Pray First
Grant van Boeschoten
August 5, 2007
Story 1
During the dark days of the American Revolution, when the Continental Army had experienced several setbacks, a farmer who lived near the battlefield approached Washington’s camp unheard. Suddenly his ears caught an earnest voice raised in agonizing prayer. On coming nearer he saw it was the great General, down on his knees in the snow, his cheeks wet with tears. He was asking God for assistance and guidance. The farmer crept away and returned home. He said to his family, “Its going to be all right. We are going to win!” “What makes you think so?” his wife asked. “Well,” said the farmer, “I heard General Washington pray out in the woods today—such fervent prayer I have never heard. And God will surely hear and answer that kind of praying.”
Story 2
D.L. Moody once entered a tavern in order to ask the bartender if his two little girls might attend his Sunday School. He was told that an atheist club met there every Thursday night and the owner of the bar was in no mood to offend them. Moody looked into the face of this man and pleaded with him on behalf of his girls. Finally the man’s heart was touched and he said, “Preacher, I’ll tell you what I’ll do. If you’ll come down here Thursday night and meet with the boys in a joint discussion, and win, you shall have the children. But if not, its all off!” “Agreed,” said Moody. Moody went right out and looked up a crippled newsboy who really knew how to pray and said to him, “Tommy, I need you next Thursday night!” When the hour of the meeting arrived, Tommy and the evangelist entered the saloon. It was full of men sitting on whiskey barrels, beer kegs, and even on the bar—eagerly awaiting the coming debate. Moody began by saying, "Gentlemen, its our custom to open our meeting with prayer. Tommy, jump up on that barrel and lead us in prayer.” Tommy began to beseech the Lord for the souls of all present. As the tears began to roll down the little fellow’s cheeks, the more tenderhearted of the men beat a retreat. Finally, even the hardest men present began to leave until there was no one left except the bartender, Moody and the praying boy. Moody turned to the father and said, “I claim your girls for my Sunday school!” The bartender answered, “All right, you win. But it’s a queer way to fight!” And Moody answered, “It’s the way I win many a battle.”
Story 3
Tony Campolo, A Baptist minister, was invited to speak at a college in Valley Forge Penn. He drove to the college and before he spoke several men took him in the back room and began to pray for him, that God would use his speech.
While these men were praying, one man, just off the cuff began praying "And Lord, about Burt Harris. Lord, Burt Harris needs you really badly. Because he lives in that trailer down the street and he is considering leaving his wife and family. And Lord if you could just get through to Burt Harris...that would be great." and then went on with his prayer.
Campolo thought, "that is strange that he should pray that here." He went out and he spoke and finished his message and then he got in his car and was driving home. And he picked up a hitch hiker. He said he knew that he wasn’t supposed to pick up hitch hikers, but he thought, ’being a preacher, anytime I can get a captive audience, I’ll take advantage of it."
So he gets this guy in the car and he is talking to him and he says, "By the way, what is your name?" and the man said, "Burt Harris". Campolo stopped the car, turned it around and immediately headed the opposite direction. The man looked at him and said, "What are you doing?" Campolo said, "I am taking you back to your wife and family whom you are trying to leave."
The man went white! He never said another word, he sat there speechless and Campolo drove him straight up to this guys trailer. And the guy says, "How do you know where I live?" Campolo said, "God told me." (in a way He really had.)
Campolo said "I took this guy inside his home and the family and marriage was restored and God did an exciting thing."
Pray First. That’s the order that we are supposed to go through life. Pray first.
You wake up in the morning and what is the first thing that you do?... Pray.
You go to start reading your Bible and what is the first thing that you should do?...Pray
You go to start your day at work, and what is the first thing…Pray.
You go find out about a setback in life, what is the first thing that you should do?...Pray.
You meet a person that you want to date, what is the first thing that you do…Pray.
That’s the order for life, Pray First. Something else second and then the other thing third, but PRAY FIRST.
Here is the reason why. The supernatural determines the natural.
• God spoke, and then the world was created.
• The angel spoke to Mary and Jesus was conceived.
• Joshua and the Children of Israel shouted and the walls of Jericho came down.
• Moses prayed and the plagues came on Egypt.
• God made a covenant with Abraham, Abraham believed and obeyed God for over 10 years and finally Sarah, in her old age, had the baby Isaac.
• The little boy gave his loaves and his fish, Jesus prayed, and the 5000 men and their families were fed.
• Jesus promised the Holy Spirit and 40 days later at Pentecost in the upper room such wind was heard that the people outside wondered what was going on.
There is a Supernatural world that determines what will happen in the natural world.
Daniel was a man of prayer. In Daniel 10 you find the story.
Daniel 10:1-14 (NLT)
1 In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) had another vision. He understood that the vision concerned events certain to happen in the future—times of war and great hardship.
2 When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks.
3 All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.
4 On April 23, as I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River,
5 I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist.
6 His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people.
7 Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide.
8 So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. My strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak.
9 Then I heard the man speak, and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground.
10 Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees.
11 And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling.
12 Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer.
13 But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.
14 Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.”
Daniels life shows us the Example. The work that we do through prayer in the SUPERNATURAL prepares the way for what will happen in the NATURAL.
Turn in your Bibles to 2nd Kings 6.
Pronunciation [AIR ah mee unz]
8 When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers and say, “We will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.”
9 But immediately Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel, “Do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.”
10 So the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he would be on the alert there.
11 The king of Aram became very upset over this. He called his officers together and demanded, “Which of you is the traitor? Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?”
12 “It’s not us, my lord the king,” one of the officers replied. “Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel even the words you speak in the privacy of your bedroom!”
13 “Go and find out where he is,” the king commanded, “so I can send troops to seize him.” And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.”
14 So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.
16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!”
I want to pause the story right there just to emphasize Elisha’s words. Don’t be afraid. For there are more on our side than on theirs.
Elisha is calming his servant’s FEAR with supernatural truth. Elisha is giving a description of the supernatural because he knows and believes that it will determine what happens in the natural.
When he says, “There are more on our side than on theirs” he is talking in supernatural terms.
Elisha’s courage and his firm belief in the power and sovereignty of God challenges me on a personal level. He so strongly believed that God was able to save him that he was not swayed by the enemy army that was encamped at his door.
What gave Elisha that kind of courage? What made him so sure? I mean, this is not the time to put on a brave front; it’s not the right time to bluff. When there is a huge problem staring you in the face, you need to stand on a ROCK, not a hope.
But Elisha had a history with God that gave him that courage.
• Elisha was there the day that his mentor Elijah was taken by God into heaven in a chariot of Fire.
• He had struck the waters of the Jordan river and it was divided,
• He had told the widow to gather all of the jars that she could, and then Elisha watched as God multiplied her oil to fill each and every one of those jars so that the widow would be provided for.
• He prayed that the Shunammite woman might have a son, and then when that son died Elisha lied down on him, face to face, hand to hand and God put his life in that little boy and he sneezed 7 times and came back to life.
• Namaan the leper asked Elisha for healing, and Elisha heard from God and said, “Go dip in the river 7 times” and upon Namaan’s obedience to God’s instructions he was healed.
• Elisha was there when the man accidentally lost his axe head in the Jordan river. “Oh Sir,” the man cried “That was a borrowed axe.” “Where did it fall?” Elisha said. The man showed him and Elisha cut a stick threw it in that spot and the axe headed floated to the surface.
Elisha was standing on a Rock of experience. His life gave proof to the power of God and Elisha knew what God was capable of. He knew that the Supernatural determines the natural.
And so Elisha boldly said to his servant. Don’t be afraid. For there are more on our side than on theirs.
17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.
18 As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, please make them blind.” So the Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.
19 Then Elisha went out and told them, “You have come the wrong way! This isn’t the right city! Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to the city of Samaria.
20 As soon as they had entered Samaria, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, now open their eyes and let them see.” So the Lord opened their eyes, and they discovered that they were in the middle of Samaria.
21 When the king of Israel saw them, he shouted to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? Should I kill them?”
22 “Of course not!” Elisha replied. “Do we kill prisoners of war? Give them food and drink and send them home again to their master.”
23 So the king made a great feast for them and then sent them home to their master. After that, the Aramean raiders stayed away from the land of Israel.
Can you imagine that. Having God open your eyes to the Supernatural. WHAM! Right outside the door is an entire Army of Angels. And Elisha acts like this kind of a thing happens every day.
He acts like it is just NORMAL to know what is going on in the supernatural and I think that to Elisha, this was normal. This was just a way of life.
Elisha was the kind of individual who always “Prayed First”. You see, I don’t think that he was at all surprised when his servant told him that the army was at their door.
After all, it was Elisha who knew what the plans of the Armaneans were. This was the reason why they were trying to capture him.
My guess is that just as Elisha knew what the King of Aram said behind closed doors, that Elisha also knew that the armies were coming for him because God told him their plans. But God didn’t stop there, because Elisha knew what to do when they came. “O Lord, Please make them blind.”
How do you know the answer before you are given the question? How do you know what to do before the situation even begins? How can you be as bold as Elisha was?
• We need to start praying.
• We need to know how it feels to have an intimate relationship with God.
• We need to know the excitement of being a part of God’s plan and ACTUALLY KNOWING WHAT THE PLAN IS.
1. Prayer is more than talking TO God
Any communication expert will tell you that good conversation skills include the art of listening.
Have you ever had a conversation with someone who is only interested in talking? It is as if they simply put up with your words long enough to take a breath so that they can talk again. They tell you about their problems, they tell you their stories, they tell you anything that they can think of, and at the end of the conversation you feel drained. You’re just standing there wishing that the conversation would end, because you can’t get a word in edgewise.
Have you ever thought about how God thinks about prayer? I think that sometimes he is listening to us go on and on and he is just waiting for an opportunity to speak, but we tell him our problems and we tell him our requests and we tell him about all the people who bug us and then we say AMEN and prayer is over. We pray, but we don’t give an ear to what God is saying.
Here’s a thought. When you pray EXPECT that God wants to talk to you.
Some say that they don’t know how God speaks. So ask him to reveal himself to you.
John 10:27 (NKJV)
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
We’ve got to learn how God’s voice sounds. We hear it, and we follow and obey.
Maybe we need to change how we think about prayer.
A good prayer time doesn’t just mean that you made it through your list of requests, no a good prayer time means that you and God were able to communicate with one another.
Prayer is much more than just talking TO God, but there are roadblocks out there that will work against you when you pray.
2. Prayer’s Roadblocks
• Sin
Isaiah 59:1-2 (NLT)
1 Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.
2 It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.
If you have sin in your life, it is blocking you from prayer.
When we deal with the sin in our lives we have to take a 2 pronged approach.
First, rely on the grace of Jesus. He died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins, and by his grace we are forgiven them.
Second we must repent. That means that we are more than sorry for sinning. We are taking steps to reverse our actions, our thoughts and our attitudes. We are cutting that part of our lives out so that it will no longer tempt us.
To deal with sin you must accept the grace of Jesus and you must repent. That means changing your mind, your heart and your actions away from evil.
Sin is a roadblock to prayer.
But did you know that Un-forgiveness is just as serious of a Roadblock?
• Un-forgiveness
Matthew 6:14-15 (NLT)
14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Here is how it works. You accept forgiveness of your sins by the grace of Jesus, and because you are forgiven the roadblock of sin is removed from your life.
But what happens when you refuse to forgive someone else, you cancel your forgiveness as well. You block yourself off from God through unforgiveness.
No matter how wronged you were. No matter how much pain the offense caused you. No matter the setback that came as a result. None of that is worth the price that you pay through un-forgiveness.
It is far better to forgive and in turn be forgiven by God. Don’t block yourself from his voice by refusing to forgive. It’s not worth damaging your relationship with God over.
• Treating your Spouse with Disrespect
1 Peter 3:7 (NLT)
7 In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.
Think of it this way. Suppose that you had a young daughter who caught the fancy of some young man. You watched how he treated her and his obvious disrespect filled you with resolve. One day this young man came to you with a request for a loan to get started in business. What is your reply?
I can tell you what mine would be, When you disrespect my daughter you disrespect me. There is no way that I am going to help you.
I think that might be a picture of how God sees us when we treat our spouse with disrespect. Why would he want to grant our requests when we treat his own children with that attitude?
What’s more is that when we married we made a vow before God to love one another. Disrespect and love do not go together. And so to disrespect is to violate our own commitment to one another.
So I think that I understand what Peter is saying when he says, “Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.”
3. Pray First
There is no problem so big that God cannot change it.
There is no situation so small that God wouldn’t care.
So when you come to a difficult situation, Pray First.
There is no calendar day that does not matter to God.
There is no day that he does not want to talk with you and show you his love.
So when your day begins, Pray First.
There is no relationship that you can be involved in that does not matter to God.
He wants to guide you through life using people to show you his love and people to give you wisdom and insights.
So when you are meeting someone, Pray First, and let God guide you in that relationship.
Simply put, Prayer needs to be the first thing that we do in life.
• When you Pray First you show God that you value his input.
• When you pray first, you put the part of your flesh to death that wants to be in control by forcing it to submit to God’s voice.
• When you pray first you make less mistakes, because you rely on God’s wisdom and not your own.
• When you pray first you determine in the supernatural what will happen in the natural.
This principle carries the same weight of importance in the corporate body as well.
As a church we need to Pray First. It’s pointless to run this ministry or that service if we wont put those things to God first.
I don’t want to waste my time and you don’t want to waste your time doing things that are ineffective. NO. We want to build the church, we want to advance the Kingdom of God, we want to see souls get saved, discipled and put on the path that God created them for.
We are just fooling ourselves if we think that we can do any of these without the help of God. Church, we need to, we must, we simply cannot go on if we don’t PRAY FIRST.
Story
Jim Cymbala, in his book “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire”, details the miraculous growth of the Brooklyn Tabernacle because of its dedication to prayer. In 1972 he was asked to pastor part-time a small church in a shabby two-story building on Atlantic Avenue in New York City. The location was bad. The people were few. The facilities were falling apart. In fact, he tells about how a pew broke one Sunday night, spilling several people onto the floor as he preached.
As he prayed one day about what to do, Cymbala writes that he sensed God speaking: “If you and your wife will lead my people to pray and call upon my name, you will never lack for something fresh to preach. I will supply all the money that’s needed , both for the church and for your family, and you will never have a building large enough to contain the crowds I will send in response.”
He went back to the church and told them that from that moment on the health of the church would be measured by its Tuesday night prayer meeting. That first night 15 people came. God began to move. The church grew. The prayer meeting became larger. They were forced three times to seek larger facilities. By 1985 they were running 1600 each Sunday service. Hundreds came to the Tuesday night prayer meeting. God brought miraculous conversions.
Today, besides the Tuesday meeting, there is a prayer ministry in which each hour of each day of the week, someone is in prayer for the church and its pastor. Its choir is world famous. Its pastor is asked to preach all over the world. But most importantly, lives are being drastically changed by the power of God.
Elisha built his life on the foundation of prayer. He understood that his prayers affected the SUPERNATURAL, and so he prayed with boldness and confidence.
Daniel prayed for 3 weeks, 3 weeks of mourning and crying out to God. And then the angel came and told him that those 3 weeks of prayer had set up the SUPERNATURAL so that Daniel could here from God.
1. Don’t Just Talk to God
2. Avoid Roadblocks to Prayer
a. Sin
b. Un-forgiveness
c. Disrespect
3. Pray First
Prayer:
God, we come to you in the name of Jesus. Because of his sacrificial death we approach you with confidence. God, teach us to pray. Teach us to rely on your wisdom and strength. Teach us how to affect things in the supernatural so that we can witness your power in the natural. We have prayed these things in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Now listen. What is God saying to you?
