"PRAYING THROUGH" YOUR PROBLEMS
Acts 12:5 5Peter was therefore kept in prison, but £constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.
Lieutenant Carey Cash, chaplain to the First Battalion, 5th Marine regiment, was part of the first ground force to enter Iraq some years ago, and says there is no doubt that God was with them. (He also served in Kuwait.) During what is conceded to be the worst day of fighting for U.S. Marines, the first battalion, the most highly decorated Marines in U.S. history, suffered just one casualty. Something Cash calls an absolute miracle in a recent interview with Pat Robertson:
CASH: On April 10th, 2003, our battalion was given orders to seize the presidential palace on the Tigris River. And we went into the center of that city, not realizing that about a thousand Fedayeen were waiting for us.
And at four in the morning, in the dark, they literally unleashed all their fury. It became essentially a nine-hour ambush, from urban fighting, close quarters. The results of which should have yielded untold casualties and many, many Marines dead. Just because of the sheer volume of fire, we suspected anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades were shot at the lead elements of our convoy.
When I got to the palace the next day and began to talk to the Marines, and go and visit them - and we did lose one man, a 22-year veteran - what I saw was not a battalion licking its wounds and overwhelmed with the fight they had just endured. But literally it looked like I'd come upon a group of men who had walked through the Red Sea. Over and over the stories kept coming out to me.' Chaplain, let me tell you what God did for me; Chaplain, the angels that we have been talking about for weeks, preceding this war, shielded me and protected me.' It was amazing.
ROBERTSON: Did they see the angels or did they just know they were there?
CASH: I didn't talk to any Marines who said they saw an angel. But what they did share was that rocket-propelled grenades would come at them, and literally curve in mid-air and go around them. Untold Marines shared with me that rockets would come and literally dive down as if batted by some unseen hand. We had one rocket go through a Humvee passenger-side window, and explode in the compartment. Without a doubt, it should have killed every man in that vehicle. And yet when the explosion came through, it blew out the front of the windshield, and so it exploded out instead of in, and not a single man was injured. And over and over, the accounts of that day were so tremendous, that I realized I had stumbled upon something amazing.
ROBERTSON: Did your people pray? I've heard of a unit in World War II that recited the 91st Psalm, over and over again. Was there special prayer, special confession of God's presence?
CASH: Absolutely, yes. Psalm 91, which is known as the Soldier's Psalm, became very instrumental in the days leading up to that war, even during the war. Joshua 1:9, "Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Be not afraid. Be not dismayed, for I will be with you wherever you go." This became, literally, God's word to us, to remember that we are not going through this alone.
ROBERTSON: It is almost a cliché - there are no atheists in foxholes - what is the faith of those guys? When you go in a battle like that, do they want to know God?
CASH: It is interesting, when I began visiting the men, the last few hours before we crossed the line of departure. They all had their rifles, they had their ammunition, they had all their gear, they had all their training, but in the last moments what all of us needed was something that far transcended anything that training could provide. When I went and visited them, and their eyes met with mine, it was as if we all knew why I was there. We needed to call on God. We were joining a host of warriors, for millennium before battles, who have called out upon the only One who could provide for them and protect them.
ROBERTSON: Amazing stories. Were there others? You mentioned going into Baghdad. Were there other examples of the protection of God that you saw?
CASH: Absolutely. When we crossed in the line of departure, we immediately met a section of Iraqi tanks that we had not suspected would be there. In fact, intelligence had not confirmed or reported their presence.
We came across the border, it was in the dark, their turrets were leveled, we were exposed, we were at a point of what is called critical vulnerability---and their main guns never fired on us. The guns were fully manned by Iraqi soldiers and the company commander told me, after the fight, about that incident. He said, 'Chaplain, if their main guns had fired, all it would have taken is one round to hit one of our armored personnel carriers and 20-30 marines would have been dead in an instant.'
And I remembered back to the countless letters I had received from churches across the nations, saying we are praying specifically that when you cross that border, God will restrain and confuse the enemy. And the fact that those tanks didn't fire and that 3,000 enemy soldiers surrendered en masse and in concert, tells me that God answered those prayers of the people back here in the United States.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Moses prayed and God spared Israel from judgment.
2. Joshua prayed and God caused the sun to stand still.
3. Hannah prayed and God gave her a baby boy.
4. Solomon prayed and God gave him wisdom.
5. Elijah prayed and God sent fire down from Heaven.
6. Jonah prayed and God brought him out of the belly of the
whale.
7. Peter prayed and God raised Dorcas from the dead.
8. The thief on the cross prayed and God gave him eternal life.
9. The CHURCH prayed and God set Peter free from prison.
I. THE CHURCH HAD PROBLEMS
A. PROBLEMS FROM WITHOUT
1. The church was started in the most unlikely place in the
world.
2. Jesus had said begin at Jerusalem. (Acts 1:8)
3. But, Jerusalem was hardened.
4. They wouldn’t hear prophets, much less these Christians.
5. Do you remember how Jesus wept over Jerusalem?
He said:
Matthew 23:37 " 37“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.
6. They had killed their own prophets.
7. They had killed Jesus.
8. Now THEY were supposed to go there and start a CHURCH
9. It was a hard field to work!
B. PROBLEMS FROM WITHIN
1. The treasurer of the church had been stealing money
out of the receipts and had finally committed suicide.
2. The most prominent leader of the church had denied
the faith and denied that he had ever known the Lord.
3. They were commanded by the officials that they were
not to teach or even speak at all in the name of their
founder (Jesus).
4. Hypocrisy and lying had been discovered in the Members
of the church which threatened the power of their
witness.
5. There was racial strife which caused a murmuring in
The membership
6. Their favorite and most faithful deacon (Stephen)had
been murdered.
7. There was a government hit-man (Saul of Tarsus) who
was tracking down individual members of the body.
8. There was conflict over who the gospel should be given
to. Peter had broken with tradition and was preaching
to untouchables.
9. Now, Peter had been put in prison and Herod was
planning on killing him to make a bunch of rich Jews
happy.
C. THE CHURCH HAS ALWAYS HAD PROBLEMS
1. As long as the devil is permitted to live the church will
have problems.
2. As God’s people we must learn to pray in the midst of
problems.
3. As God’s people we must continue to minister in the midst
of problems.
4. We have to follow God’s Word in overcoming problems.
5. The devil is going to attack, you can be sure of that.
6. But praise God: "Greater is he that is in you than he that is
in the world."
7. In the midst of problems we can keep going.
8. In the midst of problems we can say:
1Cor 15:57 "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
II. THE CHURCH "PRAYED THROUGH" ITS PROBLEMS
A. NOTICE WHAT THE CHURCH WAS DOING IN
ACTS 12
1. They have all of these insurmountable problems
2. The normal pastor of our day would have resigned and
moved away.
3. Most modern day Christians would have given up on the
church.
4. But these people had a prayer meeting.
B. IT WAS TIME TO PRAY
1. It wasn’t time to quit.
2. It wasn’t time to run and hide.
3. It wasn’t time to disband the church.
4. It wasn’t time to fire the preacher and hire a diplomat.
5. It was time to pray.
C. FACING PROBLEMS REQUIRES PRAYER
III. THE LORD GAVE DELIVERANCE
A. THEY PRAYED AND GOD ANSWERED (Matt.7:7)
1. The people prayed at John Mark’s mother’s house and the
Lord answered in the prison where Peter was sleeping.
2. They prayed at one place and God answered at another
place.
3. It’s always amazed me how Christians can pray for
something or someone that is somewhere else and expect
an answer, but they don’t expect an answer when they
pray for things at home.
4. These folks prayed for Pete in prison, but they were
Shocked-amazed when he showed up at the door.
5. We pray for Africa, and we believe God moves in Africa.
6. We pray for India, and we believe God moves in India.
7. We pray for those who are in the hospital and we believe that God moves on those people in the hospital.
8. But, many are afraid to pray that God will move right
now, right here where you are.
A story is told – by Fredrick Beuchner I believe – called “The Happy Hypocrite." It is a story about a man who was born with an awful facial deformity. He grew up alone and lonely.
When reaching adulthood, he decided to move from his town to begin a new life. On his way he discovered a beautiful mask that fit his making him look handsome. At first the mask was uncomfortable and he was afraid that people would find out who he really was, but he continued to wear the mask everyday.
In his new hometown, he made many friends and fell in love. But one day a wicked woman from his old home came to his town and discovered this man’s true identity. In front of his friends and fiancé, she forced him to remove his mask. When he removed the mask, it revealed a handsome face. His face had conformed to the mask.
B. ONE LITTLE GIRL HAD FAITH TO LOOK
OUT THE DOOR
2. She went to answer the door when someone knocked.
3. She was excited to see Peter standing there.
4. When she told the rest of the crowd, they refused to
believe her.
5. It seems that she was the only one who prayed in faith
believing.
C. LEARN A LESSON FROM THE EARLY
CHURCH
1. When they had problems, they had a prayer meeting.
2. You better plan on having some prayer meetings, because problems are bound to come.
Dr. Helen Roseveare, missionary to Zaire, told the following story. "A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair.
So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister. One of the girls responded. 'Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, send a doll for the sister so she won't feel so lonely.' That afternoon a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it.
Much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle! Immediately the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper, exclaiming, 'If God sent that, I'm sure He also sent a doll!' And she was right! The heavenly Father knew in advance of that child's sincere requests, and 5 months earlier He had led a ladies' group to include both of those specific articles."
