Dr. C. S. Lovett’s
MARANATHA FAMILY NEWSLETTER
April 2025
THREE KINDS OF PRAYER
I say, “kinds of prayer,” because that’s the way most people think of it. I mean there are three kinds of conversations we can have with the Lord: Scheduled, Spontaneous, and Public.
Suppose you have a friend who is also your business partner. There are times when you work together on business projects. There are also times when you fellowship with each other. Finally, there are times when you get together socially. It’s like that with the Lord and us. We are in business with Him. Doing what? Building His church. We are His partners. So as with partners, who are also good friends, we and the Lord enjoy each other in those same three ways. I will describe them:
1. Scheduled. This is the hardest of all. It is difficult to speak to Jesus, not because you have to STOP what you are doing. You have to break into your normal routine. This type of prayer is similar to working with your partner on business projects. It is planned. You do it by appointment. In scheduled prayer, you deal with specific items.
2. Spontaneous. This is the easiest of all. Nothing is planned. You do it as often as the Lord comes to mind. There is no prayer list. It is completely informal. You chat with the Lord as you go about whatever you are doing at the time, discussing whatever comes to mind. This is the kind of prayer that transformed Brother Lawrence.
3. Public. This is the most threatening. If you are shy, the idea of speaking to Jesus in front of others is frightening. If you have never done it before, the fear of the unknown makes it seem overwhelming. Yet, there is nothing to be afraid of. You don’t know that, of course, until you try. Once you get used to speaking to the Lord, while surrounded by a group of Christians, you will like it. It provides a foretaste of the heavenly fellowship that is to come.
Maybe you have just been saved. The idea of intimate prayer is new to you. That means we start from the beginning. We will begin with a SCHEDULED prayer. The fact that you are going to interrupt your routine to do this, makes it scheduled prayer. You are going to do it right now.
Lean back and close your eyes. Try and picture the Lord with you in your imagination. If all you get is a formless face, that is all right. Perhaps you will not be able to produce a solid image of Jesus, but SENSE His presence only. That’s fine too. We are not really looking for a face. What we are after is an awareness of His Person. Don’t tense up. There’s no point to that. Jesus is relaxed around you. You might as well be relaxed with Him. He wants you to ENJOY Him.
I’m going to give you some words to use. You can say anything you like, but these might help at first. Say them aloud if it is convenient to do so. “Lord Jesus, I’m thrilled that You want me for Your friend. I think it is fantastic that the God of the universe wants to have fellowship with me! Since You want me, I want You! I am looking forward to good times together, Lord, because of Who You are. Thank you for wanting me and making this fellowship possible.”
Now that you have talked with the Lord and know how tremendous it is to be at ease with Him, the next step is to select a time when you can get together on a regular basis. A good time is in the morning shortly after you get up. The hour does not matter as long as you schedule time for Him each day. It does not have to be long. Just five or ten minutes would be great. The main thing is disciplining yourself to keep this appointment with Jesus every day. If you want to experience the thrills and benefits of fellowship with Him, you will have to MAKE yourself do it. In no way will He impose His presence on you. You must become aware of His presence by faith.
After your prayer routine is established, you will find yourself praying for things the Lord wants to accomplish. The Holy Spirit will put ideas in your mind. Such things as the gathering of the full number of souls into the church and the Lord’s second coming are vital requests. Even though there is religious liberty in our country, Christians are suffering for their faith in other lands. The Lord may lead you to pray for them. This gives you an idea of what I mean by scheduled prayer. It is not formal, yet it is business-like. The chief characteristic of this type of prayer is that it is a time when you and the Lord work on your problems and His project—by faith.
I said that there are times when business partners meet solely to enjoy each other. Well, SPONTANEOUS prayer is like that. There is nothing planned about it. It is impromptu, something you might do any time, and anyplace. A wife might chat with the Lord as she does the dishes; a husband might chat as he works on a project in the garage. A person can talk to Jesus while doing almost anything. You could say “Good night Lord” as you hop into bed, or “How are You Lord?” as you awake in the morning. It’s casual, yet it is sweet and genuine.
Let’s say you are late for an appointment. All the parking spaces are filled. Don’t panic. Simply say, “Lord, You know we have to park this car. Will you lead me to a space?” You can assume He has one for you. First thing you know, someone is pulling out and the space is yours. That’s how closely we can work with Him. This type of praying proves His participation in the minute detail of our lives. If no space turns up, and you are late for your appointment, He’ll use your lateness. He may only teach you a lesson, but He will use it.
Did you lose something? Are you desperate to find it? You spend time looking for it. Then it hits you, the Lord knows where it is! So you say, “Lord help me find it!” Usually, it isn’t long before it comes to you where you left the item, or the Lord leads you to it. The point of doing these things with the Lord in a day makes life a real adventure.
The PUBLIC PRAYER meeting is one of the privileges of Christian Fellowship. You attend your first prayer meeting. As you sit there, different ones take turns praying aloud. They are leading in prayer. That is, the rest of the group sits with heads bowed listening to what the leader is saying to the Lord. In their hearts, they are agreeing to the words spoken. In effect, all of them are praying the same prayer. But as you listen the thought comes, “Am I expected to do that? I don’t know how to pray that way!” Don’t let it worry you. You are NOT expected to pray like anyone else.
There are three threats facing new Christians when they start attending a prayer meeting: (1) the threat of speaking before a group; (2) unsure of what to say to God; (3) the temptation to feel they must pray as others do. That is enough to make anyone keep silent. Set yourself at ease—there are NO RULES when it comes to HOW one prays before a group. The thing to bear in mind is that the Lord wants you to be yourself when you speak to Him, whether it is alone or in front of a group. Now that helps.
After you have prayed aloud a few times, you will observe an easing in your mind. Once those early threats subside, ideas will start surfacing in your thinking. That is the Holy Spirit prompting you. When you are tense and facing a threat, your mind tends to go blank. But as soon as you get past that stage, the Spirit of God will feed His ideas into your mind. It is fun to pray aloud after that. Praying with others provides a form of fellowship that cannot be achieved any other way. It is one thing to be alone with the Lord in your imagination. It is something else to picture you and others of the family enjoying the Lord together. When there are needs within a group or projects that you are working on, it is a unique privilege to be able to come before the Lord as a family. This privilege is a sample of what it will be like when we are all finally with the Lord . . .
ON THE DAY HE APPEARS!
C. S. Lovett
Copyright © 2025 Personal Christianity. All rights reserved.
SINCE YOU ASKED
QUESTION: “Dr. Lovett, I know you have written extensively on the subject of Satan and how Christians are to deal with him. However, since God is almighty and powerful, why doesn’t He do away with the devil once and for all?
ANSWER: God could destroy the devil with a whisper, but He won’t because the devil serves a useful purpose. You see, man has to be tested and since “God cannot be tempted and neither does He tempt any man” (James 1:13), the Lord needs someone evil to appeal to the evil in man. The devil is ideal for this task.
Since all men are inherently evil because of their old natures, and each is given free will, everyone needs to be tested. Will they love God and His righteousness, or will they love evil and live to please themselves? The history so far has been that men care nothing for God’s righteousness but prefer to enjoy the devil’s world and live for themselves and their families. But this could never be brought to light apart from the evil activity of Satan.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7 ESV).
TESTIMONIES
ENCOURAGES THE SHY: “Your WITNESSING MADE EASY book was surely written just for me! It even addresses the shy and timid in a non-demeaning, encouraging, and understanding manner. I am so grateful I’ve learned to comfortably share the testimony of God’s working in my life and have led one soul to Christ so far.” (M.W.--KY)
SATAN DEFEATED: “I must tell you what happened to me. I know Satan was at the root of this. Last night I was reading your book, LOVETT’S LIGHTS ON THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, and meditated on what I had read. Thank you Lord, I am trying to be more like You. Thank you, Dr. Lovett, for helping me!” (A.K—NY)
INSIGHTS REVEALED: “I have been reading and studying your writings with great joy. I teach a young married Sunday school class. I have been using LOVETT’S LIGHTS ON JOHN to teach the wonderful truths. The insights revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through your book have been echoed by each member of my class. The growth in my own spiritual life is just overwhelming and I thank God for using your ministry to help me grow.” (P.S.—TN)
RESOURCES
LOVETT'S LIGHTS ON ROMANS (2024): 360 pages. Available on Amazon.com for $15.99 HERE.
LOVETTS LIGHTS ON ACTS (2023): 407 pages. Available on Amazon.com for $15.99 HERE.
LOVETT'S LIGHTS ON THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT (2022): 372 pages. Available on Amazon.com for $15.99.
LOVETT'S LIGHTS ON JOHN (2021): 381 pages. Available on Amazon.com for $15.99.
WITNESSING MADE EASY (2019): 213 pages. Available on Amazon.com for $14.99.
DEALING WITH THE DEVIL (2018): 242 PAGES. Available on Amazon.com for $14.99.
THE PREPARED LIFE (2017): 159 pages. Available on Amazon.com for $13.99 and is also available on Kindle for $7.99.
CONTACT US:
Please keep in touch and send us your prayer requests. You may contact us for more information regarding our ministry at:
Personal Christianity, PO Box 918, Middleton, ID 83644
626.338.7333
www.cslovettbooks.com
info@cslovettbooks.com
Preparing for His Appearing Since 1951
