BETTER BODY BUILDING Part 4
All my illustrations come from Sermon Central unless otherwise noted and the scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted.
WORKING THE PRAYER-MASTER
The Body of Christ is compared at times by the Apostle Paul to physical body we have here on earth. There is one body, one spirit . . Eph 4:12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
Eph 4:16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
For we are all members of one body . . . And knowing that if we all do our part, the body grows and builds itself up in love, we are looking this month at Building a Better Body. We have seen the importance of ‘listening to Our Trainer” who is Jesus Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our Faith, we have looked at the importance of “Eating Right” that is dining on the “Solid Food” of God’s Holy and Perfect Word. Not on milk. Today we go to the spiritual exercises that can develop our body into the strong and solid body that God would like to see and the best place to start is on the Prayer Master.
When I go to the gym, I will use the treadmill and I will use the elliptical machine, I will lift weights, BUT one machine I just don’t want to use is the Stair Master. Anyone that has ever been to the gym knows this one hurts. Most of the times that a machine like this is advertized on television, the people that are using it, well, honestly they really don’t need the gym like we do. BUT, everyone needs to become a Prayer Master.
A lady who had a small house on the seashore of Ireland at the turn of the century was quite wealthy but also quite frugal. The people were surprised, then, when she decided to be among the first to have electricity in her home. Several weeks after the installation, a meter reader appeared at her door. He asked if her electricity was working well, and she assured him it was. “I’m wondering if you can explain something to me,” he said. “Your meter shows scarcely any usage. Are you using your power?” “Certainly,” she answered. “Each evening when the sun sets, I turn on my lights just long enough to light my candles; then I turn them off.” She’s tapped into the power but doesn’t use it. Her house is connected but not altered. Don’t we make the same mistake? We, too-with our souls saved but our hearts unchanged – are connected but not altered. Trusting Christ for salvation but resisting transformation. We occasionally flip the switch, but most of the time we settle for shadows.
We are, I hate to say, a lot like I am at the gym, we use the things that are comfortable for us and stay away from the things that really hurt. Prayer is not room service. But for many we treat it this way. We need something, we just pick up the “God phone” and order it in, ‘Lord, I am really struggling with the bills this month, could you send down a solution” or perhaps it is our health, “Lord, I am not feeling to well this week, could you send down a little feel good?” Folks, being a Prayer Master, as a part of the Body is essential if we are to grow and be built up. AND there must be FAITH to accompany prayer, it is not any good to pray without FAITH. I wish all I had to do was look at the exercise equipment in the gym and I could get myself in shape, but I have to actually use the equipment, and even more so, I have to use it properly.
Jesus told us the same thing about prayer; Matt 21:21-22 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ’Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
Our thoughts about prayer, our thoughts about working out, neither do anything for us. Thinking about doing something never does much for you, it is ACTS that accomplishes and this morning I want to use the letters A C T S to talk about one model for prayer. You know, even if you do get on the Stair Master, if you don’t use it properly it will not accomplish what you truly desire for it to accomplish. If you go to the Lord in prayer, and you don’t have you heart open to Him, you don’t have faith that He will hear you, if your motives for asking are wrong, it will NOT happen.
This morning I want to touch on 4 things we need to do when we pray and the first is ADORATION:
God is good -AMEN? We sometimes forget just how good He really is, a time of being still before Him allows us to see His infinite goodness. Our lives are so busy, mine included, that sometimes we forget too see the blessings of life, and the one that gives those blessings.
Ps 37:7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
Before refrigerators, people used icehouses to preserve their food. Icehouses had thick walls, no windows, and a tightly fitted door. In winter, when streams and lakes were frozen, large blocks of ice were cut, hauled to the icehouses, and covered with sawdust. Often the ice would last well into the summer. One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch. Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. "I closed the door," the boy replied, "lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking." Often the question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are being still enough, and quiet enough, to hear.
Let us take time to see God in all His goodness, let us start focusing our minds on His qualities and characteristics, understanding His faithfulness.
Deut 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.
And seeing His compassionate nature and His power, and His majesty. I believe that if we spend time dwelling on who it is we are speaking with, rather then spending ALL our time thinking about what it is that we want, what we desire it keeps our lives in true perspective, it motivates us to Godly living and it deepens our Love for Him. By spending time in prayer, being still before Him, in adoration, it keeps the true nature of God constantly before us.
Adoration is the A in Acts, C stands for confession. This is truly a big problem for many of us, myself included. We do not want to express the fact they we are wrong. BUT the word of God tells us that WE ALL SIN and FALL SHORT OF HIS GLORY.
When Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual politically correct generalities. But, what they heard instead was a prayer delivered with grace yet full of truth. "Heavenly Father we ask Your forgiveness. We know Your Word says, ’Woe on those who call evil good,’ but that’s exactly what we have done and we confess that: • We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism. • We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. • We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. • We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. • We have killed our unborn and called it choice. • We have neglected to discipline our children and called it self-expression. • We have abused power and called it political savvy. • We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. • We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. • We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, 0 God, know our hearts today, cleanse us from every sin and set us free in the Name of Your Son, the Living Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen." What was the response of the legislators? Some of them walked out and expressed their outrage.
And, folks I hate to say it, but to work the Prayer Master, one must take time to confess their own sin. They must be totally honest, and express their sin before God asking His forgiveness. If we take time to ask God to REVEAL the sin in our lives He will, of course we must listen. If we confess our sin SPECIFICALLY it shows us places where we can work to make necessary changes. If we ask God to help us TURN from our sin, He is faithful - The Psalmist put it this way; Ps 119:133
Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me. And then we must and then ACCEPT His forgiveness as we work the Prayer Master.
1 John 1:9-10 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
I truly love that scripture, if take time to ADORE God and take time to CONFESS to Him, we are getting ourselves and the body where it needs to be, growing and building up as His Word tells us.
Next we want to take a little time to work the Prayer Master in THANKSGIVING. The first thing we can THANK God for is answered prayers, the Psalmist tells us this also:
Ps 118:21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.
There was once a pastor who had a little five-year-old daughter. Now the little girl notice that every time her dad stood behind the pulpit, and was getting ready to preach he would bow his head for moment before he began to preach. The little girl noticed that he did this every time. So one day after the service the little girl when to her dad and asked him, “Why do you bow your head right before you preach your sermon?” “Well Honey” the preacher answered, “ I asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon.” The little girl looked up at her father and asked, “Then how come he doesn’t do it?”
BUT, God does answer our Prayers and we need to thank Him for this, He also pour out blessings upon us, I mean just think about all the different types of blessings God bestows upon us. We are showered with SPIRITUAL blessings, Eph 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
There are earthly blessings we need and want. And God is the Great Dispenser of those according to His will. But there are things better and higher than material blessings. God wants us to have those better things that last.
The satisfaction of knowing your sin is forgiven is a spiritual blessing. The enlightenment whereby we can get out of darkness and into the light - a spiritual blessing! Sonship and inheritance; the quality of life that is grounded in fellowship with Deity; being raised unto eternal life, and the beautiful mansions of heaven. God wants us to have these rich spiritual blessings, in Christ God offers to give us spiritual blessings and crown us with glory and honor. THANK HIM as you work the Prayer Master. God does provide relational and material blessings as well and it is essential that we take the time to THANK him for this in our prayers. I believe that it is not that God needs to hear the words, “Thank You” but that we need to hear about the blessings that He bestows, we need to hear ourselves in prayer, thanking God for what HE GIVES us instead of thinking we are responsible for what we have. This has always been a problem for people. We like having God in heaven because we know He is there when we need him, but do we REALLY KNOW.
A man who had regularly prayed for many years began to wonder if God heard his prayers at all. During one of his routine times of prayer, he started this doubting pattern once again. He stopped praying and thought for a moment. “Enough of this,” he said. He then lifted his eyes toward heaven and yelled, “Hey up there, can you hear me?” There was no response. He continued, “Hey, God, if you can really hear me, tell me what you want me to do with my life.” A voice from above thundered a reply, “I WANT YOU TO HELP THE NEEDY AND GIVE YOUR LIFE FOR THE CAUSE OF PEACE!” Faced with more of a challenge than the man really wanted, he answered, “Actually, God, I was just checking to see if you were there.” The voice from above now answered with disappointment: “THAT’S ALRIGHT; I WAS ONLY CHECKING TO SEE IF YOU WERE THERE.”
If we work the Prayer Master with Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and finally; SUPPLICATION we will be getting the BODY in shape.
Supplication is talking to God about our needs, we also do this for others in INTERCESSION. But whether we are asking for ourselves or for others there are many ways to go about spending time on the Prayer Master in SUPPLICATION. I would warn you though, just like proper use of exercise equipment requires warm up, this part of prayer should be after we have spent time in ADORATION, CONFESSION and THANKSGIVING.
In supplication or intercession the only 2 things we have to have for our part of working the Prayer Master, are FAITH and PATIENCE. I believe that many of us have a short supply of both. Jesus said, If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." And when we PRAY we are speaking with the ONE that can provide ALL things, that is not us. That is our Father in Heaven.
A father watched out the kitchen window as his 7 year old son played in the backyard sand box. He watched him moving several large rocks out of the sandbox. There was one very big rock that was giving his little boy a great deal of trouble. He watched his son move the rock to the edge of the sandbox, but each time it looked like he would be over to move the rock over the side of the sandbox, the rock would fall back into the sandbox. The last time it fell, it pinched one of his little fingers. The father walked out to his tearful son and asked him what was the matter. His son told him all about the heavy rock in the sandbox. The father asked, "Why didn’t you use all the strength you had?" The little boy replied, "I did dad, I did." The father responded, "No son, you didn’t ask your dad." And with that the father reached down and together he and his son removed the rock from the sandbox.
When we understand our reliance on our Father in heaven, we truly become Prayer Master’s. We must have faith that our Father knows what is best for us and that He alone will provide when he is ready, and if it is His will. Our father in heaven knows what we need before we even ask Him, it is our task to believe, without doubting that He will provide for us.
The second essential ingredient in Supplication or Intercessory prayer is PATIENCE. We can never give up on our prayers, we must continue to pray, knowing that He will provide for us when the time is right.
There was a pastor who had a parrot. All the parrot would say was, “Let’s pray, let’s pray.” The pastor tried to teach him to say other things but to no avail. This went on for many years and then one day the Pastor learned that one of his deacons had a parrot. This parrot would only say, “Let’s kiss. Let’s kiss.” So the pastor decided to invite the deacon and his parrot over to his house. When the deacon arrived they put the parrots into the same cage to see what would happen. The deacon’s parrot said, “Let’s kiss, let’s kiss.” The pastor’s parrot said, “Thank you, Lord. My prayers have been answered.” There’s great power in prayer.
It really works if we are willing to wait on the Lord. Becoming a Prayer Master is so important to the building up of the Body, a church that is willing to pray will see many good and powerful things happen. Jim Cymbala tells of how many years ago he started working at building the Brooklyn Tabernacle. This church had no money, a run-down building, and only a few members.
Today, the Tabernacle hosts around 6,000 spirit-filled worshipers. The difference came when Jim, in a moment of desperation, set aside his planned message and called the church to pray. The weekly prayer meeting, not the Sunday worship, became the focal point of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Jim’s belief that "God can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him"
Are you ready to Build a Better Body? Are you working at becoming a Paryer Master? Giving God the Adoration He deserves, speaking to Him and Confessing your sin before Him? Have you given Him thanks today and are you praying with Faith and Patience for the things you need? As the musicians come forward this morning . . . . . INVITATION
