Having the right attitude in your Prayer life.
Acts 12
1
It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them.
2
He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
3
When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
4
After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover.
5
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
Ernest prayer is powerful, it deepens the individual’s relationship with God and strengthens faith even if prayers are not being answered in the moment.
Prayers may not be answered, no matter how earnest, but God’s decision is going to be the best one.
2 Samuel 12:16-22
16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
17 And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
18 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?
19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.
20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.
21 Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.
22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?
Things that can interfere with our prayers.
Lack of devotion.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
The devoted Christian will accept God’s decisions even if it doesn’t align with what we wanted.
Just as David arose and worshipped God when his son died we need to adopt the same mentality in our prayer life.
Disobedience
“If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9).
We know the word or we have the opportunity to hear the word and we refuse the guidance and instruction that’s comes from God. Open rebellion affects the relationship.
Lack of faith.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:5-7)
Faith is not knowing the answer. And accepting the results of the circumstance even though we have put much prayer to it.
But Faith is also believing and knowing when God’s will is being administered.
Matthew 17:15-20
15“Lord, have mercy on my son. He has seizures and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16So I brought him to your disciples, but they couldn’t heal him.”
17Jesus said, “You faithless and corrupt people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18Then Jesus rebuked the demon in the boy, and it left him. From that moment the boy was well.
19Afterward the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast out that demon?”
20“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.d”
This is an important portion of scripture because by the time Jesus had sent the disciples out they had already seen Jesus do some mighty things.
We seem to forget what he’s done for us, this is why its important to praise God for all he’s done, it’s a part of our testimony.
Our testimony is not just one circumstance he has delivered us from but our lives that he has saved and continues to save.
Wrong motives
James 4:3
New International Version
3 When you ask, you do not receive,because you ask with wrong motives,that you may spend what you get on your pleasures
Prayer that changes circumstances will come with some blood sweat and tears but even with that God may not answer the prayer to our liking.
And God doesn’t always move immidiately.
We can also read the word with the idea that everything happened one miracle after another but time passed between each moment.
The Bible couldn’t contain everything.
You ever watch an action movie and it’s one perilous situation after another or suspenseful moment yet we rarely see everything taking place in real time. The 2 hour movie is a cut into different time tables.
No humility or humbleness.
Jesus’ teaching on prayer (Matthew 6:5-8)
Summary
Jesus taught, “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men … but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen.
Acts 12
6
The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance.
7
Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.
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Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him.
9
Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.
10
They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him.
11
Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."
12
When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.
13
Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door.
14
Prayer can change your circumstances, situations and realities.
It can altar your course in life.
We need to be devoted to God, trusting that He is working and doing what needs to be done, that trust strengthens in us as Faith.
It is also a good habit to write down our prayers and the answers to remind us He shows up, just not always as fast as we may like.
Don’t quit, don’t stop praying, stay steadfast in prayer and watch God work!
