Road to Renewal: Seven Prayers That Will Change You

By Wayne Baxter

Are you floundering in your walk with God?
Does it feel like your prayers never accomplish anything?
Are you struggling to make an impact in the lives of those around you?
Are you desperate for spiritual renewal?
One of the reasons many believers struggle in their Christian walk is because they don't know how to pray biblically. Through a clear, insightful, and practical exposition of Scripture, Road to Renewal takes the reader though seven prayers in the Bible that, when rightly understood and properly prayed, can help bring about spiritual renewal.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Aug 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781498245982

Wayne Baxter

Wayne Baxter is professor of New Testament and Greek at Heritage College and Seminary in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.

Book preview

Road to Renewal

Seven Prayers That Will Change You

Wayne Baxter

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Road to Renewal

Seven Prayers That Will Change You

Copyright © 2017 Wayne Baxter. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

Resource Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

199

W.

8

th Ave., Suite

3

Eugene, OR

97401

www.wipfandstock.com

paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-1960-1

hardcover isbn: 978-1-4982-4599-9

ebook isbn: 978-1-4982-4598-2

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

February 26, 2018

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International version®, NIV® Copyright ©

1973

,

1978

,

1984

,

2011

by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Preface

Chapter 1: Lord, help me to see you more clearly than I do.

Chapter 2: Lord, help me to become more kingdom-minded.

Chapter 3: Lord, I confess the sins of my people.

Chapter 4: Lord, help me to grow in my experience of your love for me.

Chapter 5: Lord, help me to become more sensitive to your presence.

Chapter 6: Lord, help me to pursue others through prayer.

Chapter 7: Lord, grow my love for other people.

Prayer is tough but simple, accessible yet often hidden in the weeds of our own insecurity, busyness or lack of discipline. Wayne Baxter in Road to Renewal lifts the shadows of complexity, taking us into the sanctum made available by the one who envelops our lives. This is a book for learners and ancients, for personal and group study, and for those teaching others the rhythms and patterns of praying . . . 

—Brian C. Stiller, Global Ambassador, The World Evangelical Alliance

Wayne Baxter has a gift for careful exposition of the biblical text mixed with a sincere passion for the church and Christian discipleship. This book beautifully brings these things together. It offers the reader an engaging combination of education and inspiration that will ultimately deepen your desire to draw near to God.

—Lee Beach, McMaster Divinity College

Through in-depth biblical examples, Road to Renewal is a much-needed resource that demonstrates how praying God’s Word can enrich and transform your prayer life, move you to a place of continual growth, and humble dependence in prayer. Baxter clearly establishes that scripture is relevant and necessary for life-changing prayer. You won’t pray the same again!

—Jenn Martin, Women’s Ministry Director, the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada

Combining the insights of a trained theologian and the shepherding heart of a pastor, Baxter invites you to consider the real meaning, relevant messages, and real difference that seven biblical prayers can make in your life.

—Aaron Rock, Lead Pastor, Harvest Bible Chapel Windsor

Road to Renewal articulates a path to Biblical maturity, guided by prayer, with a clarity and precision that encourages the heart and instructs the mind. I highly recommend this Biblical exposition of key portions of God’s Holy Word, as it will draw you closer to Christ, fan the flames of your heart’s passion for him, and cultivate your desire to commune with him in prayer.

—Norm Millar, Senior Pastor, Harvest Bible Chapel

Wayne Baxter has done it again with exegetical acumen and theological precision all combined with practical application. As the seven prayers are considered, we are drawn into each, and inspired in our own prayer life as we learn a different facet regarding prayer from each of these biblical prayers. This isn’t just another intellectual exercise on what prayer is but instead is the outworking and thoughts of one who has been there and has integrated these principles into his own life and seen the difference it has made.

—Jeff Fry, Pastor, Lichfield Christian Church

To my remarkable wife, Lu,

and to our three amazing sons,

Ethan, Micah, and Jared

Preface

Prayer has been described by some as our invitation to God to intervene in the affairs of the world. That is because prayer changes things. The God of the universe uses our simple prayers to shape history. There’s not enough room in this book to record all of the incredible stories that God has done on behalf of every Christian who reads this page: accounts of hardened family members unexpectedly coming to Christ, of financial provision, physical healing, and marital restoration. I have seen God do miraculous things in response to my own prayers, as well as the prayers of people I know personally. Prayer changes things.

But prayer also changes people. As we spend time with our Creator, seeking his face through prayer, God uses this sacred activity to change us: to make us more like his Son Jesus, who himself was a man of prayer, teaching his disciples how to pray, and modeling for them (and us) what a life devoted to prayer looks like. The more time we spend with the Lord in prayer, becoming more in tune to his desires and more oriented towards his will, the more we become like him. Prayer changes people.

But to mature spiritually through prayer does not simply mean that we pray. It means that we learn how to pray, and that we mature in the way we pray. We find it adorable when a toddler speaks to us in mangled English, often saying and asking for silly things. But what if an adult were to do that? It would no longer be cute but bizarre. Our prayer life and our prayers are a reflection of our spiritual maturity (or a lack thereof). This book seeks to exposit seven God-given prayers of the Bible in order to help Christians mature by helping them mature in the way they pray.

With that said, I offer a few disclaimers. The prayers examined in this book are not meant to be exclusive. There are many other equally worthy biblical prayers to pray. I merely chose these seven because of the role they have played in my own spiritual development, and because I wanted to keep this book short and manageable. These prayers must not serve as ritualistic mantras, like an Our Father or a Hail Mary. Each prayer comes from an exposition of God’s Word, and is intended to foster additional, prayerful reflection of the inspired text. Neither are these prayers magical one-offs—to be prayed once and then on to the next. Rather, the reader is encouraged to persevere in prayer and in prayerful contemplation in the areas touched on by each prayer. It is precisely because of the reflective ethos of this book that the subtitle for every chapter is "Learning to Pray." Finally, the order of the prayers reveals a mix of personal preference and theological progression. Seeing God clearly seems like a first-order necessity for prayer.¹ A more lucid vision of God brings greater concern for his kingdom, a more profound awareness of our personal sins, failures, and deep needs, as well as those of God’s people, including the need to practice God’s presence, our failure to reach out to the lost, and the urgency to mature in our relationships.

It is my own prayer, then, that God will use this book to help move his people forward in their prayer life, and in their spiritual pilgrimage of becoming more like Jesus.

May Jesus Christ be praised!

1. The sixteenth-century reformer John Calvin writes, [I]t is certain that a person never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself (Institutes of the Christian Religion, the Library of Christian Classics, ed. J. McNeill [vol.

20

, Philadelphia: Westminster,

1960

],

1

:

37

).

1

Lord, help me to see you more clearly than I do.

Learning to Pray Job 42:1–6

In his book Crashing Through , Robert Kurson tells the story of Mike May. ¹ May lost his sight in a chemical explosion at the age of three. But despite that loss he never let his blindness get in the way of living a full life. In forty years of living without sight he excelled at numerous activities: he was an avid skier, setting the world record in downhill speed skiing for the blind; he drove motorcycles; he sky-dived; and he was a three-time Paralympic bronze medallist. In terms of career, he became a successful entrepreneur, co-inventing the laser turntable, and developing a GPS for the blind.

One day his wife Jen had routine eye appointment, so Mike tagged along. After checking Jen, the doctor asked Mike when his eyes were last checked, to which Mike replied, not since his eye doctor died ten years earlier. The optometrist asked if he could check his eyes, and he noticed something; so he asked if his partner, an ophthalmologist, could also check. He proceeded to ask Mike some questions about his blindness, ran some tests, and then pronounced, Mike, I think we can make you see again. The Mays were speechless. They thought about the prospect of Mike seeing again after four decades of blindness. Mike reflected on it for a long