In Quest of Prayer: A Lifelong Journey

By Sally Breeze Green

I like that Sally has entitled her book In Quest of Prayer-extraordinary, while at the same time ordinary; every day and practical. Sally has been a driving force keeping prayer prominent in our church, teaching workshops, leading retreats, and helping create a prayer closet. I've been blessed to have her a

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Apr 23, 2024
• ISBN: 9798890417534

Sally Breeze Green

After accepting Christ at the age of nine, Sally Breeze Green was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran Church, later receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit in a theophany of His Presence in 1969. After seeking closer communication with God through prayer most of her life, she went on to lead prayer retreats, eventually receiving a Certificate in Spiritual Formation from Columbia Theological Seminary in 2000. Now widowed at the age of eighty-eight, after sixty-five years of marriage, she has published four children's books since 2019 (sallybreezegreenbooks.com). This is her first book for adults.

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In Quest of Prayer

A Study Guide to a Practical Prayer Life

(With Retreat Resources)

Sally Breeze Green

In Quest of Prayer

Trilogy Christian Publishers A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2024 by Sally Breeze Green

Scripture quotations marked

esv

are taken from the

ESV

® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ©All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked

nkjv

are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked

kjv

are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without written permission from the author. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

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Trilogy Christian Publishing/TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Cover Design by Jaimee Shaye

Trilogy Disclaimer: The views and content expressed in this book are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views and doctrine of Trilogy Christian Publishing or the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN: 979-8-89041-752-7

E-ISBN: 979-8-89041-753-4

Dedication

To all who wish to have a closer walk with God through prayer.

Preface

The seeds of this Study Guide to a Practical Prayer Life began in 1969, after my personal encounter with the Holy Spirit. It is a revision of material written and compiled to be used in conjunction with prayer renewal seminars and retreats that I have conducted over many years. It has been updated several times to include later experiences and knowledge gleaned from serving as a lay preacher for twelve years and from my several years of study in Christian spiritual formation at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. With the growing emphasis on discipleship, evangelism, and prayer throughout the Christian Church, it is my hope that this will be a useful tool for whoever reads it and uses it in teaching others to pray.

Although this is not a complete study on the subject of prayer, it is a gathering of information over my lifetime that has proved to be helpful in my own discipline of prayer. I am profoundly grateful for the thoughts of other saints who have contributed to my own. Any contribution of these thoughts is with gratitude, and there is no attempt to plagiarize.

Introduction

The format of this book is arranged into twelve lessons with assignments, which can be used in a small group study. There is also a Prayer Workshop outline and several Appendices as resource supplements adaptable to retreat scenarios.

I have come to the conclusion that the people of Israel, with all their faults and times of falling away, had a closer walk with God than most of us in this day and age. We expect God to be very active in our lives, in the lives of our congregations, and in the life of our country, which was founded on Christian principles, yet we give God little time during the week to heal our fragmentation. We expect God to reshape our lives on Sunday mornings with a once-a-week religious "shot in the arm. We come barely able to voice our own needs, much less able to pray for peace in the world. Little or no time is given for quiet reflection because of the constraints of the worship hour time frame. Scattered thoughts of undisciplined minds have suddenly been thrown together and are expected to pray with one accord." It’s an unreasonable expectation. Hence, rebellion surfaces, and/or perfunctory prayers and hymns are uttered with little enthusiasm and little expectation for miracles of God’s intervention in our lives. There is no power, little realization of the Presence of God in our midst, and no feeling of united effort in the liturgy of the morning. At best, we have been moved momentarily by the music or the sermon, but most times, we return home to the Sunday afternoon TV ball game and fried chicken or pizza delivery! Our experience of worship gives us little internal peace and has little or no effect on our lives the following week.

We simply dare not wait till Sunday to get in touch with God! The purpose of this study guide is to show the reader how the disciplined practice of prayer can help allow the Holy Spirit to put our puzzles back together—from fragmentation to wholeness, both individually and corporately. It was said of Moses that he appeared to the Children of Israel with his face "shining as the sun" after he had been in the Tent of Meeting with Yahweh. When was the last time you felt that uplifted after attending worship services in your church? God has promised His presence and power to all who truly seek His face and surrender to His will. I encourage you to risk the experiment and hold him to His Word. A new life awaits you!

Lesson #1

Introduction

The Scriptures gave us a game plan for living, very early, in Deuteronomy 6:5: "Thou shalt love the

Lord

thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might" (

kjv

). Jesus echoed this in the Synoptic Gospels. In Mark 12:29, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel, the

Lord

our God, the

Lord

is one. And you shall love the

Lord

your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (

nkjv

). If we look closely