" And When You Pray" Pastor Ronnie D. Joyner, D.Min
"And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? Here's what I want you to do. Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God and you will begin to sense his grace. The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this: 'Our Father in heaven, reveal who you are. Set the world right: do what's bestas above, so below. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the devil. You're in charge! You can do anything you want! You're ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes.' In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part." Matthew 6:5-15 From The Message Bible Our Objective: Planning To Pray Are your prayers created because of circumstances or are they a part of your ongoing relationship with God? A review of Biblical History relates both practices. All of us pray in times of adverse circumstances, but our focus today is on planned prayer as an ongoing devotional practice. I.
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Planned Prayers In the Morning
Pastor Blackwell highlighted two biblical references as he made the request to explore this Kingdom entity of planned prayer. He shared Acts 3:1 and James 5:16. Acts 3:1 caught my attention a bit more than the James text. It says, "Now
Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour". Smith relates, " the Jews normally observed two periods during the day for prayer. Both of these were associated with the daily sacrifice called the Tamid. Early in the morning during Shacharit - (from shachar, meaning morning light) and at 3:00 pm in the afternoon, possibly during Mincha or Minha (derived from the flour offering that accompanied each sacrifice in the afternoon, everyday of the year the priests slaughtered a lamb for a sacrifice to God. It was this kind of ritual that Peter and John were going to the Temple to observe at 3:00 in the afternoon when they met the man whom was healed at this planned prayer time. Rich with ritual, this lame man was enriched by the power associated with this planned prayer period. Planned Prayer Periods are part of the devotional life of a true believer. Morning Prayers Shacharit - (from shachar, morning light) Prayers recited in the morning ~Mark 1:35 "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place and there prayer". birkot ha-shachar - morning blessings ~ from the Torah (first five books of the Bible). Pesukei D'Zimrah - (verses of praise) ~from several Psalms (100 and 145-150) and prayers such as yehi chevod) from several Biblical verses followed by the Song of the sea (chapters 14 and 15 of Exodus) Barechu - the formal call to prayer including recitation of the Shema (Deut. 6:4). II.
Afternoon Planned Prayers
These afternoon prayers covers praise and worship. They are personal requests in time of battle and nationalistic favor as compared to other nations. Mincha or Minha (derived from the flour offering that accompanied each sacrifice may be recited from 1/2 hour after halachi noontime) Mincha ketana (2.5 halachic hours before nightfall) Korbanot - Psalm 84, Numbers 28:1-8 (Read in The Message Bible) Pittum hakketoret and concluded with A Message of the Messiah - Mal. 3:4; A Request During and after War With Their Enemies - Psalm 144; A Psalm of
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Praise - Psalm 145; Majesty - Psalm 93. III.
An All Nations Prayer - Psalm 67; Reverence for God's
Planned Evening Prayers
In many congregations the afternoon and evening prayers are recited back to back on a working day to save people from having to attend synagogue or go to church twice. Some sects or denominations recite Ma'ariv (nightfall) with Psalm 121. Friday Night Shabbat services begin on Friday evening with the weekday Mincha. Barclay relate, "in ancient times the night was divided into four watches - 6pm - 9pm, 9pm - 12 midnight, 12 midnight - 3am and 3am- 6am". So, we can conjecture that at 6pm on Fridays, what we call weekends, actually start the Jewish Sabbath. Kabbalat precedes Shabbat and literally means "receiving the Sabbath". Kabbalat Shabbat is composed of six psalms Psalms 95 to 99 and 29 representing the six weekdays. Services conclude with Ps. 92 with acceptance by men with all of its obligations, Ps. 93. As we can see, most of the Jewish sects or denominations use planned prayers and build ceremonial services which celebrate their history. The place of prayer is so significant that they take time to plan to do it instead of waiting for a reason. The purpose of prayer carries a spiritual meaning with its practice. Prayer colors their use as they demonstrate their love of God. In Jewish philosophy and in rabbinic literature, it is noted that the Hebrew verb for prayer is hitpallel and in fact it is the reflective form of palal which mean "to judge". Thus, "to pray" conveys the notion of "judging oneself", ultimately, the purpose of prayer, tefilah is to transform ourselves. The original concepts above, distinguishing the use of prayer in the Jewish mind, is Divine Simplicity. It is not God that changes through our prayer-we cannot influence God as a defendant influences a human judge who has emotions and is subject to change, rather it is man himself who is changed. The power of change or being transformed is a gift from God and establishes a new relationship with God and a new destiny for himself in life. This brings us
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to the goal of prayer. It is to be the help needed to train a person to focus on divinity through contemplating God's philosophy and intelligence. In other words that is why The Word of God was used during their prayers. These two divine items were one in the same. In this view, prayer is not just a conversation, rather it is meant to inculcate God's attitude in the one who prays which influences the way we live. IV. Conclude Review the Matthew 6 text above.
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