"A Praying Life" (chapters 6-8)

A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World
By Paul E. Miller

“Learning to Be Helpless” - Chapter 6

Learning to Be Helpless

• Children naturally tend to be more dependent and open to their own helplessness.
• As we get older we desire independence and we become allergic to helplessness.
• When we are confident in ourselves and think we already know the solution, we won’t pray.

Prayer = Helplessness

• God wants us to come to him empty-handed, weary, and heavy-laden.
• Prayer is bringing our helplessness to Jesus.
• Prayer is an expression of who we are…we are a living incompleteness.
• We were saved as helpless sinners; why should prayer be any different?
• Prayer mirrors the gospel: helplessness leads to grace.

A Wrong View of Maturity

• Mature Christians pray more, but it is not because they are better at performing a duty.
• Mature Christians have learned how weak and sinful they are, which leads to a larger view of grace.
• Weakness is the channel that allows them to access grace.
• More maturity=more dependence.

When You Open the Door

• Themes of good prayer:
         -Helplessness
         -Relationship
         -Repentance
         -Asking
         -Story
         -Hope
• When you open a door to God, you find some amazing treasures inside.

“Crying ‘Abba’ - Continuously” - Chapter 7

Seeking God
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water (Psalm 63:1)
Our hearts are restless and will be restless until we find rest in God.
Our nagging personal faults can drive us into a continuous praying life.

Poverty of Spirit, Not Discipline

• It is poverty of spirit that will lead us into a deeper and more continuous prayer life, not more personal self-discipline.
• The Holy Spirit prays with us and for us in our dependence on the Father.
• Abba – childlike, dependent
• Poverty of spirit makes room for His Spirit.

Paul’s Example & Teaching

• “Unceasing prayer” is Paul’s description of how he prayed and how he wanted the church to pray.
• Paul frequently used words like:
         -Continuously
         -Without ceasing
         -Night and Day
         -Always
         -At all times

The Jesus Prayer

• Early model of a short prayer:
         -“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
• A praying life isn’t simply about a morning prayer time; it is about slipping into prayer at odd hours of the day:
         -Not because we are disciplined
         -Because we are aware of our poverty of spirit.

“Bending Your Heart to your Father” - Chapter 8

An Anxious Heart

• Anxiety in our hearts can become a springboard to bending our hearts to God in prayer.
• Instead of letting our anxiety churn over and over in our hearts, bring it to God.
• Our anxiety can become a momentary prayer.

Brief History of Anxiety and Prayer

• Continuous prayer was normal in Eden before the Fall.
• Broken communication with God because of sin and guilt also brought with it anxiety.
• Anxiety is unable to relax in the face of chaos; continuous prayer clings to the Father in the face of chaos.
• Dependence frees us from anxiety.
• We become anxious when we take a godlike stance, trying to control everything, and occupying ourselves with things too great for us.
• We return to sanity by becoming like little children, dependent, and resting in our Father.

Invitations for Prayer

• When you pray continuously, moments when you are prone to anxiety can become invitations to drift into prayer.
• Anxiety transformed into prayer brings us from worrying to watching—watching what God will do in his unfolding drama.