INTRO.- ILL.- Someone said: A friend of mine took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands. When lunch time arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him. They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, "Son, we’ll just have a silent prayer."
Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but he just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, "What in the world were you praying about all that time?" With the innocence and honesty of a child, he replied, "How do I know? It was a silent prayer."
ILL.- Another person said: Attending church in Kentucky, we watched an especially verbal and boisterous child being hurried out, slung under his irate father’s arm. No one in the congregation so much as raised an eyebrow -- until the child captured everyone’s attention by crying out in a charming Southern accent, "Ya’ll pray for me now!"
ILL.- Dwight L. and Mrs. Moody often had guests in their Chicago home. One evening, after a very demanding day, Moody asked a visiting Christian to lead in family devotions. The man expounded on the symbolism in a difficult chapter of the Bible. Then he prayed at great length. When the worship was over, Mrs. Moody and the guest got up from their knees, but Moody remained bowed in prayer. The guest thought that he was praying, but Mrs. Moody soon detected that her husband was asleep!
WHEN I KNEEL BEFORE THE FATHER. Do you kneel before the Father? When and How? Hopefully, you do every day and many times a day. We need to fill our lives with prayer and praise! And we don’t have to do it on our knees but that wouldn’t hurt anybody.
ILL.- I remember when I was student at OCC. Every Wednesday night at the Bible study and prayer meeting old Brother Woody Phillips would preach to us students. I didn’t think he did much teaching but he sure did a lot of preaching. I remember one time when he said, "You OBC students are keeping the local movie theater open!" In other words, he was reprimanding us for going to the show!
In the midst of the preaching and teaching, Brother Woody would stop and say, "Let’s pray about this." He would then ask all of us to get down on our knees between the pews for prayer time. And anybody that wanted to pray, could. Sometimes we had LONG prayer meetings. But one of the funniest things that happened during prayer meeting was occasionally you’d hear somebody snoring!
The moral of that story is don’t pray too long because you’ll fall asleep. Have you ever fallen asleep while praying? How do you feel about that? Does it embarrass you? I used to kind of feel that way until I heard a preacher say that was a pretty good way to fall asleep. However, I still feel a little embarrassed over falling asleep while talking to the God of the universe.
When I kneel to pray.
PROP.- Let’s consider what God is saying about prayer and praying in this text.
1- Prayer is a membership-matter
2- Prayer is a power-producer
3- Prayer is an eye-opener
4- Prayer is a filler-upper
5- Prayer is a glory-getter
I. PRAYER IS A MEMBERSHIP-MATTER
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
Prayer is a family thing. It’s a membership thing and membership does have its privileges. I’m not much of a joiner, but I am glad and thankful to be a part of the Lord’s church. Membership does have its privileges. Church dinners aren’t bad but there are other privileges that are much better.
ILL.- The story goes that one time when Bill Moyers was a special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was asked to say grace before a meal in the family quarters of the White House. As Moyers began praying softly, the President interrupted him with "Speak up, Bill! Speak up!" The former Baptist minister from east Texas stopped in mid-sentence and without looking up replied steadily, "I wasn’t addressing you, Mr. President."
And it’s true that when we pray we are not praying for the people around us. We must not be concerned about what they are thinking, because we are talking to God. And being a part of God’s family gives you this special privilege!
I realize that God listens to all prayers, but it appears that He responds to some more than others. And we’re in that group because we’re in His group! We’re in the church, the body of Christ, the family of God! And this means that God our father is quick to listen to us and answer us.
Matthew 7:11 "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
Even though we recognize that in some ways we are evil, we also know that we are saved by God’s grace. And because of this we are privileged characters when it comes to prayer. God, our Father, is quick to listen, answer and bless us.
II. PRAYER IS A POWER-PRODUCER
16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.
ILL.- Jeanne Assam. Have you ever heard of that name? Here’s the story. COLORADO SPRINGS, Dec. 10 -- A heavily armed man who killed four young people at a missionary training center and a church Sunday apparently intended to gun down many more victims before he was shot by a church security guard, authorities said.
The gunman, identified as Matthew Murray 24, of Englewood, Colo., was carrying an assault rifle, two handguns and as many as 1,000 rounds of ammunition when he shot his way into the huge New Life Church in Colorado Springs and was confronted and shot by 42 year old Jeanne Assam, a former police officer who was serving as a volunteer security guard, police said.
The church, which was riddled by bullets, was closed on Monday. Church staff members and volunteers spent the day working to repair the damage. "I saw him coming through the doors, and I took cover, and I waited for him to get closer," Assam told reporters. "I came out of cover, I identified myself and engaged him and took him down," she said.
Assam, a member of the New Life Church, said that although she was out-gunned and physically weak from three days of fasting, "I was given the assignment to end this before it got too much worse," she said. "I just prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide me. I said, ’Holy Spirit, be with me.’ My hands weren’t even shaking."
Brothers and sisters, I know this is a pretty wild true story and an extreme case of needing strength to do something that needed to be done. Jeanne Assam believes that she was used by God to kill this young murderer and that God gave her the strength. No doubt God intervened in order to stop this young man from killing more people. And of course, later we heard that her bullets did not kill the young men but rather he killed himself after she shot him several times.
I think we all are thankful that we have not had to do what she did. Apparently, she was the right person at that particular time and God empowered her.
However, we all need to power for life, for living. We all come up against things that we are not sure we can handle. WE DO NEED STRENGTH! Where do we get it? Well, we Christians get our strength from the Lord. Or we should.
As humans, we are limited and we have limited strength but God can empower us in ways we never thought possible. Can you recall some of those times?
ILL.- When my dad died in Dec. of 1982 I was a literal mess at his funeral. Some 20 years later in July of 2002 when my mother died it was a different matter. Of course, a part of that difference is the fact that mother believed in Christ and was a Christian. I was never sure about my dad, however, the Lord does strengthen us. I spoke at mom’s funeral and told of her last week when I had been with her. I could never have spoken at my dad’s funeral.
What about other times? What about speaking at funerals, which can be one of the hardest things for a preacher to do? The Lord strengthens and empowers, that’s what!
16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.
Brothers and sisters, if you find yourselves in a difficult situation why not pray, "Lord, strengthen me powerfully by your Holy Spirit in my inner being"? He can do that.
III. PRAYER IS AN EYE-OPENER
17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
Prayer is an eye-opener to the love of Christ.
ILL.- Recently, I fueled my car at Sam’s. While there I visited with a man who was getting gas. He was driving a Toyota Prius and I was interested in how much gas mileage he got since the Prius is supposed to be a high mileage car. He told me that he was getting 44 mpg on the highway, but said it used to get over 50 mpg before they put additives in the gas. Nevertheless, he was "sold" on the Prius.
He was so sold that he told me he had two of them. I happened to notice there was another Prius at the next pump and said, "There’s another one."
He said, "That’s my wife!" After fueling her car she came over to see her husband. He said, "We don’t get to see one another very much. She works nights and I work the third shift."
I thought, "Mercy, they probably meet one another coming and going." Then suddenly she grabbed her husband and they kissed. I thought, "How nice." We continued to talk about both cars and then she grabbed her husband again, they kissed and she said, "I love you." I said, "Wait a minute! Let me get my camera."
Wasn’t that sweet and nice of them? I drove away thinking it was rather obvious that they have something going there and it’s called "love." They are obviously in love. And I suspect that the more they see one another and communicate with one another, the more they love another.
Isn’t this how it’s supposed to work with Christ? The more we see Him, fellowship with Him and talk to Him, the more we love Him! And so prayer is an eye-opener to the love of Christ. The more we pray, the more we appreciate Him for the loving Savior that He is.
IV. PRAYER IS A FILLER-UPPER
18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
ILL.- How do you like the gas prices? I saw a cartoon that showed a grandpa talking to his little grandson about the cost of gas. He said, "Back in 1952 gasoline cost 20 cents a gallon. When you pulled up to the gas pumps three guys came out and checked your oil, checked the air in your tires, and washed your windshield." The little grandson in response thinks to himself, "This must be that thing they call senility."
We all remember the days when gas was leaded and pretty cheap. What’s the cheapest price you remember? I can remember 15 cents a gallon in Joplin, but I’m sure it was much cheaper when I was a baby.
I don’t care much for filling up my gas tank when the price keeps getting higher. Of course, we know we’re blessed compared to some states where the gas price is over $3 a gallon. I never thought I’d see it that high and of course, it may go higher. This is one kind of fill up that most of us don’t like.
However, there is another kind of fill up that we all should strive for, enjoy and look forward to and it doesn’t cost much at all.
The filling that we all need more of is the filling of God. We all need to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God, as Paul says. And prayer is one thing that will help us to get there!
The more we pray, the more the filling will come.
ILL.- Remember Enoch of old? What does the Bible say about him? He walked with God and was not. His walk with God was so good, so close, so holy that God did not allow him to see death. Wow! Amazing! We all need a walk like that. It may never come to that point but to walk with God we need a great, larger prayer life. The more we commune with God, the more He’ll be with us. To fill up with God we must fill up our lives with prayer.
V. PRAYER IS A GLORY-GETTER
21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
A glory-getter for God! The more we pray, the more glory He will get!
ILL.- I saw an interview on TV with Cybill Shepherd and her daughter. They were talking about some movie they’d made. Cybill’s daughter said something that she had to do in the movie that she didn’t want her mother to see. Cybill said, "That’s ok, I’m nearsighted." Her daughter said, "Thank you, Jesus!"
Thanking Jesus for most things in life is a good thing because that means that He gets the glory. However, in this case, I don’t the girl actually meant it. BUT WE SHOULD! We should say those words often (Thank you, Lord!) and meant it with all our hearts!
Of course, why would we say those words? Because we’re blessed. Because something good happened to us.
ILL.- I remember the first time I saw Dr. Sievers from Memphis who is a Retinal doctor. It happened last summer when Roger and Nic Celis were here. I started seeing flashing lights with my dominant left eye so my eye doctor sent me to Dr. Sievers. After dilating and looking deep into my eyes from all angles, he said, "Well, you have no retinal detachment." I said, "Thank you, Lord!" And surprisingly, he said, "Amen."
We used to think that the Pentecostals were the only Christians who went around saying, "Praise the Lord!" They may have but we need to do some of that too. The Lord has blessed us all and continues to pour out His blessings and every time we see them, we should praise Him!
21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Brothers and sisters, keep praising the Lord every chance you get and for every good thing in your life! And you will be surprised at what will happen in your own life!
When I kneel to pray in my car, at home, in my office, wherever, I want to please God and draw closer to Him. Let’s keep on praying and praising!
