This Week In Recovery Lesson
You may access the power of God through prayer, the vehicle given to you by God to have open access to Him in relationship with Jesus Christ. When you pray, each and every time, God hears you. Jesus died for you specifically to have the quality of relationship comparable to a marriage. Married couples whose marriages exhibit quality are those who communicate with each other with great frequency with open access to one another. Married couples know each other best when they use LUV communication to know and understand each other, encourage and support each other, be open about their needs and desires, and confront one another without fear of rejection. Jesus Christ wants that quality of relationship with you. He wants open access to communication with you, to be able to know and understand each other in a compassionate environment of encouragement and support, open and honest about needs and desires, without fear of rejection. How awesome would it be to have that quality of relationship with God?
Communicate with God with your Voice
If you do not already pray out loud with your voice, it is suggested here that you add your voice to your praying experience. While it is true that God, by His Spirit, knows your thoughts and your prayers, it is for your benefit that you apply your voice to your prayer life. Praying out loud is helpful in eliminating distractions, such as fleeting and wayward thoughts, daydreaming and imaginative wanderings, and help you to avoid feeling overwhelmed by worry and fear that can invade your mind as you pray. As you know, praying via your thoughts and lead to thinking about that stressful circumstance that leads to anticipating scenarios around the circumstance that can have self-defeating effects until you forget that you were praying at all as you now obsess about the the thing you were praying about.
Praying out loud is encouraged by a whole bunch of folks in Scripture:
“O Lord, God of my salvation, I cry out to you by day. I come to you at night. Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry.” Psalm 88:1-2 (King David)
“I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!” Psalm 116:1-2 (King David)
“O Lord, listen to my cry; give me the discerning mind you promised. Listen to my prayer; rescue me as you promised. Let praise flow from my lips, for you have taught me your decrees.” Psalm 119:169-171 (King David)
“O our God, hear your servant’s prayer! Listen as I plead. For your own sake, Lord, smile again on your desolate sanctuary.” Daniel 9:17 (Daniel the Prophet)
“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” Matthew 6:5-6 (Jesus talking about praying in private)
Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. Matthew 14:22-23 (Jesus sought privacy to pray out loud)
Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray. Mark 1:35 (Jesus isolated himself to pray)
When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God… Acts 4:24 (Prayer meeting of believers)
Praying out loud with your voice can feel a bit awkward at first. You might feel like you are talking to yourself. But there is something powerful and liberating when praying out loud. It can be as though what you have spoken out loud to the Lord has been affirmed in your heart as having been heard by God, as big as He is. Though, you likely will not hear the audible voice of God as you pray, it can be that you hear Him in other ways since vocal prayer is your part in having conversation with God and He would like to in some way communicate truth to you, inspiring you with assurance and confidence as He did for King David.
I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name. As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength. Psalm 138:2-3 (King David)
In my distress I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? Psalm 188:5-6 (King David)
It is fair to presume from the language of the text of these passages that King David, the Prophet Daniel, and Jesus sought to isolate themselves so that they could be free from distractions as they prayed with their voices to God intending to be heard. And heard they were as God sent them affirmation, encouragement, and even a sense of His presence and peace leading them to spiritual freedom.
How to Pray
Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:
“Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon.
Give us each day the food we need, and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation.”
Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him,‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” Luke 11:1-13 (NLT)
- What would you say is the point of this story that Jesus told in teaching us how to pray?
- Is God locked away in the bedroom? Is God too tired to respond to the petition? What would you say that Jesus was trying to communicate about that?
- How hard would you say that you go after God in your time of need? Are you quick to give up?
- What might you say are roadblocks getting in the way of persistence in our praying experience?
- How might shame and unworthiness become roadblocks in petitioning God?
- How might fear of rejection be a roadblock in aggressively pursuing God?
- How might past disappointment be a roadblock in reaching out to God?
- How might resentment and unforgiveness be a roadblock in identifying with God?
- How might greed and lust be a roadblock in our desire to experience God?
- How might selfish pride be a roadblock in getting away to talk to God?
- How might these roadblocks to an effective prayer life hinder your ability to get better in a healthy lifestyle of recovery?
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