Five Reasons We Cannot Make It Without Prayer

Ephesians 6:18-19 KJV Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; [19] And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

I. INTRODUCTION—PRAYER HAS NO SUBSTITUTES

-There is no replacement for prayer. Church attendance, praise, singing, working for the church, giving can never replace your prayer. There are things that God wants to give to us that cannot be sung up, praised up, worked up, or preached up. They are things that will only be prayed up!

-Prayer is the key to heaven and faith can unlock that door. Prayer revivals are important for our church. Something happens when we give ourselves to praying for the lost, for revival, for ourselves.

-If you look to the past days of Pentecostal history, you will find prayer to be a key factor in the powerful events that took place during their days.

• Their churches were steeped in prayer.

• Their homes were baptized in prayer.

• Their preaching was preceded by prayer.

• Their altars were blanketed by prayer.

• Their witnessing was prepared by prayer.

• Everything they did was marked by prayer.

-We have to careful that we do not buy into lesser substitutes for prayer. Prayer is a place of surrender and there are a lot of problems and difficulties in our lives that would be resolved if we were given to prayer.

-God can do so much when we give ourselves to praying for things that really matter in life. Hezekiah was told that he was going to die and the Bible says he turned his face to the wall and prayed. God answered that prayer and added 15 years to his life.

-The Bible is filled with examples of prayers that were answered when people were in dire circumstances.

• Prayer for direction.

• Prayer for sick children.

• Prayer for deaf ears.

• Prayer for victory over defiant enemies.

• Prayer for cleansing.

• Prayer for renewal.

• Prayer for a host of other things that men needed from God.

-A saint, a preacher, a church cannot continue without prayer.

II. FIVE REASONS A CHURCH CANNOT CONTINUE WITHOUT PRAYER

-The great tragedy of our generation is that we want people to pray for us and we don’t want to pray for ourselves. We believe that prayer is an instant cure-all for everything going wrong in our lives. However, prayer is much more important than just being a consolation to you when you are in a trial or difficult time of pressure.

-Prayer is not like a drive through. It is not something that you just zip through and sing out a few requests and then expect the answer to be dropped right into a bag with no onions, no lettuce, and extra bacon on the burger!

-Just through a little outline, I am going to give you five reasons that we cannot continue without praying.

1. Prayer empties the heart of its cares.

-Without prayer, you will collect all kinds of baggage, stress, pressure, mental calamities, and a host of things that will drag you down. But there remedy for all of that is prayer.

1 Peter 5:6-7 KJV Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: [7] Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

-There are times that we seek out human answers to try to fix difficult matters of life. Put the cares of life in the hands of the Lord.

-Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. . . This is what the Sermon on the Mount calls for. There has to be a purity of heart so that the Lord can answer our needs. But when the heart is so full of the cares of life and the sin that so easily besets us and habits that weigh us down, prayer becomes difficult. . . . so we give up and don’t pray.

-Instead we talk on the phone, chat on Facebook, we text and do a host of things besides pray!

-Hannah was a woman who had a sorrowful spirit because of her barrenness. Her barrenness sent her to a place of prayer where she began to wail before the Lord. Apparently her prayer was such that it caught the critical eyes of Eli who begin to chastise her for being drunk.

-There will be times when you empty your heart before God that others around you may think that you are drunk or about half-crazy. But it is these kinds of prayer meetings birth prophets, change the religious landscape, and will change nations.