Through Prayer Pt 8 Series

Series: Find joy in the journey through Prayer!

Scripture: Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Thesis: Jesus was filled with joy and this inner joy came from His relationship with God the Father through prayer. Prayer and inner joy are linked together because prayer opens a door to the presence and guidance of the Lord.

Sermon: Prayer in Action sermon #8

Introduction:

“George Mueller, the founder of a great Christian orphanage work in England in the 1800’s, was a powerful man of prayer. He knew the importance of keeping at prayer even when the answer seemed delayed. When he was young he began praying that two of his friends might be saved. He prayed for them for more than sixty years. One of the men was converted shortly before his death at what was probably the last service Mueller held. The other was saved within a year of his death.” What do you think would have happened had Mueller given up? SOURCE: James Montgomery Boice. The Parables of Jesus. Chicago: Moody Press, 1983. p. 158]

Quote: “God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. They outlive the lives of those who utter them.” E. M. BOUNDS

Today we are doing our service different – during our prayer time as a staff on Tuesday and in our staff meeting the Lord dropped this thought for our service today – we are to put prayer into action during the message:

I will share 3 thoughts and examples from Scripture on Prayer – We will learn of the situation which caused the prayer and then hear the prayer and then observe the result of the prayer.

So, I will share about 10 minutes on each prayer story and then we will have worship and put prayer into action! Are you with me?

I. David’s Prayer for help and deliverance from betrayal.

a. Psalm 3 provides a concise portrait of crying out to God in the midst of great stress, crisis, and tribulation. David’s words are no less relevant to our modern workplace/culture/schools/homes and lifestyle as they were to this moment of great anguish when his son and many others betrayed him and sought to kill him:

i. Psalm 3: A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.

• 1O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! 2Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” Selah

• 3But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. 4To the LORD I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. Selah

• 5I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. 6I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. 7Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. 8From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. Selah

ii. Prayer is woven throughout Scripture especially in the Psalms and we see another example of travailing prayer in a time of great stress and trouble in David’s life.

• There are times when we lift our heads up and see that we are being attacked from every side – even from our own families!

a. David in the midst of fleeing for his life – and from the betrayal of his son cries out in an anguished prayer to God – “God they say you have abandoned me – I am on my own and you will not help me?”

i. David prayed to God and asked Him if what they were saying was true – God would not help him!

ii. Listen carefully the Devil is the one telling David – “God has deserted you!” – “He has left you to suffer on your own – He has left you to die at the hands of your own son Absalom.”

iii. The experience of David as he is fleeing: 2 Samuel 15:13-17:22: Shimei Curses David

1. 5 As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul’s family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. 6 He pelted David and all the king’s officials with stones, though all the troops and the special guard were on David’s right and left. 7 As he cursed, Shimei said, “Get out, get out, you murderer, you scoundrel! 8 The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has given the kingdom into the hands of your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a murderer!” 9 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.”10 But the king said, “What does this have to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who can ask, ‘Why do you do this?’” 11 David then said to Abishai and all his officials, “My son, my own flesh and blood, is trying to kill me. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him alone; let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. 12 It may be that the Lord will look upon my misery and restore to me his covenant blessing instead of his curse today.” 13 So David and his men continued along the road while Shimei was going along the hillside opposite him, cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt. 14 The king and all the people with him arrived at their destination exhausted. And there he refreshed himself.