PRAYER WORKSHOPSESSION 1 DESIRING PRAYER – JANUARY 11, 2015

THE NECESSITY OF PRAYER

JOHN R. WIBLE, EDITOR

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KELLER AND MURRAY

•Keller will delve into life and offer specific

guidance

•Murray will offer a daily Bible study

•Spurgeon offers commentary

•Washington edits African American prayers

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THE SETTING

•Spurgeon’s “Boiler Room”

•Timing

•Books Keller, Murray, Spurgeon, Washington

•Homework

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KELLER’S MEDICINE

•He learned to pray in adversity.

•His wife challenged him

•Flannery O’Conner: “Can’t Anyone Teach Me to Pray?

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AUGUSTINE’S DISCOVERY

•Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven

•Matthew and Luke

•God is more important than our stuff - or even us

•Must learn to “long to pray”

•Don’t be afraid to let go of your prayers

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A CONFUSING LANDSCAPE•The Beatles’ Eastern Mysticism

•Mysticism by any other name

•New Age

•Contemplative Prayer

• Listening Prayer

• Lection Divinio

•Centering Prayer

•Mysticism is not necessarily bad1/11/15JOHN R. WIBLE, EDITOR 6

AN “INTELLIGENT MYSTICISM•Role of the Holy Spirit – Romans 8

• Reassures of God’s love

• Enables us to come to God

•Guides our prayers aright

• If we let Him

• John Murray’s “Intelligent Mysticism”

•A good experience

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NON-CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

•Experiential side to all

•Greek Roots – “Hidden”

•Animism, Africans, Druids, Native Americans, et al

•Monists, Pantheists, Islamists, Buddhists, Hindus

•Modern Mysticism – An “umbrella term”

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CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

•Wesley at Aldersgate

•Luther reading Romans

•Pentecostals and “Ecstatic Utterance”

•Catholic Trances

•Henry Blackaby – Experiencing God

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KELLER ON MYSTICISM

•Experiencing God is a good thing

•Such an experience is mystical

•Well see this experience in public and private prayer

•Leaving the “Kingdom of Man”

• John Murray on “Intelligent Mysticism – 1 Pet. 1:81/11/15JOHN R. WIBLE, EDITOR 10

WHAT IS “INTELLIGENT MYSTICISM?

• It’s both

•Affection of the heart

•Convictions of the mind

•Balance is paramount

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LEARNING TO PRAY•Keller, his wife and the Psalms

•Praying regularly

•Meditation

•BID (take twice a day)

•Greater Expectations

•Fruit – more resting and more wrestling

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HARD TO WRITE ABOUT

• It is indefinable and we are small and helpless

•Our inadequacies

•P.T. Forsyth – “Touching the Ark”

•Gateway to self-knowledge

•Dumping our false self-image

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A REORDERING

•Prayer is an experience, but . . .

• ‘It is more – it’s a “reordering of our life”

•We must let go of the handle of our life and let

God do the pumping.

•This is a very scary thing!

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MURRAY – PRAYER TIME

•Let’s listen to Murray reading an Introduction

•Now, we shall pray

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TAKE AWAY POINTS

•Prayer is universally practiced.

•Prayer is essential to the Christian life

•Prayer begins when we learn to focus on God not us.

•We must relinquish the exercise to the Spirit.

•Prayer is a balance of mysticism and thought.

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NEXT WEEK’S ASSIGNMENT

•Ready Murray, Chapters 19 and 24.

•No rules yet, just start praying.

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