Pounding The Ground In Prayer Series

DESTINY #7: POUNDING THE GROUND IN PRAYER

KICKING OFF OUR SUMMER OF SEEKING:

“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13).

• Starting July 4th and every Sunday from 6-7 pm this summer.

• Prophetic challenge – getting ready to grow and go to the next level as a church.

• God is calling us in this season to seek Him in prayer and fasting: “Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. Bring the leaders and all the people into the Temple of the LORD your God, and cry out to him there.” (Joel 1:14).

THE BIG IDEA: The Lord is calling us as a church family to head into a summer of seeking Him in prayer. As we ‘pound the ground’ in prayer, with passionate perseverance, we will see incredible, miraculous things take place.

OPENING TEXT:

“10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:10-17).

“Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words as I boldly explain God’s secret plan that the Good News is for the Gentiles, too.” (Ephesians 6:18-19).

• God wants us to be persistent in our prayers, and He wants you to pray for your pastors!

• We’re in a spiritual war, and we need to stay alert in prayer.

KEY TEXT:

“14 Elisha had become sick with the illness of which he would die. Then Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over his face, and said, "O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!" 15 And Elisha said to him, "Take a bow and some arrows." So he took himself a bow and some arrows. 16 Then he said to the king of Israel, "Put your hand on the bow." So he put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

• When Elisha was dying, King Joash came to see him.

• The man of God gave him instructions: “Take a bow and some arrows.”

• Then Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands. What a great example of anointing and passing on the torch to the next generation. This was a profound prophetic act!

17 And he said, "Open the east window"; and he opened it. Then Elisha said, "Shoot"; and he shot. And he said, "The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them."

• The man of God gave the king two more instructions:

O Open the east window = remove any obstacles in your way.

O Shoot = active and aggressive, not passive.

O Prophetic = “The arrow of deliverance.”

O Command: STRIKE the Syrians until you have destroyed them.

18 Then he said, "Take the arrows"; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground"; so he struck three times, and stopped. 19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.” (2 Kings 13:14-19).

• Why was Elisha angry with the king? Because he stopped. He was supposed to STRIKE and keep striking, but… he STOPPED.

• If he had persevered, he would have prevailed. He would have achieved victory!

• This story is a prophetic picture of us today.

• God wants us to learn to passionately persevere in prayer, to pound the ground.

• We need to P.U.S.H. in our prayers = pray until something happens.