Introduction: Covey rocks in the jar illustration
Read Scripture/Pray
Background: devastating breakdown of God’s dwelling place. (1) Recognize
Purpose Statement: Once we recognize a problem, then we must react to the problem
Review the context of the prayer
I. Before you pray, pray (v. 4) {Should read and then I prayed}
A. Speculation – He didn’t know what to pray
1. How I see the intermediate time
2. Wait upon the Lord
B. Fix the Spiritual before physical/mental
1. Why some prayers are ineffective
C. Understand the purpose of prayer
1. Greatest definition
2. Kinda like my laptop computer
Let’s look at the prayer itself
II. Adore – Praise God for His character (v. 5)
A. Not to butter Him up but to remind ourselves
1. Don’t just throw out terms, bring them from your heart
2. Rich Mullins Illustration
B. It all starts with Him
1. Shift from self-centered to selfless
III. Confess – Repent of all sin in your life (vs. 6-7)
A. No Pharisees please
B. Agreement with God
1. If self evaluation doesn’t work, ask someone close to you
2. Listen to the Holy Spirit
IV. Thank – Thank Him for all He has done (vs. 8-10)
A. Nehemiah uses term “remember” as a way…
B. Have an attitude of gratitude
1. Wal-Mart Illustration
2. Salvation
C. Why would anyone want to bless an ungrateful child
V. Supplicate – Present your request to God (v. 11)
A. Ask in humility admitting need of God
1. God wants to give, given it’s asked for with the right motives
2. Best Illustration
B. Be specific
1. Note how specific Nehemiah was
2. This kind of specific only comes through a continual seeking of His will
C. God delights in giving good gifts to us
1. Cattle Illustration
Conclusion: Do you have the big rocks in your life, prayer?
ILLUSTRATIONS:
Ineffective Prayers
1. Sin in the heart: “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear. (Isaiah 59:2).
2. Unforgiving attitude: “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone” (Mark 11:25).
3. Carnal motive: You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend {it} on your pleasures” (James 4:d3).
4. Self-centeredness “You husbands likewise, live with {your wives} in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7).
5. Unbelief: “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering…. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord” (James 1:6,7).
Definition of Prayer
The Norwegian theologian Ole Hallesby gives one of the best definitions of prayer I have ever read. He says, “To pray is nothing more involved that to let Jesus into our needs. To pray is to give Jesus permission to employ His powers in the alleviation of our distress.”
Rich Mullins
Be praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praise
Wal-Mart
One day a woman was rushing home from a doctor’s appointment. The doctor had been somewhat delayed at the hospital, and the lab work took a little longer than usual so by the time she left the clinic she was running quite a bit behind schedule. She still had to pick up her prescription, pick up the children from the baby-sitter, and get home and make supper, all in time to make it to the prayer meeting at her church that evening. As she began to circle the busy Wal-Mart parking lot, looking for a space, the windows of heaven were opened, as it says in Genesis, and a downpour began. While she wasn’t usually the type to bother God with small problems, she began to pray as she turned down the row closest to the front door. "Lord, you know what kind of a day I’ve had, and there’s still an awful lot to do. Could you please grant me a parking space right away, oh, and close to the building so I don’t get soaked." The words weren’t even completely out of her mouth when she saw the backup lights of a car come on at the end of the row. It was the best space in the whole parking lot, right next to the handicap spots and straight out from the front door. She made straight for it and as she pulled in, she said, "never mind God, something just opened up."
The Best
Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best; God finds it hard to give because He would give the best, and man will not take it.
Cattle on a Thousand Hills
In its early days, Dallas Theological Seminary was in critical need of $10,000 to keep the work going. During a prayer meeting, renowned Bible teacher Harry Ironside, a lecturer at the school, prayed, “Lord, you own the cattle on a thousand hills. Please sell some of those cattle to help us meet this need.” Shortly after the prayer meeting, a check for $10,000 arrived at the school, sent days earlier by a friend who had no idea of the urgent need or of Ironside’s prayer. The man simply said the money came from the sale of some of his cattle!
The Tavern
A tale is told about a small town that had historically been “dry,” but then a local businessman decided to build a tavern. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that “no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not.”
The Lord’s Prayer
Two men were talking together. The first challenged the other, “If you are so religious, let’s hear you quote the Lord’s Prayer. I bet you $10 you can’t.”
The second responded, “Now I lay my down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. And If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”
The first pulled out his wallet and fished out a ten-dollar bill, muttering, “I didn’t think you could do it!”
Augustine
SCRIVEN
Some of you might know of Joseph Scriven. He was a brilliant young man engaged to a beautiful lady. On the night before the wedding, his fiancé was pulled from a pond where she had accidentally fallen and drowned. He never overcame the shock, and in the sadness of the latter portion of his life, he wrote this poem:
"What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."
