Good evening brothers and sisters,

SLIDE 1

- The flow of my presentation this evening is as follows:

- First, I’ll spend some time to talk about prayer.

- I will also highlight some important principles about prayer.

- Then I’ll talk about Scriptures,

- Lastly, I will give some practical suggestions on prayer and specifically, on

having your own personal prayer and scripture time.

- Then I will conclude.

- Please note that I generally followed the talk outline for this talk but I also inserted
some of my personal thoughts and reflections and also included a section on
scripture.

SLIDE 2 Let me begin my talk by going back to the Wheel Diagram which most of you
saw during one of the talks in the Christian Life Program.

- This talk is the first talk in a series called the Christian Growth Series. This series
revolves around the wheel diagram.

Just to review,

- Our Christian life is compared to a wheel.

- Our Christian life is a journey and to go through our journey, we need a wheel.

- The source of our power is the hub and that is God himself which is at the center of
the wheel.

- For our Christian life to function properly, we need to transfer the power from the
hub into our christian life which is the wheel.

- This is done through the spokes of the wheel and in this diagram we defined 5
spokes … prayer, scripture, sacraments, fellowship, and service.

- Each of these spokes are important. If even one of this is broken, our Christian Life
will not run properly.

- As mentioned, the Christian Growth Series was designed to tackle each of these
spokes.
- The first spoke which is my talk tonight is prayer.

• Prayer is a very important element in our Christian Life. In fact, I would say that it is
essential. In Lingkod, we commit to a daily personal prayer time, and to a daily
reading of the SCRIPTURE as well.

- The Christian Life is all about having a relationship with God.

- We cannot have a relationship with God if we don’t relate with Him, talk to Him and
listen to Him.

- Thus, prayer is very basic in nurturing a relationship with God.

SLIDE 3 Jesus is always our best example in our journey as Christians.

- You will see throughout scripture that Jesus took prayer very seriously.

- This is very interesting since Jesus is already part of the Holy Trinity. He is God
himself, and yet, He still found it very important to commune with God the father
through prayer. He was always connected to God the Father.

- His whole life is characterized by prayer.

- In Mark 1:35, you will see that very early in the morning, before dawn, Jesus went to
a deserted place to pray.

- In Mark 6:46, after feeding the five thousand (the miracle of the multiplication of
the bread and fish), He went to the mountain – to do what? To Pray.

- In Luke 5:16, after healing a man with leprosy, news spread and everyone wanted
to meet Jesus to ask for healing. Amidst this business, Jesus still found the time
and relevance to pray.

- In Luke 6:12, we see that Jesus finds importance in consulting the Father in making
major decisions. In this case, Jesus prayed before He chose the disciples.

- Jesus found prayer very important that He also taught His disciples how to pray.

- Luke 11 narrates how Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer, the Our Father.

- Did you know that the “Our Father” is a very rich prayer? In fact, it is said to be the
perfect prayer, if only we truly understand every word and every line in that prayer.

- I won’t discuss that now because that is a talk in itself but I highly recommend that
you read or google about it to appreciate the prayer that Jesus taught us.
- Jesus heals, chooses 12 apostles, feeds the 5000. It never miss from this passage
that we would find either before or after, Jesus prays

- In this talk, we will see what prayer really is, and how we can grow in our prayer-
relationship with God.

SLIDE 4: WHAT IS PRAYER? Prayer is coming into God’s presence in order to worship
and honor Him.

- You would consider it an honor to be invited to meet the President or the Pope.
What a greater honor this is, to have an audience with the King of kings and the
Lord of lords! The Lord takes notice of us. He listens to us. He enjoys our company.

- This is magical. If you watch star trek, they have what they call a teleporter. To
travel from their spaceship to the planet they are visiting, they simply go to the
teleporter, press a button, and hola, they’re in the planet.

- Prayer is similar. Once we pray, we are transported into the presence of God.

- Back when I was attending the NLTC in Davao, I recall the sharing of a sister
describing that when we would worship, He would close His eyes and automatically,
He would see God at the center and then all the brothers and sisters around God
together with all the angels and saints.

SLIDE 5 Truly, prayer brings us to God’s presence and that is a wonderful place to be.

- Prayer is time spent with the Lord.

- It’s being with Him, it’s talking to Him, it’s listening to Him.

- If we want to build a personal relationship with God, it is essential that we

communicate with Him and spend time with Him. This is true even on a human
level. We will not know (and love) other people unless we spend time with them
(e.g. husband and wife relationship).

- Prayer is a dialogue, not a monologue. Not only should you speak to God, but let
Him speak to you.

- So it is with prayer, it is communicating and communing with God – being with Him,
talking to Him, listening to Him, living life with Him. Only through prayer can we
really build our relationship with God. The Purpose of Prayer is to Know, Love, and
Be with the Lord.

- SLIDE 6. Allow me now to share with you some important principles on Prayer.
- SLIDE 7. The first principle is that Prayer is a Privilege. Allow me to put this into
perspective:

- SLIDE 8: In the Old testament, not everyone had access to God.

- The first line in the song “Singing Hallelujah” is “We have come to Mount Zion”.

- Mount Zion is a real place. It is a mountain just outside Jerusalem. People in those
days would travel from Jerusalem on foot and went up the mountain just to pray.
On the top of the mountain is somewhat like a temple.

- SLIDE 9. Now let me describe to you this temple – what you see in the slide is a top
view of the temple.

- The outermost courtyard is what they call the court of Gentiles. This is the first
courtyard and everyone can enter here – Gentile or Jew. If you recall, there was a
very big distinction in the past between gentiles and jews and the jews had special
privileges.

- Beyond the court of Gentiles is what they called the court of women. Here everyone
who was a Jew could enter but gentiles were not allowed. You will see that as you
get closer to the centermost area, people were filtered based on who they were.

- The next courtyard is called the Court of Men. In this area, women could no longer
enter – women could only enter until the Court of Women.

- After the Court of Men was the court of Priests, and here, only Priests could enter.

- SLIDE 10. At the very center is the Holy of Holies. This is where the arc of the
covenant is. It is believed that this where the presence of God could be found. Only
the high priest can enter the Holy of Holies and just during certain times and events
of the year

- As I was reading the book of Leviticus and the book of Numbers and you will see in
those books how God gave specific instructions on how the Arc of the Covenant
would be built - the use of acacia wood - the angels on the corners, and tent that
surrounded it – the color of the curtains, the number of layers of curtains, the
number of rings that would be used, etc. He gave very specific instructions. He also
gave very specific instructions of who can enter the inner tent where the arc of the
Covenant was. Only Moses and Aaron and later on the tribe of Aaron who became
the priests. They also had to be very clean physically and in spirit. If anyone else
entered the inner tent, they would die. And the presence of God was truly in the
tent. When God was there, there was a cloud that covered the tent. It was said that
both Moses and Aaron saw God’s face.
- SLIDE 11 In the New Testament, we have instant access to God through prayer.
This was made possible through the blood of Jesus.

- No longer are there restrictions to come in the presence of God. We can do it

anytime, anywhere and yes, anyone could do it.

- SLIDE 12. Instant messaging or even sending email would keep us connected. The
thing about email is first, you need a computer, second, you need to be connected
to an internet connection, and third, you need to be connected to the company’s
intranet. Also, when you wrote an email, you’re not really with the person … and you
can’t expect an immediate reply. You also don’t know whether the recipient
actually read it or deleted it or when that person will ever reply. With prayer, first,
you don’t need any connections, you simply pray.

- SLIDE 13. Also, unlike email, with prayer, you are actually with the person you are
talking too. You are transported instantaneously into the presence of God. Lastly,
with prayer, you are assured of an answer. It may be a yes, a no, a not now so be
patient, whatever the answer is, you know that you will be answered. Lastly, with
prayer, you know that the person you are talking too is someone who loves you and
is concerned about you.

- Praise God! Praise Jesus! Because of Him, we no longer have to go travel to the top
of the Mount Zion and go through all the different courts to pray. We simply make
the sign of the cross and we are automatically transported into the presence of God.

- SLIDE 14. The second principle on prayer is that Prayer is A Priority.

- Prayer is not simply an option. It’s not something we will do only if we have spare
time. Prayer is a priority.

- Understand that we are developing a personal relationship with the source of our
life, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega. This is not just
anyone. We are talking about the Almighty, the Beginning and the End, the All
Knowing, Omnipotent, Almighty and Everlasting God. When our boss calls us to a
meeting, we prioritize that and drop everything else. What more with our mighty
God.

- Since I need to seek the Lord constantly for His wisdom and guidance in the
performance of my service in the community and in my work place, my prayer and
scripture reading time have been my top priority. God allowed me to grow as I served
my brothers and sisters and the school all these years.
 - (OMIT) There was a younger monk who asked an older monk, “How much should I
seek God?” The older monk got the younger monk’s head and dipped it in the river
under the water until the younger monk almost drowned. Gasping for air, the
younger monk asked, why did you do that? The older monk said … “As much as you
desperately needed air, so should you seek after God.”

- SLIDE 15. Prayer ought to be prioritized. THE COMMITMENT TO LOVE AND SERVE
ONE ANOTHER TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER THE PURSUIT OF PROFIT OR ECONOMIC
GAIN. Our commitment is to be ready to meet one’s need with our personal help
and resources and look upon one another’s welfare as our own. We need to make a
decision that this should come before all things, anything, and everything.

- SLIDE 16. Know that the Holy Spirit teaches us and help us to pray.

- Some of us are worried whether we have it in us to pray, whether we have the skill
to pray. Be rest assured that all of us can pray and that the Holy Spirit is with us
and HE will guide our prayer.

- We need not be worried whether or not we have the skill to pray. All of us can pray,
because the Holy Spirit is with us and He guides our prayer.

- SLIDE 17. Prayer is about communicating. All of us know how to communicate one
way or another. Even the deaf and the mute know how to communicate.
Communicating is an inborn skill. That’s all it takes to pray.

- In addition, the Holy Spirit who is God Himself, inspires us to pray and directs us
How and What to pray for.

- SLIDE 18. Lastly, the measure of a successful prayer is whether or not it has
achieved its goal – that is, to give worship to God and allows God to speak to us.

- At one point in time or another, we experienced the feeling of not being in a

disposition to pray. Either we were sad, or tired, or we feel unworthy.

- The success of prayer does not depend on our feelings – happy or sad, full of energy
or tired, whether we feel like praying or not.

- If we are able to give glory to God, regardless of how we feel, then we have prayed
well.

SLIDE 19. Here are some practical suggestions to strengthen your prayer life:

SLIDE 20. It is important to find the right time and the right place to pray.
 - The right time should be “prime time”, when you are the most alert and attentive.

- My time is in the morning, when I wake up. I find this an appropriate time to offer
my day and to bring into perspective that my life is an offering to God.

- The right place is the one with the least distractions.

- A quiet chapel, adoration room, your own room.

- You would want to choose a place where you can worship freely and spontaneously.
You wouldn’t want people to think you’re weird when they hear you singing in praise
and worshipping in tongues all alone, won’t you.

SLIDE 21. Stick to your decision to pray daily.

- Make it a habit. EVEN when it’s difficult at first but consistency is the key,

- The important principle is that the success in prayer depends on whether or not we
were able to honor God, not how we feel.

- Developing a personal relationship is something you need to do daily. With my

close friend and I, it was not love at first sight. but attachment was developed over
time. We eat together. We exchanged stories and experiences and until now, we
continue to exchange stories, talk, and listen. So it is with God, we cannot develop a
relationship overnight. It has to be a conscious, daily effort.

- Consistency is the Key.

Next is, Start simple and aim to increase and not decrease your prayer time.

a. Start with 5 minutes then 10, then 15, then 20, until you find that the
time is defined not by its length but by the specific conversation you have
with God.

SLIDE 22. Lastly, use the scripture. Communication is 2-way. The Lord wants to listen to
you but He wants to speak too. Listen. There are several guides you can use in praying and
listening to God.

b. Bible Reflections, Lingkod Prayer Guide, THE feat Daily (by Shepherd’s
Voice Publications)

c. The Word Among Us (by Word of Joy Foundation, a partner in mission of

AngLigayangPanginoon), Didache (by Shepherd’s Voice Publications), My
Utmost for His Highest (by Oswald Chambers)
SLIDE 23. You can even use Pray by Day, One Touch+, Laudate, iMissal, Catholic Missal,
Hallow-Meditation app) mobile apps

SLIDE 24. It’s also good to share your prayer experiences with someone or with a group.
On one hand, it reaffirms your growing relationship with God. On another hand, you
actually lift up the other person and encourage him or her with his or her own prayer life.

C. When you pray, focus on God, not ourselves. Sometimes we have the tendency
to make God a vending machine and use prayer to simply ask and ask and ask.
Remember the purpose of prayer – that is to give glory to God and worship Him,
to know Him and to love Him. All other things follow from there. Understand
that God is sufficient (as St Augustine declares). He knows you and what you
need and He will provide, all we need is God.

SLIDE 25. Pray “intelligently”. Avoid a mechanical prayer. Mean what you say. Use your
mind, use your heart.

D. And BE Expressive. Play the guitar, sing a song, cry if you will, smile if you want,
express yourself to God. He likes that. Expressing yourself makes your prayer
much more pleasing to God.

SLIDE 26. Learn how to handle distractions.

a. I have kept this habit of having a prayer time for several years now but
until now I get distracted. This is because there is someone who does not
want me to pray – the Evil One. He tries his best to distract me.

b. Sometimes, in the middle of my prayer, I catch myself thinking not of

God but of my daily concerns – my work, responding to a chat, an email,
my disappointment with a friend, REGRETS, etc.

During these times, learn how to deal with it.

You Ask for God’s grace to fight it. Call to mind your decision to pray. You can even
conduct spiritual warfare. When I catch myself in those situations, I say, “In the name of
Jesus, I cast out these distracting thoughts from my mind.” Then it goes away. Know the
power of Jesus’s name, that the Evil One is afraid of it and cannot win over it. If the
distracting thought is important, write it down and set it aside. If you’re sleepy, stand up.
Be more active. Do not give in to laziness or tiredness.

SLIDE 27. Now, let me leave you with a helpful format to start your prayer time.

- This is simply a format. It’s not the only format, there are other ways.

- These are the ACTSS of prayer.

 1. Adoration

- Worship God. Spend time to give glory to Him.

- This means coming before the Lord to honor and praise Him because He is worthy
of it.
- We express honor and proclaim God’s characteristics, His acts, our relationship to
Him, etc.
- Feel free to worship using bodily postures and gestures (raising hands, clapping,
kneeling, standing as a sign of respect).

2. Contrition / Confession
- Come to the Lord in humility asking for forgiveness for your sins, weaknesses and
failures.
- Beg for His mercy
- We need to repent of our sins each day, since these sins can prevent us from
entering into God's presence.
- Have confidence that when you repent of your sins, God forgives you.

3. Thanksgiving

a. Have an attitude of gratitude.

b. Recall your blessings and thank Him.

c. Thank Him for Answered Prayer. Thank Him for an unanswered prayer

4. Supplication

a. This is your time to ask.

b. Our Lord says, “Ask and you shall receive, Seek and you shall find, Knock and
the door will be opened to you.”

c. While the Lord knows your needs, He likes to hear from you your
supplications.

- This means coming before the Lord to seek His help and acknowledge our needs
before Him.
- The Lord knows our needs but He wants us to ask. See Luke 11:9-13.

5. Silence / Reflection

a. This is the time to listen.

 b. We want to be silent before God, to listen to His word, or to reflect (meditate)
on some Christian truth.

c. This is an active, not passive part of prayer. Apply the truths of scripture to
your life; use your imagination; ask the Lord for greater understanding about
something, or for a personal knowledge.

To add another S, Read the Scripture

a. Reflect on what the Lord wants to tell you.

b. Develop some specific actions that you would do today to draw closer to Him.

I don’t want to give the impression that I’m a prayer-expert. I’m not. But that’s one reason I
find praying Scripture so helpful. The art of understanding and applying God’s Word is the
Holy Spirit’s primary means of transforming us into Christ-likeness.

The only way you can adequately understand who you are and what you were given life and
breath to do is when you look at yourself through the lens of the narrative of Scripture. It’s
only in this story that you will learn that you were made by God and for God, that everything
you are and have comes from him, and that you were made to live for something vastly
more significant than yourself.

SLIDE 28.
Now let’s move on to the Part II of my talk, In this talk, we are going to use the terms
"Bible" and "scriptures" (or Scripture) interchangeably. Who among you here is
intimidated by the bible? If we are intimidated by the Bible, it is more because of
misunderstanding, ignorance or unpleasant experiences with it.
• It might be unfamiliar to us.
• We might misunderstand it.
• We might have unpleasant experiences with it.

SLIDE 29. Why study the Bible ? What is its importance?

It is important to remember that we are to study the Scriptures to seek and know Jesus as
our source of eternal life. The power of understanding what the Scriptures say is not for
knowledge only but because they testify of Jesus. Scripture is one of the foundations of
our Christian life.
SLIDE 30. The bible is the foundation of our Christian life. It,
• Inspire us.
• Strengthen us.
• Allow us to know God. In Scriptures, we encounter God.
• Know His plan and will for us.
• Include it into our daily personal prayer time.
Study the bible to grow our knowledge of God. It is not just a "book" (that's what
"Bible" means) but a "person": the Lord reveals Himself to us within its pages.
• Read Christian Books or reading articles.
SLIDE 31. "Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ," said St. Jerome.

SLIDE 32
We need to have both personal prayer, and the study of God's word.
1. Without Scripture, our prayer is dry and uninspired; without prayer, our Scripture
study is empty.
SLIDE 33
2. "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing to the division of the soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and
discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

SLIDE 34
The word of God instructs us in Christian living.
"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be
complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16)
Notice THAT THE SCRIPTURE
1. is inspired by God, comes from God.
SLIDE 35. It teaches – helps us understand and brings clarity to life. It reproves – shows us
how we have sinned. It corrects – points us to the truth when we are in error. It trains –
shows us how to obey. God’s Word is fully sufficient to prepare us for everything the Bible
commands us to do. The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to transform us into Christ-
likeness. What for? So that the man of God may be: complete: whole, no part missing &
equipped for effective service

SLIDE 36. There are Three Truths Fundamental to a Proper Understanding of Scripture
How should we look at Scripture?

SLIDE 37. A. The Bible is the Word of God.

It is God's inerrant communication to men, deserving of careful study and
investigation. The biblical accounts are records of actual happenings, or
narratives with an important truth value, and not merely a collection of myths
and legends (like the Homeric epics), although they use figurative language,
allegories and symbols.

SLIDE 38. B. The Bible is God's means of revealing truth to His people.
Man alone cannot discover God's plans: God must reveal His mind, intentions
and ways through the Holy Spirit's illumination of the inspired word (John 8:31-
32); otherwise, the mind of man is veiled and he cannot understand (2
Corinthians 3:14-18).

SLIDE 39. C. The Bible has authority.

"Authority" because of its "Author", who is God. Of course God used human
instruments, but the Bible is essentially His.
ACCEPTING THE BIBLE’S AUTHORITY

 Many of our troubles occur because we base our choices on unreliable

authorities:

 culture (“everyone is doing it”)

 tradition (“we’ve always done it”)

 reason (“it seemed logical”)

 emotion (“it just felt right”).

We may consider these factors but should not be the sole basis for our decision-making.

 The bible must become the authoritative standard for your life: the compass
you rely on for direction and the counsel you listen for making decisions.

SLIDE 40. WHAT WOULD BE OUR RESPONSE? Our Response-These are the Right Attitudes
to have
A. Be Positive
"I want to learn. No doubt I will experience difficulty, but the Holy Spirit will
give me grace and open my eyes."
We want to believe in God's word; to decide to revere and honor it.

B. Be Receptive
"God wants me to have an open heart and mind, so He can reveal His truth
to me."
We want to love God's word (Psalm 19:8-11).

Many Christians are more faithful reading their daily newspaper than their bibles.
We can watch Kdrame for 3 hours or even browse the net, then read the bible for 3
minutes and expect growth. Daily Bible reading will keep you in range of God’s
voice. (Deuteronomy 17:19)

C. Be Expectant
"As I study and pray, I believe the message will be unfolded to me."
We want to ponder on God's word; to cherish and treasure it.

D. Be Faithful
"I am willing to invest time and energy into it. The more I dig, the deeper I
go."
we need persistence and diligence.
we want to embrace God's word and "understand" it, that is, "stand under" it
(put ourselves under its authority). Like Mary, our response is, "Be it done to me
according to your word."
 SLIDE 41. HERE ARE SOME Practical Suggestions ON SCRIPTURE READING

SLIDE 42 A. Decide to make the Scriptures a regular part of your day.

Follow a daily reading guide (such as Companion, Pandasal, The Word Among Us or
Didache, but be flexible, allow for adjustments once in a while as the Holy Spirit guides
you.)

B. Find time for Scripture and protect this time.

you can do this during your daily prayer time; for example, by "praying the
Scriptures" (that is, reading and reflecting on the verses prayerfully) and offering
prayer responses back to God.
Pray the Psalms.
If you still have time, do some additional Scripture reading and study.

C. Read Scripture with the goal of understanding its teaching, and applying it to your life.
Join the Joy of discovery.

(Note to speaker: You might need to provide an easy methodology here; for beginners,
examples are the 7-step method, or the Lectio Divina.)

It takes serious effort. You select a verse and reflect on it over and over in your mind. No
other habit can do more to transform your life and make you like Jesus than daily
reflection on Scripture. (Psalm 119)

D. Memorize Scripture.
Try to memorize one passage a week. Carry it around with you (copied on a
small card) as you travel.
– Your capacity to remember is God’s given gift.
– You may think you have poor memory, but the truth is, you have millions of
ideas, truths, facts, and figures memorized. You remember what is
important to you.
– If God’s Word is important, you will take the time to remember it.

We even memorize our FAVORITE numbers of the Song in the Videoke, our
FAVORITE lines from the MOVIES (you complete me), PLATE NUMBERS!!!!, the
time your VIP texted, but we can’t seem to find time to memorize scripture

E. Get a version of the Bible that you can understand (preferably a Catholic edition).
I will recommend: Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, Good
News Bible

F. Lastly, Remember the three P's: Patience, Perseverance and Practice

 Reading, remembering and reflecting on the Word are all useless if we fail to put
them into practice.
We must become “DOERS OF THE WORD”. Always write an action step as a result of your
reading or studying or reflecting on God’s Word. (James 1:22)
SLIDE 43

To conclude, LET’S KEEP OUR FAITH ALIVE WITH THESE 4 DAILY HABITS.

Prayer and scripture are essential to our life. We need to decide to put this first above our
many activities. Let us ask His Holy Spirit to help us do so.

• Nurture your relationship with God. Talk to Him. Listen to His Voice. Be with Him.
This can only happen through prayer and Scripture reading. These are God’s ways
of revealing Himself to us

• Let us decide to have more of Him through prayer and scripture in our lives. We are
creatures of worship. We were created to worship God. We are most fulfilled when
we worship because that is what we were created to do.

• In praying for this talk, I asked the Lord what message He would want me to relay to
You. In reflection, I gather that the Lord would want to say this: “My people, I await
you. Come to me. I want to be with you. I want to hear you. I want to speak to you.
I want our relationship to grow, but I need you to welcome me.”

Slide 45

• My brothers and sisters, I sense that the Lord desires to have a deeper relationship
with Him and through it we will discover the wonders of living in the presence of
God. Desire that. Start it now. Decide Now. Pray Now AND Learn to ASK! Good
evening, THANK YOU FOR LISTENING AND MABUHAY!