Series: What is the Spirit saying to the church today?
The expression, "what the Spirit says to the churches" occurs in each of the seven letters to the particular churches in the book of Revelation. In these letters, Christ reminds these churches that he sees what is going on in their churches. He highlights spiritual success and addresses their spiritual failings to each community, and then He offers appropriate encouragement or rebuke. These are the last recorded words of Jesus in the Bible and remind us the church of today that we need to be doing what God has called us to do. Because Jesus knows what is going on!
Sermon 1: Know the times
The Spirit today is saying to know the signs of the times and this will only happen in your life when you really know God’s Word and study it to recognize and discern His voice over the many false voices ringing out in this day. Jesus said, “My sheep will know my voice” John 10:14-18: “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
Sermon 2: Know and use your spiritual gifts
Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 tells us all to know our spiritual gifts and know how to use them for the common good of the church. We also need to know that we all have different gifts but this is God’s plan and it’s a good thing to have diversity. We also need to know that each one of us with our gifts is valuable to the spread of the Gospel in our society.
Sermon 3: Know if you are drifting – if so - “Return to your first love!”
The church is being called on by the Holy Spirit to return to its first love! That first love is the Lord Jesus and it requires a change of direction on our part as Christians to return to Him.
Sermon 4: Know prayer – then pray with urgency!
Scripture Texts: Mt 21:13; Isa 56:7; Acts 6:4; Phip 4:6; and James 5:13-20
Matthew 21:13:
Jesus at the Temple
12Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13“It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’”
14The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.
15But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
16“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?”
17And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
Isaiah 56:6-7
6And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—
7these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
Acts 6:1-4
1In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
2So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables.
3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them
4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
Philippians 4:6
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
James 5:13-20:
The Prayer of Faith
13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back,
20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
Thesis: The Body of Christ needs to start praying with an urgency of the hour, too much time is being wasted by lack of prayer. Jesus prayed and many others through history have prayed and we need to be praying fervently for our church, family and nation.
Introduction:
Too many talk about prayer, push prayer but don’t pray! I have gone to prayer seminars and heard great teachings on prayer but you know what no one prayed. So today I believe the Spirit of the Lord is telling us to pray so we will start our message today with prayer.
Dave Fredrick’s – From the Vineyard - 30-Second Healing Prayer Exercise
Welcome!
We are going to begin by taking a little time to pray for physical healing. If you are here for the first time, I promise you, it looks nothing like TV! No one is going to yell at you, push you, or anything else like that. And you are free to just watch, or join in, whichever you prefer. We are only going to take a couple minutes to do this, and then we will move on to our teaching. We believe that Jesus is still doing the same things now that he did in the Bible, and we want to stretch ourselves a little in order to go after it.
Let me tell you how we are going to do this. In a couple minutes, I am going to ask anyone who has a physical problem to stand up, and then we are going to pray and ask God to heal you right now.
When we pray, we are going to do it in a very particular way. If you are used to doing it differently, I would ask that you humor me and let that go. If you aren’t clear why feel free to grab me after the service. You will only have about 30 seconds to pray. If you are praying for someone, when I say “go” you just go over to them, ask them their name, and where it hurts. Please don’t get a medical history or more details—you don’t have time for that. Then you are going to pray, and I want you to pray in a specific way.
When you pray, if the person is comfortable with it, you can put your hand on the area that hurts, and then simply ask God, in Jesus’ name, to heal and restore it. That’s it. Or you can speak to the condition in Jesus’ name, and command the pain to leave. Nothing else!
Please do not give advice or counsel, pray for the doctors to have skill, give prophetic words, rebuke the devil, tell God how worthy they are (both the person and God know that’s not true), or pray for anything else! That is not what we are doing right now. Just pray they will be healed.
Also, do not pray “if it’s your will.” No child at Christmas ever went up to their dad and said, “Dad, could I have a bike if it’s your will?” So we are going to pray like we are kids at Christmas, and just ask our heavenly dad for a gift. OK?
Once you finish (and I’ll be timing you and I’ll tell you when you are done), ask them how it feels. There are only three possible results:
One: They are completely healed;
Two: They aren’t healed at all—nothing has changed, or
Three: They are somewhere in between the two—there is some improvement, but there is also still some pain. There are no other options!
If it’s #1, you are done. If it’s #2 or #3, pray once more. You can pray the exact same way—it isn’t really about how good or creative a pray-er you are, so it’s ok to use the exact same words again if you want. If you are getting prayer, you might want to test it out—move in some way, or see if you can do something you couldn’t do before.
When you finish, ask them again, and then take a seat. After we are all done, I’ll do a little survey and we’ll all find out what happened. Just so you know, we’ve done this several times and we have always seen some people healed; we have also never seen everyone healed. But we believe if we don’t go for it, nothing will happen, and we are committed to trying to learn and grow.
So—if everyone who is sick or has a physical problem could stand up, we will get started. (Pause). Now for the rest of you, if you are comfortable, please gather around each of these people and pray the way we just talked about. Like I said earlier, if this is new to you, feel free to just watch—we won’t take long.
(Once the pray-ers start moving, I ask the people wanting to receive prayer to raise their hands until someone gets to them, because once people start moving around it is hard to tell who is who).
After everyone returns to their seat, I ask “Of those who got prayed for, who is either completely healed or noticeably better, even if it isn’t 100%?” I often go through and ask them what their condition was, and how they are now (depending on the number of people we are talking about) but I don’t take full testimonies—there isn’t time for it. Sometimes if someone is real excited they can’t help it and go on and on, but that is usually worth it.
I end with an encouragement for those who weren’t healed at all, or weren’t fully healed, to get more prayer after the service from our trained prayer team, noting that often the longer we pray, the more we see happen. Then we go on.
With practice, you can get it down to 5-6 minutes
Comments
There is a method to the madness for much of this.
We are very clear that no one has to participate if they aren’t comfortable—we don’t want anyone feeling pressured. We emphasize it isn’t like TV, because that is a fear/barrier for many.
Telling people ahead of time “in a moment I am going to ask you to take a risk and stand up…” gives people notice. Since they know what is coming, and have a chance to get over their initial fear, we see more people stand, often including visitors. No one likes to stand up for something unknown, or without any time to prepare themselves. We try to eliminate the unknown in order to eliminate the fear, which is why I spell things out in such detail.
I am very specific about how people are to pray. That is the only way I can do “quality control” since I can’t control who is praying, and someone new or untrained could get involved. (You could limit pray-ers to prayer team people; we’ve decided not to do that). If someone does pray differently, the people receiving know it, and they don’t blame the church.
The time limit also helps—there just isn’t time for people to do anything crazy.
Humor helps—I often make a comment about not needing to wear a white suit, no one will push you over, etc. People really “get” the Christmas picture also.
I really do time it and keep people moving. “By now you should be praying for the first time…you only have 15 seconds left” “By now you should be starting your second round if you need to pray again…” etc.
Giving the three possible results, including “not healed at all” really sets people free from having to perform or produce; it takes the pressure off. We see new people pray because we frame it as learning and putting ourselves out there, without having to risk feeling guilty if they “fail.” Starting with the assumption that not everyone gets healed also takes the pressure off those receiving prayer.
We are starting to see people pray that way outside of church. For those who aren’t confident or comfortable praying, knowing that just praying for 15-30 seconds “counts” gives them courage to step out. The exercise pushes people with an established approach out of their comfort zone a bit; it also makes it clear that it isn’t how eloquent or smooth we are in our praying that makes the difference.
One possible way to save time is to put some of the info on slides and project them. Probably do’s and don’ts of praying and maybe the three possible results. We haven’t done that yet, but I think it could work and save a little time.
I usually tip off our prayer team and leaders if we are going to do it, so they are ready to go right away. Our intercessors pray for the time before the service as well.
Feel free to contact me with questions at davidjfred@gmail.com. If you try it, let me know how it goes—I’d love to hear. And if you come up with some other variations, let me know also—I’m always up for improving on what we do.
T.S. – Let’s look at the importance of prayer in Jesus life and ministry.
I. Jesus and prayer:
a. Mark 1:35-38: Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place
35Very 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.
36Simon and his companions went to look for him,
37and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
38Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”
i. Jesus prayed continually throughout His life and ministry. Why? Because he stayed in constant communication with the Father God. He prayed for direction, he prayed for people’s healings, he prayed for people to be delivered, he prayed for unity among his followers, he prayed for children and adults, he prayed to raise the dead, he prayed in private and in public. He would even stop doing ministry to go away and pray. He taught on prayer. He told his disciples to not pray like the Pharisees to be seen by others. He told them not to pray repetitiously but with clarity. He showed them how to pray in Matthew 6:5-15; and in Luke 11:1-11 from which we get the Lord’s prayer:
1. Video Illustration: The Lord’s Prayer
a. Have the congregation repeat the prayer out loud after the video from Matthew 6: 9-13:
i. Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
‘Give us this day our daily bread.
‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
ii. A few verses later in Luke we find Jesus teaching his disciples that God does listen and He does respond to their prayers. He tells them, 9“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
1. He is teaching His followers the truth that God wants us to ask – so he can give to our need – when we seek his help – we will find and receive his help- then we will see that the door to God – to help – to hope – to miracles is open not closed.
2. So it’s okay to ask God for things:
a. But hear are few suggestions:
i. Andy Stanley states from his book Visioneering, “Our tendency is to pray for miracles. But in most situations, it is more appropriate to pray for opportunities. More than likely you need an opportunity rather than something supernatural. If you are a parent, you probably have a vision for your children. Instead of simply praying that they would become men and women of character, pray for opportunities to build character into their lives. Your vision involves you. You have a role. You have a part to play. If you have a vision for unbelieving friends, don’t simply pray that they will be saved. Pray for an opportunity to speak to them about Christ” (Page 31).
T.S. – We have learned the importance of prayer from Jesus himself. Scripture tells us that we need to become more like Him so we need to pray more. We also need to make it a priority like some of the following heroes of the faith.
II. Pray warriors – change agents of prayer:
a. A Brief Biography of George Mueller: God used George Mueller wonderfully in an abundance of ministries. Simultaneously he pastored a church of 1,200 members; operated Sunday schools that taught and evangelized thousands of children; housed, fed clothed, taught and evangelized 2,050 orphans annually for decades; supported 187 missionaries; organized the Scriptural Knowledge Institute that distributed vast quantities of Bibles, Scripture portions, and tracts. Relying solely upon God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and prayer he supported all of these works. At the age of seventy he began a series of missionary speaking tours that took him to Europe, Asia, North American, and Australia. Mr. Mueller was an educated man able to preach in English, German and French without the need of an interpreter. He also was well versed in both Greek and Hebrew. Thousands attended the meetings at which he spoke. In addition, he received hundreds of invitations that he was unable to accept.
i. Mr. Mueller never accepted a salary for any of these ministries. Neither did he tell anyone of his personal need nor any of the ministries needs. He told only God and God honored and anointed him mightily.
ii. He was considered to be one of the great men of faith who knew the power of prayer.
1. The night at dinner sitting with his orphans and his prayer.
b. Father Nash and Finney’s success: Article http://www.evanwiggs.com/revival/portrait/nash.html
i. In the battlefields of the spiritual world the true heroes are often the unseen by the world. These are the ones often touched by heaven, who breathe the rarified air of the secret place of the Most High. Such a one was Father Nash a partner to the much better known evangelist Charles Finney during the Second Great Awakening. Daniel Nash started as a preacher in upstate New York. His record there is singularly unremarkable. At age 48 he decided to give himself totally to prayer for Finney’s meetings. Nash would come quietly into towns three or four weeks in advance of a meeting, gather three or four other like minded Christians with him and in a rented room start praying and bringing heaven near. It is reported that in one town all he could find was a dank, dark cellar, but that place was soon illumined with holy light as he made it the place of intercession. In another place as Finney relates: When I got to town to start a revival a lady contacted me who ran a boarding house. She said, "Brother Finney, do you know a Father Nash? He and two other men have been at my boarding house for the last three days, but they haven’t eaten a bite of food. I opened the door and peeped in at them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces. They have been this way for three days, lying prostrate on the floor and groaning. I thought something awful must have happened to them. I was afraid to go in and I didn’t know what to do. Would you please come see about them?" "No it isn’t necessary," I replied. "They just have a spirit of travail in prayer." When the public meetings started Father Nash would not usually attend but kept praying in his closet for the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to fall on the crowd and melt their hearts. When opposition arose Father Nash would pray all the harder. Once a group of young men promised to break up the meetings. Nash was praying nearby and came out of the shadows to announce: "Now mark me, young men! God will break your ranks in less than one week, either by converting some of you, or by sending some of you to hell. He will do this certainly as the Lord is my God!" Finney thought his friend had lost his sense. But by next Tuesday morning the leader of the group suddenly showed up, confessed his sinful attitude before Finney and accepted Christ. "What shall I do Mr. Finney?" he asked. Finney told him to go back to his companions and tell them how Christ had changed his life. Before that week was out nearly all of the original group had come to Christ. In 1826 both Finney and Nash were burnt in effigy. The enemy recognized the threat of Father Nash’s prayers to their ways of wickedness. Shortly before Nash died in 1831 he wrote: I am now convinced, it is my duty and privilege, and the duty of every other Christian, to pray for as much of the Holy Spirit as came down on the day of Pentecost, and a great deal more….My body is in pain, but I am happy in my God…..I have only just begun to understand what Jesus meant when he said, "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." It is interesting to note that within four months of Father Nash’s death Finney left the evangelistic field to take a Church in New York City. His prayer partner in taking the enemy by storm was gone. He whose prayers had been the strength of the campaigns was now in his eternal home and the loss of power was felt. Father Nash’s grave is in a neglected cemetery almost on the border of Canada in northern New York. The tombstone reads. DANIEL NASH - Laborer with Finney - Mighty in Prayer - Nov. 17, 1775 - Dec. 20, 1831
ii. Daniel Nash was not written up in the papers of the day. The elite of his day took no notice of him. There was notice in Heaven of this humble man. Like Paul, the demons knew him by reputation. In his heart dwelt fully the burning Spirit of God. Great is his reward in Heaven.
c. Mike Bickle – IHOP
i. Video Clip: of Misty Edwards leading prayer time.
ii. Founder of International House of Prayer – the following is from their website ihop.org:
1. Mike Bickle is the director of the International House of Prayer Missions Base of Kansas City (IHOP–KC), an evangelical missions organization based on 24/7 prayer with worship that is engaged in many evangelistic and inner city outreaches along with multiple justice initiatives, planting houses of prayer, and training missionaries.
2. IHOP–KC has continued in non-stop prayer led by worship teams since September 19,1999, and is committed to combining 24/7 prayers for justice with 24/7 works of justice. Around 1,500 people (staff members, students, interns) serve full-time on the missions base, investing fifty hours per week in the prayer room, classroom, and ministry outreaches. Mike is also the founder of the International House of Prayer University which includes a full-time Bible school, music school, and media school.
3. Mike is the author of several books including Passion for Jesus, Growing in the Prophetic, The Pleasures of Loving God, After God’s Own Heart, and Prayers to Strengthen Your Inner Man. Mike’s teaching emphasizes growing in passion for Jesus through intimacy with God, doing evangelism and missions work from the place of night and day prayer, and the end times.
d. A modern day soldiers story of the power of prayer: From Preaching Today - Soldier Experiences Protective Hand of God Courtney Birdsey (as told to Julie E. Luekenga), "Prayers in the Desert," Today’s Christian (May/June 2005) | posted 5/18/2009: While serving in Iraq, Courtney Birdsey experienced the protective hand of God, forever changing her. She says: On one of [our] missions, my unit made a return trip to Samarra, north of Baghdad, to gather data. As we were leaving the town, the Humvee I was riding in approached a tank from behind. A soldier riding on the tank gave us an urgent "turn around" signal. We didn’t hesitate to follow orders. We doubled back to Samarra, only to find ourselves surrounded by gunshots. All of us jumped out of our vehicle and took cover—some of us running ahead and some of us staying with the Humvee. I readied my weapon and hunkered down against the back corner of the Humvee. Amid the gunfire, a black BMW sped through the street at 70 miles per hour—the Iraqi passengers inside, pointing their guns through open windows, opened fire at any American soldier within range. We exchanged shots, and suddenly the BMW careened, out of control, toward the Humvee where I was crouched. I could see the driver slumped over the steering wheel and knew I had only seconds to make a decision. With my heart pounding and unformed prayers racing in my mind, I ran to the front of the vehicle just before the car slammed into the very place I had been just seconds before. We were told we would have to transfer the wounded in our own vehicle. In the background, completely incongruent to the battle I was facing, I could hear the droning of Muslim prayer chants over loudspeakers. My convoy was commanded to drive to an American safe house on the outskirts of town. The chanted prayers and the lamb-like groans of a dying man behind me echoed in my head. Finally we arrived at the safety of the compound. I looked down at my uniform, dirty and speckled with the blood of the wounded. I stepped out of the truck and dropped, shaking, to my knees, thanking God for our safety. After this encounter, my faith took on a deeper and more personal perspective. I had felt the protective hand of God as we returned to our base physically unscathed. For my remaining time in Iraq, I began to rely heavily on my constant communication with God. Praying without ceasing became, for me, as natural as breathing. Finally, in April 2004, my unit returned home to Colorado Springs. As the National Anthem played over the loudspeaker celebrating our arrival, I felt the tears I had been unable to cry for months stinging my eyes. I thought of my love for this country, the safety of my military family still in Iraq, the loss of those I had known, and of my family waiting in the stands to greet me. Now back home, I strive to readjust to my life. The pace seems so hurried now. No more endless waiting under the unbearable heat of the sun that rises at 4 A.M. I coach a girls’ high school softball team and encourage them in the sport I used to play. I try to capture a vision of my future by taking classes at a local college and working toward a degree. But it’s not easy to move forward with five more years of my reserve duty still to go. There’s always the underlying fear that I may be called back. The visions and sounds of Iraq are never far from my thoughts. In many ways the experience there grew me up. I’m not the same person, spiritually or emotionally, that I was before I left. I still suffer from nightmares—images that come alive in my sleep, especially after a stressful day. But each time I see or hear of events in Iraq, I am reminded of how God faithfully protected me. I know now, no matter what the future brings, I’m never alone.
T.S. – We have learned how important prayer is to a few famous real life heroes of the faith but how does prayer and you go together – You may be thinking how does prayer fit into my life?
III. You and prayer
a. Now is the time to Pray!
i. Philippians 4:6: 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
ii. 1 Thess 5:17: 17pray continually
iii. Ephesians 6:18-20: 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel,
20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
i. Not tomorrow today! Now!
ii. We need to pray that God would send laborers to our church to bring in the harvest. Today
iii. We need to be a House of Prayer today-not tomorrow.
b. What we should be praying for - Pray for the following
i. James 5:13-20: The Prayer of Faith
13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
18Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
19My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back,
20remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
1. Pray for people in trouble – we did that today!
2. Pray for the sick – we did that today!
3. Pray that God’s Spirit would be poured out in your life and in your family life.
4. Pray for each other!
5. Pray for the leadership of this country and church instead of criticism toward any of them.
6. Pray for a Spiritual awakening in all of us.
a. Remember - Ask, seek – knock don’t have because don’t ask!
7. Pray for God’s will to be down!
ii. Illustration: Prayer Is Easier Than Many Think Peter Kreeft, Prayer for Beginners (Ignatius, 2000), pp. 25-26 | posted 6/27/2011: Prayer is easier than we think. We want to think it is too hard or too high and holy for us, because that gives us an excuse for not doing it. This is false humility. We can all do it, even the most sinful, shallow, silly, and stupid of us. You do not have to master some mystical method. You do not have to master a method at all. Can you talk to a friend? Then you can talk to God, for he is your Friend. And that is what prayer is. The single most important piece of advice about prayer is one word: Begin! God makes it easy: just do it! God also makes it easy to progress in prayer …. for it gradually becomes more natural and delightful. In fact, in Heaven, prayer will be more delightful than sex.
c. Prayer is to be a scheduled priority in our lives and within the church.
i. The Church should be known for prayer – highlight article:
1. Outreach Magazine:
a. Prayer Matters in Church Life
i. No matter where we turn in our research, one aspect defies measurement: prayer: Sure we can measure frequency of prayer or how many churches have a prayer ministry, but I wonder how we could possibly quantify what happens because of prayer. In short, you don’t. Instead, we have to simply qualify that prayer matters through the stories given by churches where transformation is occurring. Chris Hodges is senior pastor of Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Ala. (No. 27 Largest, No. 53 Fastest Growing). In discussing prayer, he says, “We really do seek God. We fast a lot. We pray a lot. We really do ask for His Spirit…We are just serious about things being by His Spirit.” He describes how the church twice held 21-day prayer seasons with more than a thousand praying at 6:00am. each day for the church and its community. The maturing of the church and the dependence upon God shown through prayer seem to be inextricably linked at Church of the Highlands… (page 20)
ii. Mike Murdoch states, “Satan dreads your prayer link to God. He will attempt to sabotage it any way possible. Don’t let him. Make a daily appointment with God. You make appointments with your dentist. You make appointments with your lawyer. Schedule a specific moment with God.”
iii. It does not matter what others do or don’t do what are you doing. Are you praying?
iv. It’s sad to say but some don’t believe in prayer.
1. Some remarks from others about pray make me shutter!
d. We are to be a House of Prayer according to Jesus remarks! So that means we need to be praying!
Conclusion:
The forward from EM Bounds On his works on prayer from Quickverse:
Edward McKendree Bounds did not merely pray well that he might write well about prayer. He prayed because the needs of the world were upon him. He prayed, for long years, upon subjects which the easy-going Christian rarely gives a thought, and for objects which men of less thought and faith are always ready to call impossible. From his solitary prayer-vigils, year by year, there arose teaching equaled by few men in modern Christian history. He wrote transcendently about prayer, because he was himself, transcendent in its practice. As breathing is a physical reality to us so prayer was a reality for Bounds. He took the command, “Pray without ceasing” almost as literally as animate nature takes the law of the reflex nervous system, which controls our breathing. Prayer-books—real text-books, not forms of prayer—were the fruit of this daily spiritual exercise. Not brief articles for the religious press came from his pen—though he had been experienced in that field for years—not pamphlets, but books were the product and result. He was hindered by poverty, obscurity, loss of prestige, yet his victory was not wholly reserved until his death.
EM Bounds:
In any study of the principles, and procedure of prayer, of its activities and enterprises, first place, must, of necessity, be given to faith. It is the initial quality in the heart of any man who essays to talk to the Unseen. He must, out of sheer helplessness, stretch forth hands of faith. He must believe, where he cannot prove. In the ultimate issue, prayer is simply faith, claiming its natural yet marvelous prerogatives—faith taking possession of its illimitable inheritance. True godliness is just as true, steady, and persevering in the realm of faith as it is in the province of prayer. Moreover: when faith ceases to pray, it ceases to live.
Too many talk about prayer, push prayer but don’t pray!
What about you?
Do you pray!
Will you make it a priority?
