In 2015, after a shooter left 14 dead in California, the cover of the New York Daily News shouted “God Isn’t Fixing This! As the latest batch of innocent Americans are left lying in pools of blood, cowards (referring to politicians) who could truly end gun scourge continue to hide behind meaningless platitudes.”
And the meaning less platitude the newspaper was referring to is this: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families.”
After the recent shootings in El Paso & here in Dayton, several members of Congress almost echoed the exact same thing. Most said “Thoughts and prayers are not enough. We have to take action.” One US congressman even said “We are not going to give thoughts and prayers, which are bull****.”
That tells me something, ladies and gentlemen. It tells me, number one, that they don’t know anything about prayer and what it’s about. That’s the first thing. And the second thing is they don’t pray. And the third thing: they don’t think about acting this way until something happens.
When we say “our thoughts and prayers” are with the families, this it is generally because we’re reacting to something bad that has happened. And this is not a bad thing, ladies and gentlemen, to respond that way. In fact, it’s the right thing to do,
When I hear about a death or tragedy, the first thing I do is pray. And I thank God that His love is manifested and saturates the lives of those who were affected by the tragedy. That’s the first thing I do. Always.
Prayer, ladies and gentlemen – the most effective prayer – is proactive prayer. It’s prayer that gets in the front of something; it not prayer that lags behind and tries to catch up. Last Sunday night, we were proactive in our prayers. We prayed against the violence in our country among other things. That is what we have the authority and the right to do. It’s part of our inheritance.
Let me make some observations about Christians.
? Many really don’t understand prayer.
? Many, and that could be 80 to 90 percent, do not have a prayer life. Ok Bro. Barry, what is a prayer life. A prayer life is when you, on purpose, set time aside to be with your Father and talk with Him about things. It’s who you are. It’s not something that you do when tragedy hits.
Do you understand what I’m saying? When a tragedy strikes, it doesn’t change what you always do. You don’t start praying because there’s a tragedy. Prayer is already a part of your lifestyle.
And that’s what’s wrong with the Body of Christ. They wait until a tragedy strikes and then they want to start praying. And that’s wrong. The devil has already beat them by then. Praying this way is a lot like damage control.
? And those who do pray, don’t pray as passionately as they probably could. Why is that? Because most pray because they’ve been taught that’s what they’re supposed to do. So when a tragedy happens, our reaction is to pray. But oftentimes our hearts are not in the prayers.
? Many don’t pray unless something happens, like the death of a relative, the death of a friend or a tragedy and then they feel compelled to pray. Notice the word that I used. Compelled to pray.
They are not praying because something rises up in them and causes their hearts to ache, causes their hearts to grieve. For most, they pray because “it’s the right thing to do.” Again, there’s nothing wrong with that but praying this way is not the heart of God. He grieves, heavily, when tragedy strikes. We are His children. Our hearts should be heavy too.
Ladies and gentlemen, if that’s how you think about prayer, then you really don’t have a prayer life. You do not have a prayer life.
? Most pray without a sense of urgency. What we did last Sunday night in my mind demonstrated a sense of urgency. It was something that the Lord impressed upon pastor that we cannot put off another night. It has to be done tonight.
Why do most Christians not pray with a sense of urgency? And this is the crux of the message tonight, ladies and gentlemen.
We don’t pray like we should pray. We don’t pray like we could pray. And the reason is because we really don’t believe our prayers will make a difference in our lives or in the lives of others.
The Bible says that when God speaks, His words go forth and they accomplish what He speaks. If we are God’s children, if we have God’s life and nature living in us, then what we speak should come to pass too! But we don’t believe that ladies and gentlemen. Children believe it more than we do.
I remember when I was growing up I’d play make believe and say “abracadabra.” The word means “we create what we speak.” I would say I want a motorcycle. Abracadabra.” Ladies and gentlemen, for a child of God, abracadabra, in that sense, is truth.
Proverbs 18:21 says death and life are in the power of the tongue and you are saying you love death if that is what you’re speaking, or you are saying you love life if that is what you’re speaking.
Abracadabra. So what are you speaking? Jesus says the things that are working in your heart, the deep seated things that are a root in you, that is what you will speak. Those are the thoughts of your heart.
? Most don’t pray for people they don’t like. Can I get an Amen? I know a lot of Christians who don’t pray for the president because they don’t like him. For the most part, it has little to do with his policies. They just don’t like him, so they don’t pray for him.
Christians don’t pray for people who offend them. They don’t pray for people they don’t believe are worthy of their prayers. Take a mass murderer. Name one. Very few will be willing to pray for him because they feel he doesn’t deserve it. But God says he wants all men to have an opportunity to be saved and to know the truth. And you know that a mass murderer is not familiar with the knowledge of truth that God is talking about. Can I get an Amen?
Now here’s the problem. Despite all the talk about how God wants and needs us to pray, many Christians don’t pray because of how they understand the sovereignty of God.
“God is in control,” so what’s the urgency in praying? Whatever happens is going to happen because God’s in control. The problem ladies and gentlemen is that when a Christians says “God is in control,” he or she is saying “God is in control of everything.” That is not true.
If God was in control of everything, every single person who says Grace Christian Center is their home church, would be here tonight – if God were in control. Do you hear me?
Most Christians believe God’s plans cannot truly be changed. Let me give you a way to wrap your mind around God being in control so you can explain it to the next person who says that.
? One of my favorite movies is “The Wizard of Oz.” The movie has a beginning and it has an ending. I know the beginning and I know the ending. But a lot of things happen in between.
? God sees the beginning and the end of His plan for creation. Within his plan, there is a lot of freedom for us to make decisions for our own personal lives. So the control is God has a plan, from beginning to end, that is going to happen.
But for Barry, Barry makes decisions every single day that will determine whether he’s going to be in God’s will or not be in God’s will. That’s not God’s decision to make. God will not control that and Satan cannot control that. It’s on Barry. Barry makes that call.
But most Christians believe God is in control and do you know what’s so sad about that? That is a very fatalistic way of looking at how God governs. Since God has already decided what is going to happen, why do I need to do anything? So many don’t truly know their Father.
Let’s talk about our belief system for just a moment.
? Our mental picture of God is the most important feature of our belief system. That is why Jesus bent over backwards in the gospels to portray God as a father. The God of the Old Testament did what He had to do to make sure Jesus would be born. But, He’s really a Father!
? Our hearts always respond to what we really believe, not what we think we believe.
? For most Christians, their lives don’t reflect what they say they believe.
So the obvious question: What real difference can prayer possibly make?
Turn to Genesis 1. We’re going to read verses 26, 27 and 28.
(26) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
What did man not have dominion over? Other men. Do you see that? He had dominion over everything that was not created in the image and likeness of God.
(27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
(28) And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
God sovereignly turned over His creation to man. Man is in charge; he has dominion – the person with the life and nature of God and the person who does not have the life and nature of God. Are you with me? Do you hear me?
Man has dominion here on earth. Man has authority here on earth. He can exercise his authority to do what he wants to do because God is not going to step in and say “No, you can’t use your authority this way so I will not let you do that.”
Adam did not lose his authority, his dominion, when he rebelled against God. What did Adam lose? He lost his relationship with God. His heart no longer beat with God’s heart. He no longer saw things the way God saw them.
This right here is the answer to why El Paso happened ladies and gentlemen. This is the answer to why Dayton happened. And this is the answer to why violence in cities like Chicago and Baltimore continue to happen. People with a sin nature are exercising their “dominion,” their authority in the earth. Do you hear me? They are exercising their authority in the earth. If they did not have the authority God gave man back in Genesis 1:26, 27 and 28, God would have the right to stop them.
Now here’s the sad part for me and why my heart aches so much. Satan has a much easier time getting the person with the sin nature to use his or her authority for him than God does when it comes to His children using their authority for Him.
When God gave man dominion, He gave man the authority to rule what He had created. He delegated the running of creation to man. And why was that? God’s ultimate desire is to have a family. And having a family involves developing an authentic, dynamic relationship with each member. Like a loving parent, God wants not only to influence us, but to be influenced by us. And prayer plays a huge role in that.
In Genesis 18 – please turn there with me. It‘s the record of Abraham talking with God about Sodom and Gomorrah. The Lord and two angels come to Abraham’s house and before they leave the Lord says, “I know Abraham. Shouldn’t we tell Abraham what we’re about to do?”
Ladies and gentlemen, that one verse tells me that God want us to know the things that are going to happen.
The Lord tells Abraham that’s He’s going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. So Abraham asked Him would he spare the cities if 50 righteous men are found there. And the Lord says “Yes, I will spare it.” You know the story.
Abraham has a heart to heart with God about Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 32 says “And he said, ‘Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure (Suppose) ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.”
Now why would God do this for Abraham? Many believe that Abraham was negotiating with God. God doesn’t negotiate ladies and gentlemen. But what He does do – remember I said God wants to be influenced by us?
Abraham was trying his best to preserve life. That’s why God was willing to listen to him. As long as Abraham was trying to keep people alive in Sodom and Gomorrah, God was willing to work with him. God says “I’ll work with you to save lives. That’s who I am. That’s what I do.”
But, Bro. Barry, that was not a prayer. You have just made my point. You don’t understand what prayer really is. Listen closely, ladies and gentlemen.
Prayer is nothing more than you and I sitting down with our Heavenly Father and having a conversation with Him about “how we can help Him have His will done on earth.” Do you hear me?
“What can we do Lord, to help you get your will done in this earth?” That’s what prayer is. That’s what we did Sunday night. We were praying about things that were important to us – things that lined up with God’s will. I’m going to say it one more time.
Prayer is nothing more than you and I having a conversation with our Heavenly Father about how we can help Him get His will done on earth.
In Exodus 8, Pharaoh begs Moses to ask the Lord to rid the land of frogs. Verse 13 says, now listen to this, “And the Lord did according to the word of Moses and the frogs died…” If Moses had not gone to God on behalf of Pharaoh, the frogs would not have died.
If the Lord would do that for Moses, who was not His son, what will He do for you, His sons and daughters – if your heart beat with His heart? Everything!
In Numbers 14, when the 10 spies convinced Israel to rebel, God was ready to wipe them out, but Moses “stood in the gap” for them. Verse 20 says “And the Lord said I have pardoned according to thy word.” The Lord didn’t wipe out Israel because Moses asked Him not to. God gave man authority in the earth and Moses used his authority to plead his case – a form of prayer – for the children of Israel.
For so many of us, our prayers are about what we need, what we don’t have. In these examples ladies and gentlemen, you see the Lord responding to people who are praying on behalf of others. That’s what God needs from us. He doesn’t need us to pray about our needs. Matthew 6:33 says all our needs are met. We just need to seek the kingdom of God.
Look in James 5. Let’s begin with verse 13.
(13) Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.
(14) Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
(15) And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven.
(16) Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Do you see this word “availeth?” It means “to have or exercise force.” It paints the image that, because you have prayed, because you have spoken it forth, it is going to happen.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. This sounds a lot like Isaiah 55:11 to me when God says my word has gone forth and it will not return to me void. That is us ladies and gentlemen.
(17) Elisa was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
If our prayers don’t matter then …
Look at 2 Kings 20.
(1) In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.
(2) Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, saying,
(3) I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
(4) And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court,
Do you see what’s happening? Isaiah gave Hezekiah the word from the Lord. You are going to die, so get your house in order. Hezekiah prays to the Lord. Isaiah is walking out of his house and the Lord says stop and turn around because I have a new assignment for you.
And it came to pass, verse 4, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court that the word of the Lord came to him saying,
(5) Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord.
(6) And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
Do you see this ladies and gentlemen? Isaiah tells Hezekiah the Lord says you’re going to die. Hezekiah prays to God and reminds him of the things that he has done for the kingdom and God hears him and grants him fifteen additional years.
You don’t think prayer matters?
Look at Acts 12. Now before you get all spiritual on me and say “Barry, this is from the Bible. This happened to folks in the Bible.” Before you get all spiritual on me, this is God’s book written to us about how we are to live in this world.
Verse five of chapter twelve. “Peter therefore was kept in prison: [Now pay attention to what follows.] but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.”
Prayer was made “without ceasing by the church” for Peter and we know the story. An angel busts him out of prison. We know the story.
Now I have a question for you. If prayer is made without ceasing concerning all of the violence going on in this country, do you think God will be able to do something with those prayers? Do you think God will be able to reduce some of that violence? Do you think God will be able to reduce some of the death? – Because we are praying?
Do you? Most don’t. The Bible says the church was praying for Peter. And because the church was praying for him an angel was able to bust him out of prison.
If we are praying for our country, if we are praying for Satan and all of his little minions to be neutralized, don’t you think God could get something done?
But oh no. We’re so busy looking at who did what and blaming that person instead of looking at the man behind the mask who is doing all of this. Satan. And Jesus already told us how he operates.
When Peter was getting into Jesus’ face and telling him that he wasn’t going to die, Jesus didn’t say Peter shut up. What did he say? Get thee behind me Satan. Peter was not Jesus’ issue. Satan was Jesus’ issue.
But the Body of Christ is so dumb that we want people to be our issue. We want to blame people for what is happening when we should be on our knees praying that the hands of Satan are loosed off of those who have a sin nature so he can’t continue the damage he’s doing.
We look too much like the world ladies and gentlemen. It is really sad. We think like the world. We respond like the world and we wonder why all of the devastation continues to happen.
Look at Philippians 4:6. “Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Turn to Colossians 1:9. “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”
You can pray for a person to be filled with the knowledge of his will. Do you think prayers matter?
In 2 Thessalonians 3, look at verse one. “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.”
If our prayers don’t matter, why does Paul ask the church to pray that he will be able to freely speak the word? Paul wanted the church to pray so that he could speak the word of God unhindered. When was the last time you prayed for the word of God to have free course in this country?
Look at First Timothy 2. I will tell you right now there are a lot of Christians who will not agree with these next four verses. There are a lot of Christians who need to repent because they are not agreeing with these next four verses. There are a lot Christians are going to hell for not repenting for not doing these next four verses. You heard it here. You can write it down and take it to the bank. Take a picture of it. I said it.
(1) I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercession, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
(2) For kings, and for all that are in authority;
Why do we need to do this? First of all, a lot of Christians are not going to pray for the president because they don’t like him. They don’t agree with him. You see, the Bible doesn’t say we have to like the president. The Bible doesn’t say we have to agree with the president. The Bible says we have to pray for the president.
We really don’t have any other option. God doesn’t say you can pick from A, B or C. God says A is what you can choose.
For kings, and for all that are in authority [Why?] that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
(3) For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior;
(4) Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Is it possible ladies and gentlemen that the reason a lot of things are occurring in this country right now is because we are not praying for those in authority? I have no doubts, This is exactly one of the reasons why these things are happening.
One more passage. If prayer doesn’t matter, what are you going to do with Matthew 26:36-39?
(36) Then cometh Jesus with them unto on place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
(37) And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
(38) Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
(39) And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
If prayer did not matter, would Jesus have prayed that? If God is in control and everything happens the way He wants it to, would Jesus have prayed that? Evidently, Jesus didn’t know God was in control and that he didn’t have a choice.
So, again I ask you ladies and gentlemen. Is it possible that El Paso and Dayton could have been avoided if the Body of Christ was in constant prayer for this country?
? Our prayers matter to God.
? Our prayers need to matter to us.
? Without our partnering with God through prayer, His will cannot be done in the earth.
? If the Body of Christ had a lifestyle of prayer, it wouldn’t stop the violence and the evil, but it would give God our authority to use to impact its frequency.
? We must be pro-active with our prayers!
I would encourage you ladies and gentlemen to rethink your prayer life if that is what you need to do. We have authority in this world and we use our authority by the words that we speak. And if we’re not speaking words that will put chains on what Satan is doing, then we will continue to see the El Paso’s and the Dayton’s.
We need to make this personal. That’s the bottom line. We need to make this personal. I am going to pray so that these things will become less and less and less. That is where the true action can take place because our prayers have an affect on the realm of the spirit. What happens in the spirit realm eventually shows up in the natural.
Ladies and gentlemen, let this be the last day that we don’t take a stand and use our authority the way the Bible says we can. If we are willing to do that, we will see fewer of the tragedies that we have been seeing in this country. I truly believe that. Everybody please stand.
