Notes to accompany "Discipleship, Week 3"

Marks of Discipleship - Daily Prayer

4) Persistence

Matthew 7:7-8, Hebrews 4:16

"Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His highest willingness".
........Richard Trench

There are time in the Christian walk when God lays something on our hearts that we can't dismiss. He's urging us to persistent prayer.

Learn the difference between an urge to pray coming from your own anxieties and a call that comes from outside yourself.

The power of persistent prayer is that it's an exercise in faith, You're responding to and co-operating with Almighty God so that His will can be done.

5) Imagination and Meditation

Isaiah 43:18-19, Psalm 46:10

"Before we can enjoy the peace of God we must know the God of peace."
.........Anonymous

Prayer opens us up to the presence of God. Our job is to pray and trust that God will take our prayers and use them according to His will.

God has given us an imagination and we also need to use that in our prayers at times.

We need to pray with our imagination to feel a person's hurt, loss or need.

Meditation is a form of prayer.

It's about stilling yourself in God's presence. As we meditate it leads us into prayer.

6) Prayer as a Life-style

1Thessalonians 5:19-17, Romans 8:26-27

"O Lord Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me."
.....Lord Ashley, before a battle.

We need to use those God-conscious moments and turn them into prayer.

We can't be a disciple unless we learn to pray, because prayer is communication between us and God and it has to be kept alive and fresh.