Bible and the Gospel | What is Prayer and Why Should Christians Pray?
In this lecture from Cedarville University’s Bible and the Gospel course, Dr. Trent Rogers teaches what makes Christian prayer unique — how and why believers communicate with God, and why our prayers matter to Him.
Learn more about Cedarville’s Bible Minor Project: https://cedarville.edu/BibleMinorProject
Time Stamps:
0:00 Course overview and transition from Scripture to prayer
0:38 Tim Keller on prayer and God’s goodness
1:15 Depending on God as our good heavenly Father
2:13 Habits of Grace: rhythms of prayer in daily life
3:08 Overview of the three-part series on prayer
4:05 Discussion: prayer in the life of the church
6:15 Believers and non-believers — prayer as an act of faith
8:32 What is prayer? Defining Christian prayer
10:58 Student reflections and examples
12:18 Catechism and textbook definitions of prayer
13:31 Prayer as dependence, shaping, praise, confession, and gospel-centered relationship
16:03 What makes Christian prayer distinct?
17:11 Christian prayer is Trinitarian — to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit
20:28 Romans 8: prayer to the Father through the Spirit
23:30 The Spirit intercedes for believers
24:53 Through the Son — confidence and access through Christ
25:09 Why we pray: commanded, modeled, and desired by God
26:53 Jesus’ example of prayer
27:43 God delights in our prayers — Revelation 5 and the aroma of the saints’ prayers
28:42 C. S. Lewis and “He likes to be asked”
31:13 Prayer as intimate relationship and spiritual formation
32:01 Prayer forms joy, gratitude, and godly desire
33:01 Praying according to God’s will
33:47 God responds to prayer — ask, seek, knock
34:35 God gives good gifts to His children
In this teaching session, Dr. Trent Rogers explores one of the most essential spiritual disciplines in the Christian life — prayer. Beginning with the foundation of the Gospel, he explains that prayer is both commanded and invited by God, modeled by Jesus, and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Students learn that Christian prayer is distinctly Trinitarian: we pray to the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit. The lecture emphasizes that prayer is an act of dependence, a form of worship, and a means of being shaped by God’s will.
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