LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Prayer Exposition
Professor Dr. Steve Lowe
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion of
DSMN 520 D04
Spiritual Formation
by
Cesar A. Cano
August 18, 2017
Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................................................1
Psalm 51.....................................................................................................................................2
Psalm 32
Prayer Summits
Praying with Paul.......................................................................................................................4
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
The Power of Prayer..................................................................................................................5
The Spiritual Man……………………………………………………………………………...6
Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................7
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................9
2
Introduction
Prayer is a powerful tool that every Christian has, and for some reason is the last resource
they utilize. Not because they do not know how to pray, but, because they do not want to
communicate with God, probably because their time is being waste on daily basis efforts and
they can’t find how to be stewards of God’s intent in their lives.
The purpose of this paper is to offer an exposition of a prayer. For instance, psalms 51.
present a central message of a prayer for restoration. A Psalm of David. (When the prophet
Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba), David really
understood he needs to pray to God. If we look into II Samuel 11:15, we can identify how this
passage reveals the after-growth and outworking of his sin. Indeed, the background of this Psalm
is David praying to God for his forgiveness and although, the Lord already knows what he has
done. David is doing a count of his terrible confession and life full of sins since he was born and
he is asking God to have mercy on him. Apparently, his life has been very sinful, his iniquity, his
heart and his soul need to be clean.
Then he asks God to restore it and clean it of all its evil, however, the heart of this
message is the continuous pursuit of reconciliation with God and his humiliation before God, so
that God can restore it at once. Finally, David promise to God that he will obey his will. We can
see that, although prior to this Psalm in the Bible, Psalm 32 David exposes how so relieved he is
due the forgiveness and mercy that God has had for his life and God has delivered out of his
guilt. I can’t promise you will agree with me on this paper but the information and contents of
this work should not be overlooked. Pray with love and pray with the intention to move God and
to call His attention by being humble and by being faithful to His response.
1
Psalm 51
This Psalm is numbered on of the seven penitential psalms, historically Psalm 51 has been
associated with King David’s adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah the
Hittite. Thus, as Luther read it, “the Psalm offers a first-hand insight into David’s repentance.”1
David knew he was against God while he was doing what he thought it was the best thing for him.
He broke the relationship with God in his ignorance, knowing he was committing sin, adultery
and murder, however, he also knew that God is merciful and by his repentance, he could find
forgiveness and salvation through the Lord. “Luther’s definition of repentance in Psalm 51 is
keyed to faith.”2
One of the importance of this Psalm is that shows the two elements of repentance:
recognition of sin and recognition of grace; or, to use more familiar terms, the fear of God and
trust in mercy. David continuously accepts his sin and based on the Psalm, seems to the people
that he can even sleep and have peace of mind daily. David began with, “Have mercy on me, O
God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my
transgressions.”3 And as one’s knows David is being forgiven based on Psalm 32. On this Psalm
David exposes how so relieved he is due the forgiveness and mercy that God has had for his life
and God has delivered out of his guilt. God had mercy for him and shows again His grace upon
David.
1 James Arne Nestingen. "Luther on Psalm 51." Lutheran Theological Journal 50, no. 3 (12,
2016): 201-12.
2 Ibid., 202.
3 Unless noted otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from the New International Version.
2
Prayer Summits
Aldrich mentions; “the goal is not to talk about prayer but to pray, not to discuss God, but
to meet with God; not to discuss man’s agenda but to seek God’s agenda.”4 Aldrich was attending
a Prayer Summit in Cedar Springs, Washington and he penned an article describing his experience
about praying for the purpose of not just having an agenda full of things to do for four days’
retreat, but to communicate with God, worship and praise the Lord. People need to understand
that praying is sabotage devil ‘s agenda and to reach the heaven through prayer and allowing the
Holy Spirit to advocate for us through our petitions. God will move supernaturally and get
immediately involve on anything that invites Him for a new personal experience.
Prayer summit is when a group of people decide to get together to move God through a
spiritual discipline of prayer, all together to reunite spend time with the Lord seriously and
responsible to for an outpouring of God’s blessing. “It is the time for personal revival, repentance
and reconciliation”.5 David on his Psalm knew how deep he was in sin and cried to God; “Wash
away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is
always before me.”. he was suffering and struggling not knowing just yet, that he could at least
find God’s ears. He also knew the temptation still there just waiting for him to lose track with the
Lord, so evil could attack. But, the Lord was already listening to his prayers. And He will act
accordingly, but on His time. The bottom line He will answer.
4 Joseph C. Aldrich. “Prayer Summits: Seeking God's Agenda for Your Community. Portland,
Or: Multnomah, 1992. 179.
5 Ibid., 183.
3
Praying with Paul
Carson mention that people always have a lot of excuses for not to pray6 for example, the
most overworked excuse, “I am too busy to pray”. By the way, they might focus on other things
and because their sinner life they live every single day. He also mentions a lot of things to do on
his first chapter lessons from the school of Prayer. Following the format of Carson, for instance, a
m model prayer that we can use, but surely the most beautiful model prayer is the Lord’s prayer.
What a beauty prayer provided by the same Jesus Christ. The next step is the list, so people won’t
forget about what they want to include on a prayer, so they do not fall in mental drift while
praying.7
A great prayer model is The Lord’s Prayer,8 who will allow the people to begin fresh and
not just inventing words that they do not even understand, by trying to get God’s attention.
Reminding themselves to focus on the prayer and not on other things. However, Paul teach the
Thessalonians how to pray and why they need to pray. For example, on 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10,
“Paul provide us with a framework of thought that he keeps in mind as he prays for and why.”9 In
other words, people should pause to observe two dominant features of this framework for Paul’s
prayer it people are to understand the prayer itself. The thankfulness for signs of grace and no
6 D. A Carson, “Praying with Paul”: “A Call to Spiritual Reformation”. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids:
Baker, 2014. 91-101.
7 Ibid., 2.
8 Matthew 6:9-13.
9 Carson., 22.
4
matter what, the thanks for vindication. People many times, doesn’t pray for whatever happen to
them, even if was not something good.
In the same way, David knew how to pray for, and why. He knew, that he had sin and he
was praying to tell God he has done what is evil in His sight, but, also he knows God will proved
to him right and will justified David when He judge him. And not just that, David knew God is
merciful and he already was asking in prayer restoration and more; “Restore to me the joy of your
salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” It is important to confess, before ask for
forgiveness and mercy from the Lord.
The Power of Prayer
Rabbi Sacks, mentions “Prayer is a deepest instinct of the Jewish soul”10 (what about is the
deepest instinct of everyone who pray with the heart). Sacks also said: “Conversation is a form of
prayer” I will use that the other way around. However, nothing is more moving in Jewish
spirituality than this, the ability of humans to speak to God from the heart in total sincerity and
intimacy. Many agreed on that statement, however, in Psalms 51, David ask God for a pure heart,
“create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”. He didn’t have this
already? On many minds, yes, he did have a pure heart, but for some reason the flesh calls his
attention and to hide his sin commit murder. David is called a man after God’s own heart, and the
main reason is because he knows how to pray and move the Lord. David was a humble, reverent,
respectful, trusting, loving, devoted, he recognizes God, he was obedient, and repentant. What a
king and what road map for people to live their life. David mention on the psalm “Be merciful to
10 Lord Jonathan Sacks, "THE POWER OF PRAYER." Journal of Jewish Music and Liturgy 32
(13, 2014): 36-41
5
me, LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and body with grief.”
David pray with power and every Christian should do the same. Paul also pray with power
and he also pray for power. Ephesians 3:16-18. “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may
strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your
hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power,
together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love
of Christ. Finally, he asks God that everyone may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of
God. (what a prayer). Can people do this? Yes, they can, but they need to pause, and take the time
to cry to God for that.
The Spiritual Man
Watchman mentions; “in order for man’s innermost organ to gain dominion over the soul
and the body and thus serve as channel for the life of the Spirit to be transmitted to others there
must be His strengthening.”11 He uses the same example as Carson. Watchman goes further and
stated that "the prayer is that the believer’s spirit may be strengthened by God’s spirit”12 When it
compares with Psalm 51, David is being asking that since the Psalm began. But, on verse twelve,
he declares that he need God’s sustainment. It might not be the same but close.
The spiritual man is a man who pray, actually it is a spiritual discipline to pray for the
purpose of Godliness. Remember Paul told the Thessalonians 5:17, “pray without ceasing”. It is
11 Watchman Nee. “The Spiritual Man in Three Volumes”. New York: Christian Fellowship
publishers, 1977. 25.
12 Ibid., 26.
6
an activity that every Christian should do as a relationship with the Lord. Meaning
communication with God consistently while you walking, in other words, you never stop
conversing with God; you simply have frequent interruptions. Whitney mentions; “if Jesus needed
to pray, how much more do we need to pray? Prayer, it is expected from because we need it.”13
David mention on Psalm 51, “Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my
tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your
praise.” David use to pray for the purpose of Godliness. He knew he need to pray and he knew
God will incline His ears just to listen his prayer. At the end David found forgiveness of his sin
and mature while praying.
People must pray or should at least incorporate the way they praying. Osborne mention;
“Jesus is not just a model of personal prayer but of corporate prayer as well.”14 And people should
pray on their knees. For Jesus, the new community must move forward on its knees, and every
aspect of the church life must be bathed in prayer. “Peter has corporate prayer in mind, the church
on its knees together, and the two imperatives call for a clear-headed sensibility (sophroneo) and a
clarity of thought (vepho) behind this community prayer (cf. also 1:13). The minds of the
believers must be clear of all encumbrances, focused, and under the control of the Spirit as they
move the church forward on its knees.”15 Humbleness should accompany our prayer and that is
when we can come on our knees by showing respect and humility to God on every prayer.
13 Donald S. Whitney, “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life.” 2nd ed. Colorado Springs:
Navpress, 2014. 83.
14 Grant R. Osborne. "MOVING FORWARD ON OUR KNEES: CORPORATE PRAYER IN THE
NEW TESTAMENT." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 53, no. 2 (06, 2010): 243-
67,
7
Conclusion
Christians and everyone who knows that need to pray for the purpose of Godliness, will
mature in their prayer life. By doing that people can explore what Scriptures teaches about prayer.
For instance, psalms 51. present a central message of a prayer for restoration. A Psalm of David.
(When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba),
David really understood he needs to pray to God. If we look into II Samuel 11:15, we can identify
how this passage reveals the after-growth and outworking of his sin. Indeed, the background of
this Psalm is David praying to God for his forgiveness and although, the Lord already knows what
he has done.
David shows the purpose of his prayer on Psalm 51 and shows as well his gratitude of
forgiveness on Psalm 32. David shows the world the power of prayer through his repentance to
God and his perseverance by patiently wait on upon the Lord’s response. By matching Psalm 51
with “Praying with Paul”, we can identify that prayer is a powerful tool that every Christian has,
and for some reason is the last resource they utilize. Not because they do not know how to pray,
but, because they do not want to communicate with God, probably because their time is being
waste on daily basis efforts and they can’t find how to be stewards of God’s intent in their lives.
Spiritual formation, maturity and reformation could be accomplished by the help of the
Lord through prayer. Stay away from sin and keep praying on your knees. Be humble and way
patiently on the Lords response. Now, I won’t go further deep, but we all know that David had a
terrible consequence due his sin with Bathsheba. So be careful before you decide to sin. I would
also want to address, “The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and
15 Ibid.
8
rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the
parents to the third and fourth generation.’ hat God is slow to anger and slow in mercy”
(Numbers 14:18 NIV). Amen.
Bibliography
Aldrich, Joseph C. Prayer Summits: Seeking God's Agenda for Your Community. Portland, Or:
Multnomah, 1992.
Carson, D. A. Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker,
2014.
Hillis, Gregory K. "The Holy Spirit and Prayer in Origen's on Prayer." Cistercian Studies
Quarterly 49, no. 1 (2014): 3,26,119.
Nee, Watchman. The Spiritual Man in Three Volumes. New York: Christian Fellowship
publishers, 1977.
Nestingen, James Arne. "Luther on Psalm 51." Lutheran Theological Journal 50, no. 3 (12,
2016): 201-12.
Osborne, Grant R. "MOVING FORWARD ON OUR KNEES: CORPORATE PRAYER IN
THE NEW TESTAMENT." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 53, no. 2 (06,
2010): 243-67.
Sacks, Lord Jonathan. "THE POWER OF PRAYER." Journal of Jewish Music and Liturgy 32
(13, 2014): 36-41.
Whitney, Donald S. Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. 2nd ed. Colorado
Springs:Navpress, 2014.
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