Illustration by James Chandler
It started as a slip up during a prayer before a church softball game. The minister was leading everyone in prayer. As he closed in prayer he accidently said, "In Jesus’ name we play." That phrase caught on and soon others were praying before softball games "In Jesus’ name we play."
Prayer works even when we mess up the words. Prayer works, even when you don’t know what to pray! When you don’t have the words to pray, you can pray in the Spirit, The Holy Spirit knows exactly what to pray for you and it works!
Prayer gives God free reign to do whatever it takes, to bring about not just your desired outcome, but His will in the situation, which works everything for your good!
Acts 12:5 NASB
5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.
The Bible says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman avails much! Who is a righteous man or woman?
A righteous man and woman is someone who has accepted and believes Jesus is their Savior and that Jesus can do everything that God sent him to this earth to accomplish!
They believe their salvation experience, unlocks and entitles them to every blessing and promise God the father himself made available to his children, and delivered by the hands of His own Son Jesus! Which along with His side were pierced on the cross so we could receive His righteousness and forgiveness of our sins!
Today were going to look at the word prayer as an acronym, to study and analyze the word prayer and bring about some topics and ideas a righteous man or woman should both know and be ready to apply to every situation, or need!
P.R.A.Y.E.R.
#P
Protection
Exodus 14:13-14 King James Version (KJV)
13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
14 The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Finding peace during a struggle, is like trying to find calm in a hurricane. But just like there is calm in the eye of the hurricane, we can find peace and calm right in the middle of our struggles.
God also wants us to know when a righteous man or woman stands up and takes authority, their prayers offer a blanket of protection!
Notice scripture reminds us the whole nation of Israel had seen the miracles God performed to bring them out of slavery, but only Moses had to faith to believe God would protect them when the situation looked impossible!
God wants us to know it’s not about our efforts, it’s about our faith in His abilities. Our efforts at best are only capable of delivering temporary relief, while faith in God and His abilities are capable of delivering permanent and lasting results in our lives.
We should always expect God’s permanent protection on everything, in every circumstance we face and our prayer is key to the activation of that protection!
P also stands for Praise
Praise should always be part of your prayer to God.
Duet. 10:21 He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.
TBS God inhabits the praises of his people! Never forget as your faith begins to arise and the answers come as they surely will, to always give praise and glory to God for answered prayers!
#R
Remember
Far too many people in general, are too quick to forget the victories that God gives them and the miracles He makes happen in their lives!
It’s good to remember the victories when God delivered you from your situations, so when new needs and battles present themselves you can take comfort. Knowing if God delivered you before as the song goes, He will certainly and stands ready to “do it again!”
Psalms 77:10-12 MSG
Will the Lord walk off and leave us for good?
Will he never smile again?
Is his love worn threadbare?
Has his salvation promise burned out?
Has God forgotten his manners?
Has he angrily stalked off and left us?
“Just my luck,” I said. “The High God goes out of business
just the moment I need him.”
11-12
Once again I’ll go over what God has done,
lay out on the table the ancient wonders;
I’ll ponder all the things you’ve accomplished,
and give a long, loving look at your acts.
The comfort that comes from remembering what God has done for you in the past and He is willing to do for you in the future, should make my next point easier than what it is to accomplish.
R also reminds us to Rest
Matthew 11:28-30 KJ- Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Psalms 4:8 KJ- I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
Jesus wants you to know and have the same assurance He had when He slept in the bottom of the boat, while the storm raged above Him. No matter how things look in the natural, as long as your resting in and on your faith in God’s capabilities, everything will work out for your good.
#A
After you have Asked God to meet your need and Anchored your faith to His never ending capabilities, the next thing to do is Anticipate the outcome!
In our culture today, the word ‘anticipation’ has been reduced to mean a feeling of expectation. However, the original meaning of the term, ‘anticipation’ had to do with action and preparation.
To anticipate is ‘to foresee and act in advance of.’
‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ (Heb 11:1 NKJV)
Ten people gather to pray for rain in a time of drought. If More than one brings an umbrella. That’s an act of faith with anticipation!
It is an act of faith to anticipate what God is going to do for you.
If you need a financial blessing, go open a bank account.
If you need a healing, go buy a new outfit you’re going to wear when you celebrate your healing!
Anticipate the miracle of what God is going to do, do not be concerned with setting the bar too high. The degree of your anticipation, shows the diligence of your faith level. And diligence of faith TBS attracts Gods Reward!
#Y
Even though not alphabetically correct, Y not?
If God is not a respecter of persons and does miracles for everyone else who has faith and believes that He will do miracles in their lives. Why not believe that God will do miracles for you and willingly meet your needs as well?
Y is for Yes
2 Corinthians 1:20 MSG
Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete
When Jesus walked this earth and the people came to him with needs and asked will you help me, Jesus said yes! And when they said will you heal me, Jesus said yes! The word declares, “Jesus Healed them ALL!”
TBS Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever! That tells me when we come petitioning our faith for our needs, Jesus still stands ready to say yes to us as well! Amen?
#E
E stands for Energize! When you are in prayer, you are connected to the greatest power source in the universe! Is your prayer life allowing you to energize your spiritual batteries? Or is your prayer life draining your spiritual batteries?
Illus. from Guideposts
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, pastor and author of The Power of Positive Thinking, believed that finding God’s strength for each day was of utmost importance for every Christian. He often admonished his listeners by saying, “God isn’t an idea; God is power. God isn’t a philosophy; God is power. God isn’t a theology; God is power. He is power; He is life.”
God delights in meeting us at the lowest points in our life, in order to raise us up to the highest points. When we experience that, we can say with the Apostle Paul, “When I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
There is a story of the devout Scotsman who had painted the word “faith” on one oar of his rowboat and “works” on the other. When someone asked him why, he said “Ye can’t get anywhere with one oar—ye’d row in a circle. Ye need both faith and works to move ahead.” He was right. Faith is an action word, and spiritual progress demands both believing and doing.
Let these verses about strength bring you all the power you need!
Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart (Psalm 27:14).
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear (Psalm 46:1-2).
Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might (Ephesians 6:10).
But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
#R is for Run
Run to God every chance you get for every need or situation you come up against!
Galatians 5:7-10 MSG
7-10 You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn’t come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don’t toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread. Deep down, the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect. But the one who is upsetting you, whoever he is, will bear the divine judgment.
There will be distractions during the race! Don’t allow yourself to be distracted, keep your eyes on the prize, keep your mind on the goal!
When running a race, the Runner has one goal in mind, to cross the finish line!
The Christians prayer life is part of His Spiritual race! Along with running, sometimes the word remind is needed as well!
It’s good to remind yourself why you’re running, what is the reason? TBS it’s a good thing to have a visual, which means write it down.
Habakkuk 2:2 MSG
And then God answered: “Write this.
Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters
so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness
pointing to what’s coming.
It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!
And it doesn’t lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait.
It’s on its way. It will come right on time.
Prayer is not the least you can do, prayer is always, the most powerful thing you can do! Amen? Prayer is your WMD. (weapon of mass destruction) against all the things that the devil throws at you and the ones around you! Praise the Lord God Almighty!!
I shared earlier a story about the power of prayer and I want to share another one with you, an almost unbelievable but true story about prayer found in the new testament book of acts.
Acts 12:5-17 MSG.
5. All the time that Peter was under heavy guard in the jailhouse, the church prayed for him most strenuously.
6. Then the time came for Herod to bring him out for the kill. That night, even though shackled to two soldiers, one on either side, Peter slept like a baby.
(He knew God had everything under his control, you know a lot of times it may seem differently in life,
but God always has the last word on everything!)
And there were guards at the door keeping their eyes on the place. Herod was taking no chances! (there were 16 guards in all)
7-9. Suddenly there was an angel at his side and light flooding the room. The angel shook Peter and got him up: "Hurry!" The handcuffs fell off his wrists. The angel said, "Get dressed. Put on your shoes." Peter did it. Then, "Grab your coat and let’s get out of here." Peter followed him, but didn’t believe it was really an angel— he thought he was dreaming.
10-11. Past the first guard and then the second, they came to the iron gate that led into the city. It swung open before them on its own, and they were out on the street, free as the breeze. At the first intersection the angel left him, going his own way. That’s when Peter realized it was no dream. "I can’t believe it—, this really happened! The Master sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s vicious little production and the spectacle the Jewish mob was looking forward to."
12-14. Still shaking his head, amazed, he went to Mary’s house, the Mary who was John Mark’s mother. The house was packed with praying friends. When he knocked on the door to the courtyard, a young woman named Rhoda came to see who it was. But when she recognized his voice— Peter’s voice!— she was so excited and eager to tell everyone Peter was there that she forgot to open the door and left him standing in the street.
15-16. But they wouldn’t believe her, dismissing her, dismissing her report. "You’re crazy," they said. She stuck by her story, insisting. They still wouldn’t believe her and said, "It must be his angel." All this time poor Peter was standing out in the street, knocking away.
16-17. Finally they opened up and saw him— and went wild! Peter put his hands up and calmed them down. He described how the Master had gotten him out of jail, then said, "Tell James and the brothers what’s happened." He left them and went off to another place.
What a fantastic miracle, what a fantastic story, made possible by what? That’s right PRAYER!
God is still on the throne, still waiting and wanting to perform miracles of this magnitude in your life! Do you believe He can? Not only that He can, but God is willing and wants to do the impossible in your every circumstance!
Praise God, He’s Still changing lives all over the world today! What He did for others throughout all of history and even greater things, He will gladly do for you! In fact TBS. it gives Him great pleasure to give to us and to meet the needs of His Children.
Make prayer and seeking Gods help in every situation, first place in your life! Make it your first resort every time!
Some may say, I don’t always know how to pray, or what to pray. Don’t feel bad, your not alone, your not the only one who has ever felt that way.
Illus. by Sermon Central
A heart-broken little girl began to kneel and pour out her heart to God in the altar at her local church. She did not know what to say. As she wept speechless, she began to remember what her Father had told her, "God knows your needs even before you pray, and he can answer when you don’t even know for what to ask." So she began to say her alphabet.
A concerned adult from that church knelt beside her and heard her sobbing and saying her ABC’s and inquired what exactly she was trying to do. The little girl told this caring adult, "I’m praying to God from my heart." But the adult answered, "It sounds to me more like your are saying the alphabet!"
"Yes," she said, "But God knows more about what I need than I do, and he can take all these letters and arrange them in just the right way to hear and answer my prayers!"
You don’t have to figure it out, just approach it with the faith of a child and God will do the rest!
What’s on your heart this morning? Whatever you’re concerned about God is concerned about and stands ready, willing and able to meet your need, when you come in faith as we pray!
ABCDEFG, God will meet my need for me!
