- Jan 9, 2007
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Hello. Nothing fancy here. I am not sure if this is the correct spot on CF for posting this, so please excuse if not.
The following might be a useful tool for a Sunday School class or other group venue:
(1) Give an assignment to your people for the next meeting: take the word “Prayer” and ask them to draw up a list of as many words as they can make out of it.
(2) For each applicable word, ask them to provide an explanation for how the word ties into “Prayer”, citing a Scripture reference or at least a paraphrase of the reference. The purpose would be to reinforce that a true perspective about and expectation concerning prayer comes from knowing God's Word.
(3) This would not be turn-in homework. In a relaxed setting, the leader could keep alternating among the group members to ask, "Is there another word you found that we haven't discussed?" Other folks who have found the same word could chime in to share their thoughts. The whole thing could be fairly open-ended.
(4) If the leader thinks some more words would be needed, the effort could be expanded to the word "prayers"
Note: to be fair, I browsed the internet to find words that one can extract from the word “Prayer”. I pared the word list down to those that I thought would fit (2) above. Here's my aided effort:
ear – Before, during and after prayer, listen (“have ears to hear”) to what the Holy Spirit of Jesus is saying via Presence, Scripture, others and circumstances
err – We err while praying if we ask amiss, for our own gain or purposely against God’s will
parry – putting on the full armor of God in the current spiritual battle against the enemy of our faith helps us to parry successfully the evil one.
pay – We do not pay for the eternal penalty of sin which we deserve, for when we confess our sin, God is faithful to forgive, because of the shed blood of Messiah Jesus
payer – Prayer enables us to fellowship with Payer of the Ransom for our sin, Himself, Messiah Jesus
per -- Per/as the Scripture says, “We have not, because we ask not"
pray – Pray without ceasing, as the Apostle Paul taught
prey – Jesus enjoined us to pray, so we do not fall prey to Satan’s wiles/devices
rap – we must rap/knock on the door of God’s heart with unceasing/devoted prayer, for we know that, as James taught, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”
ray – daily prayer brings a ray of sanctified hope to our lives
reap – we reap what we sow. The prayer of trust sows the seeds that bloom into Kingdom results
rear – prayer is spiritual warfare; the “Ephesians armor” has no backside/rear protection
rep – Jesus is our representative/advocate, declaring before Father God that we are justified/not-guilty by virtue of the atoning, shed blood of Messiah Jesus and our embracing Him as substitute for our deserved sentence.
repay – prayer can envelope us with forgiveness toward others. Such a life of devotion makes it less likely for us to desire to repay others for their offenses committed against us
year – it is always in season to pray, as this is “the acceptable year of the Lord”, as Joshua said.
rye – Prayer should remind us of how we receive our daily spiritual bread, which is more satisfying than the mere filling of our stomachs with rye bread
yap – Jesus taught us that we are to not yap/not be overly repetitious in our prayers, for that is something unbelievers do, because they think such a practice would make God listen
yep – When we agree in prayer with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are saying “yep”, “yes”, and “Amen” to those prayers
The following might be a useful tool for a Sunday School class or other group venue:
(1) Give an assignment to your people for the next meeting: take the word “Prayer” and ask them to draw up a list of as many words as they can make out of it.
(2) For each applicable word, ask them to provide an explanation for how the word ties into “Prayer”, citing a Scripture reference or at least a paraphrase of the reference. The purpose would be to reinforce that a true perspective about and expectation concerning prayer comes from knowing God's Word.
(3) This would not be turn-in homework. In a relaxed setting, the leader could keep alternating among the group members to ask, "Is there another word you found that we haven't discussed?" Other folks who have found the same word could chime in to share their thoughts. The whole thing could be fairly open-ended.
(4) If the leader thinks some more words would be needed, the effort could be expanded to the word "prayers"
Note: to be fair, I browsed the internet to find words that one can extract from the word “Prayer”. I pared the word list down to those that I thought would fit (2) above. Here's my aided effort:
"PRAYER"
ape – Jesus said not to ape (be as) those Pharisees who showed off their righteousnessear – Before, during and after prayer, listen (“have ears to hear”) to what the Holy Spirit of Jesus is saying via Presence, Scripture, others and circumstances
err – We err while praying if we ask amiss, for our own gain or purposely against God’s will
parry – putting on the full armor of God in the current spiritual battle against the enemy of our faith helps us to parry successfully the evil one.
pay – We do not pay for the eternal penalty of sin which we deserve, for when we confess our sin, God is faithful to forgive, because of the shed blood of Messiah Jesus
payer – Prayer enables us to fellowship with Payer of the Ransom for our sin, Himself, Messiah Jesus
per -- Per/as the Scripture says, “We have not, because we ask not"
pray – Pray without ceasing, as the Apostle Paul taught
prey – Jesus enjoined us to pray, so we do not fall prey to Satan’s wiles/devices
rap – we must rap/knock on the door of God’s heart with unceasing/devoted prayer, for we know that, as James taught, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”
ray – daily prayer brings a ray of sanctified hope to our lives
reap – we reap what we sow. The prayer of trust sows the seeds that bloom into Kingdom results
rear – prayer is spiritual warfare; the “Ephesians armor” has no backside/rear protection
rep – Jesus is our representative/advocate, declaring before Father God that we are justified/not-guilty by virtue of the atoning, shed blood of Messiah Jesus and our embracing Him as substitute for our deserved sentence.
repay – prayer can envelope us with forgiveness toward others. Such a life of devotion makes it less likely for us to desire to repay others for their offenses committed against us
year – it is always in season to pray, as this is “the acceptable year of the Lord”, as Joshua said.
rye – Prayer should remind us of how we receive our daily spiritual bread, which is more satisfying than the mere filling of our stomachs with rye bread
yap – Jesus taught us that we are to not yap/not be overly repetitious in our prayers, for that is something unbelievers do, because they think such a practice would make God listen
yep – When we agree in prayer with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are saying “yep”, “yes”, and “Amen” to those prayers
