1. I recently read an article written by a man who is more than 80 years old.

2. Although this man is not a member of the church, he is known to many who are New Testament Christians.

3. This man is widely recognized for his knowledge of the Greek New Testament.

AS I READ THIS ARTICLE I LEARNED THAT THE MAN I AM DESCRIBING WAS BORN OF GREEK PARENTS ON THE ISLAND OF CYPRUS. HE HAS BEEN INVOLVED WITH THE GREEK LANGUAGE VIRTUALLY SINCE HIS BIRTH. HE HAS STUDIED MODERN GREEK, CLASSICAL GREEK AND NEW TESTAMENT GREEK FOR MANY DECADES.

a) 60 years ago this man created an organization known as AMG.

b) After decades of studying the language of the New Testament, this man says New Testament Greek still fascinates him.

c) This man is exactly right; the New Testament is an amazing and fascinating document.

2) In this special book from God we find multiple words for prayer—there is not a single word.

3) Each of these words could be studied in detail and could reveal to many significant points.

4) Because this is an introductory lesson, I will do a brief overview of some of the key words.

5) As we begin our study, I want to say that I again appreciate the opportunity to be at Columbia City.

6) Just as with past years, a lot of work has gone into creating an outstanding program and I am thankful to participate.

7) This lesson is designed to cover a lot of ground in a little time so an outline was prepared and been distributed to at least most.

a) On it you will see a word spelled aiteo.

b) This word may be generally defined as “ask, request, demand.”

c) Lots of people ask for lots of things in the world, and some of prayer is all about asking.

d) Jesus used this word in Mt. 5:42 when He said, “give to him that asketh thee.”

e) In this passage prayer is not under consideration, but we do see the idea of a request.

f) When we think about prayer, we must say that some prayers are in realm of requests.

g) We are asking God to do something or perhaps not do something.

h) In Mt. 6:8 we see this word being used again; there Jesus spoke of “asking” the Father.

i) When someone asks us what prayer is, we would say based upon Mt. 6:8 that it is contact with the Father.

j) A lot of people want to pray directly to Jesus or the Holy Spirit.

k) In the New Testament we find an emphasis on praying to the Father.

l) Members of the Godhead have various roles, and the Father is portrayed as the one who to whom we direct prayers.

m) If we look at the other places where or first word occurs (and there are several texts), Mt. 7:8 is next.

n) Jesus spoke of asking and receiving.

8) We can say all kinds of things concerning prayer and requests.

9) Let’s not fail to include the fact that prayer also involves the reception of an answer.

10) The answer may not be what we want, how we want, when we want, where we want, or why we want.

11) God does respond to the prayers of His people (i.e. what we ask).

12) In defining prayer Mt. 20:22, another passage where our selected word is found, is insightful.

a) A mother asked for her sons to have a special place in the kingdom.

b) Jesus said the mother did not know what she was “asking.”

c) The prayers we offer are sometimes requests we do not fully understand.

d) We may think we understand; we may think, “If only God would do this for me.”

e) Such thinking reminds me of those who reason, “If only I were rich. Then life would be good.”

f) Some have received their heart’s desire and found that wealth was not all they had hoped.

g) Our prayers may not always be good prayers.

13) There is another verse that uses our word and I want to read this one—Mt. 21:22 – READ.

a) Jesus spoke of “all things” being requested in prayer.

b) Have we ever been at a table when something pretty tasty was placed in the middle of the table?

c) Maybe it was early in the morning and someone brought in a yummy box of doughnuts.

d) We only took one, but we really wanted two. Maybe we wanted three or four.

e) What is prayer? It is a means of communication with God that is not limited to one thing.

f) God has not put a restriction on the number of items we may pray about when we talk to Him.

g) This is good news. Maybe several here have a short prayer list. You can get it all done in 3 minutes or less.

h) If you have a longer list, God is willing to listen to “all things” on your list.

14) James uses the word we are looking at in Jas. 1:5, 6.

15) James 1:5 employs this term to say we should “ask” (pray) for wisdom.

16) Some prayer should be devoted to this pursuit.

17) In the next verse James said to pray in faith; no wavering in our faith.

a) We can make requests of someone and we have no faith in the person or even in our request.

b) God defines prayer as making a request and we believe in the request.

c) Prayer is not like fishing – we don’t toss out some prayers to see if God will bite.

d) We are to pray with expectation and the anticipation of fulfillment.

18) Another passage in James is too critical to not read (Jas. 4:2), and this has the same word.

19) READ 4:2. Lots of people look at God and wonder why He doesn’t help them.

20) Can’t God see that people—sometimes His people are in trouble?

21) Why does God stay silent? God is silent because we may be staying silent. If we pray not, we receive not.

22) The very nature of prayer means we must use this tool; if we fail to pray we close ourselves off from some help.

23) We may also pray and not receive (same word) because our motivation is wrong (Jas. 4:3).

24) A final passage I want to cite concerning our first word for prayer is 1 Jn. 5:14, a well-known verse.

25) John said “if we pray according to His will, He heareth us.”

a) What is prayer? It is trying to pray according to the will of God.

b) We can pray like the Lord, “Not my will but thine be done.”

c) God’s will is always right and the best choice, even if it is not the easiest way.

d) Prayer can be studied in a lot of different ways.

e) We could even study it through body parts. Various parts of the body are associated with prayer.

26) One of these parts is the “knee.”

27) In the New Testament the word translated “knee” is almost exclusively connected to prayer and worship.

a) In Mk. 15:19 we read how the Lord was mocked prior to His death on the cross.

b) Have we ever paid close attention to how Jesus was ridiculed?

c) Mark says people “bowed their knees and worshipped Jesus.”

d) Why did people bow their knees to the Lord? They knew something about worship.

e) God is worthy of worship, and that worship may be done on the knees.

f) Praying may be done on the knees. We may literally pray on our knees..

g) I suspect at least 20-30 people in this room have literally gotten on their knees and prayed.

h) If not literally, we may bow figuratively (an attitude of respect and humility towards God).

28) We may feel a bit funny about getting down on our knees and praying in a group.

29) I can stand here and say with complete confidence that group prayers have been done on the knees.

30) Acts 20:36 says Paul was with elders from Ephesus (and perhaps other people).

31) He and those with him got on their knees and prayed.

32) In the very next chapter (Acts 21:5), Paul is again down on his knees with others and praying.

33) Eph. 3:14 has Paul telling the Ephesians, “I bow my knees unto the Father.”

a) What is prayer? It is a coming before God in the most humble of ways.

b) It is admitting God is in control. As a prophet once said, “we do not direct our own steps.”

c) This is not our world, it is God’s. Our lives are not our lives; they belong to God.

d) Prayer is a tool for acknowledging God for who He is and even showing full submission to Him.

34) A third word for prayer is spelled deomai; this word means to ask, request, beg, beseech, supplication.

a) The first time we come to this word in the New Testament is Mt. 9:38.

b) Jesus said “pray” the Lord of the harvest” for repapers.

c) In Mt. 9:38 we find that God is interested in helping His people.

d) God is also interested in seeing His heavenly will carried out on earth.

e) By using this word in Mt. 9:38 we see that heaven wants us to pray about spiritual things.

f) Were we to listen to some t.v. preachers, we would hear that God wants us to be healthy, wealthy, and happy.

g) Much of the mass evangelism that is done is devoted to saying this world is to be like paradise.

h) We need to pray for “our best life now” (the title of a current and popular book).

i) Seeking this kind of thing and praying for it is not what we find in the New Testament.

j) Prayer that is true and right will put some emphasis on the spiritual.

k) We need to pray, and sometimes we might “beg” God for help.

l) There are times when we may plead for divine aid.

35) This third word we are looking at is also employed in Lk. 8:28.

36) There were demons who “besought” the Lord to “torment them not before the time.”

37) Using the word “prayer” in this passage would not convey the right idea.

38) We can see that even demons made a request of Christ.

a) If demons approached one of the Godhead with a request, what about us?

b) Is our need for divine help any less than theirs?

c) If creatures greater than ourselves appeal to the creator for aid, we surely must do so too.

d) Additional proof of our need is in Lk. 21:36, another passage that uses this third term.

e) Jesus was speaking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

f) Jesus said to “pray at every season.”

g) The Romans are gone and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. has long passed.

h) We still find wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.

i) In view of what Jesus said about Jerusalem’s destruction, prayer is still right and necessary.

j) We should pray for those who are victims in various tragedies.

k) We need to pray for those who are potential victims. When the weather channel says a “hurricane is coming,” pray.

l) When our nation says “war is imminent,” pray.

m) If it be asked why we pray during special times, Acts 4:31 gives us an answer.

n) Our third word is also used in this passage and there the Bible says a place was “shaken.”

o) God’s people prayed and heaven shook the structure where Christians has assembled.

p) God heard His people and He was willing and ready to respond to prayers of Christians.

39) Another word for prayer deserves to be studied and this term is used as both a noun and a verb.

40) On the sheet that was distributed, there is the spelling for both. We start with the noun – proseuche.

41) As a noun this word is used in places like Mt. 6:5. There Jesus said “when you pray.”

i) Jesus virtually assumed that people would pray.

b) Most companies and even homes have “standard operating procedures.”

c) In Christianity, one SOP is “prayer.”

d) Jesus used this word when instructing the disciples about a demon they could not remove.

e) He said “prayer” was required. In this passage we see a connection between our prayers and our faith.

f) Insufficient praying or no prayer will weaken our faith.

g) Later in Matthew’s gospel (21:13) Jesus spoke of the temple in Jerusalem as a “house of prayer.”

h) God has associated Himself with prayer. This was true under the Old Testament and it is still true.

i) God’s house at the present time is the church; His people. As His people we are to be people of prayer.

j) When we ask what prayer is, all these passages say it is part of God’s specific will for mankind.

k) Lk. 6:12 tells us about the selection of the apostles; this word is used to say Jesus “prayed all night.”

l) Have we ever faced a major decision in our lives? If so, how long and how hard did we pray about it?

m) Have we ever, figuratively speaking, struggled with God in prayer?

n) We often cite Acts 2:42; people were baptized and they “continued” in certain things.

o) Today Christians would not think of failing to continue in meeting, the Lord's Supper, and giving.

p) What about “continuing” in prayer? This is part of the New Testament pattern.

q) Seven men were selected to help some widows who needed food.

r) The apostles made this choice in part so they could “continue in prayer” (same word, Acts 6:4).

s) God heard the “prayers” of Cornelius (same word, Acts 10:4).

t) God knows all so there is a sense in which He “hears” an alien’s prayers (He knows what is being thought/said).

u) Other speakers will probably comment more fully on this later in the day.

42) When we ask what prayer is, we say it is something done by the unsaved and the unsaved.

43) Even the heathen have been known to pray, both to make requests and to express thanksgiving.

a) When we stud prayer we also find it is a means of expressing thanksgiving.

b) Phil. 4:6 uses the noun form of the word we are looking at and specifically links it with appreciation.

c) 1 Tim. 5:5 also has this same term and in this verse Paul speaks about praying “night and day.”

d) Some here are probably “morning people.” Others like the evening hours.

e) Our body may be ready to go at 4 a.m. or be willing to retire about 7 p.m.

f) Whatever our bodily schedule, prayer is appropriate for all times of the day or night.

g) When we think about prayer, we find that it is a tool for many things.

h) God has never intended prayer to be a means to “get rich quick” or a way to live like Donald Trump.

i) At the same time, prayers for things related to the world are not always wrong.

j) Elijah prayed about the weather (Jas. 5:17)—he asked that rain would be withheld and it was.

k) Jesus spoke about a “season” prayer in Mt. 24 concerning the destruction of Jerusalem (Mt. 24:20).

l) He said the people could pray they would not need to flee in the winter time.

m) Prayer is communication with God about a wide variety of topics.

44) As we look at this word we can also study it as a verb (proseuchomai).

a) Jesus used the verb form in Mt. 5:44 when He said “pray for our enemies.”

b) What is prayer? Sometimes it is praying for those who hate us and try to hurt or abuse us.

c) Prayer can be something that we offer on behalf of others, even our worst enemies.

d) It is hard to conceive of any human being that we cannot pray for.

e) About the only one I can think of is found in 1 Jn. 5:16.

f) In the next chapter (Mt. 6:7), Jesus said prayer is “not vain repetitions.”

g) There is not time today, but we could study prayer from a negative standpoint (what prayer is not).

h) Mk. 12:40 uses this verb form of our current word to describe “long prayers.”

i) In addition to studying the postures for prayer, we could study aspects such as length.

j) Sometimes we may say a short prayer like Peter once uttered: “Lord, save me.”

k) Whether our prayers are long or short, we know that prayer includes forgiveness.

l) Our word is also found in Mk. 11:25; Jesus said that when we pray, we are to forgive others.

m) We cannot properly define prayer without mentioning forgiveness.

n) If we ask what prayer is, Lk. 18:10 also comes to mind.

o) Two men went up into the temple to pray; Jesus said one man was “justified” and the other was not.

p) A lot of times people think all they have to do is pray and God will favorably respond.

q) Prayer is conditioned upon certain things such as God’s will and living a faithful Christian life.

45) Some things in life are automated; we may touch a button and up pops the garage door.

a) Prayer is not automatic; some prerequisites must be in place for it to be effective.

b) We need to be a Christian who is living a life according to the Scriptures.

c) The verb for of the word we are looking at is also found in 1 Tim. 2:8.

d) When Paul described a public assembly of mixed saints, he spoke of men (males, Greek text) praying.

e) This same word is used in Eph. 6:18 where Paul spoke about the Christian armor.

f) James also used it in Jas. 5:14 to talk about elders coming and praying for the sick.

g) Verse 16 in this same chapter says a “righteous man avails much.”

h) Prayer is communication with God.

i) It gives rest to the weary, is a means of expressing thanksgiving and praise, and further fortifies the strong.

j) Prayer is an expression of humility, a tool to make requests, and a device for all seasons.

k) Today we are going to hear a lot more about it; thank you for your kind attention.