Values and Disciplines – 3.

This week we continue looking at the disciplines of the Kingdom. 

 

Matt. 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

 

When we read Matthew 5-7, we see that Jesus taught on the Kingdom of God. More specifically, He spoke about the values and the disciplines of the Kingdom of God. Most of Chapter five is about the values of the Kingdom. Then, in chapter six of Matthew, He starts giving us some of the disciplines of the Kingdom. 

 

We will start with the disciplines of the Kingdom. 

 

1. Prayer.

Matt. 6:6-7 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think they will be heard for their many words.

 

I love the fact that Jesus says: “When we pray.” It is not “if” we pray. He assumes that as His children, prayer would be our lifestyle. 

 

The disciples understood the importance of prayer because they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. Have anybody taught you how to pray? Think about it for a minute? Is that why so many people don’t pray or struggle to pray?

 

Not only did Jesus teach us how to pray, but He also made a way for us to approach God freely through our prayers.

 

Heb. 10:19-22 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

 

Scripture is full of examples of people that prayed. Think about David, Solomon, Daniel, Paul, and Jesus.

 

Prayer is not just what we say, but when we have those times when we don’t know how or what to pray, God made a way through the Holy Spirit.

 

Rom. 8:26-27 Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

 

We have no excuse not to pray. 

 

1Thess 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

 

Paul asks us to pray without ceasing. What a beautiful discipline prayer is for us. 

 

I found some quotes from well-known men and women who knew prayer’s power.

 

? “I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.”  

– Charles Spurgeon.

 

? “The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history.”  

– Andrew Murray.

 

 ? “We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties.”  

– Oswald Chambers.

 

? “There is no other activity in life so important as that of prayer. Every other activity depends upon prayer for its best efficiency.”  

– M.E. Andross.

 

? “He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find Him the rest of the day.” – John Bunyan.

 

? “Prayer is not learned in a classroom but in the closet.” – E. M. Bounds.

 

? “We must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the Heavenly world, and can bring it’s power down to earth.”

 – Andrew Murray.

 

? “Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His’ voice in the depth of our hearts.”  

– Mother Teresa.

 

? “Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” 

– C.S. Lewis.

 

? “The more you pray, the less you’ll panic. The more you worship, the less you worry. You’ll feel more patient and less pressured.” 

– Rick Warren.

 

 ? “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” 

– Martin Luther

 

 ? “Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.”  

– *Oswald Chambers.

 

? “He who kneels the most stands the best.”  

– D.L. Moody.

 

I hope this will help you see that prayer bears much fruit in your life as a discipline. From this prayer life, God can use you. 

 

Next week we will look at the discipline of Fasting.