The Ministry of Prayer

This opening lesson reframes prayer in its broadest sense as ongoing communication between God and man rather than formal petition alone. Drawing on Adam's casual words in Genesis 2, David sitting before the Lord, and Moses speaking with God "face to face, as a friend" (Exodus 33:11), it argues for honest, even blunt conversation, invoking the intimate "Abba, Father" of Romans and Galatians.

This session revisits Old Testament prayers through class discussion, beginning with Abraham's bold intercession for Sodom (Genesis 18) and the principle that prayer is action able to change God's course. It then examines Jacob's conditional vow (Genesis 28), his night of wrestling at Peniel (Genesis 32), and Israel's wordless groaning in Egyptian bondage (Exodus 2), showing that God hears even inarticulate cries.

Centered on the prayers of Moses, this lesson studies his intercession after the golden calf (Exodus 32), where God "changed His mind" and spared Israel, and Moses' willingness to be blotted from God's book for his people. Presenting Moses as the meekest of men and a type of the redeemer, it grounds effective intercession in God's covenant and reputation rather than human merit.

This lesson pairs the persevering, confessional prayers of Daniel and Nehemiah with the cautionary case of Job. Daniel (chapters 9-10) confesses national sin and appeals to God's righteousness while contending with delayed answers and heavenly warfare, whereas Job's self-justifying complaint draws God's rebuke from the whirlwind (Job 38-42). Together they illustrate perseverance, humility, and God's willingness to correct.

Turning to David, this lesson explores the complaint psalms (55, 6, 13), where raw fear and grief nonetheless resolve into confident praise, and 1 Samuel 30:6, where David "encouraged himself in the Lord." It critiques mechanical positive confession, then reads Malachi and Ezekiel 37:3 to show that our attitudes, actions, and an honest "I don't know" also communicate with God.

Devoted entirely to the Lord's Prayer, this lesson works through each phrase: "Our Father," "hallowed be Thy name" (surveying the covenant names of God), "Thy kingdom come," daily bread, forgiveness and its bond to the life of the body, and "lead us not into temptation" understood as testing. It presents the passage as both model and prayer, balancing intimacy with God's sovereignty.

Examining four New Testament encounters, this lesson asks what to do when you lack the conditions for answered prayer. The Syrophoenician woman (Matthew 15) and the father crying "I believe, help my unbelief" (Mark 9) persist and receive; the rich young ruler withdraws; James and John request thrones out of ignorance. Petition, it argues, is itself an occasion to learn and grow.

The final lesson considers three brief prayers, the disciples asking Jesus to explain his parables, Gethsemane's "not My will," and "Father… what shall I say?" (John 12), teaching us to seek God first and ask how to pray. It closes with an overview warning that routine deadens prayer, calling believers to know, experience, live, and be changed by the truth.