More lessons on Prayer

Dennis McCallum

Luke 11:5-13

Jesus tells a parable to argue that if a selfish person would give his persistent neighbor what he needs, then a good and loving God will generously give us everything we need. If we seek God and His will out in prayer, then God promises that we will find Him and experience His goodness. Therefore, we should be persistent in prayer, which leads to deeper faith and dependence on God's love and power.

Prayer

Dennis McCallum

Luke 11

Communicating with God through prayer is a relational, subordinate, and dependent process that Jesus modeled. Within times of prayer, we should recognize and praise God for who He is. From there, God is able to help us intercede for others, remind us of His mission for us and even help protect us from temptation in spiritual warfare. Christians who have effective prayer lives have learned the relational communication needed between God and themselves.

Prayer

Dennis McCallum

Luke 10:38-11:4

Martha hurries around making preparations, while Mary sits at Jesus' feet. Mary stands as an example of the intimate relationship that Jesus wants with each one of us through prayer. Jesus gives us an example of prayer that includes dependence, praise and petition. Martha McCallum speaks about her experience with prayer.

Suffering and Spiritual Growth

Dennis McCallum

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Not only does spiritual growth occur through the building up of the new spiritual person within, it requires the breaking down of the outer man as well. God uses outward circumstances to chip away at our outer man so that the spirit of God within us can come through more and more. On our part, this requires active cooperation and the rejection of illegitimate pain reducers. The only context in which spiritual growth is possible is an eternal value system. We must focus on our position in Christ and the security that comes from our identity in him.

Key Principles of Spiritual Growth

Gary DeLashmutt

Philippians 3:10-17

We cover four key principles in spiritual growth. One is suffering. When we suffer we have the opportunity to deepen our understanding of God and our dependence on Him. The second key to spiritual growth is rejecting all forms of perfectionism. Thirdly, we are to continue moving forward in our relationship with the Lord. We can do this through: praying, reading the Bible, time with other Christians, and serving people. The fourth principle in spiritual growth is committing to observe and imitate mature Christians.