Loving the Lord, Part 7 (Loving the Lord through your Prayer Life)
Matthew 14:23 / Romans 12 / Acts 12
Introduction
In your bibles go to Matthew 14 and Romans 12
This morning we will conclude our series on “Loving the Lord”
This message has one of the most important aspects that believers must take part in, and is something that I believe we need to do more of …
We need to spend more time in prayer, asking God for strength in everything
As we will see this morning, prayer is not only something that God holds in extremely high regard, but is something that individually we must endeavor to excel in; for it is our one and only communication with God
Because of the life that Jesus Christ paid with; our responsibility is to continue drawing closer to Him every day that He gives us
James 4:14 says, “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
Because in God’s timing our lives are so short; we must draw closer to Him with each moment that we are given
We’ve been studying on Wednesday nights and we see Ephesians 5:16 tells us to be busy “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” – and if we are to redeem the time appropriately, we must spend it in prayer for strength and courage
Remember last week that we said in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived, God will not be mocked”? Let us remember that prayer is God’s thing; it is not our thing – and so when we say we are going to pray, we must earnestly go to the Lord in prayer.
Stand and read 2 separate passages this morning:
Matt 14:22-24, “Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone”
Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Pray
Point 1 – Praying Alone (Matt 14:22-24)
The first thing we need to focus on is that we are taught to pray alone
Jesus showed us how to pray with the Lord’s Prayer … but there’s more
Corporate prayer (in groups) is a very good thing, but intimacy and growing in faith and love with our Lord is something done privately
Mark 1:35 says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
Ex: We come to church to learn and hear together – but there are 6 (5) other days of the week where we have the opportunity to read and study
Background: We need to understand that this takes place shortly after the feeding of the 5,000 … and was a time for Jesus to get alone with the Father to pray for additional strength, guidance, to ask for instruction, give thanks
Allow me to give you four things that prayer must be (Take notes? ACTS):
1 – Adoration (adoring God for who He is in your life …)
2 – Confession (laying before the Father the sins we must remedy …)
3 – Thanksgiving (being thankful for how God is working in you …)
4 – Supplication (asking God for things you need (not want) …)
Prayer however, is NOT taking time to be with God to set Him up for the “big ask” to get what you want
James 4:3 says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
We need to take time to spend with the Lord, alone, so that we can allow Him to pour into our lives. Again (remember) that prayer is God’s thing
It is an opportunity to be alone with the Father, and to spend
Second, we must pray with persistence in everything
Point 2 – Pray With Persistence (Romans 12:12)
This deals with Love in Action (prayer)
APP: If God’s Word tells us to do something, our mission ought to be to do it – but, it is when we try to take it apart that we run the risk of troubles in our lives
We see in the instruction here from Paul to act in the present tense of verb
Each of these exercises the other.
If our hope of glory is so assured that it is a rejoicing hope, we shall find the spirit of endurance natural and easy;
It is "prayer" that strengthens our faith – and that gives life to hope and lifts us up into an assured and joyful expectancy;
And so, our patience in tribulation is fed, but it all depends on our "perseverance in prayer."
Will be ones who pray with persistence?
Let’s examine one of the worst examples we have of failure to be persistant and allow faith to grow as a believer
Question: Do you believe the disciples were strong men of God?
Point 3 – Pray Faithfully (Acts 12:5-15)
Go to Acts, Chapter 12 – Read 5-15
Disciples prayed for Peter to be freed – but did not believe it when it God showed up and revealed His power and authority
Let me ask, what was it that the disciples were praying for?
Were they not praying for Peter to be released? (see verse 5)
But, when God answered their prayers what was the response? Unbelief!
APP: If the disciples struggled with being faithful to pray, how about us?
The underlying word here is that if the disciples struggled in their prayer life, how much more should we devote to practicing the strengthening of our prayer life every day?
It is a conversation -- it is a relationship that grows every day
Matthew 6:6-8 says, “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
Will we love our Lord so much that His obedience for us to pray takes more priority in our life over everything else?
How faithful was Jesus to pray? Luke 6:12 says, “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.”
This entire series has been focused on loving the Lord through our lives; through how we relate to Him each and every day
EMPHASIS: Before we can relate to Him we must know who He is, and that has to begin somewhere – why not now?
Pray
