Thank you for taking the time to respond, it was beneficial.

I am sorry if it came across like I thought that prayer was “the” mechanism God uses to sanctify us; I believe it is “a” mechanism.

Bro. Alan,

I thank God that because Jesus died to sin and I am crucified with Him, I am no longer a slave to sin, but I am enslaved to God. I have the promise that submitting the parts of my body to righteousness will result in sanctification; behold I am a New Creation. But wait a minute…What a wretched man I am! What I don’t want to do I do, and what I want to do I don’t do. There is a war going on within me! I want to submit the parts of my body to righteousness, but how? My mind seems to be a slave to the Law of God, but my flesh is a slave to sin even still? Oh God, how can my flesh be crucified so that I can be conformed to the image of Christ?

God, You tell me the mindset of the flesh is death and hostile to You. God, my flesh isn’t just indifferent, it is at enmity with your commands and I can no more please you in my flesh than a leopard can change its spots. Oh God…Help.

But what the flesh could not do, God did. “Ka-Pow”. And we are told that we are sanctified, we fulfill the righteous requirement of the law, and we are conformed to Christ when we walk according to the Spirit; and the Spirit is within all who are in Christ Jesus.

How does the Spirit do it? One way is through PRAYER. But how can I pray properly; wicked man that I am? My mouth is a part of my body, the best thing that I can do is keep it shut, or else I might blaspheme God. Praise God, He sees the heart, and the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God when we do not know what to pray. For WE KNOW that all things work together for the good of those who love God who are called to be conformed to the image of His Son.

I mean no disrespect, and sorry for the run on, but brother, there is enough “Pop, Wham, Ka-boom, and Wha-Blam” about our personal prayer life to preach for years.

The benefits and blessings brought by our Private Prayer life are not quantifiable.

With all the love that a wretched man, struggling with sin can muster, I am…

ABClay

That seems to be the problem with a lot of things these days…. we have been convinced we must have “pop”.

Fortunately for prayer, Christ gives the best and most profitable command. And yes, He instructs it to be private and He also gives us the language to use.

What “pop” are you looking for?

Blessings,
Chris

The play on Private Prayer Language? It didn’t work.

God demands all of our attention. I believe that in prayer His demand is no different. Since we are not like God, our demands tend to be selfish…i.e. “toe problems”, “backache”, etc., yet God is faithful. Look at …

1 Samuel 12:18-20 “So Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel. (19) Then all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king.” (20) Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.”

We don’t become sanctified by praying. Sanctification is a fact of the Christians life, and prayer agrees with that type of thinking. God’s Word through Samuel’s encouragement is…. do not turn from following the Lord, but serve Him instead with all your heart.

Pastor’s should lead their people to understand why a prayer of righteous man or woman can accomplish much….. because God is sanctifying His people to follow and serve. Serving and following do not create sanctification. God’s sanctification creates following and serving.

James 5:16-20 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. (17) Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. (18) Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. (19) My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, (20) let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

James had it right,… “let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”

Christ has done this….

Blessings,
Chris

Several things…..

You did get a wonderful “Woman of God” – how that happened I can only speculate…..

I may have at one point been a “scratch” golfer, but now I am a “scratch at-it” golfer.

Brother Joe,….It would be an honor to sing with you sometime…you’re an awesome tenor. And I really mean that….

Finally, most people are not aware of your skillful, but brief “bullriding” profession.

:)

Blessings
Chris

You “hyper-extremist” :)

Calvin did have some good things to say about prayer in his “Institutes”
BOOK III.,CHAPTER XX.
OF PRAYER–A PERPETUAL EXERCISE OF FAITH.
THE DAILY BENEFITS DERIVED FROM IT.

He even dives into the Romans 8 passage…..

Blessings,
Chris

You wrote:
“Jesus makes it clear to His followers that God is the object of authentic prayer. The language of private prayer is petitioning the will of God, His kingdom and His eternal glory.”

Amen Brother. There must, above all else, be a deep longing and desire of submission to God to bring Him Glory in every word that we utter to our Father in prayer.

I look at prayer as a mechanism that God uses to conform us to His will and to Christ and not as a time where I can effect a change in the mind of God as many do(as if this were even possible). A time where we set aside our flesh and truly ask God to do His will in our lives. “God grant what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt”.

*carefully straddling the third rail*
Forgive me for getting off topic a bit, for I believe that Bro. Chris handled the subject of personal prayer beautifully, but a matter that I am personally trying to understand in light of scripture is our “prayer services”. Most of these questions are not rhetorical and I would appreciate any exhortation you could give me. Are the prayers in our “prayer service” to reflect our “closet” prayers? Is the “prayer service” where we are called by our leaders to pray for Aunt Bessie’s ingrown toe biblical? I don’t mean to sound cold hearted, for I pray for God to give peace and understanding to my brothers and sisters who are in pain, but what is the end result of this type of service? I find myself uneasy when I am in the midst of one of these services as they often become 30 minutes of catching up on what’s going on in the community. How often do we see Aunt Bessie’s toe actually become infected requiring the amputation of her foot and suddenly “God has not answered our prayers”? In an age where open theism has crept into our churches unawares, people ask “Where is God?”. Is God not sovereign over everything, including Bessie’s toe and His will will be done?

Should the thrust of both corporate and personal prayer alike be praying that God grant us the ability to be conformed to Christ so that we may glorify Him all the more? Just so this type of prayer doesn’t sound self-serving, we must realize that conformity to Christ leads to a passion for Him and the spreading of His Word to the ends of the earth, causing us to therefore pray for all the things that bring glory to God which are ultimately important (from missionaries to the work at the food pantry).

Brothers, correct my faulty understanding. I just want to be in God’s will.

With all the love that a sinful worm can muster,

A. Clay
No Bible degrees whatsoever (but I have been called a “bible nazi” )

Great post. I appreciate the consistency and depth in thinking on this issue.

Sola Gratia!