc. 

• Christian Concern—Political matters, church related, personal ministry work, someone who is suffering

• Current Crisis—We average having to deal with a major crisis about every six months—it may be good or bad.  Birth, death, marriage, job changes for one you want or don’t want, and other things that devour our attention. 

 

While all of these needs are acceptable to pray for, in fact they are necessary to pray for, if our prayers never venture out of this pattern our prayer remains on a very basic level.  Praying the Word allows us to move into realms that we normally would not go.  There are benefits of praying the Scripture:

 

• Your mind will have less of a tendency to wander.

• Your prayer will be more about the purpose of God than about yourself.

• You will find that the time in prayer will seem to be shorter.

• You will seem to be in a real conversation with God.

• Your prayer will speak directly to the life situation you are currently in.

• You will think more deeply about what the Bible is saying.

• You will have a greater assurance you are praying the will of God.

• You will begin to pray about things you wouldn’t normally pray about.

• You will pray about things you normally pray for but in a new and different way. 

• You won’t pray the same old things about the same old things. 

The first time I can distinctly remember discovering the power of praying Scripture was on a Saturday PM at the church when I was just musing over the Psalms while I was praying.  I turned to Psalm 51 and as I read through it, I just started to read out loud those words and it turned into a tremendous prayer meeting.  The second passage of Scripture that came to my attention around this same period of time was 1 Timothy 6:11-21.  Both of those events were at least 20 years ago and at the time there were very few resources that were available in this area of praying the Scriptures. 

 

John Piper—If I try to pray for people or events without having the Word in front of me guiding my prayers, then several negative things happen.  One is that I tend to be very repetitive . . . I just pray the same things all the time.  Another negative thing is that my mind tends to wander.

 

Effective prayer is focused prayer.  Once we enter into the matter of praying the Word it can assist us in overcoming strongholds in our lives as well.  By praying Scripture, we can even pray for the overarching need to let the will of God be the priority for our life.  We can pray the Scriptures in such a way that helps us to overcome idolatry, unbelief, pride, deception, besetting sins, guilt, bitterness, un-forgiveness, and depression.  The components of human emotion can at times overwhelm even the strongest believer, but Scripture-guided prayer can literally incorporate the mind of God into our soul over our own human agenda.

  

Assessment of our personal prayer life should be ongoing, and it should cause us grief if there isn’t any progress being made by God and the Word in that spiritual discipline.  Furthermore, as we probe our own prayer life, it is important that we are willing to make adjustments as we move along in our race. 

 

• Is prayer a delight or drudgery?

• Is there a sense that we have met with a holy God at the throne of grace?

• Are there periods of prayer where we can come away with the notion that we have prevailed before God, as did Jacob and Moses?

 

Provoking questions give way to an inner assessment as to how well our prayer life is functioning.  

 

As a beginning to praying Scripture, we may start praying the Psalms.  Obviously Psalm 23 might seem like a very elementary place to start.  But notice what can come to light in your prayer when you pray this psalm. 

 

• Shepherd—Thank the Lord that He is your shepherd.  He is a good Shepherd.  Lord, shepherd my family today; guard them from the ways of the world; guide them in the ways of God.  Lead them not into temptation, deliver them from evil.  Pray for your children and your family to be sheep that are not going to wander.  Shepherd me in my decisions . . .

• Want—Thankful that I have never really been in want.  Haven’t missed too many meals.  Everything I have has come from You.  I am thankful for your provision!  Never let me take it for granted.    

• Green Pastures—Thankful for the peace that comes in these pastures.  Thankful for the nourishment of the Word that comes from being in a green pasture. 

 

Not only is the book of Psalms a prayer book it is also a songbook.  The book of Psalms was also designed for singing (Eph. 5:18-19; Col. 3:16).  When we come to the Lord in our prayer, we can use some of the following from the single-verse psalms:

 

• Psa. 3:3

• Psa. 8:1

• Psa. 16:11

• Psa. 36:7

• Psa. 51:17

• Psa. 71:19

• Psa. 77:13

• Psa. 86:5

• Psa. 104:1-2

• Psa. 119:105

• Psa. 139:1-2

• Psa. 145:13

 

As for praying entire psalms, some of the following might be a good starting place:

 

• Psalm 23

• Psalm 27

• Psalm 31

• Psalm 37

• Psalm 42

• Psalm 66

• Psalm 103

• Psalm 139

As you start to branch out into praying the Psalms, it will not be long until you run across some that seem to have a different direction to them.  There are some sections of the Psalms called “imprecatory psalms.”  The psalmist is calling for the Lord to bring judgment on his enemies (Psa. 58:6, 8; 137:9).  I have to balance this out with Matt. 5:44-45 and that will change the tone of the prayer.  Therefore, we can pray about specific sins that God will smash their teeth before they devour our soul or someone that we love.  Sometimes we can pray this on a national level that the Lord would destroy abortion, sexual immorality, racism, injustice, etc.

 

There are times when we have to endure the challenges that suffering brings to us in life.  It is rare that any human being will ever be brought to the dark anguish that Job came to in his life.  He literally lost everything except for his life but even his body was tormented by sickness and pain.  There are forty-two chapters in the book of Job of which some is a historical retelling of his story followed by a conversation with Job and four men who came his way.  There are also several conversations that Job has with God that are recorded as well.  Mixed in this entire book of suffering, calamity but ultimate victory for Job is some of his prayers.  These are effective maps for prayer as well:

 

• Job 6:8-9; 7:17-21—A prayer for pity.

• Job 10—A prayer against injustice (in my opinion this is probably one of the darkest chapters in the Bible especially v. 10 as Job is describing his plight). 

 

There are multiple prayers that are seen in the OT prophets.  Just reading through the prophets will help to point out the places where they prayed so that we may incorporate them into our own prayer life.  One such prayer is found in Jeremiah 12:1-4 which is a prayer of great perplexity by Jeremiah.  He again notes the common theme of the prosperity of the wicked.  There are two principles that are evident in his prayer:  Don’t lose faith when we observe their prosperity and don’t allow the apparent injustices in life confuse us. 

Another one of the great blessings of Scripture affords us an ability to get a bit of insight into the prayers of the Lord.  He was one who was given to prayer as an example for us to follow.  There are some human traits that we see in the incarnate Christ that are evident in his prayers:

 

• Sincerity

• Humility

• Repentance (Seen in the parable of the prodigal son)

• Obedience

• Faith

• Forgiveness

• Persistence

• Need for privacy

 

All of these characteristics are seen in his prayers because he had a human body.  But there is one prayer that really seems to encapsulate what it really meant for him to pray.  That is the great high priestly prayer that we find in John 17 that is really the Lord’s Prayer, as we would define it.  The prayer given in Matthew 6 when the Lord instructed his disciples in prayer could really be understood as the disciples’ prayer while this prayer in John 17 is at the heart of the entire mission of his incarnation.  It follows the preaching in the upper room (John 13-16) and gives a principle that preaching should be followed with prayer.  There are three sections which at the heart is for faithfulness and fruitfulness:

 

• vv. 1-5—A prayer for himself

• vv. 6-19—A prayer for his disciples

• vv. 20-26—A prayer for his church

 

In his prayer for the church, there are some characteristics that should be prayed for every church to have present:

 

• Joy—v. 13

• Holiness—vv. 14-17

• Truth—v. 17

• Mission—vv. 18-19

• Unity—vv. 20-23

• Love—vv. 25-26

 

These are matters that are crucial to every church in existence!  If we are to be an effective church, we must have these qualities among us. 

 

Lastly, we look to the epistles of Paul and take notice of his prayers.  While Paul was a missionary evangelist, he also filled the role of a pastor.  When we look at his prayers for the churches that he established and wrote to, his prayers for them are very insightful.  In fact, his prayers for those saints are perhaps a far cry from what many in our modern era would be. 

 

• Ephesians 1:15-19—A prayer for enlightenment (Doctrinal in nature).

• Ephesians 3:14-21—A prayer for enablement (Advancement of the church).

• Philippians 1:9-11—A prayer for holiness (Fruits of righteousness).

• 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12—A prayer of thankfulness for growth in virtues.

 

These are the ones that I have chosen to focus on in this lesson on praying in the Holy Ghost.  However, for the sake of convenience the following are Paul’s prayers through his epistles that will be helpful to use in your private times of prayer:

 

• Rom. 1:8-10

• Rom. 10:1

• Rom. 12:12

• Rom. 15:5-6

• Rom. 15:13

• Rom. 15:30-33

• 1 Cor. 1:4-9

• 1 Cor. 16:23

• 2 Cor. 1:3-7

• 2 Cor. 2:14-16

• 2 Cor. 9:12-15

• 2 Cor. 12:7-9a

• 2 Cor. 13:7-9

• Gal. 6:18

• Eph. 1:3-8

• Eph. 1:15-23

• Eph. 3:14-21

• Eph. 6:19-20

• Php. 1:3-6

• Php. 1:9-11

• Php. 4:6-7

• Php. 4:23

• Col. 1:3-14

• Col. 4:2-4

• 1 Thess. 1:2-3

• 1 Thess. 2:13-16

• 1 Thess. 3:9-13

• 1 Thess. 5:23-24

• 1 Thess. 5:28

• 2 Thess. 1:3-4

• 2 Thess. 1:11-12

• 2 Thess. 2:16-17

• 2 Thess. 3:2-5

• 2 Thess. 3:16

• 1 Tim. 1:12

• 1 Tim. 2:1-2

• 2 Tim. 1:3-7

• 2 Tim. 1:16-18

• 2 Tim. 4:22

• Titus 3:15b

• Philemon 4-7

• Philemon 25

As you can see this whole matter of praying the Scripture can really shape our prayer life as nothing else can. 

 

In conclusion, it is not my desire to overwhelm you with information at the expense of leaving us hanging as to what can make our prayers more Scriptural and with a depth.  A very worthy undertaking in conjunction with praying the Scriptures is to use a prayer journal.  A number of years ago, I had an old accounting record book that initially I was going to use for something else.  But as the providence and blessing of the Lord would have it, one day I picked up that record book and started simply writing down names of people that I had prayed for.  After a while, this book took on a very different use as I would write down the names and some snippets of the reason that I was praying for them.  Over the years this has been a great encouragement because I can read back about things I was praying for and can literally trace the hand of God at work in the situations that I was praying for.  Obviously, the privacy of this journal is crucial, but it is a very helpful way to chart the progress of what is taking place in personal prayer times.  

 

Some other resources I would recommend to you that will help you in praying the Scriptures:

 

• Nave’s Topical Bible

• Thompson Chain Reference Bible

• Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

• Herbert Lockyer—All the Prayers of the Bible

 

It is my hope that this lesson has been effective in stretching your prayers to a higher level for the glory of God.

Philip Harrelson

July 14, 2023