Stand & Read - 1 Thes. 5:17
“…pray without ceasing…”
“P.U.S.H. Prayer!”
I am thoroughly convinced that we are to be a praying people…
We are called to be people who are serious about pray and busy about praying continually in our lives…
Smith Wigglesworth once said, “I don’t want to build anything about myself, but it is truly true that if you found me outside of conversation with man, I am in conversation in God.”
Wigglesworth found it possible in his life to be in continual communion or prayer with God…
And the same is what God desires of us…
To pray is to abide in God’s presence…continually crying out for His grace and continued blessing…
-But “continually” does not mean that we are to be constantly uttering formal prayers…
-It does imply though that we are to be involved in recurrent prayer of all kinds…in all occasions throughout the day…
-Offering up prayer to God throughout the day and going to Him with your cares and concerns…
I am also convinced of one other thing…
…That we are not to be discouraged about praying to God…
Why???
-There are times that we do pray and we do come to God with our concerns and problems…
-There are times when we have a delayed answer in prayer…
And I don’t want you to loose heart in praying to God, because He IS a God who answers prayer!
And I want to emphasis a thought to you this evening…
I want to encourage you to PUSH Prayer in your life!
What I mean when I say, PUSH Prayer…
Is that we need to Pray Until Something Happens…Pray…
-Thus, Pray without ceasing in our lives…!
Ephes. 6:18
“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit…”
Prayer is a major weapon in our arsenal of spiritual warfare…
Prayer is not be taken lightly…
-But when we are discouraged about prayer, its strength, and its possibilities in our lives…
-It can be weakened and rendered useless in us because we will tend to NOT run to God in prayer when we need to…
You see…if we find that the prayers that we are offering up to God are useless, we will pray less frequently…eventually not praying at all…
And that is exactly where the enemy wants us to be…
-Rendered useless along with our prayers…
-Riddled with doubt, fear and hesitation…
Friends…don’t doubt prayer and God’s answers to them…
God WILL answer prayer!
However, we must remain faithful to praying to God too!!!
That is why it is said that we must “PUSH” prayer…
-Sometimes we have to have that nudge and shove along the way…so PUSH IT!
I am reminded of the man in Luke 11:5-10 who went to his friend in the middle of the night looking for a loaf of bread…let’s read it…
“And He said to them, "Suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, ’Friend, lend me three loaves; [6] for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; [7] and from inside he shall answer and say, ’Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ [8] "I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. [9] "And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. [10] "For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.”
Jesus was teaching His disciples about prayer…in fact, He had just given the “Lord’s Prayer” to them, and is talking about prayer further…
He helps them to understand that Prayer is important…prayer is communication with God…and that Boldness is necessary in prayer…
This man that went in the middle of the night was definitely bold…but this man was also persistent in prayer…
-This is a picture to us about how we should be in prayer to…
Hebrews tells us that we are to come BOLDLY to the throne of grace…and Daniel in his delayed answer to his prayer ordeal taught us to be persistent…
That is what we need to learn for ourselves tonight!
I beseech you to NOT become discouraged in praying to the Lord…
I encourage you to NOT become weary in going to God with your concerns…
-Remain faithful…
-Your answer may be just a prayer away now!
Keep PUSHing Prayer in your life my friend…
Keep Praying Until Something Happens!!!!
Jesus goes on to say in this passage that we are to ask…seek…and knock!
Again, Jesus is emphasizing PERSISTENT Prayer…
-Just the terminology in the original language designates that it is a CONTINUED ACTION…
This means that we are to keep ASKING…SEEKING…and KNOCKING!
ASKING implies a consciousness of need and the belief that God DOES hear the prayer…
SEEKING implies that there is an earnest petitioning coupled with an obedience to do God’s will…
KNOCKING implies the perseverance in coming to God even when He seems not to come right away with an answer…
How can this be promised though? Can we get anything then, if we continue to ask God???
No! That conclusion is given in accordance with the great passage of Matt. 6:33…
"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.”
We must be busy about seeking the giver of the good gifts, and not just the gifts…AMEN?!
So we find within these passages the direction of the Lord…saying to us that we must remain faithful, diligent, and persistent in our prayer…
As I close…I am reminded of the woman with the issue of blood who was persistent in seeking the giver of good gifts…Jesus!!!
This woman pressed in, and PUSHed until she too saw something that happened in her life…
-I imagine that she was discouraged…
-I bet she was tired of pressing in and hoping for better…
-But yet, she still did…and that last PUSH was all it took…
Had she given up the day before…she would never had known her miracle…
Are you getting discouraged?
Are you loosing heart?
Are you beginning to think that it isn’t worth it?
Continue to PUSH forward…
Continue to Pray Until Something Happens my friends…I know that God will NOT let you down…
So why should we continue to PUSH in Prayer and be continually praying…
Because we are commanded to do so…
-If God says do it, then that is good enough for me…
Secondly, we should continue to pray because when we are praying, we will be drawn closer to God…
-It is a common thing that takes place when we are in conversation with someone…we get to know them better…
-The same is for you and I…we will form and build a better…stronger relationship with God when we do pray continually to Him…
Lastly, the likelihood that we will be taken off guard at the schemes of the devil are little to none when we are faithful in PUSHing Prayer in our lives…
-We will be readily prepared to fight against the enemy’s schemes and evil plans against our lives…
-Remember…prayer is also a spiritual weapon.
So tonight as we close…be encouraged in prayer to God!
Don’t be discouraged and think that there is no use…
Don’t be deceived and think that there is no answer coming your way…because it may be just around the corner!
Let’s come around these altars and wait upon the Lord in Prayer tonight…
Let’s PUSH Prayer and be found faithful in praying to a Faithful God!
Pray Until Something Happens in your life!!!
