Various Passages
What is prayer? How should we pray? What does it mean to pray in the Name of Jesus? Is it ever right to pray to Jesus and the Holy Spirit? How is each member of the Trinity involved in our prayers? God’s Word helps us to answer and apply these and other questions on the doctrine of prayer. A Bible lesson by Ivor Jefferies.
1. What is prayer?
Read Ps. 62:8, Matt. 6:6-8, 9-13. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says the following: "Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies (Question #98).1
2. Matt. 6:9-13 gives us a model for prayer. We should not merely recite it (Matt. 6:7), but use it a pattern. How must we begin and why?
Read Mal. 1:6, Matt. 6:6-9, Rom. 8:15.
3. Is it ever right to pray to the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit?
Read Matt. 9:38, John 14:14, Acts 1:24, 7:59, 2 Cor. 12:8-9, Rev. 22:20.
The Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4). Since He is a divine Person who prays within us (Rom. 8:26-27), it would not be wrong to address Him in prayer.
4. How is each member of the Trinity involved in our prayers?
Read Rom. 8:26-27, 34, Eph. 2:18.
5. What does it mean to pray in the Name of Jesus (John 16:23)?
Read Acts 19:13, 1 Tim. 2:5, John 15:7, 16, 1 John 5:14-15.
6. The Lord’s Prayer consists of six petitions. What should we pray for under each petition?
Read the following passages:
i. Exo. 20:7, 1 Pet. 1:15-16.
ii. Matt. 9:37-38, Rev. 22:20.
iii. Acts 21:14, Ps. 40:8, 103:20-21.
iv. Matt. 6:31-32, 7:9-11.
v. 1 John 1:9, Mark 11:25.
vi. Matt. 4:1, Eph. 6:10-13.
7. What does Matt. 6:9-13 teach us about the need for corporate prayer? How did the early church apply it?
Read Acts 1:14, 2:42, 4:24, 12:5.
8. Is corporate prayer a priority in your church and personal life? How can you make it a priority?
Read Matt. 6:5-6, Acts 3:1, 1 Tim. 4:7b.
1 https://thewestminsterstandard.org/westminster-shorter-catechism/