Prayer has been called the divine continuum
It has been signified as man’s most powerful moment
It is the moment in time where man can truly reach beyond his limits to connect with a Limitless God.
Prayer yields results….
James 4 Said Ye have not because you ask not
James 5 declares that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth Much.
One man Said that Prayer can do anything because God can Do anything!
I have come here to tell you that Prayer makes anything possible
Prayer peels back the limits of the realm of possibilities!
Prayer is not a religious Past time…
Prayer is not a spiritual routine
But James said that Prayer Avails…
Prayer has a punch ! Prayer carries force!
Prayer Changes things!
James spoke of the response to sickness and affliction…
Is any afflicted among you? Let him Pray
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Prayer availeth much….
Prayer makes a difference
Prayer carries the Power to accomplish anything.
I have come to preach that in every facet and function of Life Prayer has Power!
Prayer has the Power to Change things!
Prayer has the power to put families at peace
Prayer has the power to fill the pews
Prayer has the Power to push the Church into greater realms of revival!
Prayer has the Power to change a wayward Heart!
Prayer has the Power to set the crooked ways straight!
Prayer is the passion of God for his people
Prayer is the heartbeat of God for his church
Prayer is indeed the divine continuum…
It is the extension of all eternal power…. The connect point for all of the ability of the one true God!
Prayer certainly Does Avail Much!
However John Chapter 11 gives us insight into the kind of Prayer that makes God Move!
John chapter 11 shows a great parity in prayer!
Martha and Mary utter the same prayer to the same savior with great variable in response!
John 11:20-34
20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
Martha’s prayer obviously came out of concern.
Lazarus is Dead and Martha mourns the death of her beloved brother!
Martha’s life was turned upside down… She was in the middle of making funeral arrangements.
And Her prayer reveals an attitude that says that the time has passed for my brother’s miracle!
She was concerned with the loss… but she was also resigned to live with her loss!
23 Jesus said unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
28 And when she had so said, she went her way,
When presented with the possibility of the resurrection of her beloved… Martha claimed she believed but the bible says she walked away without a miracle!
Marthas prayer of concern brought an Answer from the Savior…!
Martha received the answer she needed from God!
He was the Resurrection! He was the Answer for Her Problem!
Martha prayed and got an answer but no action
I have come to Preach that there is a Difference in Prayers that avail answers from God and prayer that avail Action from God!
John 11:
28 And when Martha had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.
30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.
It must be noted that Martha’s prayers left God in the same place!
Her Prayers were heard and attended to, but something was missing in her prayers…. She got God’s answer but Not God’s Action!
For he was in the place where Martha Left Him!
There is a great tragedy in the world of Prayer when answers are given but no action is taken!
Martha’s prayer left God where he was when she found him!
However Scripture reveals a far different story when Mary meets the master where Martha Met him!
He stands in the Same Place and She Comes with the Same Prayer!
John 11:32-35
32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
Martha came concerned…. But Mary approached him as a woman consumed!
Martha cared but Mary was consumed!
When Jesus Saw her weeping… he groaned and was troubled
34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
35 Jesus wept.
the only difference in Martha and Marys prayer were that One was Concerned and the other was Consumed!
Martha could live with the Loss while Mary was consumed by it!
It was When Mary fell at the Masters Feet Weeping that GOD ECHOED THE EMOTION that she felt!
Her Prayer stirred God so that he Groaned!
It was only then that he asked the Question
Where have Ye Laid him!
I submit then that God Only waits for the Church to be consumed with the cause of the Lost!
I have come to ask the Question are you just Concerned or are you consumed!
God is waiting for someone to get consumed with their cause!!!
The world is full of Marthas who pray the prayers and talk the talk…while God is looking for a Mary That is so impassioned that she stirs the heart of God for what is Lost!
Prayers that Move God are prayers prayed by those who are consumed with their cause…
Unrelenting… Unstopping….
Mary Personifies them
They are quick to come to his call…. They refuse to hide their true emotions….
They Fall at his feet and Their Prayers Pierce the Heart of God!
And God is ready to step into their situation!
God is stirred up by their Passion!
“Where have they laid him” ….
He is saying “I want to move into the realm of miracle ministry!!!”
God is ready to step in and suspend the Laws of Nature!!!
God is ready to steal the sting of death and revive what was Lost When a prayer of passion is Made!
I submit that it is time for the church to get God to move!
You want a move of God in your family…. Get Consumed with the Cause!
You want God to move on your Job! Get Consumed with the Cause !
You want God to Move in our City! Get Consumed with the Cause of the City!
God is right where Martha left him…
He is waiting in the place where she left him with a passionless prayer!
But if Mary ever moves in…. If Passion ever presents itself in Prayer… Something Awakes in God and mobilizes him and puts God into Action!
It is Marys passion that hastens the movement of God toward revival of the dead!
John 11:33-44
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
When Mary prayed with Passion God was willing to weep with her….
He was willing to roll the stone away and remove the obstacles
All because of a prayer of Passion he was moved to make lazarus live again!
Martha was concerned ….
But Mary was consumed!
In Closing
Paul and Silas sat in Prison and sang praises…
They were consumed with Passion to keep on praising!
God shook the foundations..!
Hannah prayed in the temple for a child to be born! So consumed that she seemed drunk! She was consumed with the cause of a child!
God gave her Samuel!
Rachel cried out to Jacob Give me Children or else I Die! Consumed with the Cause of motherhood!
God gave her Joseph!
Daniel Cried Out in a lion’s Den. Consumed with the cause of life!
God Shut the mouths of Lions!
David was consumed with the Cause of Worship! He Cried out For the Zeal of My Father’s House hath eaten me Up! He Danced unabashed before the ark of the covenant unashamed… consumed with the cause of worship!
God gave him a name among the nations and status of friend of God!
Moses was consumed with the cause of an enslaved nation… he stood against pharaoh and cried out for divine direction, if thy presence go not with me carry me not up hence!
God gave Moses guidance through a dry and weary land!
Joseph was consumed with the cause of his family, he was so committed that he never compromised his integrity in good times or bad!
God gave him favor with a nation and Status as his families saviour!
Paul was consumed with the cause of the call!
It was him that said ”But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”
Paul himself said “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
Consumed… they were beyond concerned
their passion so stirred the heart of God that he would do all in his power to answer their prayers with Action!
The end result of Prayers that move God will always be the pictured with the Words “Lazarus come forth!
The final result of being consumed was seeing God reverse the situation… And through her prayer Mary saw the reversal of nature’s course in Lazarus shaking himself loose from the grave clothes that bound him.
Simply because She prayed a prayer that put God in Action!
