 Yeah, I think one student got out But hopefully he connect All right, so that bread didn't get recorded anyway, sure so Let's continue from where we stopped but before I go forward on the last class two sessions We only talked about you know praying in the spirit So I wanted to ask you if there is anything new that you learned in the last Session as per the last topic. So if you can share a little bit then I go into today's section Yeah, so prayer in the spirit anything new you learned or if you know the It's helping you in your prayer life could just share so that that'll be an encouragement for all of us Even the Google Classroom students can also please share Something either I learned was that praying the spirit helps us like Stir up the gifts the other gifts. So I also like want other gifts of the spirit So if I want that I have to nurture this Praying tongues and this and you know eventually yeah help the other gifts to Start coming up. Okay, so then you started practicing That is it. So praying the spirit stirs up the other gifts So yeah, we can engage in doing it. All right, great. So that is Rin's learning anything else that has personally You know helped you about praying in the spirit new things nothing He spent two hours Last session, okay, you're all deeply thinking about it Okay, I didn't know that when you're praying in spirit. We are praying for somebody Not we don't not even know or somewhere around the world. That was a little Encouraging and exciting. Okay. Thank you so much. So praying without boundaries where when we pray in the spirit sometimes we could be praying for People that we don't know or matters that are not in our understanding So Nina was sharing that that was a blessing to her So I just want to encourage all of us praying in the spirit is a is a privilege and a blessing which God has given us So I want to encourage you to use it and you will see the benefits of it, you know in your personal life moving on Today we will touch upon Chapter 8 in our notes, which is about developing our personal prayer life. So so far we Try to understand, you know what? Personal prayer life or in general prayer life means that you know, it's about building a relationship It's about asking God for our needs You know, it's about pouring out our hearts before God receiving his strength So we've understood many things about prayer but How do we personally Strengthen, you know our prayer life. So what are some of the things that will help us? That's what we are going to look at today So before we get into the practical aspects To develop a strong prayer life, I want us to look at the prayer life of Daniel, okay, so what can we say about the prayer life of Daniel? Yes Yeah question. Okay, sure It's about this praying is for it. So it's a question that I've been thinking about and I wanted to ask, okay So you said that praying this bird Like when we pray in tongues it It Like when we pray in tongues that we do not understand about understand but we might be praying about the future or we might be praying on behalf of someone or or Just personal prayer. So I was thinking like If we think about our future and we pray in tongues, is that same thing? Okay. Yeah, very good question. So Yeah, so the rinse question is when we pray in the spirit So this is going back to prayer in the spirit. So, you know, a little bit of a rewind happening here She's asking since we don't understand what we are saying We are saying something in our heavenly language but in our minds in our human understanding also, we're thinking about the same subject For example, I begin to pray in the spirit and I think, okay, I'm gonna pray for my future in my mind Also, I'm thinking, okay. God bless me my future this and that and I'm praying So is it the same thing? Okay, will there be a connection? Will you be able to pray for the for? The future or would you be able to pray for something else? So frankly then It's hard to answer your question Because when we pray in the spirit, we don't know what we're saying. So Though I I think that I want to pray for my future and I start praying in tongues I May or may not be praying exactly for the point that is in my mind Okay In some instances, it could happen. How can I know if it has happened? I've already told us there is another gift which operates. It's known as interpretation of tongues So not only in the public setting, but also sometimes personally when we pray After we finish praying by the gift of interpretation of tongues, I may know what I prayed for You got it. So Unless that gift is operational, I cannot know what I'm praying for. So I Have a subject in my mind and I'm praying for it It may not may or may not be in sync with What I intend to pray in the spirit. Okay, so that's my answer Yeah, but there are people I've heard, you know some teachings on praying in the spirit where people have taught this subject a lot. I know one particular person he says that The more you pray in the spirit You start you may and also I've heard pastor say it that When you are praying the spirit a lot at some point May somehow, you know, maybe the other gift is operational interpretation of tongues. You kind of know After your prayer the essence of what you were praying for So that is possible not because you understood the tongues, but because of the other gift Which is interpretation of tongues. Okay, does it help? Okay, great All right. Okay, so here in the chat Nina also adds something to praying in the spirit She says it builds up the inner man in a way that nothing else then As was the practice Okay, so there she's answering the next question that I asked So I asked about Daniel and I said, okay, tell me something about Daniel's prayer life. So She is saying that He had a wonderful habit he always attributed All the gifts and interpretation of things to God. So he Thank God, he acknowledged God. Okay, so that is something about Daniel. But what about Daniel's prayer life? What do you know about Daniel's prayer life? Yes, so he used to pray every day three times. Okay So he would look in the direction of the temple and he would pray price a day So we have a passage in Daniel chapter 6 and verse 10 It says now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed He went home and in his upper room with his windows open toward Jerusalem He knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his god As was his custom since early days. So What Daniel did in this situation is one thing He prayed three times a day, but the most important part At least, you know, because we are talking about prayer The important part for us right now is the last bit Where it says as was his custom Since early days So what does that tell us it tells us that Daniel He was in a difficult situation. Okay, so we know that you know, he he he There was a decree and you're supposed to only worship the the king at that time but Daniel had a Regular practice. So it says as was his customs since early days So he was just doing what he was always doing his entire life So, you know, these are all habits. So when we wake up in the morning and maybe we read the bible It becomes a habit Okay, so have some If I do it one day and then I don't do it on another day I don't call it a habit But if I do it repeatedly every day, that's a habit So from this particular verse what we understand is As was his custom since early days Tells us that Daniel had a prayer habit From early days Okay, so he believed in God and that was his standard if you wanted to go and find out where Daniel was in those three For the Jews, they had three particular times in the day, right when they would pray So you would go find him praying So it was a habit. It was a practice in Daniel's life As we looked at first Corinthians nine, okay um verse 20 Okay, 24 to 27. Can somebody please read it first Corinthians nine verse versus 24 to 27 Okay, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Could you please speak into the mic? Surely, you know Surely, you know that many runners take partner race, but only one of them wins the prize Run then in such a way as to win the prize every athlete in training submits the strict discipline in order to be crowned with the breath That will not last But we do it for one that will last forever. That is why I run straight for the finishing line That is why I am like a boxer who does not waste his punches I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control To keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest Hmm. Okay. Thank you. So Paul is giving us an example of an athlete An athlete has a goal. Okay, and that goal is to win the prize. So how do they maintain, you know, their their um Daily routine they're quite disciplined. They're quite strict. Okay. How many sports people here? Okay Okay, all of you sports people. So you know that uh, you know discipline and maintaining your physical Health is so important. Right if you have to compete in any, um sports event Now discipline what does discipline mean? Discipline means Um closely controlled or regimented. So let's say that there is an event coming up. Okay, and uh One of you being an athlete you have to run 400 meters and the event is two weeks away Would you or would you not be strict about your diet your sleep your practice sessions? You would write you would really be strict about all those things Now that's what paul is saying. He's saying as believers We have a goal in christ jesus and the people who Want to win the goal will not just live however they like Okay, so an athlete who has to run the race He has a goal in mind. He is going to be careful, you know about in this case physical health And so we understand discipline in that sense now as believers It's not just about our physical body. It's about our soul Right soul which has to do with our will our emotions our You know mind our spirit Now we must be strictly regimented controlled, you know as far as uh, all our faculties are concerned Now when we look at something like prayer in our lives, okay Um, that also needs to be part of the discipline that we maintain So if we don't have prayer as a discipline And we just pray you know here in there. I pray that's not a discipline. That's not a habit Okay in our lives. So that's what we see here in what we read from first Corinthians nine versus 24 to 27 paul is saying that When we are in christ and we are you know living for the purpose of god for our lives We have to be disciplined and by discipline. I'm not talking about you know human works Like do all these works and you will earn god's grace. That's not the point, but it's more about Regulating yourself in a temperate way no extremes Okay, no extremes. So prayer is very much a part of this temperate Lifestyle when I'm running heavenward prayer is a part of the discipline when I am Moving towards the goal that god has for me. So I must be able every believer And especially leaders must be able to self govern self govern means discipline Self-discipline like you know, uh, the flesh should not have control over us But we should be able to tell ourselves. Okay now is the time to pray I will pray now is the time to spend in the word I will spend time in the word now is the time to worship or you know, sometimes what happens We come for all the supernatural hour. We are worshiping god Uh, we feel like we don't have the capacity. Isn't it? It feels too long Why is it taking one hour? Like if it was 10 minutes, okay, I can handle it But one hour I cannot handle. So what's happening? We are stretching Our selves. Okay. We are learning to self regulate in these matters Which are so important for our christian faith, especially prayer, especially prayer So we must have the discipline of prayer. So when I say discipline in a way you can think of, okay It's controlled. It's planned. It's scheduled into my life. Okay. Now When we talk about having a prayer schedule Having a prayer habit people have many responses Some say that Okay, you know because now we are under grace Why should I have a schedule? I will just let the Holy Spirit lead me. What do you think about that? No, no need discipline and all. Whenever Holy Spirit leads, I will pray And when he doesn't lead, I will do something else What do you feel about that? Sounds good So it doesn't sound good. So if it doesn't sound good, why doesn't it sound good? As the spirit leads Okay, sure. So women's answer is like we need food every day. We need Prayer every day. Okay, so okay makes complete sense. We never say I will eat when the Holy Spirit leads me anybody here We never say that so In a sense, you're right because our relationship with God is so important for us And you know, it's it's the place from where we receive that strength It's like food and therefore It must be part of a discipline and habit Okay, great. So you see these are all the excuses which we have we say that Holy Spirit will lead me So I will not plan for it See whenever we Have something important if we have an exam Do you have study times? Do you plan it? We always plan it because it's important It's only when we don't consider something important that we don't make time for it Okay, so prayer is that important. We must make time for it. Okay, then some people have this Statement they say I don't need a planned time in a day As I'm going through the day, I will pray You know as I'm doing my work, I will pray as I'm walking. I will pray So what do you think about that? Sounds sounds nice Okay, not giving importance to God. Okay You see as you consider our daily routines Anything happens, right? You plan to go do something and somebody calls you you have to go there Somebody calls you. It's a very important call. You have to spend time So your time gets sucked up if you don't plan That I need to do this Everything else will take away You know your time So though we say that as I go through the day, I will pray it may never happen Unless we plan for it now. There are people who also might say Oh prayer prayer is a waste of time, you know sitting and doing nothing for one hour Just forget it, you know, you should work if you work God helps those who help themselves Which Bible verse is that? It's not in the Bible. Okay, so It is We we don't say that you should not work. Definitely. We all have to work You know, we might work eight to ten hours every day But it is possible to carve out time to pray Do we all carve out time for dinner or to meet a friend or to talk to somebody on the phone? We do if we think it's important We do We can definitely make time at least an hour a day Or more to pray So it's not one or the other work is important prayer is also important now People also have this excuse they say I don't have enough time to pray What do you think about that? I don't have enough time to pray Anybody has experienced that Being too busy. I don't have time to pray Especially when you're doing ministry, it's so busy I don't have time to pray. I think it's a mindset. It's not true If we want to make time for something we will make it Okay, so Uh, it's never true that we don't have time to pray If we feel that our Life and our work is so tiring. Maybe the first thing we can do is get up and pray Right finish it then go on to the other things So, uh, it's not true when we say that, you know, I don't have time to pray Now think about Daniel again. We said that he had uh, a regimented like a controlled Or a or a habitual way of engaging in this discipline of prayer. Was his life victorious Is very victorious, right? Did he receive revelation from god? Yes, even matters which were not told to him Through prayer, you know, he began to receive revelation so much of revelation as you read the book of daniel I'm just giving you a few things that happened in daniel's life So the life of every prayerful person you can see god's grace Okay, and more than that we are able to build our relationship with god as we've talked of so It's important for us to have a strong prayer life Jesus had a strong prayer life. We have seen that right in his model in his lifestyle We've seen that he woke up early morning For prayer. There are many scriptures Uh, can somebody quickly read one verse mark one verse 35, please anyone who has the mic Mark one and verse 35 Okay, so nina adds here. She says a disciple needs to be disciplined. Okay, so that makes complete sense Now in the morning having risen a long while before daylight He went out and departed to a solitary place and there he prayed. Yes So it was important for jesus so he woke up early in the morning When you know, there was quietness. He went to a solitary place solitary places Where you don't have any disturbance So he went to a quiet place and there he prayed because he knew that His relationship with the father is very very important. Okay, let's read on luke chapter five verses 15 and 16 Another person could please read these verses Luke chapter five was 15 to 16 But the news about jesus spread all the more widely and crowds of people came to hear him and be healed from the diseases and he would go away to lonely places where he prayed Okay, so quite self-explanatory even after a tiring day of ministry He ministered to the people. He was healing them. He was uh, you know Meeting their needs But after that, what did he do? He went away to a lonely place or a quiet place and there he prayed So jesus made time even during the day It was not just early in the morning, but also during the day He would make special time for prayer. Okay, so that is the example of jesus. We find that in other places as well Okay, let's also read luke six and verse 12. Please Luke six and verse 12 Okay, so he continued a long night in prayer to god It says okay, he went to the mountain to pray and he continued a long night in prayer to god So this is the prayer habit of jesus So he prayed early mornings Yes, definitely in addition to that he made extra time to pray whenever possible there was also There were also times when the entire night He decided to pray Okay, so what could we see in and through the life of jesus? His strong communion with the father He said things like I only Do what I see the father do so that tells us that He is so much in line with the father's will So if you and I spend a lot of time in prayer We can understand the will of the father. We can walk in the ways of the father What else do we see in the life of jesus? Very powerful very powerful ministry. There are times when he goes to minister one word, you know be healed Be made whole your faith has made you whole Or just Lazarus come out and it happens And sometimes we wonder jesus why didn't you take two days fasting or something before you minister not that it's wrong to do it Definitely we can take, you know time special time to pray before our ministry but In his routine life Jesus set aside time to pray. So where did the power come from? It came from that as well. Yeah, nina. You have something to say Yeah, so power comes Through our relationship with the father. So this is what we observe in the life of jesus And I already told us if there was one person who could be excused From a disciplined life, it would be jesus because You know your father Owns the heavens and the earth So jesus you can do whatever you want to do, but how is the life of jesus? Very disciplined Very prayerful Very submitted very committed very humble So when the son of god did not make any excuse He could have said right i am the son of god miracles will happen finished Or i am the son of god everybody listen to me He never did that He walked in submission to the father And particularly through the discipline of prayer Yes, vimal Okay, very nice. So vimal is using the analogy when jesus said you know To the Pharisees when they questioned about the money right the taxes to be given to caesar Jesus said you must give god what belongs to him and you must give caesar what belongs to Caesar so our time belongs to god. So a part of that we must give it to god So that's another way of looking at it. Okay Yes, so nothing wrong with that. We must give our time to god. So now that we've understood that We see a scheduled prayer time in the life of jesus And it is very important for us who want to live according to god's purpose to have a disciplined lifestyle And when we say disciplined it includes spiritual disciplines such as prayer How do we develop this prayer life? Okay, very practical things. Um, I will share with us one is Maintain a set time and place to pray on normal days So if you don't have a place Then think of a place that you would prefer Okay, so when you get up in the morning I'm just using morning as an example, but maybe some of you want to pray in the night. That's also okay when you wake up You can have something like a simple routine like you just go To a place where you're most comfortable Sit and pray because most of the time what happens if you think okay, I'll just lie down and pray or You know, I will lean and pray You'll be seeing dreams and visions Okay, so it just doesn't happen. It's best to Get up and maybe like for me generally what I do is maybe I get some hot water or something I drink it then my sleep is gone It's a lot easier for me And there's a place where I sit and that's most comfortable and then I can pray I can focus I can concentrate So you can pick a place to pray on normal days that would help Uh, you could also pick a set time why Pick a set time because as I told us when something is important for us we Can you know, we can make sure that we do it In our timetable Okay, so uh all of you You can think about the best part of your day that you can set aside for prayer and every day Pray at the same time Okay, so every day pray at the same time. So for me, it's the same time every day It's the same time uh that you know, I I try to do and it's not like, you know, I've always been doing like that I've also learned Over the years that I must discipline myself. It was not like that I would just pray whenever I like it whenever I like but slowly I started practicing it Okay, and um, like I have an alarm on my phone. It rings every day same time So then I wake up at the same time and then I'm able to focus. So this is on normal days But what happens is sometimes maybe we are traveling Right at that time we could be traveling Uh, so there are times or somebody's in the hospital. We are taking care of them So when things happen differently, it's okay. You can alter it. It's not very rigid But normally it is good to have the same time. Okay when we pray Okay, let's move on. We can have a format. We've already discussed things like the Lord's prayer that pattern So use a pattern. It will help you Okay, uh spend time in prayer. So Yonge Cho, I told you about um, uh, the pattern of prayer the tabernacle pattern which he used So he shares that when he first started his ministry, you know, he he would spend Even back then he would spend a couple of hours in prayer. Okay, and uh, as his ministry went on It seems he started spending more and more time in prayer at one point. He used to spend four hours in prayer before Answering any of the emails also So he used to spend like four hours in prayer. What would he do? He would use a pattern Where he would pray about you know, as I said tabernacle prayer like he would pray for the forgiveness of sins Confess sins, you know, Lord cleanse me So from that point, you know, he will move on to praying for needs He will move as if he's uh, moving into the tabernacle towards the Inner part of the tabernacle he'll pray for God's holy spirit to be poured out the presence of God greater revelation So spending four hours minimum daily Daily, okay before doing any work of the ministry But what had happened? It had become a discipline. It becomes a part of your life So that is why if you notice the title of this chapter developing A personal prayer life Maybe we don't have it, but if we make up our minds we can Do it. Okay. We have to grow in it. We have to discipline our self. So have a format. So we've seen That we must praise God. We must thank God when we pray So, you know, some hundreds has come into his gates with thanksgiving, right? His courts with praise. So maybe I can take a initial amount of time thanking the Lord. I can spend some time searching and confessing Things are not right in my relationship with God. I can Pray and say God forgive me like how David did, isn't it? David Went before the Lord and he confessed his sin. He said Lord, search me See if there's any wicked way in me. Can you lead me in the path everlasting? So Some 19 versus 12 and 13 also say God if there are presumptuous sins meaning there are things I'm doing which I am not aware are wrong Please help me. You know, forgive me and help me to overcome even those things So based on there are some scriptures given In our notes, you could follow along and based on these scriptures every day We can confess before the Lord. We can check our motives And also we can hear from God and when we spend time like this What happens? You know, we are in a sense Forced to make our relationship right with God every day Isn't it? Yes or no? Because I cannot go further in prayer unless I have dealt with all these issues So It cleanses me on a daily basis. So I can spend some time confessing my sins I can also check my earthly relationships because what does the bible say? You know, there are a couple of passages which are given here which deal with Forgiveness releasing forgiveness to people like if you think that there is a sin Okay, or you're holding something against your brother. You leave your gift there go reconcile, you know and come back That's what the bible says or forgive your brother. So, uh, if there are relationships which are suffering Then we can deal with it Okay, we can forgive people in our hearts scriptures also say in 1 Peter 3 7 You know if our husbands if they don't have a Forgiving relationship with their wives then the their prayers will be hindered that the prayers also will not be heard So these are all matters that one can deal with in prayer And you know set earthly relationships check earthly relationships We can ask for the infilling of the holy spirit a fresh anointing we can Continue with prayers and thanksgiving every now and then. Yeah, we've already discussed that praise and thanksgiving is very much A part of our prayer life. So a prayer pattern So you can do that you can spend some time waiting on the lord What is waiting on the lord is waiting on the lord We looked at that kind of prayer. It's a type of prayer. What does it mean? How do you pray that? Correct. So we are in the presence of god. We are waiting to listen From him. We also said that they that wait upon the lord We will receive god strength So sometimes you're just being still in god's presence. That's also part of our prayer Then moving on We can pray for our family members. Maybe you want to if people are married. You can pray for your spouse You can pray for children Can pray for our local church Specific individuals Generally, you have somebody who says please pray for me brother. Remember me in your prayers Maybe they are not well or they have some special Exam something going on so you can pray specifically for the people who You know, you are ministering to we can pray for our own spiritual personal needs We can also spend some time in spiritual warfare So these are all I'm just giving you a few things you can include in your prayer time But it's really up to you. You know what you want to pray for but just Basic pattern which you and I can use so if we use this pattern, how long do you think we can pray? Long period how long? Five minutes Yeah, it's possible. Actually, it's possible. You just write down and one one point under that Say heavenly father this this this this finished five minutes Okay, so Frankly, you can spend any amount of time Which you want to spend in a genuine way But it's good to keep increasing the amount of time that you can spend in prayer so On a normal day It's just a suggestion. Okay. I'm not saying hard and fast But at least an hour at least one hour If you can spend in the presence of god That is a good start That's a very good start from there You know, you can go on two hours three hours four hours up to you. I know people who who have spent Like, you know 10 hours in there in some season of their lives Obviously every season of our lives we can't you know spend 10 hours 12 hours We have work also to do but at least One to two hours every day Very much possible if we put our mobile phones away. Okay So we can get that kind of time To spend in prayer. So this pattern It's not that you should fill in one hour in prayer. That's not the point. But you cover everything Okay in your time with the lord What are some of the other Things that we know I said have a time Have a schedule But we can also pray without schedule for example, let's say um, you know, I Drive I finish my prayer time and I'm driving to come to bible college. I just make it my prayer time I can still pray Okay, maybe I come here and I have a half an hour break for something for some reason I had to meet somebody and They didn't come I can make that my prayer time So in addition to our schedule time We can always pray spontaneously because what does the bible say in first Thessalonians 5 Uh versus 16 to 18 we read pray without seizing Okay, so don't stop Don't stop pray continuously So we can do that. We can also pray without seizing. So what is one of Ways in which we can pray continuously Spirit, yeah, you can pray in tongues also like continuously You can keep praying because you don't even have to pray loudly and nobody will even know about it Okay, so that's another way in which we can pray without seizing We can have special days Um, like you can set aside some days and say this is my prayer day Okay, you just lock yourself up in the room Pray or you go somewhere where there's no disturbance take time in prayer. So there can be prayer days There can be prayer seasons what will happen if we Make prayer so Important in our lives. There are a couple of things mentioned in in our notes It will help us build our relationship with God So intimacy with God will be strengthened We will be able to overcome temptation. Remember Jesus When he was in Gethsemane, what did he tell the disciples to do? Pray Right pray when he comes back. What what are they doing? They're sleeping and he says could you not pray even for one hour So for and he makes a statement that we will overcome temptation, you know if we pray So if I want to overcome temptation, I must spend time in prayer When we pray our will will be aligned to the will of God We will be renewed spiritually and strengthen We will also have greater sensitivity To what God is saying. Okay. We've discussed all these points So that is why I'm not going into the details of it, but I'm just you know reading it out here from our notes It will open door for the Holy Spirit to work in my life and also De-stress me So this is what you know prayer can do and therefore we must ensure that we have Scheduled times of prayer Personal try time as well as corporate times corporate times means prayer with groups So it can be your classmates. It can be your church family It can be your life group. So, um, this is how we must plan it up So what we'll do right now is we'll go in for a break Okay, or if you have any questions, we can answer it right here. I think that's better So any questions about a first developing your personal prayer life with prayer time Or any difficulties. What are the challenges you have? Yes Okay going to bed very late. So then waking up early is very difficult. Yeah, that's Okay, so because of the schedule very busy schedule, then you can't maintain. Is it the time for prayer? Or the kind of schedule we keep not because we are busy, but Just because we are You know doing stuff, which we shouldn't be doing Is that why? Okay, so One thought Uh, why why is it that we're not able to make time for prayer because of the busy schedule? So maybe the college schedule in our case Right, it is too tight and then we are not able to make time for prayer. So how do we solve this problem? Uh, ma'am actually I want to share a thought that I saw in a youtube video once about our mani's business mani gave a TED talk saying about time how to manage your time He says it's not about, you know, um, not having time It's that you don't give importance to that thing if you feel it's less important You obviously won't give time to that when you feel it's important You'll get time if for example and going on vacation You'll get up early in the morning. You'll get ready for the flight Even if it's uh, even if it's three hours early have to be there. You'll be five hours early. That's the kind of importance Okay, thank you. So that clarifies many things. So what Sean is saying is he's saying it's not about a busy schedule It's about prioritizing. So when we think something is important, we will make time for it. So Yeah, it is going to be a struggle But we have to carve out time the best time and spend it in prayer. Okay, so Let's go ahead. We'll take a break. We'll come back and we will touch upon the next chapter So everyone's already standing up. So they're so eager to go for a tea break So yeah, see you all also google classroom in about 10 minutes. We'll start at 10 or two. Thank you