character & praying like paul

J O N AT H A N G R A F N O T E S B Y F R A N C I S M A D O J E M U

PA S T O R G H A N D I O L A O Y E

• I said this to them yesterday, let me say it for the benefit of those that were not there; when I started to preach I told you that these things I am saying are things I have started to use, they are things I have seen people use,


• I am not preaching out of my head I'm preaching out of my heart, I'm not preaching from what I read I'm preaching from what the Lord shared with me, I'm not preaching somebody else message I am preaching what God told me to share with you.


• Listen to me, you've got to understand that prayer meetings – let's pray for the Nation, that's what God expect us to do, let's pray for peace of the Jerusalem, let's pray for our leaders, let's pray for the Government since they rule over us, but when it comes to individual prayers – what you have imagined, let it be your prayer point,


• – what you have imagined, let it be your prayer point, let it be what you are presenting to God because provision means providing for vision. So go to God with your visions, ask God to bring your helpers of destiny, ask God to bring open doors, those waste time telling God this devil, that devil, that one, no focus on yourself.


• If you tell the devil to fall down last week, why are you still telling him to fall down this week, there is nothing you will be able to do with the devil because there is a time that is apportioned for his destruction; this was done before you were born so there is nothing you are going to do.


• Focus upon your own life, what do you mean Pastor, are you telling me the devil is not existing, he is existing, he's well alive but it says let God arise and His enemies be scattered. God's enemies is the devil, it's not these enemies you are thinking about, it's the devil, everybody doing evil in this way in this world is a product of what the devil has sown.


• Focus let that be your prayer point, this should be what you should be excited on because now you can go and present your imaginations to the Lord, for eyes to be opened, for fulfillment of your imagination, knowing that God is not read to show you what He will not give you, what He has shown you – ask God for the plans and purpose.


• How do I go about this one? How do I make this happen? How do I make this technology change, how do I make a difference in my family, how do I make great impact in the world, those are the things.


• We've prayed about the enemies enough, nothing has changed, let's pray about the boldness and the mercy of God, let's pray about other thing that has to do with God and let God arise in our lives.

R I C K W A R R E N

The fifth measure of spiritual growth is character. Christ-like character is the ultimate goal of all Christian education. To settle for anything less is to miss the point of spiritual growth. We are to “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13 NIV).

R I C K W A R R E N

Developing the character of Christ is life’s most important task because it is the only thing we’ll take with us into eternity. Jesus made it quite clear in his Sermon on the Mount that eternal rewards in Heaven will be based on the character we develop and demonstrate here on Earth.

R I C K W A R R E N

This means the objective of all our teaching must be to change lives, not merely provide information. Paul told Timothy that the purpose of his teaching was to develop character in those he taught:

R I C K W A R R E N

“The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith” (1 Timothy 1:5 NLT). Paul told Titus to do the same thing: “Now you must tell them the sort of character which should spring from sound teaching” (Titus 2:1 Phillips).

R I C K W A R R E N

Whenever we choose to respond to a situation in God’s way instead of following our natural inclination, we develop character. For this reason, he allows all kinds of character-building circumstances: conflict, disappointment, difficulty, temptation, times of dryness, and delays.

P R AY E R A N D C H A R A C T E R A N D C O N D U C T B Y PA S T O R E . M . B O U N D S

P R AY E R G O V E R N S C O N D U C T A N D C O N D U C T M A K E S C H A R A C T E R .

Conduct, is what we do; Character, is what we are. Conduct is the outward life.

Character is the life unseen, hidden within, yet evidenced by that which is seen.


Conduct is external, seen from without; character is internal -- operating within.

In the economy of grace conduct is the offspring of character.


Character is the state of the heart, conduct its outward expression.

Character is the root of the tree, conduct, the fruit it bears.

P R AY E R I S R E L AT E D T O A L L T H E G I F T S O F G R A C E .

Prayer is related to all the gifts of grace. To character and conduct its relation is that of a helper.

Prayer helps to establish character and fashion conduct, and both for their successful continuance depend on prayer.


There may be a certain degree of moral character and conduct independent of prayer, but there cannot be anything like distinctive religious character and Christian conduct without it.


Prayer helps, where all other aids fail. The more we pray, the better we are, the purer and better our lives.

The very end and purpose of the atoning work of Christ is to create religious character and to make Christian conduct.


"Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

In Christ's teaching, it is not simply works of charity and deeds of mercy upon which He insists, but inward spiritual character. This much is demanded, and nothing short of it, will suffice.

T H E O F F I C E O F P R AY E R

The office of prayer is to change the character and conduct of men, and in countless instances, has been wrought by prayer.

At this point, prayer, by its credentials, has proved its divinity.

T H E O F F I C E O F P R AY E R

And just as it is the office of prayer to effect this, so it is the prime work of the Church to take hold of evil men and make them good.

Its mission is to change human nature, to change character, influence behaviour, to revolutionize conduct.

T H E C H U R C H ’ S R O L E

The Church is God's manufactory on earth, and its primary duty is to create and foster righteousness of character.

This is its very first business.

T H E C H U R C H ’ S R O L E

Primarily, its work is not to acquire members, nor amass numbers, nor aim at money-getting, nor engage in deeds of charity and works of mercy, but to produce righteousness of character, and purity of the outward life.

R E F L E C T I O N & PA R TA K I N G C H A R A C T E R

A product reflects and partakes of the character of the manufactory which makes it. A righteous Church with a righteous purpose makes righteous men.

Prayer produces cleanliness of heart and purity of life.


It can produce nothing else.

Unrighteous conduct is born of prayerlessness; the two go hand-in-hand.

Prayer and sinning cannot keep company with each other.


One, or the other, must, of necessity, stop. Get men to pray, and they will quit sinning, because prayer creates a distaste for sinning,.....


....and so works upon the heart, that evil-doing becomes repugnant, and the entire nature lifted to a reverent contemplation of high and holy things.

T H E P R AY E R C L O S E T

And, today, it is not so much our words, as what we really are, which weighs with God. Conduct affects character, of course, and counts for much in our praying.

At the same time, character affects conduct to a far greater extent, and has a superior influence over prayer.


Our inner life not only gives colour to our praying, but body, as well.

Bad living means bad praying and, in the end, no praying at all. We pray feebly because we live feebly.


The stream of prayer cannot rise higher than the fountain of living.

The force of the inner chamber is made up of the energy which flows from the confluent streams of living. And the weakness of living grows out of the shallowness and shoddiness of character.


We must learn this lesson well -- that righteous character and Christlike conduct give us a peculiar and preferential standing in prayer before God.

His holy Word gives special emphasis to the part conduct has in imparting value to our praying when it declares:


"Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am; if thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth the finger, and speaking vanity."

The wickedness of Israel and their heinous practices were definitely cited by Isaiah, as the reason why God would turn His ears away from their prayers:


"And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood."

From The Necessity of Prayer by Pastor E.M. Bounds, Chapter 8

P R AY I N G L I K E PA U L : L E A R N I N G T O P R AY T H E K I N G D O M F O R T H O S E Y O U L O V E

J O N AT H A N G R A F

A B E T T E R W AY T O P R AY

• It wasn't until 1989-90 that I began moving from being a crisis pray-er (able to pray much only if there was something significant in my life to pray about) to having a passion for prayer.

A . W. T O Z E R ' S B O O K T H E P U R S U I T O F G O D ;

• Working on The Pursuit Pursuit of God increased my hunger for God tenfold. And the fear I had in taking over a department that published books on the deeper spiritual life simply drove me to God in desperation.

W H E N I T C A M E T O P R AY I N G I W A S W E A K

• I valiantly tried keeping lists and praying for what I had been asked to pray for. But it was dull and lifeless. Why? Because I was praying the only way I knew how, based on what I had seen growing up in church.

M U C H O F M Y L I F E I AT T E N D E D P R AY E R M E E T I N G S

• Often I would write out a list and stick it in my Bible—where it would stay (along with other collected prayer lists for other prayer meetings) until my quarterly old-bulletin prayer-list cleaning, when I would throw it (them) away.


• Usually the things on these lists were very uninspiring—someone's third cousin who was laid off from work; another's kid who had a math test the next day; maybe a missionary or two whom the church supported. There was nothing there I could pray passionately about.


• If I ever prayed for something from that prayer meeting list during the week, all I ever prayed was for the obvious, what I specifically had been asked to pray. Passion only came when I really cared about what (or whom) I was praying for.

T H E C H A N G E

M Y W I F E & M Y D A U G H T E R

• I noticed something: I have sustained a greater level of prayer for them—in length of time, but also in intensity and passion—when I have prayed for character qualities, rather than when I prayed for a specific, concrete thing.

M Y W I F E & M Y D A U G H T E R

• But it was my praying for character qualities that filled me with passion and, I believe, made the most difference in their lives. And let me be clear: I was not praying for character traits because I thought they were seriously lacking in their lives, but because I felt God leading me to do so.

N O W A S A N E L D E R , H A D T O C H A N G E F O C U S

• I began trying to pray bigger things for the people under my care. I wanted to see God do great things in the life of our church and the lives of our people. Transforming things!

N O W A S A N E L D E R , H A D T O C H A N G E F O C U S

• Instead of focusing prayers on the everyday "God, please let their life be normal again" prayers we usually voice, I tried to pray prayers that sought God's purposes for their lives. Prayers that asked God to bring glory to His Son through these situations and lives.

S T R U C K M O R E A N D M O R E B Y T H E P R AY E R S O F PA U L

• Paul had people with huge problems under his care, people who were facing life-and-death situations. Yet in all his recorded prayers, nowhere do I see that he prayed for specific answers to everyday situations.

D O N ' T G E T M E W R O N G

• I would be surprised if Paul didn't pray for some specific things for people he knew, so I am not saying that we should never pray for specific answers. But, since all of Paul's recorded prayers were in a different vein, I wonder if a majority of our prayers for ourselves and people shouldn't be of the same kind.

R E M E M B E R

T H I S I S W R I T T E N T H AT Y O U M AY K N O W

• John 21:25 (NASB)

• 25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they *were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself *would not contain the books that *would be written.

T H I S I S W R I T T E N T H AT Y O U M AY K N O W

• 1 John 5:13 (NASB)

• 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

W H Y W O U L D G O D P U T T H E S E S P R AY E R S O N LY I N T H E B I B L E

I T ’ S T I M E T O C H A N G E W H AT & H O W W E P R AY

• Most of us pray for those little answerables for each other. Sometimes we see some answers, but most of the time not. Over time, many stop praying because they do not see enough things answered.

I T ’ S T I M E T O C H A N G E W H AT & H O W W E P R AY

• Often they even fail to see God move in a situation because they are so focused on what they want to see happen. We keep trying to bolster faith and claim those promises in Scripture which tell us we can ask for anything and it will happen.

• But often, more and more, our prayers resemble fate rather than faith, and "hope so" rather than belief.

L O O K I N G B A C K T O H O W W E H AV E P R AY E D

W E A K , T E P I D B O R I N G P R AY E R S

• Our weak, "I hope God will do this" prayers take their toll. Most of us have tepid prayer lives. We don't get excited about praying with others. Our churches' corporate prayer experiences are anemic and dull.

W E A K , T E P I D B O R I N G P R AY E R S

• And yet God says that He wants to do immeasurably more than we can ask or think (Ephesians 3: 20). Most don't think to even ask—and if we do ask, we only ask for the little answerables: "make my life normal again."

B I L L’ S 1 5 Y E A R M I N I S T R Y E X A M P L E

• He could only point to one person who was a believer when he first came into Bill's church (not counting people who came to Christ in his ministry) who clearly grew in his relationship with God while under Bill's ministry.

B I L L I S N O T A L O N E .

• Many churches do not see spiritual growth in their people. People may gain spiritual knowledge but don't really grow deeper spiritually. (Whatever level of spiritual depth they are on when they join a church is the same level they are on years later.)

T H I S S H O U L D R A D I C A L LY C H A N G E T H E W AY W E D O D I S C I P L E S H I P & P R AY

• We need to pray more for spiritual development and less for comfort and ease. We need to pray more for the Holy Spirit to transform and less for things that make the lives of those we love normal. That's radical.

T H I S S H O U L D R A D I C A L LY C H A N G E T H E W AY W E D O D I S C I P L E S H I P & P R AY

• Instead of seeking God for the little answerables, you're going to learn to seek Him for eternal things: God's glory, kingdom expansion, and God's will. May your prayer life—and the spiritual lives of those for whom you are praying—never be the same!

W H AT D I D PA U L K N O W ?

W H AT D I D PA U L K N O W ?

• He began the book by reminding the Corinthian believers that they shared in his sufferings. Then he filled them in a little on the ways he had suffered in his latest missionary journey:

2 C O R I N T H I A N S 1 : 8 - 1 1

• We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

2 C O R I N T H I A N S 1 : 8 - 1 1

• Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.

2 C O R I N T H I A N S 1 : 8 - 1 1

• On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

• Paul knew that prayer truly affected the kingdom; that prayer brought results; that prayer did something in the heavenlies that moved the hand of God and beat back the kingdom of darkness's attempt to thwart his ministry. He recognized that they were literally joining his journey through their prayers. Without them, Paul would not have made it!

T H E E S S E N T I A L A S P E C T

• Prayer is the most vital aspect of a believer's walk with God. Bible reading and memorization are extremely important for our spiritual health and growth. But there are many believers around the world who do not have a Bible, and while significantly hampered, they can still grow.


• Fellowshipping with other believers in community is certainly necessary for our spiritual life. But there are believers who cannot participate in meaningful fellowship, and they still grow.


• But again, many believers do not have the wealth of teachers we in the West have, but they still mature in their faith. Without prayer, however, real growth does not occur much.


• In a given church, there are believers who are growing deeper in their faith and those who are not. In most churches the ratio of growing believers to nongrowing ones is probably one out of five or worse.

T H E D I F F E R E N C E ?

• Those who are growing probably have a prayer life, or at least are working to develop one. Or another possibility: they have someone who is significantly praying for their spiritual growth.

A N D T H AT ' S W H AT PA U L K N E W. H E R E A L I Z E D T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F P R AY I N G K E Y S P I R I T U A L G R O W T H P R I N C I P L E S I N T O P E O P L E ' S L I V E S .

PA U L’ S C O N C E R N & PA U L’ S F O C U S

• Paul was concerned about lots of people all across Asia Minor & throughout Greece and Rome. Despite the great physical and material needs these folks must have had, Paul didn't seem to focus on those things in his prayers for them.

PA U L’ S C O N C E R N & PA U L’ S F O C U S

• Instead, Paul focused on spiritual health in these believers. Their growth in wisdom and understanding, revelation, and love dominated his prayers for them.

J E S U S D I D T H E S A M E T H I N G !

M AT T H E W 9 : 3 6 - 3 8 ( N A S B )

• 36 Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He *said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

P R AY I N G T H E P R O C E S S


• Paul also did something that I find very intriguing. He practiced what I call "praying the process." That is, he seemed to pray more for the process of growth in people's lives than the end result.


• In most of Paul's prayers recorded in the epistles, we see two little words near the middle: "so that." Paul prayed something so that something else would happen.

L O O K AT T H E S E T W O P R AY E R S :

• This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1: 9-11)

L O O K AT T H E S E T W O P R AY E R S :

• I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. (Philemon 6)

H E P R AY E D T H E P R O C E S S , N O T T H E R E S U LT S .

• He had some results in mind (be more discerning, live pure and blameless lives, understand who we are in Christ), but he focused more on praying the path toward those things (love, active in sharing what God was doing in one's life).

W H AT S H O U L D T H AT S AY T O U S ?

• I am sure in some of Paul's nonrecorded prayers, he prayed for specific things, but in the ones God chose to record, he prayed for spiritual development.

W H AT S H O U L D T H AT S AY T O U S ?

• Not that we should never pray for specific results, but maybe that a significant part of our prayer agenda—for ourselves and those we love—should focus on spiritual growth.

S O W H AT ' S I N I T F O R M E ? Y O U M AY W O N D E R .

• We need to learn to pray the themes Paul prayed—both for ourselves and others. That's what Praying Like Paul is all about—learning to focus prayer on spiritual things rather than earthly concerns.

S O W H AT ' S I N I T F O R M E ? Y O U M AY W O N D E R .

• Learning to pray more for spiritual growth and health in the lives of people than for their lives to be normal and problem free. Focusing less on the "little answerables" and more on the "kingdom getting glory results."

• Lord, change our prayer lives forever as we study and pray these prayers. Help us to refocus our prayers for people on Your eternal, kingdom-growing agenda. Amen.

O T H E R PA U L P R AY E R S

D E P T O F R E L AT I O N S H I P W I T H G O D

• Paul knew that the Ephesians believers—like yourself and those you love—could go so much deeper in their walk with God. Paul described such a walk as "the glorious inheritance in the saints," and it is fueled by Christ's "incomparably great power."

E P H E S I A N S 1 : 1 7 - 1 8

• I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

E P H E S I A N S 1 : 1 7 - 1 8

• I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

• Wisdom signifies both knowledge—knowing things, facts—and good judgment. It is learning more about God and having the discernment to process all that you know of God into Christlike living.

• Revelation can mean understanding or an ability to hear from God. But praying for "a spirit of wisdom and revelation" implies so much more. To me it is asking for an attitude of seeking the things of God—and God Himself.

• Yes, Paul wanted knowledge for the Ephesians, but with a passionate heart as well. "Open the eyes of their hearts," he prayed. That goes beyond simply believing in something with our heads. That is an ability to see into another dimension with faith and understanding.

• Many believers struggle to move head knowledge into the heart . . . into day-to-day living out of one's faith through the power of God. That is our inheritance on earth—the ability to let the power of Christ flow through us, living His life through us.

L E T T H I S T H O U G H T B E A S TA R T I N G P O I N T F O R Y O U R P R AY E R S — F O R Y O U R S E L F A N D T H O S E W H O M Y O U L O V E .

" H O W T O K N O W G O D ' S W I L L ! "

• I remember going to a number of seminars on that subject at teen conferences I attended.

• Books were written on it. I'm sure I got something out of the seminars, but I remember continuing to struggle with that concept.


• Each one of us wants to know God's will—both for ourselves and for the others we love and pray for. Paul wanted that for the believers in Colosse.

• That's what he prayed in Colossians 1: 9-14:

C O L O S S I A N S 1 : 9 - 1 4 :

• For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

C O L O S S I A N S 1 : 9 - 1 4 :

• And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father,

C O L O S S I A N S 1 : 9 - 1 4 :

• Who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.


• It must be that finding God's will was tough even in the early church. Paul prayed daily for it.

• Paul added that he prayed for "all spiritual wisdom and understanding."


• The implication was that knowledge of God's will comes through gaining more insight into spiritual things.


• And the more we gain an understanding of God, the more we will live out all the will of God that is revealed in Scripture.

• Hmm, maybe those seminars were right.


• Instead of worrying about God's will in making this decision or that situation, and only praying for it then, perhaps it should be a daily item on our prayer list.


• Ultimately, gaining that knowledge will be less for day-to-day decision making and more for day-to-day kingdom living.


• Look at Paul's purpose for praying for knowledge of God's will.

• He wanted the Colossian believers to live a life worthy of God, bear fruit, and have power, endurance, and strength.


• He wanted them to be kingdom Christians! Knowledge of God's will was more for living a life that glorified God than for discerning every decision we need to make in life (though choosing what God would want us to choose is certainly important).


• I believe the more we pray for spiritual wisdom and understanding and a knowledge of God's will, and live out a Spirit-filled life, the "decisions" will become easier and easier.

• As we live lives that bear fruit, that please God, choosing wisely in the day-to-day decisions will come more naturally.

P R O V E R B S 2

• Proverbs 2:1-22 • 1 My son, if you receive my words,

And treasure my commands within you,2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment,

• Proverbs 2:1-22 • And lift up your voice for

understanding, 4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.

• Proverbs 2:1-22 • 10 When wisdom enters your heart, And

knowledge is pleasant to your soul,11 Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things,

• Proverbs 2:1-22 • 13 From those who leave the paths of

uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;14 Who rejoice in doing evil, And delight in the perversity of the wicked;15 Whose ways are crooked, And who are devious in their paths;

• Discernment - recognition, that is, (by implication) full discernment, acknowledgement

• Discretion—action based upon caution

character & praying like paul

Spiritual