PRAYING THROUGH
JAMES 5:13 20
Read 5:13 20 We've come to the last section in the book of James which deals with prayer and care. And once again we can see a pattern that James developed right from the beginning. In chapter 1, when he insisted that life's trials are the God appointed way to spiritual maturity, he at once called us to prayer.
And that was so that in answer to believing, undoubting prayer we might receive from God the wisdom that would guide us on our way to the crown of life. He established a sequence of patience...and prayer. We find the same thing here at the end of his letter.
There are 7 references to patience, waiting, and perseverance in verses 7 12...and they are matched with 7 references to prayer in the verses I just read. And it's clear that the way forward in our walk with the Lord is the way of prayer. And James introduces us first to the praying individual...which is what I want to look at this morning.
Now, to pray to God is to acknowledge that he has the power to meet our needs. Why would we waste our time and energy in prayer if we didn't think God had the ability to answer our requests?
But James isn't just satisfied with us realizing that God is sufficient to meet our needs. He wants to be sure that we're making use of this most precious resource. Are we praying and trusting God to meet our needs...trusting and praying until we see the answer?
I doubt if anyone here could give proof that we are really a praying people. Sure, many start out okay...but how many are able to pray for a situation or a need until the answer comes...even if it takes a lot longer than we would like. PRAYING UNTIL...
I'm convinced that there is one thing the church in America today, as a whole, is absolutely powerless in...and that is the area of prayer. The church knows nothing...or very little about the atmosphere of intercession.
We're going to have to realize one thing...we can afford to be without fancy buildings...we can afford to be without padded pews...or deep pile carpet...BUT WE CAN'T AFFORD TO BE WITHOUT THE POWER OF INTERCESSION.
You know, you can do a lot of things with sin in your life...you can go to church with sin in your heart...you can join a church...sing in a choir...teach a class...preach a sermon. But there's one thing you can't do...you can't pray in a way that will touch the gates of heaven. "If a man regards iniquity in his heart...the Lord will not hear him."
I honestly believe this church is right on the brink of a great revival...I can feel it in my spirit. But we're not there yet. We need to enter the arena of the Spirit...we need to lay hold of the horns of the altar...we need to do battle in the spirit world.
We need to come against the strongholds of the devil...beat back the darkness...plead the blood over our lives! There is one thing the devil is scared of...when we come against him in the name of Jesus.
The church doesn't need people with a head full of theology and a gospel of accommodation and compromise...which is what we have for the most part. It doesn't matter if a person can't give you a simple rule of grammar, or can't solve the simplest mathematical problem...
...but if they get under the anointing and the fire of God...if they get the power of intercession in their soul...that's when they'll be the type of vessel God can use...that's when we'll see revival break out... And that's what we need!!!
We need some men and women who will pick up the Word of God, and be more concerned about travailing than traveling...travailing in prayer rather than traveling to some worldly activity.
We need some preachers behind the pulpit who aren't worried about getting voted in for the next contract...we need preachers who'll preach without worrying who they might offend. What we need are a few religious church wrecking services.
We need a move of God that will upset a few deacons and deaconesses...upset a few elders...upset a few preachers...upset a few old spiritually dead saints. We need a few services where the glory will REALLY come down...cause brother, when we see people on their face repenting then we've come to the place of power.
We don't need men pleasers who refuse to point out sin and compromise...WE NEED A MOVE OF GOD THAT WILL PENETRATE THE WALLS OF SAFETY AND COMFORT WE'VE BUILT UP...WALLS THAT PREVENT A WHOLEHEARTED COMMITMENT TO GOD!
William Barley, who preached with D.L. Moody said, "The world has yet to see what God will do in and through by and for, and with the man that will totally commit to God"
I'd like to rephrase that. Goodridge church has yet to see what God will do in and through, by and for and with the people that will totally commit to God. Do you know what God wants this church to be? Do you know what God wants this church to be??? He wants this church to be an absolute nightmare to the work of the devil. He wants the devil to be in absolute terror!
You think some fine, eloquent, golden tongued orator is going to stand up here and give some neat little discourse out of Life magazine that's going to bring anyone to God? Do you think standing up here trying to be so precise in my diction and everything I say...and preach this thing like it's some book report on a historical Jesus is going to break the bonds of sin and death?
I want to tell you something...the only thing that can bring a sinner out of those pews and up to this altar will not be any cute little words I say...It's the power of the Holy Ghost!!! THAT'S THE ONLY WAY ANYONE WILL COME TO GOD....THAT'S THE ONLY WAY!!!
You're looking at a preacher who's through with going someplace just to be going. God's going to let me be a part of a real Holy Ghost revival. I'm going to be part of the revival that's going to shake America...shake the world, and usher in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Hallelujah!!!!
Some of you don't have the foggiest idea where I'm coming from...but listen to me for others in this room, a light has been turned on...and you will never be the same...because those of us who are seeking this are not going to stop until we see an ushering in of a 20th century book of Acts again.
And once you see His glory, and His power...you can never be satisfied with the status quo again. AMEN? Once you see the glory you'll be ruined for life. God has deposited in you a little coal...He took it off the altar of God...and some of you are saying, "Oh God, I want to see it" and He put it in your soul.
And now that you begin to feel the reality of it sinking in you're saying, "God I want to see in our church and in our community a move of God like we've never witnessed before. But is such a thing possible...could it really happen?
How many remember a phrase that used to be in the church called "praying through?" Does that ring a bell to anyone? Now a days it's done instantly...but the old saints in my home church...they would start singing songs...and you think you've seen worship?...
I've seen worship that went by the hour...and nobody led it but the Holy Spirit. There were people so touched by His presence that they fell out under the mighty power...there were salvations...healings...restorations and deliverances Glory to God!!!
I've seen men drunks who'd use their wives for batting practice...vile, foul mouthed wretches...come and fall on their faces at the altar...and be totally and completely set free...transformed by the power of Almighty God!
But do we really want to see those kinds of things take place anymore? The only way it will happen is to stop grieving the Holy Spirit...and begin to get serious with Him. It'll take a heart that is touched and broken at the lost, sinful condition of those around us.
It'll take a blast of reality where we realize the utter sinfulness of the things we overlook or justify...things we do that grieve the heart of God and yet barely get a blush on our faces.
And where does the fault lie? I'll tell you where...we preachers are preaching a bunch of little sermonettes...and we're producing a bunch of Christianettes...we're producing a bunch of people who know a little about religion! And religion will never cut it!
Do you realize that probably 99% of Americans alive today have never seen a demonstration of the power of God! In America today it's not important to preach, "Thus saith the Lord!" ...The blood's not relevant in the 90's...we're in a new day...a new age, and I do mean new age.
I remember sitting in a pew watching my pastor come under the anointing...and seeing sinners run to the altar as he fell under the direction and anointing of the Holy Spirit. And the key was the hours he spent on his face in prayer. I know, because I often prayed with him...
And when he stepped into the pulpit...WHEW it was like dynamite! And the glory came down!!! I remember evening services where people would lay on their faces at the altar until 10 11:00...they were doing business with God. They realized you must pass through your Gethsemene before you find the glory!
Oh God, I want to see those days again. I want to experience the mighty outpouring of love and grace and power. I want so much to see the chains that bind so many of you broken in Jesus name!
I wonder sometimes why we're even here. Today when people come to the church for help...what do we do? If they have a troubled mind...we say Come, let me refer you to a good counselor or therapist...we don't pray for troubled minds anymore...we're not in that business anymore.
A woman comes down the aisle...she's been unfaithful to her husband and the guilt is killing her...and she says, "Please pray for me that God will deliver me." And we'd say, "Sister, don't punish yourself...it's all right. Go see this counselor or psychologist...he'll help you. We don't do that here anymore.
An alcoholic walks in the church and says, "I heard one time you people said God could do anything..." "Oh, that was in the old days. Here's a card with the number for Alcoholics Anonymous...they will help you." We don't do that here anymore. Hurry now, don't throw up on the carpet.
Oh sure, we'll get a little religious and say I'll be praying for you that you'll get the help you need. But whether by our words or our actions we've been telling the world..."We're not in business like that anymore."
Well somewhere I missed it....somewhere I missed it when all this was happening. I was taught to believe that when a man walked through those doors...a man that was hopeless...and everything he went to was hopeless...we'd say to that man just what Peter and John said one day......
..Come here, look on us...we don't have any silver and gold...but such as we have we give you...In the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk. Be healed! Glory to God!
The Bible hasn't changed...God hasn't changed...the Holy Ghost hasn't changed. The Holy Spirit is as powerful today as He's ever been. Do you hear me??? The Holy Spirit is as powerful today as ever!
There isn't going to be any Sesame Street preaching out of this pulpit anymore. I'm going to be holding out for an old fashioned outpouring of the power of the Holy Spirit. My interest isn't in whether I'll sign another contract with this church...it isn't placating and pleasing any Christianettes who are afraid to commit to going all the way with God.
I simply want to be a faithful servant of God who will try to lead you into a deeper relationship with the Lord than you've had to this point. We need a work of God that is so big and so powerful...that no man can stand up and take the glory. God wants to do a work that's bigger than any preacher or singer or teacher or any one else.
If we just had some people that would hold on to the horns of the altar until God hears our prayers...we'd see a revival that wouldn't stop until Jesus comes back to this earth again.
But somebody is going to have to pay the price. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people...His people...if Christians like you and me would humble ourselves and pray...and seek His face...and repent.....He'd send a revival that would shake the earth.
What would happen today, if one person...just one...got out of their seat...walked down here to the loneliest and most difficult spot in the church...and stood in the gap and said to God...
"I'll not turn loose until I see your glory...I'll not turn loose until my loved ones are saved...I'll not turn loose until this church is turned inside out...until sin factories in this community are shut down...until the bars go broke...until revival in its very deepest sense comes on us like that day of Pentecost."
People, prayer is power. Much prayer is much power...little prayer is little power...no prayer is no power. We're nothing more than a religious country club until we know something of the posture of prayer.
If just one person stood here and said, "I want God to break my heart....I want God to prepare me to be a vessel of honor for Him...I'm not going to stop until I see a move of God that exceeds anything we ever dreamed could take place.
But this isn't for everyone. It's only for those who are dead serious in their desire to go all the way with God. It's for those who want to be used by God in a powerful way.
Dr. Cho...pastors the largest church in the world..Seoul, South Korea...said, "The key to our church is that we live on our knees. A man can't stand up and walk with God until he first kneels down before God."
This morning I'm looking for a few good men and women who want to change their lives completely...who will agree to pray with me for a latter day rain that will sweep through this church and community and bring about the revival so desperately needed. Is there any who will stand with me?
