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6 WEEKS OF PRAYER SYLLABUS WELCOME

Welcome

Welcome to the 6 Weeks of Prayer. Over the next few weeks your experience and understanding of prayer will grow significantly. In addition, your Bible reading will take on new meaning as you’re introduced to the wide variety of prayers.

The 6 Weeks of Prayer is a time of focus for the entire church family. The weekly Sabbath messages compliment and expand upon the topics discussed in each of the small groups. The small groups meet weekly to worship, pray, study and plan an outreach event. Use your syllabus each day and incorporate your daily devotions with the Meditation and lesson study.

In the last days of earth’s history, people around the world and in our communities will be hungry to hear the words of God. The Lord will use the same means of spreading the “good news” at the end of time as he did at the beginning—believers sharing God’s word with others. In Acts 2 we find the early church organized into meeting together in large groups in the temple courts and small groups in homes to share God’s words. As a result “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:46-47 (NIV)

We pray your time spent in personal devotions, small group interaction and attending Sabbath services will ignite a flame of anticipation of the Lord’s Second Coming and the necessity to share the “good news” with your friends, family and neighbors.

6 WEEKS OF PRAYER SYLLABUS INTRODUCTION

Introduction

The 6 Weeks of Prayer syllabus is the result of weeks of study and days of prayer. The intention of the 6 Weeks of Prayer is two fold. Our first goal is to gain insight into the treasure called “prayer.” What is prayer? How do we interface with God? How does prayer work? And many topics will be explored.

The Second goal is to experience a prayer renewal in your life. We want to both learn about prayer and put it into practice. Each time I study prayer, a new gem is found and my prayer life deepens. For example, in the first week you’ll learn how to meditate. Then, you’ll practice meditation each week. All of us learned to pray from someone. This is the opportunity to learn from examining the Bible and reading the prayers of the early church leaders.

The syllabus is arranged with one study each week for a total of six studies on prayer. Two articles entitled How Prayer Works and Responding to Lover were published in a special edition of the Adventist Review published in May of 1997. The article entitled Joining our Prayers with His was published in Ministry Magazine, January 2005. Those articles are credited to the authors and include footnotes.

The remaining three articles entitled, Meditation, The Lord Teaches Us to Pray and Following God’s Direction were written by Mitch Williams either during his doctoral studies at Fuller Seminary or more recently for pastoral considerations.

Mitch WilliamsFebruary 7, 2006Downey, California

6 WEEKS OF PRAYER SYLLABUS SMALL GROUPS

Helpful Hints for Small Groups

Use the “Calendar” page in the back of the syllabus to share group responsibilities and allow for group ownership.

Begin your groups on time to honor those who are there and establish the habit of beginning and ending on time.

Be certain everyone is introduced each meeting. Never ask a person to pray or facilitate unless you’ve cleared it with

him/her in advance. As people are gathering, talk about answered prayers, God’s miracles,

spiritual experiences and needs. What is talked about in the groups stays in the groups. List the prayer needs of those in your group on the “prayer & praise” page. The small group process is divided into four parts as listed below:

a. Welcome and Worship: 15 minutesb. Prayer: 15 minutesc. Outreach: 30 minutesd. Syllabus Lesson: 30 minutes


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Outreach: Plan an outreach project to put into practice what you’re learning.

Outreach Ideas


Outreach Ideas

6 WEEKS OF PRAYER SYLLABUS WEEK 1

Welcome and Worship

Greet one another in love. Ask each person to name the month of his/her birth. Beginning with the January birth months, invite the group to introduce the person on their right.

Sing with the iworship@home DVD one or two selections.

Prayer

At the first small group gathering, the leader may offer his/her own prayer or use the prayer below or any combination as lead by the Holy Spirit.

Reassure the group no one will be asked to pray spontaneously. Before the prayer ask if there are any prayer needs. Ask the Lord to lead

you in deciding an outreach project. Invite a brief discussion about prayer. Many are shy or unsure how to

pray. Remind the group that prayer is like talking with a friend. Talk about other ways to pray beside just one person leading the prayer.

Pair-up for prayer or try a conversational prayer. Below is a prayer from Jesus.

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Matt 11:25-27 (NIV)

Outreach: Plan an outreach project

Ask the group to briefly discuss an outreach project and be prepared to share their ideas at the next meeting. An outreach project is simply helping a person or a family. The following are a few examples of outreach projects. Discover the needs of a neighbor, friend or family member the group could collectively help. Take food or other helpful items to a family. Help a single parent or senior person with chores around the house. Tutor kids in the neighborhood who need help in reading?


MEDITATIONMutually satisfying communication happens when two individuals share equally in

talking and listening. A one sided conversation is boring. Most of us have been stuck in a so-called conversation with a person who simply talks all the time! As interest wanes, listening becomes a tedious task. This kind of situation is not a dialogue but a monologue. With only one individual doing most of the talking, communication becomes one sided.

Thinking about this honestly, there may be instances when any one of us might be that boring person doing all the talking when we pray. I don’t mean to say that God is ever bored with our prayers. But, I am emphasizing the one-sidedness that most of us practice in prayer.

In general, prayers tend more towards a monologue rather than a dialogue for we rarely take the time to listen to what God wants to say to us! No doubt, there are instances when an individual must empty his or her heart to God as a kind of catharsis. But, in this discussion, we desire to focus on the joy of meditation and listening to God as an addition to your prayer life.

Our Heavenly Father is gracious and loves to listen to His children. Let’s learn to follow His example and begin to listen to Him. As we make time to listen to God, our prayer experience will come alive as God responds to us in new ways.

There is a time that makes space for God. It is the ancient practice of meditation. Meditation allows God to speak while we listen. It is a purposeful listening to God’s “still small voice.” We live in a world of noise from traffic, airplanes, televisions and radios. Even magazines and newspapers leave us a bit unsettled. Meditation is the time to be still, putting aside the noises of the world to listen for God’s voice.

To some, meditation may be a new idea. Yet, it is really an ancient practice whose benefits are being rediscovered. The following are selected scriptures to illustrate the biblical foundation for meditation.

MEDITATION IS BIBLICAL“And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening” (Gen. 24:63).

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night” (Ps. 1:1,2).

“I think of thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the watches of the night” (Ps. 63:6).


My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate upon thy promise” (Ps. 119:148).

We have wonderful examples of Bible characters seeking God through meditation. We will do well to learn from them.

E. G. White encourages us to take time each day for “prayerful meditation.” She writes, “The words and the character of Christ should be often the subject of our thoughts and of our conversation, and each day some time should be especially devoted to prayerful meditation upon these sacred themes.”1

EASTERN VS. BIBLE MEDITATIONBefore we proceed, we ought to distinguish Bible meditation from eastern meditation.

As we have noticed from the scriptures above, meditation is a biblical practice. Meditation is the opportunity to be still and listen for God’s wisdom and guidance.

On the other hand, prompted for the need of God but confused just how to find him, some have turned to Eastern meditation for direction. Eastern meditation understands God as a sort of “Cosmic-mind” rather than a personal God who wants to have a relationship with us. Some Eastern thought includes the notion of “works” to empty self of all wrong habits. The idea is to impress the “Cosmic-mind” of one’s worthiness and earn a place with the “power-source.” Others embrace an Eastern form of meditation thinking it demands no need to lead a moral life. The point of meditation is for selfish reasons alone like to feel better, lower the blood pressure or simply exercise. As a result, we are witnessing what has been called a “New Age” movement in our culture.

Now there is nothing new (Eccl. 1:8-10) about the New Age movement. The New Age movement has simply adopted “old” Eastern forms of meditation like Zen and Yoga. The gulf between Eastern meditation and Bible meditation is as wide as the gulf that Lazarus observed between himself and the rich man (Luke 16:26).

From his book Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster makes the, following comparisons and observations between Eastern meditation and Bible meditation.

“Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind in order to fill it. (With God and His word.)

“All Eastern forms of meditation stress the need to become detached from the world. There is an emphasis upon losing personhood and individuality and merging with the Cosmic Mind. . . . Detachment is the final goal of Eastern religion. It is an escaping from the miserable wheel of existence. There is no God to be attached to or to hear from. (Since God is conceived as a “power-source” or “Cosmic-mind” and not personal or relational.)


“Christian meditation goes far beyond the notion of detachment. The detachment from the confusion all around us is in order to have a richer attachment to God and to other human beings. Christian meditation leads us to the inner wholeness necessary to give ourselves to God freely, and to the spiritual perception necessary to attack social evils. In this sense it is the most practical of all the Disciplines.”2

Christian meditation is an opportunity to quiet oneself from all the noise and distractions of life in order to fill our hearts with God and his love. While emptying the heart and mind of evil is a noble and necessary process, leaving it vacant is merely advertising for any vagrant evil spirits to find a home. It is like leaving your doors and windows wide open and leaving on vacation. Jesus warns us not to leave our homes empty. Read Luke 11:24-26.

The point of meditation is a practice of tuning-out all the traffic, media, the Internet, cell phones and worry to focus on our loving God. Let’s give it a try and then discuss our finding.

MEDITATION DEFINEDOur working definition is that meditation is an act of devotion through which we seek

the spiritual reality of God’s kingdom.

“Being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The kingdom of God 1S not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Lo, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you”” (Luke 17:20,21).

Jesus himself ushered in the kingdom of God as evidenced from the scripture above. Now it is plain to us that we still live on this earth and not in heaven! Yet, our Lord said the kingdom of God is in our midst. How can we understand this?

Just as in days of old, the king of any country retained his authority by defeating his enemies. His authority came through his victories. In anticipation of His victory at the cross, Jesus told a parable of the fall of a “strong man” (the devil) by one who is “stronger than he” (Christ). (see Luke 11:21,22) The authority of Christ has overruled the devil and broken down his stronghold. Christ underscored his authority by casting out those possessed by a demon. (i.e., Mark 1:21-21) The kingdom of God has come and His authority is supreme.

Jesus first announced his battle plan and unfurled his banners in his home synagogue at Nazareth. The kingdom of God was in their midst ready to begin the liberation of the human family.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim


release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18,19).

While we may not see a landscape of heaven right now, we do see. the results of God’s kingdom in changed lives. The substance abuser turning away from drugs to Christ; young people turning off the call of the worldly to tune-in to the still small voice of Christ; families once estranged now being reconciled.

Meditation is the opportunity to confirm the Holy Spirit’s authority in our lives and to celebrate the coming of God’s kingdom and receive it anew each day.

MEDITATION AND PRAYERThe purpose of meditation is to listen to God and to seek him personally. Meditation

and prayer are distinct yet similar. Meditation is to praying as glance or stare is to looking. Meditation is to lead us into prayer!

Communion with God is like communion with a friend. While one friend speaks (prayer) the other friend listens (meditation). A friendship grows day by day as each friend learns to share the joys and sorrows of the other. Meditation is to bring us into a closer union with our God.

MEDITATION BALANCES SIGHT WITH FAITHGod created the earth and everything in it as a home for the human family. When God

finished our new home He described it as “very good.” The beautiful trees and sky, the playful animals and birds were constant reminders of God’s love.

Today, however, it seems the human family has forgotten its roots. Instead, the human family seems to focus too much on the creations of man rather than the creator God. That is living by sight and not by faith. I mean that cars and boats and homes and bank accounts and careers occupy most of the human families’ attention. In themselves these things are not evil or destructive. But, when we allow, they can imbalance our lives by becoming too much our focus.

MEDITATION HELPS BALANCE THE LIFEThe things of this earth are in need of balancing by the things of the Spirit. It is that

daily meditation experience where “the things of earth will grow strangely dim,” while the things of God’s kingdom sprout into growth and appreciation. Meditation reminds us that this world is not our home and that we seek a better land.

“Because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).

Isn’t it odd that the transient things (i.e., homes, cars, careers) occupy much of our daily focus? These things are passing away and when the Lord comes will be altogether destroyed. Therefore, it is the eternal things like love, peace, joy, character and


relationships that have lasting value. These are the attributes and relationships that will be taken to heaven. Don’t they deserve our daily focus?

As we open our hearts in meditation and prayer, the reality of God’s kingdom becomes more central to our lives. God’s word becomes the focus of day by day living. The spiritual world has staying power, because our God is on the throne forever.

Hebrews 13:8 reminds us that “Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” The same Holy Spirit that encouraged Peter, James, and John encourages us today. And it will he that same Holy Spirit who is preparing us for the second coming of our Lord.

The power of God’s kingdom is felt daily in this dark world. Each of us has experienced God’s hand in our lives. The Lord is alive and well. Through meditation we seek the spiritual reality of God’s kingdom.

READY TO BEGIN?At first, plan for a short meditation period. There will be barriers along the way like

feeling sleepy, or a wandering mind or the distractions of the day. As you enter into a meditation experience be open and flexible with yourself. Don’t be a severe self-judge, but a patient friend knowing that through the learning process God will become more accessible and relevant to you.

Moreover, like any other new learning, meditation may seem fruitless at first. It involves patience and persistence from each of us. But, the spiritual fruit is well worth the effort. Consider these words of E G White:

“When we read the lives of men who have been eminent for their piety we often regard their experiences and attainments as far beyond our reach. But this is not the case. Christ died for all; and we are assured in His word that He is more willing to give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than are earthly parents to give good gifts to their children. The prophets and apostles did not perfect Christian character by a miracle. They used the means which God had placed within their reach; and all who will put forth the same effort will secure the same results.”3

FOUR STEPS TOWARD MEDITATION

First Step: RELAXFirst, get comfortable! Stretch your arms and legs! Take a deep breath and as you

exhale allow all that is disrupting you to depart along with the air that is escaping from your lungs. This is a time to release those things which occupy and demand your attention like the day’s activities, worries, doubts, griefs and anger. With your eyes closed visualize all these noises tumbling from your heart and out through your mouth as you exhale.


Next open your heart to God with a short prayer of thanksgiving and commitment. Think of something you genuinely appreciate like the good weather, your family, health, job, salvation and God’s care. With a heart filled with gratitude, express your thanks to God. Then welcome God into your life! Invite Him to lead you and teach you and submit yourself to Him for the day.

Relax in God’s presence and allow him to minister to you. Anticipate God’s blessing in your meditation experience.

Second Step: GENTLE BIBLE READINGAs you open your Bible, remind yourself that meditation is an intentional focusing of

your full attention on God. Since the Bible is the word of God we begin by reading the scriptures slowly and thoughtfully! Then read the same passage again seeking to understand each word and how it fits into the context! Read your passage as many times over as you feel impressed. There is no rush or hurry, for you are in God’s school and He has much to share with you.4

Since we live in an instant world, there is a tendency to speed read even the Bible. Slow down and take a midweek Sabbath rest as you read your passage for the day. Keep in mind that God’s word is like a gold mine. It needs to be worked in order to strike it rich.

The following is an example of gentle reading taken from my journal.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 was my focus for the day. Moving prayerfully through the verses God spoke to me anew. It answered the question, “What is the best way to present the gospel to the unchurched?” God answered my question through scripture.

“When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming the testimony of God in lofty words, or wisdom; For I had decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and much fear and trembling; And my speech and my message was not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Cor 2:1-5).

What is the best way to present Christ to the unchurched? To come among them and talk about the ministry and passion of Jesus Christ. Nothing can replace the simple story of salvation. This simple revelation is important to me in my context. God will speak to each of us in the context that is important and meaningful.

Many of us have experienced God’s word speaking to our hearts in a new way, even though the passage was familiar. Gentle reading allows for God’s word to penetrate our hearts each day, in addition to those special moments.


Step Three: MEMORIZE THE PASSAGETake the time as you gently read to memorize a portion of the scripture under study.

The process of memorizing scripture can actually become your devotional. Repeat the scripture over in your mind. Trust God to speak to you as never before. Words that are run over by speed reading suddenly stand out as very meaningful. Then sentence by sentence the verses begin to speak the message. All of this is happening while memorizing the scripture.

Once you set your mind on memorizing scripture it becomes instructive and fruitful. The important point for today is to try. If memorizing a sentence is too much for you then memorize a word or phrase. The mind just needs a little tune-up or exercise to get it in gear for memorizing. The results far outweigh the effort. “For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:17).

When memorizing scripture, personalize the message. Psalms 46:1 says, “God is OUR refuge and strength . . . .” As you memorize the text change the plural pronouns (our, we, us) to the singular pronoun (I, me, my). Hence, the personalized Psalms 96:1 would read, “God is MY refuge and strength...”

One person said to me “I just can’t memorize anything!” as if she had no ability. Yet, she is a successful business woman. No doubt, she memorized many bits of information connected with her work in addition to her personal, daily list of “things to do.” Most of us would agree that we remember the things most important to us. Memorizing scripture is no different than remembering to stop at the store after work to buy milk, bread, and oranges. The reason the grocery list seems easier to remember is because it is part of a daily and weekly habit. Therefore, don’t be too hard on yourself and judge yourself as unable to memorize scripture. All you need is the practice of establishing a daily and weekly habit pattern.

If I offered you $100 for every verse you memorized how many verses per day could you remember? Well, I don’t have $100 for each of you but there is something better. The reward of listening to God’s voice speak to you personally.

Step Four: REST IN THE SPIRITOnce the scripture is in mind I relax by closing my eyes and sitting up straight in my

chair. With the scripture flowing through my mind, the Holy Spirit brings the meaning and personal application to me. My part is to stay alert and focused. If I find myself falling asleep, I either terminate my meditation or shorten it. At first, plan to spend only about five minutes in your meditation experience. A marathon runner does not begin running 26 miles the first time out. Neither should we expect to meditate for long periods of time at first.

Use your imagination and your five senses to help you live your scripture. Imagine yourself as part of the passage. Allow your five senses to taste, touch, smell, see, and hear as a participant. Participate just as you would if you were literally there.


Meditation time turns into a prayer experience of thanksgiving and praise. The Spiritual world of God’s kingdom is there if we are willing to seek after it.

For example, Ecclesiastes 5:1,2 reads, “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth, therefore let your words be few.”

As I meditated upon this verse, I imagined myself as a priest traveling to the temple to serve. I felt happy and privileged to minister before God. My first activity was to fill my censer before entering the temple.

At the door of the temple I stopped, feeling unworthy to enter and confessed my sins. God reassured me of His loving care and forgiveness. Upon entering, the sweet scent of incense met me. Unaccustomed to the poignant aroma, I quickly remembered it symbolized the prayers of the faithful ascending to God. Thanking God for hearing my prayers, I stepped in side.

The menorah was on my left and gave light to the interior. The bread of the Presence was on the right. God’s presence was there. Awe and wonder filled my being. What a responsibility to serve before God.

At the altar of incense, I paused to pray. The smoke of the incense meandered upward. Gratitude filled my heart. Finishing my assignment I slowly turned to retraced my steps to the outside.

SELECTED SCRIPTURES FOR MEDITATION Luke 18:15-17

Jesus and the little children

John 8:2-11The woman caught in adultery

Mark 4:35-41The storm stilled.

Mark 5:24-34The woman with the issue of blood.

Mark 2:1-12A paralytic healed and forgiven

Luke 5:1-11Jesus gets into Simon’s boat to preach


MORE MEDITATION EXAMPLES

The following are two other examples of how meditating on scripture spoke to me.

I read and reread Colossians 1:17, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together,” until I got the text in mind. Then I closed my eyes and thought about the scriptures. Of course our Lord created the world and equally necessary He Himself holds it together. The ecosystem is not by chance but God’s designed regulation. The stars rotating around one another in perfect placement is not a fluke but the plan of God.

Then came the word to me! “Mitch, God keeps you together.” To me God is like glue. He is the glue in my life. God is the one who is holding me together.

I rejoiced as I sat cross-legged on my bed with the blankets pulled up around me. I rejoice and accept that God is my glue today!

My final example comes from Philippians 2:1-11. The scripture passage must be understood as a whole. For me, though, verses 5 and 6 spoke to my heart. The following are my thoughts, recorded in my journal, after reading the passage several times then memorizing verses 5 and 6.

Too often I have desired greatness. To be noticed! To stand out; to be thought of as something special.

God is teaching me that greatness is illusive like a mirage out in the desert. The path to greatness is not by being noticed, or to standout as a cut above the rest, but true greatness takes the path of humility. Taking the “mind of Christ” includes accepting His humility and His obedience to the Father as my own.

Jesus is the greatest person that ever lived. Yet His path was not to be noticed. He frequently required of those He healed to “tell no one.” Nor did He choose to stand out above His peers. He lived and ate and dressed and walked and talked just as His disciples and friends. We will not find Christ’s greatness in brilliantly making things happen. Quite the contrary. He was great since His will was to do the Father’s will. He was obedient -- “obedient unto death.”

The path to greatness is the same path our Lord walked. The path of surrender and obedience to the, Father.

THE END OF THE MATTERIn conclusion, here are three quick points to keep in mind as you begin your practice

of meditation.

l. At first, plan short meditation experiences. For some, just sitting and relaxing may be a new experience. Only proceed as you feel drawn by the Holy Spirit. When our children were young, our conversations together were short. Now that they have


matured we can have longer and more meaningful conversations. We did not expect too much from them when they were young in terms of conversation. In fact, there were many instances when they merely climbed up on our laps and rested. Think of yourself, at first, as climbing up on the lap of our Lord and resting.

2. If you feel sleepy there are at least three alternatives.

a. Lay down and take a nap.b. Shorten your meditation experience.c. Terminate your meditation and plan an alternate time when you are more

rested..

3. If during your meditation experience, you find your mind wandering into the day’s issues or problems, jot them down and keep the list in front of you. These are items of prayer that need to be discussed with your Heavenly Father.

Questions: Be prepared to share with the group your experience of meditation.

1. What was enjoyable and what difficulties did you experience?

2. What scriptures was the focus of your meditation?

3. What was your experience with God?

FOOTNOTES1. Ellen G. White, THE SANCTIFIED LIFE, [Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1937], p. 92.2. Richard J. Foster, CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE, [San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1978], p. 15.3. White, THE SANCTIFIED LIFE, p. 844. Adrian van Kaam. THE DYNAMICS OF SPIRITUAL SELF DIRECTION (Denville: Demension Books, 1976) pp. 345-366. The idea of gentle reading is expressed well in van Kaam’s book.


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Welcome and Worship

Greet one another in love. Who was your favorite teacher when you were in school?


Prayer

The Calendar page lists those who have volunteered to lead the group prayer. Otherwise, the group facilitator leads out.

Ask if there are any prayer needs and invite the Lord to lead you in deciding an outreach project.

Remind the group that prayer is like talking with a friend. Talk about other ways to pray beside just one person leading the prayer.

Pair-up for prayer or try a conversational prayer. Alternate the prayer reading below asking the women to read first then the

men the next.

“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Mark 11:23-25 (NIV)

Outreach Project

Share group ideas. Allow everyone to share their ideas for an outreach project. This part of the small group experience is vital. If you’re having trouble thinking of an outreach project, make it a prayer priority. An outreach project is simply helping a person or a family. Go back to week one for a few ideas.

Weekly Meditation

Each week, a scripture will be suggested for your meditation time. Apply what you learned in week 1 about meditation and refer back to the article when you have questions. Remember you’re learning new ways to pray and connect with God. This week use Mark 1:35-38 for your meditation.


The Lord Teaches Us to Pray

What a privilege to sit at the feet of Jesus as he teaches us to pray. This week we’ll look at the Lord’s devotional life as well as his teaching on prayer.

Personal Devotions

No one today is as busy as Jesus was. His life was filled with serving others. His day began early and ended late at night camping along the road. Yet, in all his busyness he made prayer a priority. His life was a constant communion with his heavenly Father.

Read the three verses below and then answer the following questions for each verse. When, where, and how much time do think Jesus spent in prayer during his devotional period? From the verses below, what topics do you think were included in the Lord’s prayers?

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else-- to the nearby villages-- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Mark 1:35-38 (NIV)

Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:15-16 (NIV)

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles. Luke 6:12-13 (NIV)

“In a life wholly devoted to the good of others, the Saviour found it necessary to withdraw from the thoroughfares of travel and from the throng that followed Him day after day. He must turn aside from a life of ceaseless activity and contact with human needs, to seek retirement and unbroken communion with His Father. As one with us, a


sharer in our needs and weaknesses, He was wholly dependent upon God, and in the secret place of prayer He sought divine strength, that He might go forth braced for duty and trial. In a world of sin Jesus endured struggles and torture of soul. In communion with God He could unburden the sorrows that were crushing Him. Here He found comfort and joy.” Desire of Ages, 362-363.

ESTABLISHING PERSONAL DEVOTIONS

Jesus didn’t have a specific time each day for personal prayer. His devotionals ranged from the early morning to sometime during the day and other times at night. The places the Lord sought for his devotionals were “solitary places” where he could be alone with God in prayer. In addition, it is clear from the above verses that the Lord gained strength for the day and his ministry through taking time for his devotions.

When and where you have your personal devotions is not the important issue. The most important issue is to follow the Lord’s lead and set aside some time each day for your personal prayers. Personal devotions fit nicely with your daily Bible reading. As you read the word of God, prayer needs emerge and combine with your daily prayer list.

Keep paper and pen close by to record the thoughts the Holy Spirit brings to mind. Also, don’t resist the thoughts that spring into your mind of the day’s activities. These thoughts are not distractions but God’s help in ordering your day. Write the thoughts down and come back to them later. The Lord is speaking both to your spiritual life and to your daily life.

We belong to the Lord body, mind and spirit. We’re not segmented but God created us whole. Our prayer life touches every aspect of who we are and what we do and where we go and what we think. Personal devotions are not “add-ons,” just another thing to add to our busy day. Prayer time is the connection with the One who loves us best and the One we’ll spend eternity with in heaven. Let’s not segment our lives from Him but begin to see ourselves as a complete unit. And God in our lives is as essential as bread, water and air.

My Devotional Time

Place:Time:Resources: Use the daily Bible reading guides provided for you at church. Even if you cannot read all of the day’s verses, simply read what you can. Reading a few Bible verses and taking a few minutes in prayer is better that no Bible reading or prayer. Like a marathon runner, begin slowly and don’t try to run 26 miles all at once—you’ll quit and be discouraged. Carry your Bible with you and if you find an opening in your day make that devotional time. The main point is to get started. If you miss one or two days, don’t worry, just begin anew. God loves you and wants to spend time with you.


Teach Us to Pray

In this section, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Let’s look carefully at the Bible text that follows and discover the jewels of wisdom we can apply to our prayer lives. First read Matthew 6:5-15 carefully, and then answer the questions.

Matt 6:5-15 (NIV): “When you pray”

5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.11 Give us today our daily bread.12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’14 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Questions:

From verses 5-7, complete the sentences below in your own words beginning with “When you pray.”

1. When you pray (v5) . . .




4. From verse 8, what is absolutely understood about your needs before you pray?

5. Let’s examine the Lord’s Prayer below and write it in you own words.

a. Use your dictionary and look-up the word “hallow” and write verse 9 in your own words.

b. Look-up Luke 11:20 then write verse Matthew 6:10 in your own words.

c. Write verses 11-13 in your own words.

“Christ impressed upon His disciples the idea that their prayers should be short, expressing just what they wanted, and no more. He gives the length and substance of their prayer, expressing their desire for temporal and spiritual blessings, and their gratitude for the same. How comprehensive this sample prayer! It covers the actual need of all. One or two minutes is long enough for any ordinary prayer. There may be instances where prayer is in a special manner indicated by the Spirit of God, where supplication is made in the Spirit. The yearning soul becomes agonized and groans after God. The spirit wrestles as did Jacob and will not be at rest without special manifestations of the power of God. This is as God would have it.”Testimony for the Church, Vol. 2, 581.

Public Prayer

When Jesus taught the people, his prayers in public were short and to the point. For instance, when he blessed the five loaves and two fishes the Bible says:

And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. Matt 14:19(NIV)

Following the Lord’s example, public prayers should be one or two minutes in length and thoughtful.


Basic Elements of the Lord’s Prayer—ACTS

ACTS is an acronym for Adoration Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. These elements are guides as we pray. The acronym “ACTS” helps us to be less self-centered and more comprehensive.

The following are working definitions of ACTS:

ADORATION: Read Psalms 19:1-4. (Adoration to God implies who God is.) The primary purpose of prayer is to glorify God. Prayer is an act of worship. So our prayers should glorify God and praise His name. For example, the question, “Who is God?” is answered in Psalms 19:1-4. God is the Creator. Nature speaks to us of God’s glory in every language (v3). Other thoughts found in the Bible which answer the question “Who is God?” are: He is our Father, our Sustainer, our Savior, our Guide and many others. As you read your Bible, it becomes more clear “Who God is?”

CONFESSION: Read Psalms 32. The original word translated confession means, “same word,” or “similar speech.” God is aware of everything that happens in heaven and earth. Therefore, when we confess our sins to God, we are not informing Him of something He doesn’t already know. But, in confession, we are agreeing with Him that we are at fault. In agreeing with God, we are saying the “same word” or “similar speech” God already knows to be the case.

THANKSGIVING: Read Hebrews 12:28. A cheerful heart is a grateful heart and that is as good as any medicine to perk us up (Proverbs 17:22). The Psalms are replete with themes of thanksgiving: Psalms 7:17; 28:7; 30:12; 75:1; 100:4; 107:1; 118:28; 136:1. How can we ever repay the cost of our salvation? Nothing but the sacrifice of our Savior could atone for our sins. Let us teach our people to thank the Father God for his sacrifice, his on-going care, his gifts, and the most important gift of his son Jesus.

SUPPLICATION: Read Luke 11:9-13. God knows our needs before we ask (Matthew 6:8). Yet, the Lord teaches us to ask Him to provide our needs. This helps us remember from whom all blessings flow and reminds us to take nothing for granted. Notice we are instructed to ask for our needs (v9). What is the one gift the Lord is eager to give his children when they ask? (v13).

Try praying today using ACTS as your guide.

Below is a pastoral prayer written by Gustavo Ortega following the acronym ACTS and shared during the Sabbath worship service on January 26, 2006.

Heavenly Father we are so glad to be here this morning Praising you and worshiping you as a church family;Lord reflecting on the week that just passed,


Lord it has been a difficult and sad week for our church family,But Lord let us remember that you are our strength and our refuge andYou always are with us, even in those valleys of lifeBecause your word says that you are our savior, our redeemer and our God.

Lord we ask you to please to forgive our sins and trespasses Lord, Lord you know what they are and you know that we are not perfect, We ask you for your mercy and grace Father.

Lord we lift to you this morning all the people in our bulletin, Lord you know their hearth and their condition, we pray for them Lord,Please be with them and bring them peace and comfort;We also ask you to be with those who could not make it here this morning,Bless them Lord.

We pray for ________ Lord, be with her and give her the strength, hope and assurance that we will see our love ones again Lord, we also ask you to be with _________ Family as well Lord. We thank you for having ______________________ safely back with us, be with him as he delivers your message Lord. Lord we pray for peace and we ask you to bless our congregation, We ask you all these things Lord in Jesus name, Amen.


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Welcome and Worship

Greet one another in love. Who influenced you the most growing up? Sing with the iworship@home DVD one or two selections.

Prayer

Encourage the group members to facilitate prayer. Make your outreach project a central prayer need this week. Ask a volunteer to write a prayer for next week. Follow the acronym

ACTS you learned in week 2. Alternate the prayer reading below asking the women to read first then the

men the next.

“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Mark 11:23-25 (NIV)

Outreach Project

Finalize your outreach project. Divide the tasks of the outreach project among the small group members so that all everyone has a part. Discuss the specifics of your plan along with when and how you will implement your outreach project.

Weekly Meditation

Matthew 26:36-44


How Prayer WorksFrom tough, personal struggles, here’s what I’ve found.BY BEATRICE S. NEALL

How does prayer work? Do things really happen when we pray that would not happen otherwise? Is prayer a way to apply pressure on God? If we knock long and loudly enough at God’s door, will He hear? Do fasting and afflicting ourselves excite His pity? If we can round up enough people to join us, do our combined prayers carry more clout than our individual prayers? Or, conversely, do we even need to tell God of our needs? Doesn’t He know before we even ask Him (Matt. 6:8)? Is it heathenish to think we shall be heard for our “much speaking” (verse 7), or by afflicting ourselves (1 Kings 18:28; Isa. 58:3)? Can God hear the simple, trusting prayer of one person (1 Kings 18:36, 37)? What goes on behind the scenes when we pray?

I wish I knew all the answers. But as one who has studied the Bible, prayed, and struggled with God for many years, I have come to the following conclusions that I believe are true.

Prayer does make a difference. We must accept by faith the promise “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16, NKJV). Or, as Tennyson said: “More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.”

For example, why was Peter saved from the executioner’s sword, while James was not? Perhaps the church neglected to pray for James, assuming that God would continue to deliver His apostles as He had done in the past (Acts 4:21; 5:18-25). Then the loss of James alerted them to pray earnestly when Peter’s life was threatened. Their united prayers though perhaps made with only partial faith (see Acts 12:12-15) -resulted in Peter’s dramatic deliverance (verses 5-11).

When Daniel prayed against the forces of evil that were troubling his people, heaven went into action. Gabriel wrestled with the kings of Persia for three weeks, and then Michael himself entered the fray (Dan. 10). Daniel was assured, “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them” (verse 12, NIV).

The one who comes to God must believe that He really is there and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6).

There is one prayer God answers instantly-the prayer for forgiveness. When you bow in humiliation and cry out, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” God hears and answers right away. You go home justified (Luke 18:13, 14). All that is required is a contrite heart, confession, and a turning away from sin (Ps. 51:17; 1 John 1:9; Acts 2:38).


But what if you don’t feel repentant? This inability must not become a barrier between your soul and God. God will even give the gift of repentance-He’ll help you feel sorry for your sins-if you ask Him (Acts 5:31). The prayer for deliverance from sin takes persistence. When evil habits control our lives, God occasionally delivers instantly, but more often we must persist. A few of my friends testify of instant victory over alcohol or tobacco as soon as they made the decision to quit. But most had to endure a stiff struggle.

Why is it so hard for the many? Perhaps God wants us to realize the danger of flirting with evil, the deadly nature of sin, and our vulnerability to it. For the sake of our future character development He allows us to struggle to overcome evil habits so that we will be doubly wary of temptation in the future.

We need to recognize the power of the will. Apart from God we can do nothing. Apart from us, God’s hands are often tied. “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin” (Heb. 12:4). In this struggle God has assured us that He is faithful not to let us be tempted above what we are able to bear, but will always make a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13).

I once became addicted to unholy thoughts. But even as I savored the delights of sin, I saw an abyss open beneath my feet the ruin that would result if I lived out my fantasies. This realization threw me into an agonizing conflict. Worse yet, I was dismayed to find that my fantasies even intruded into my prayers for deliverance. (I had not yet learned when I prayed to focus on Jesus and the promises rather than on the temptation.) For months the struggle continued. Then God sent our family far from the source of my temptation to the other side of the earth. I didn’t realize until years later that our missionary call was to save my own soul as much as “the heathen.” God heard those prayers!

Dramatic answers to prayer often occur most frequently to strengthen the faith of new believers. I believe the various ages of miracles (the times of the Exodus, Elijah and Elisha, Jesus and the apostles) occurred to validate God’s presence for new believers. Certainly there is no experience as thrilling as seeing God act directly in response to our entreaties.

We pride ourselves on having a direct line to the Throne. But as we grow in grace, God wants us to grow in maturity. He invites us to the “fellowship of His sufferings.” The greatest suffering God endures is the rejection of His love by His creatures. Often we must endure as our dear ones turn away from the God we love.

Prayers about material things are simple for God to answer. Prayers for people are different, and often take years to be answered. That’s because God does not zap people into a change of behavior. We have to give Him time to work.

If I were God, I would have put a 100-foot-high, 2,000-volt barbed-wire fence around the tree of knowledge to protect our race from the ruination of sin. I’d wall off


every temptation today. But I am confronted with the appalling fact that God gives freedom to human beings-even as I also demand it for myself. He has to give us the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them.

God has powerful weapons on His side. Sometimes it appears that the devil has everything going for him—the whole secular culture with its bewitching pleasures, heady powers, titillating entertainment, and sensual delights. We despair when our children get hooked by it. We see the abyss below their feet and agonize over their souls.

Our agony is compounded when our children’s children grow up outside the worshiping family, the church, and without a Christian education. Our influence as grandparents is small. We weep as they marry outside the church and perpetuate the choice of their parents. When one generation fails to pick up the torch, darkness can persist for generations to come.

So what advantage does God have on His side? The pleasures of sin last only for a season! Then come failure, disillusionment, and bitter remorse. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12, NKJV). God’s way of life is the only one that works! He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). His way alone brings ultimate joy and satisfaction. God has a lot going for Him!

We have to be patient as our loved ones experiment with evil. Since at this phase they are not open to our counsel, all we can do is pray. Recognizing that Satan loves to allure souls into sin and then snuff out their lives, we need to pray that God will preserve their lives while they are on enemy territory. We will often have to comfort them as they get battered by sin.

Finally, all on their own they make the profound discovery that God’s way is best. Satan drives them into the arms of God! God has the last word! That’s His weapon!

Prayer is a discipline. God does require earnestness, perseverance, and persistence. Why? Because we often do not recognize God’s answers unless our prayers take effort. We ask for healing, then when it comes ascribe it to natural causes. We ask for relief from financial pressure and think it a lucky coincidence if “things worked out OK.” We don’t acknowledge or remember an answer when it comes. The countless benefits we receive from God are taken for granted. We appreciate only what we struggle to obtain. “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matt. 11:12).

Maybe our prayers need to be violent! Jacob struggled all night with the heavenly Messenger. The prayer of his heart was, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me!” (Gen. 32:26). We need Jacob’s desperate earnestness.


Years ago Ellen White penned this poignant challenge: “Those who are unwilling to deny self, to agonize before God, to pray long and earnestly for His blessing, will not obtain it. Wrestling with God-how few know what it is! How few have ever had their souls drawn out after God with intensity of desire until every power is on the stretch. When waves of despair which no language can express sweep over the suppliant, how few cling with unyielding faith to the promises of God.”1

Jesus asked His weary disciples to watch and pray with Him in Gethsemane. Do we love Him enough to keep Him company as He struggles for the salvation of our world?

When God seems indifferent or distant or absent, He is inviting us to persevere. The Phoenician woman could have been crushed by Jesus’ rudeness. First He ignored her, then implied she was a heathen and a dog. But her feminine intuition sensed the love in His voice. She persisted until He granted her request (Matt. 15:21-28).

Sometimes God may appear to us to be a reluctant neighbor-or worse, an unjust judge (Luke 11:5-9; 18:1-8). But Jesus insists that we should “always pray and not give up” (verse 1, NIV). When God seems hostile, we need to sense His love and keep on asking. “Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God (Isa. 50:10, NIV).

During tranquil times C. S. Lewis wrote a reasoned book on the problem of pain. But when his wife of four years died of cancer, reason forsook him, and he panicked. He felt he had lost her-he couldn’t even remember her face. When he pounded on God’s door for help, the bolt latched and the lights went out. He was devastated, not because there was no God, but because God was that kind of Person.2

Since the greatest triumph of divine love is to love us at our unloveliest, might not the greatest triumph of human love be to love God when He appears unloveliest-when we can neither see Him nor hear Him, when we fear that lie has forsaken us, if indeed lie exists at all?

When God seems absent, we are not to despair. “Oh, for a living, active faith! We need it; we must have it, or we shall faint and fail in the day of trial,” wrote Ellen White. “The darkness that will then rest upon our path must not discourage us or drive us to despair. It is the veil with which God covers His glory when He comes to impart rich blessings. We should know this by our past experience.”3

Jesus felt the horror of God’s absence when He cried from the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). As the sins of the world blotted His Father’s face from view, He faced eternal separation from God-extinction. How did He conquer? By clinging to the naked promises of God. When He proclaimed in triumph “It is finished!” (John 19:30), He conquered by faith alone.


We want evidence from our senses that God is there-we want to see Him, touch Him, hear Him, feel Him. But God wants us to cling to the promises. He gives us instead the promises of His Word. These will touch us and move us and warm us if we have stored them in our memory and know where to find them.

“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee” (Isa. 49:15).

There are no emergencies with God. At times our lives spin out of control. We lose all our property. We discover we are full of cancer. We are paralyzed from the neck down. We are lost at sea. We are pinned down by gunfire. A loved one is murdered or killed in an accident. Shocking events like these happen every day. We scream, “Why me?” (Some brave souls have said, “Why not me?”) Our agony is increased by the realization that God had power to intervene and did not. I have lived in horror of such experiences a11 my life, and can testify that “fear hath torment.” At such times can we believe that “perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18)? Can we believe that, as Ellen White wrote, “In every difficulty [God] has His way prepared to bring relief”?4

We have to believe that God is good. In the darkest times we must cling to the assurance that God is in control and that He has our best interests at heart. Though we cannot understand the reasons for the tragedies that enter our lives, we need to remember this encouraging statement from Ellen White’s pen: “A11 that has perplexed us in the providences of God will in the world to come be made plain. The things hard to be understood will then find explanation.... Where our finite minds discovered only confusion and broken promises, we shall see the most perfect and beautiful harmony. We shall know that infinite love ordered the experiences that seemed most trying. As we realize the tender care of Him who makes all things work together for our good, we shall rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”5

John Greenleaf Whittier expressed his confidence in God’s goodness in these beautiful words:

“Yet, in the maddening maze of things,And tossed by storm and flood,

To one fixed trust my spirit clings; I know that God is good! ...

And if my heart and flesh are weak To bear an untried pain,

The bruised reed He will not break But strengthen and sustain....

I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air;

I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care.”6


Questions:

1. Prayer makes a difference.

Read: Acts 12:1-17. Who was imprisoned before Peter? (v2) What was the church’s response to Peter’s imprisonment? (v5) When did Peter realize he was not dreaming but was being freed from prison? (v11) What was the reaction of those praying to Rhoda after she said Peter was at the door? (15)

2. What prayer does God answer immediately?

Read: Luke 18:13-14

3. What are the two gifts God promises?

Read: Acts 5:31

4. What focus should your prayers have when tempted?

Fill in the blanks: I had not yet learned when I prayed to focus on ______________

and the __________________________ rather than on the

___________________________.

5. True or False?

The greatest _________________________ God endures is the

________________________ of His _________________________________

by His creatures.

6. Why is the statement below true? (Matt 15:21-28)

When God seems indifferent or __________________________ or absent, He is

inviting us to ___________________________________.


7. Did Jesus ever feel God’s absence?

Read: Matt 27:46

8. Should we cling to our senses or God’s promises?

Read: Is 49:15

9. Fill-in the blanks: In the _____________________________ times we must cling

to the __________________________________ that God is in control and that

He has our _____________________________________ interests at heart.

10. Write a brief prayer for a friend who has suffered a loss or disappointment. Include scriptures and thoughts from the article “How Prayer Works.”

Footnotes:

1 The Great Controversy, p. 621.

2 C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (New York: Bantam Books, 1961), pp. 4, 5.3 Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 215.

4 The Desire of Ages, p. 330.

5 Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 286.6 “The Eternal Goodness,” in American Poetry and Prose, ed. Norman Foerster (Boston: - Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1947), pp. 721, 722.

Beatrice Neall is a retired professor of religion from Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska. She served for many years in Asia as a missionary.


Welcome and Worship

Greet one another in love. Who is your best friend and why? Sing with the iworship@home DVD one or two selections.

Prayer

If a volunteer brought their written prayer ask them to prayerfully read it. Invite someone to write a prayer for next week. For help, look at week 2

under the heading “Basic Elements of the Lord’s Prayer—ACTS.” Look over the prayer & praise list and make it part of your prayer. In unison read the prayer below:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Phil 4:6 (NIV)

Below is an example of a written prayer of thanksgiving offer by Ginny Williams at the worship service on January 3, 2006.

Father: Thank you that we are here today. What a privilege it is to worship you. Thank you for being our personal friend. This morning, we have all come to praise your Holy name. Thank you for being our God, our Father, and our Savior. We’re thankful we can come to you with our burdens and our sorrows. We have many people in our church who are ill and who are listed each week. We lift all of them up to you just now. Father, we lift up _____, _____ and _____ to you. We are praying you will heal them and touch them and make them completely whole. There are so many others who are in need of your special touch. We ask all these things in Christ Jesus’ name, amen.

Outreach Project

By now your group should have your outreach plan underway. What details are left to consider? Have you set a date for your outreach? If you’re having problems go back to the first outreach lesson and carefully consider your options.

Weekly Meditation

Daniel 2:20-23.


Following God’s DirectionAbraham’s Servant

Genesis 24:1-67 NIV

1 Abraham was now old and well advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.2 He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh.3 I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living,4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?”6 “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said.7 “The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’-- he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.”9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor.11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.12 Then he prayed, “O LORD, God of my master Abraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham.13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.14 May it be that when I say to a girl, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’-- let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.16 The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.”18 “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.


19 After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking.”20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the LORD had made his journey successful.22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.23 Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”24 She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor.”25 And she added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.”26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped the LORD,27 saying, “Praise be to the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the LORD has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”28 The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things.29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring.30 As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring.31 “Come, you who are blessed by the LORD,” he said. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”32 So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet.33 Then food was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.” “Then tell us,” [Laban] said.34 So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant.35 The LORD has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys.36 My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.37 And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,38 but go to my father’s family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.’39 “Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’40 “He replied, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s family.41 Then, when you go to my clan, you will be released from my oath even if they refuse to give her to you-- you will be released from my oath.’42 “When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come.


43 See, I am standing beside this spring; if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,”44 and if she says to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the LORD has chosen for my master’s son.’45 “Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’46 “She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels also.47 “I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ “She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.’ “Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms,48 and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son.49 Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.”50 Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the LORD; we can say nothing to you one way or the other.51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has directed.”52 When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the LORD.53 Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother.54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there. When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”55 But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; then you may go.”56 But he said to them, “Do not detain me, now that the LORD has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.”57 Then they said, “Let’s call the girl and ask her about it.”58 So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?” “I will go,” she said.59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men.60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.”61 Then Rebekah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev.63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel65 and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?” “He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.


66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done.67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Questions:

1. Read Genesis 24 above and highlight or underline the three prayers of the servant. Two prayers are repeated and the third is not.

2. In the servant’s first prayer, what fleece was thrown out? Compare Judges 6:36-40. In your prayers, have you thrown out a fleece? Share your fleece story.

3. In the servant’s second prayer, what were the two praises to God? Share an experience in your life when the Lord has shown you kindness or faithfulness or led you in a particular manner.

4. In the servant’s third prayer, how would you characterize the servant’s prayer “as he bowed down to the ground?”

5. What expression of assurance did Abraham share with his servant that God would lead him to a wife for his son?

6. In v 21, do you think there were any doubts in the servant’s mind that Rebekah was the one chosen by God to be Isaac’s wife?

7. Look up 2 Corinthians 6:14. How was Abraham following this New Testament scripture?


8. What was Isaac doing when he saw the servant with Rebekah approaching? What do you guess was on Isaac’s mind? What needs do you have today? Take time just now to meditate upon your needs asking God’s intercession.


Welcome and Worship

The group facilitator can play a fun game to illustrate the point that it’s always better to go to the source of information rather than hearing the facts second hand. Whisper the names of your grandparents, parents and siblings in the ear of the person on your right. Then have fun with each person whispering that information from person to person until it works it way around. What began as facts usually ends up with fabrications.


Prayer

If a volunteer brought their written prayer ask them to prayerfully read it. Invite someone to write a prayer for next week. For help, look at week 2

under the heading “Basic Elements of the Lord’s Prayer—ACTS.” Below, you may enjoy sharing the prayer Linda Bewley wrote for her

group on October 19, 2005. Let the group members read the prayer below silently and simply end your

prayer time by saying, “And everyone said, ‘Amen.’”

When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you.

We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’ “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.” I was cupbearer to the king. Neh 1:4-11 (NIV)

OUR PRAYER

MEN:Lord, thank you that you have brought us here tonight and that you have spoken to our hearts, as we have studied your Word and shared with one another.


WOMEN: Lord, you are the one and only true God. You are worthy of all honor, glory and praise. Please forgive us for any time we have ignored Your law or Your will. Help us to put our lives and priorities in the right order.

MEN: Teach us to love You with all our heart, mind and soul, and show us when we are not doing that. Help us to seek You first and to put Your desires over our own.

WOMEN: And, Lord, please teach us and help us to love and serve our neighbor, our friends and anyone else you have put in our lives. Help us to love one another completely so that people will recognize You working in our midst.

ALL: Lord, please grant us new hearts that are devoted to You and write Your law on our hearts and minds. In Jesus’s name we pray, AMEN

Outreach Project

Wrap-up last minute details of your outreach project. The church office is making a list of the small group’s outreach projects. Ask someone to call ((562) 869-6013) or email ([email protected]) the church office with your outreach plans.

Weekly Meditation

John 14:4

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Love Responding to LoveFinding your way in devotionBY DIANE FORSYTH

The poet Awhadi of Kerman was sitting on his porch one night, bent over a vessel. The Sufi Shams-e-Tabrizi happened to pass by. “What are you doing?” he asked the poet.

“Contemplating the moon in a bowl of water” was the reply.

“Unless you have broken your neck, why don’t you look directly at the moon in the sky?”1

It’s a good question. One that deserves an answer as we consider the devotional life. The word “devotion” is often used to designate something secondhand. A “devotional” book is a secondhand look at a Bible verse through the eyes of the book’s author. For some, a devotion has become three small paragraphs following a Scripture verse. They “have a devotion” each morning-like an instant spiritual breakfast, or Christian fast food.

By contrast, Frank Laubach, a twentieth-century missionary in the Philippines, practiced abiding in the presence of Christ. In the early stages of learning to do this, he wrote: “Last Thursday night I was listening to a phonograph in Lumbatan and allowing my heart to commune when something broke within me, and I longed to lift my own will up and give it completely to God. How infinitely richer this direct firsthand grasping of God Himself is, than the old method which I used and recommended for years, the reading of endless devotional books.”2 Reading a devotional book just doesn’t do for us what a firsthand encounter with God does.

The Pathways to an Encounter With GodThere are three recognized paths to a firsthand encounter with God. They parallel

what educators call the three modes of learning. We utilize all three, yet at any one time we tend to emphasize one of the three.

The modes of learning are: hand, head, and heart.3 The three spiritual paths are: the good (service); the true (knowing); and the beautiful (desiring). Or “The Path of Selfless Action,” “The Path of Wisdom and Reflection,” and “The Path of Complete Devotion.”

For all who are willing, each path leads to a firsthand encounter with God and parallels the other two paths. We learn and express our devotion with hand, head, and heart. We need to let our understanding of devotion expand to include all three paths and all three modes of learning. As we do, devotion will be liberated from the mistaken notion that it is “a subjective experience that may be OK for the `touchy-feely’ People, but not for me, thank you.”


The more fully we understand devotion, the more we will recognize it as both the desire of our heart that draws us into an encounter with God and also what happens on the way to, and in the midst of, that encounter.

Whenever we respond to the desire for God that He planted in us, that is our devotion. It doesn’t matter which spiritual path we happen to be on at the moment, or in what learning mode we are. Devotion happens in the garden, at the computer, in the library, or at the store. It happens whether we’re preparing a legal document, repairing a car, or changing diapers. It happens in solitude and in service. Devotion can happen anywhere, anytime, to anyone who is willing.

Being part of a happening is something we all do; being creative about it may not be “for” all of us. So don’t worry about being creative. Simply ask, “What’s the best way for me to participate in this happening called devotion?”

Keep in mind whom and what you are responding to. Devotion is a response to God and to the work of the Holy Spirit, who is already active in your heart (that is, at the center of your whole being). As you read these possible responses, ask, “How might I use or adapt this idea?” Also ask, “What other possibilities would I add to this list?”

Practicing the Presence of God In a 1970 Review and Herald article, T. E. Unruh wrote, “To develop a

consciousness of the abiding presence of God is life’s greatest imperative.”4 I read, underscored, saved, and still have that article. “Yes! That’s it! Do it!” That’s how the article struck me. And I’ve done it ever since.

I can cultivate a willingness for closeness to God, whether or not I actually sense or feel it. I can’t create or give the gift of God’s presence. I can only receive and respond to it. I believe Jesus, who said, “I am with you always” (Matt. 28:20, NRSV) and “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23, NRSV).

Knowing, loving, living with the abiding presence of God is the foundation of devotion. It’s the beginning of a lifelong adventure. Find friends who do it and learn from them. Thomas Kelly said: “There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship, and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings.”5 Do it for a day or a week. Then, while continuing to do it, read about how others have done it. Do it another week. Then, as you do it, talk to someone who is doing it too. Do ... do and read ... do and compare notes. Repeat this cycle over and over. It’s an unending, amazing adventure that will lead you to all kinds of ways to be with God in moments both busy and involved, quiet and renewing.


Little HomecomingsAt any moment we may be “gracefully returned home to the present moment and

reminded of love.”6 An extremely busy church administrator decided to be reminded of God each time he walked through a doorway. An office worker, frustrated when she had to wait a minute for her computer, accepted the delays as ready-made “little homecomings.” A pastor who makes a point of drinking plenty of water throughout the day connects each drink with remembering God’s presence.

In addition to everyday reminders, you can plan reminders for particular days. Briefly scan the activities planned for the day and notice if there are times when you will be likely to forget God’s presence. Then think of something to help you remember. In other words, plan for these “little homecomings,” as well as for your appointments and projects. “Most important, you can pray for the grace of homecomings in the day ahead. Ask God to remind you of God.”7

Heart PrayerFrom my friend LaVonne Neff’s father, Norval Pease, I learned about Harry

Emerson Fosdick. He’s the first one who made it really clear to me that prayer is dominant desire. God is not misled by well-planned words that don’t express my real desire. It’s my “settled cravings” or “controlled passions” that matter.8

I’m not so good at praying; but my heart is. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Rom. 8:26, 27, NIV). The Spirit of God goes straight for our heart of hearts, and the will of God finds lodging and expression. We can learn the Spirit’s language if we will. We can let our heart’s prayer be expressed. People of God through the centuries have done what is called “heart prayer.”

During the times set aside just for prayer and meditation we can discover a word, a phrase, or a metaphor that expresses our deepest longing. Then, during the rest of the day, in the midst of all our activities, we can return to this word, phrase, or metaphor and let it express our heart’s prayer. This is something like having a phrase from a song or jingle stay with you and keep replaying itself in your mind. That’s heart prayer. It’s utterly simple, infinitely adaptable. “If you find yourself working hard at this kind of prayer, trying to hold on to something or flee from something, it is time to relax and turn homeward to the grace of God once more. Find your personal power and strength in desire and consecration, not in manipulation.”9

Silence and SolitudeQuality devotion will inevitably involve silence. “Right speech comes out of

silence, and right silence comes out of speech.”10 Silence, like speech, is for everyone, and speech and silence can each be adapted to individual needs and interests.


Unfortunately, we have been educated and conditioned for one and rarely for the other. Few of us have received even a fraction of the same quantity or quality of education and conditioning in silence as we have in speech. This seriously compromises the quality of our devotion.

Yet we have long known better. Here is one clear call to silence: “All who are under the training of God need the quiet hour for communion with their own hearts, with nature, and with God.... They need to have a personal experience in obtaining a knowledge of the will of God. We must individually hear Him speaking to the heart. When every other voice is hushed, and in quietness we wait before Him, the silence of the soul makes more distinct the voice of God. He bids us, `Be still, and know that I am God.’ Psalm 46:10.”11

In order to experience this more fully, we can each prayerfully discover where we are in this matter of silence, and where we want to be. Gently notice the ways silence is, and isn’t, a part of your life. Is there a time or place in your normal day that you can expect quiet?

What does silence mean to you? Have you noticed the difference between external and internal silence? What does internal silence mean to you? A time to think? A time to talk audibly to God? A time to be still and listen?

One of the many resources that may be helpful is Dallas Willard’s book The Spirit of the Disciplines. His sections “Solitude” (pp. 160-162) and “Silence” (pp. 163-165) are insightful, encouraging, and in touch with contemporary realities.

Remember, silence is adaptable. Don’t expect to be silent in the same ways, for the same lengths of time, or with the same results as others. But gently discover the appropriate place for silence in your life. Choose to respect and learn silence and solitude. They can be acts of devotion that will enrich all your other devotion.

Body PrayerHere’s a question that has great potential for expanding and enriching your

devotion: In what way does my body express my devotion?

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). The idea of being God’s temple has often been related to living the healthful lifestyle.

It makes sense to want the temple to be in the best possible condition-that’s a given. Now let the same wonder-filled fact call you to even more than the basics of healthful living. You yourself are God’s temple, and God’s Spirit lives in you. How does a body respond to being God’s temple?


The body is made for motion. It’s a living, moving, dynamic temple that God inhabits. How can my movements be increasingly hospitable to God’s indwelling presence? When I walk, when I run, when I play, work, sit, and stand-I am a dynamic temple in motion. Can I move in ways more hospitable to God? One could get quite self-conscious and awkward about this. Let’s not. But let’s prayerfully, gently, allow for some wonder-filled possibilities.

Notice the ways you already use your body in intentionally worshipful postures: folded hands, bowed head, closed eyes, kneeling. It can enrich you to discover ways other people of God through the centuries have expressed devotion in their bodies. The psalmists didn’t just sit or kneel with bowed heads and folded hands.

And Many MoreMany more suggestions are rich with possibilities. They include: journaling,

observing nature, music in conjunction with prayer and silence, day-long retreats, praying the Psalms, asceticism in routine daily life,12 seeing God in the person I am with, and paraphrasing a psalm according to today’s experience.

For even more suggestions, see the Religion section of the June 29, 1993, Woman’s Day magazine, pages 40-45. This article is rich with ideas and examples. It is titled “Food for the Spirit, 50 Ways to Grow in Grace All Day Long.” I wouldn’t have thought to look there for such an excellent list of simple, doable suggestions, but a friend gave it to me. Thank you, Helen Chin!

As you find increasingly meaningful ways to encounter God firsthand, know that all the how-to’s are simply suggestions. The important thing is for you to respond with gentleness, courage, and honesty to the Spirit of God in your life. Divine love calls you to respond in love. Your life is a prayer for you to know, express, and be satisfied by more fully all the time.

Questions:

1. Explain why “reading a devotional book is not the same as a firsthand encounter with God?”

2. In your own words, how does understanding the spiritual pathways of the good (service); the true (knowing); and the beautiful (desiring) help us connect with God?


3. How can you plan for little “homecomings?”

4. Why is a “heart prayer” simply remembering a word or phrase during the day?

5. Read Psalms 46:10. Discuss where you are “in this matter of silence”?

6. In what ways does your body express your devotion?

Footnotes:

1 Anthony de Mello, Taking Flight (New York: Doubleday, 1988), p. 65.2 Brother Lawrence and Frank Laubach, Practicing His Presence (Auburn, Maine:

Christian Books, 1973), p. 9.3 In Ralph M. Coupland, “Model of Holistic and Authentic Teaching and Learning.”

(Italics Supplied.)4 T. E. Unruh, “The Presence of Jesus-The Great Imperative,” Review and Herald,

Mar. 19, 1970, p. 7.5 Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion (New York: Harper & Row, 1941), p.

35.6 Gerald May, The Awakened Heart (San Francisco: Harpcr-San Francisco, 1991), p.

133. 7 Ibid., p. 135.8 Harry Emerson Fosdick, The Meaning of Prayer (Chicago: Association Press,

1962), pp. 136, 141.9 May, p. 166.

10 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (New York: Harper & Row, 1954), p. 78.11 Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub.

Assn., 1905), p. 58.12 Elizabeth Ann Dreyer, “Asceticism Reconsidered,” in Weavings 6, No. 2

(1991).

Experienced as a pastor, Bible teacher, and chaplain, Diane Dunlap Forsyth continues her ministry by educating about and nurturing spiritual life.


Welcome and Worship

Discuss with the group an outing to the park, beach, restaurant or any other idea. You might want to invite another group to join you for a baseball or volleyball game. Plan the outing a few weeks in advance or when most everyone can attend.


Prayer

Below, you may enjoy the prayer by Edwin Morales he shared just after hurricane Katrina struck in 2005 during a Sabbath worship service.

First, ask the women to read the prayer from Psalms below and then the men.

May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice. Ps 141:2 (NIV)

Our Father which art in heaven, may your name be glorified. You are our support; you give us our life and all the creation is sustained with the power of your word. You are a good father because you allow the sun to rise on the good and the bad.

Thank you for giving us the privilege of knowing you; and for meeting with us as we worship with all of our brothers and sisters. We raise our voices with joy to glorify your name. We pray with thanksgiving; and prepare us to hear your message from your servant _____________.

During these six weeks bless all the groups who are meeting in homes; bless each family and give your Holy Spirit to each one who comes to hear your voice. Prepare each one to give your plan of salvation to the people who need it.

We pray for our country. Bless and protect all our leaders and all our soldiers who are far away. Bless their families. Bless the families who are in places of suffering due to natural disasters and they do not have food and a place to sleep.

We pray also for all the families who have an ill member please put your hand on them and give them comfort and raise them to glory. We pray for all our ministers and all the leaders of your church. Place your Holy Spirit upon them.

Thank you father for hearing our prayers in the name of your holy son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Weekly Meditation


Revelations 8:3-4

Joining our prayers with His A call to pastoral prayer

Philip Samaan

Philip Samaan, D. Min., is professor of religion, Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, Tennessee.

Niagara Falls is one of the most magnificent natural wonders in North America. It’s an irresistible sight! When I first laid my eyes on it, not only was I enchanted, but I was seized by the spiritual insights it yielded-insights that profoundly influenced my prayer life.

On my first visit, I gazed transfixed at the grandeur of its mighty flow. I saw its terrific torrents; I heard its howling thunder and felt its tumultuous power. I could not pull away; I found myself totally overwhelmed by God’s abundant love and power.

As I stood praying for guidance and for a prevailing prayer life, God vividly impressed upon my mind that the continuous irresistible flood of Niagara represents Christ’s prayers for me. “Yes, Lord,” I said, “but this is about Christ’s mighty prayers. What about my weak prayers? They are like a few droplets of water, at best only a trickle.” Then conviction hit me like a thunderbolt: Why not join your weak prayers to His mighty ones?

Much water and much incenseI always felt that my faith was feeble and my prayers puny, but now the Lord was

directing my mind to look not at myself but to the Savior. He was telling me to rivet my unsteady faith to His unstoppable faith, to join my measly prayers with His mighty prayers. Take the plunge, go with the flow, was the conviction of my heart.

This early encounter with God has had a powerful impact on my ministry as pastor and religion professor.

In my pastoral and teaching ministry, the Spirit’s conviction to join my poor prayers with Christ’s potent prayers led me to study Revelation 8:3, 4. The use of the words censer, altar, incense, prayers, throne, and smoke makes it clear that the subject in this short passage is about prayer. Such activity occurs in the vicinity of the altar of incense before the inner veil, leading directly to God’s glory.

It’s wonderful to see such unmistakable indicators of what happens to human prayer as it reaches into the heavenly sanctuary.


Here the curtain is pulled aside to give us a rare glimpse of how the prayers of the saints are processed. The angel, who stands by the altar of incense, was given much incense and instructed to offer it with the prayers of all the saints. And he offered up this mixture upon the golden altar, and it ascended right to the throne of God.

This passage in Revelation makes Christ’s intercessions in the heavenly sanctuary relevant to our pastoral intercessions for others. It deals with two separate entities that are designed to become one: the incense and the saints’ prayers. “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. And he was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand” (NKJV).

Every time I study this passage, I am reminded of my Niagara Falls experience. The trickle of my prayers mixed with the flood of Christ’s prayers sounds like the puny prayers of the saints mingled with much incense of Christ’s perfect righteousness and intercession.

Now I can unite my pastoral prayers with the powerful prayers of my greatest Prayer Partner, Jesus. His “much incense” makes fragrant the soiled prayers, tainted with self, that come from me. Now I am irresistibly drawn to come boldly before the throne of grace, knowing that my best prayers and petitions must be consumed by the purging fire of Christ’s perfect righteousness and be fragranced by the incense of His intercessions wafting above the mercy seat.

The emblem of His mediation Even in the earthly sanctuary, the burning incense was to “arise before God mingled

with their [people’s] prayers. This incense was an emblem of the mediation of Christ.”1 The incense represents at least two things: Christ’s perfect mediation and His perfect righteousness. “These prayers [of ours], mingled with the incense of the perfection of Christ, will ascend as fragrance to the Father.”2

Here the type of Exodus 30:7 and 8 meets the antitype of Revelation 8:3 and 4. Aaron, the earthly high priest, was to burn incense upon the altar before the mercy seat every morning and evening for “perpetual incense” before the Lord. Jesus, our heavenly High Priest, with His “much incense,” perpetually makes intercession for us before the mercy seat.

Aaron was to burn incense on the altar every morning and evening on behalf of the people; as pastors, our prayers for people ascending with the prayers of Jesus must be a daily experience, fresh every morning, carrying us through to the end of each day. This is not to be something sporadic, something that occurs now and then, but is to be something perpetual.

Offering prayer mixed with incense on a daily basis implies not only perpetuity but also priority. Our utmost pastoral priority is to begin and conclude every day with Jesus,


continually breathing His spirit of prayer, so that the people of our congregations will clearly know that we have indeed been with Jesus.

E. G. White has described it this way: “The incense, ascending with the prayers of Israel, represents the merits and intercessions of Christ, His perfect righteousness, which through faith is imputed to His people....

“They united in silent prayer, with their faces toward the holy place. Thus their petitions ascended with the cloud of incense, while faith laid hold upon the merits of the promised Saviour prefigured by the atoning sacrifice.”3

Sweet aromaPaul uses similar powerful imagery to depict divine human cooperation in prayer and

witness. He urges us to walk in the love of Christ, who “has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Eph. 5:2, NKJV). Here we have Paul depicting Christ Himself as the burning sacrifice exuding a sweet aroma before God. And in 2 Corinthians 2:14 and 15, he describes us as the aroma of Christ, diffusing His sweet fragrance always and everywhere.

Paul has in mind the powerful analogy of a Roman triumphal procession, where a victorious general would be welcomed by many dignitaries, some carrying censers brim-ming with sweet burning incense.

It is the same in passages found in Ephesians and Corinthians. Paul makes use of the imagery of burning sacrifice and burning incense, to describe not only Christ’s ministry but also our joint role in it. We walk in Christ’s ultimately loving act of offering Himself as a “burning” sacrifice.

As pastors and parishioners we walk in Christ’s victory march, diffusing the sweet burning incense of our intimate knowledge of Him. When we give ourselves to God through uniting with Jesus’ intercessions, we too “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God” (Rom. 12:1, NKJV). Walking in His love and diffusing His sweet fragrance becomes such an all-absorbing way of life that Paul even talks of us as possessing the aroma of Christ.

Compare this with how John in Revelation 8:3 and 4 aptly describes the “much incense” of Christ’s intercession mingling with the prayers of all the saints and ascending as sweetsmelling smoke before God.

We may wonder why Jesus needs to pray for us and with us before God. Jesus’ prayers are not to appease God or to make Him love us as His Son does. The Father’s love for us is eternal, and His deep concern for our salvation is inexhaustible. He loves us with the same love by which He loves His only Son. “The Father demonstrates His infinite love for Christ, who paid our ransom with His blood, by receiving and welcoming Christ’s friends as His friends. He is satisfied with the atonement made. He is glorified by the incarnation, the life, death, and mediation of His Son.”4


Furthermore in doing this, Christ “gathers into this censer the prayers, the praise, and the confessions of His people, and with these He puts His own spotless righteousness. Then, perfumed with the merits of Christ’s propitiation, the incense comes up before God wholly and entirely acceptable. Then gracious answers are returned.”5

Christ’s prayer vigilIn Mark 14:37 we see Jesus in the Garden appealing to Peter by name to stay awake

and pray with Him. Finding His three disciples asleep, He pointedly asked Peter: “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch with Me one hour?” It is significant that Jesus mentioned neither John nor James by name, but only Peter. I believe Jesus singled out Peter because of the recent experience of Jesus praying for him “that [his] faith fail not” (Luke 22:32). Jesus wanted to engage Peter in His prayer life. He needed him and the disciples to “stay here and watch with Me” (Matt. 26:38, NKJV).

The words “watch” and “with Me” are significant here because they refer to the disciples staying awake for the purpose of sharing in Christ’s prayer vigil. It is remarkable that the Mighty Intercessor, who prayed many times for His disciples, now needs them to join Him in His own prayer.

What an enormous privilege they squandered, experiencing only the periphery of the experience they could have had. If they had taken advantage of this special occasion, they would have been braced for the terrible trials just ahead of them. Could it be that Jesus counts on us, as His pastors, when He desires to share the heaviest burdens of His prayers? When He does, does He find us awake or asleep?

When the Chief Shepherd lays one of His prayer burdens upon our hearts, it is a holy calling of the highest order. This is a clear indication that He trusts us, as undershepherds, with the burdens on His heart, and that He desires to pull us close to Him in approaching the mercy seat.

It is interesting to note that Peter and John, who failed to join Jesus in prayer at Gethsemane, describe the believers (along with themselves) as priests unto God through Christ. “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5, NKJV). John writes about this priesthood ministry in Christ, who “has made us kings and priests” to His . . . Father (Rev. 1:6, NKJV).

Priests with our High Priest Christ our High Priest has made us pastor-priests in Him. He has ordained us to offer

sacrifices of prayer and supplications through Him. We are called to enter into this priestly ministry of weeping with Jesus and sharing in His travail for others. “Blessed are they also who weep with Jesus in sympathy with the world’s sorrow and in sorrow for its sin.... All who are followers of Christ will share in this experience. As they partake of His love they will enter into His travail for the saving of the lost.”“


How does our priesthood as pastors interface with His high-priestly ministry when it comes to prayer? Such holy participation always ensues from our unreserved submission to Him. For when He sits on the throne of our hearts, His life becomes our life. He lives in us and ministers through us. He loves, cares, sacrifices, affirms, and prays through us. Jesus ever lives to intercede for us. And as He ever lives in our lives, He ever prays in and through our lives. Our pastoral lives become an expression of His pastoral life.

It is our awesome privilege and sacred duty as pastors to serve as priests of intercession, even clothed with Christ’s priestly vestments. “As we acknowledge before God our appreciation of Christ’s merits, fragrance is given to our intercessions. Oh, who can value this great mercy and love! As we approach God through the virtue of Christ’s merits, we are clothed with His priestly vestments. He places us close by His side, encircling us with His human arm, while with His divine arm He grasps the throne of the Infinite. He puts His merits, as sweet incense, in a censer in our hands, in order to encourage our petitions.”

This priesthood of all believers was demonstrated in the experience of Job praying for his children as well as for his critics. He consecrated his children to God and sacrificed and prayed for them regularly (Job 1:4, 5). In fact, job in his priestly role was a type of Jesus our High Priest praying for us. Job sacrificed and prayed regularly for his children, and so did Jesus when He sacrificed Himself and now lives to pray for us. Moreover, God wanted job to intercede for His three critics. “My servant job shall pray for you,” God said to them. “For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly” (Job 42:8, NKJV).

Jesus also interceded for His critics and tormentors. In a sense, Job entered the sacred realm of Jesus’ travail and intercessions for friend and foe alike. As Christ’s pastors, we stand as priests before God-in Christ our High Priest.

Like Job, we are called to enter on a regular basis into Christ’s holy realm of intercession for others.

Then there was the ministry of Samuel. The Israelites feared for their lives because they had refused to have God rule over them. But when the people asked him to pray for them, Samuel said, “Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that [ should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you” (1 Sam. 12:19, 23, NKJV). He viewed his priestly prayers for them as so crucial that he considered it a sin against God not to plead for them. As pastors, we are called to enter the realm of Christ’s intercessions for others, even when, or perhaps especially when, they move away from God.

Blot me out!Perhaps the most powerful example of Christ’s intercession is found in the ministry

of Moses. God wanted to destroy a stubborn Israel for their great rebellion in worshiping the golden calf, and He assured Moses that He would make a new and mighty nation out of his seed. However, Moses did not think about himself but instead was consumed with concern about the people.


Spontaneously he began to pray to God, reviewing with Him the wonderful promises He had given His people. He went up to the Lord on the mountain to intervene between God and the people because of their sins. In his prayer of intercession, Moses earnestly pleaded with God: “Oh, these people have sinned a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin-but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written” (Exod. 32:31, 32, NKJV).

In the councils of the Trinity, the Son of God volunteered to give His life for the world. It would be at a tremendous cost: experiencing the second death on behalf of sinful and lost humanity. Moses’ offer that his name be blotted out of the book of life was not accepted; Christ’s offer was.

Jesus experienced the second death; His name was blotted out from the book of life. And in that generous divine act, neither Moses’ name nor any name needs ever to be blotted out. Certainly Moses’ earnest intercession, flowing from a heart of love, enters into that sacred realm of Christ’s intercession for fallen humanity.

As shepherds under the Chief Shepherd, let us go to Christ as we are. Let us stay long in the embrace of the praying Jesus. Let His compassionate human arm encircle us and our congregations, and let His divine arm connect us with God’s throne.

We may plunge the trickle of our prayers with the mighty torrents of His prevailing prayers. Then the “much incense” of His intercession will join with our tainted prayers until they are fragrant to the nostrils of God. He is joining you in prayer right now. We may rest in the arms of the Prince of Peace; rest in the assurance that no power can pluck us out of His hand.

Questions: Joining Our Prayers with His

1. Read: Revelations 8:3-4. How does the incense joining with our prayers make a difference?

2. Read: Exodus 30: 7-8 and compare with Revelation 8:3-4. Fill in the blanks:

“‘This incense was an emblem of the ___________________________________ of Christ.’”

3. Give an example depicting human and divine cooperation?

4. Read: 1 Peter 2:5. How do we know the Lord wants us to intercede with him for others? Read: Mark 14:34-37.


5. Fill-in the blanks: “Christ our High Priest has made us ______________________

in Him. He has ordained us to offer sacrifices of __________________________

and ___________________________________ through Him.”

Editorial Note: This article is adapted from the author’s latest book, Christ’s Way to Pray: How Christ Prays for Us and With Us. To obtain a copy, call 706935-8800, or email [email protected]

1 Ellen G. White, Temperance (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1949) 43.2 --, Testimonies for the Church (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1900), 6:467.3 --, Patriarchs and Prophets (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1890), 353; italics sup) red.4 Testimonies, 6:364; italics supplied.5 The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, Ellen G. White Comments, 6:1078.6 White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1896), 12, 1:3; italics supplied.7 SDABC, Ellen G. White Comments, 6:1078; italics supplied.

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6 WEEKS OF PRAYER SYLLABUS PRAYER & PRAISE

Date Person Prayer Request Praise Report

Date Person Prayer Request Praise Report

6 WEEKS OF PRAYER SYLLABUS PRAYER & PRAISE

6 WEEKS OF PRAYER SYLLABUS CALENDAR

Healthy groups share responsibilities and group ownership. It might take some time for this to develop. Shared ownership ensures that no one person or couple has to bear all the responsibilities for the group. Use the calendar to keep track of social events, mission projects, birthdays or days off. Complete the calendar at your first or second meeting. Planning ahead will increase attendance and shared ownership.

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