A Sermon For You
A Ministry of Huckaby’s Evangelism
WHAT PRAYER HAS TAUGHT ME
By-Evangelist Gary Huckaby
Psalms 71:1-5, John 17:1-3, 20-21.
Psalms- "In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD; thou art my trust from my youth."
"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
The most humbling, The most beneficial Christian work is PRAYER. (Lee Robinson)
I want to repeat that again: THE MOST HUMBLING, THE MOST BENEFICIAL
CHRISTIAN WORK IS PRAYER.
Preaching, Teaching or Witnessing, No Christian exercise will do for you what PRAYER will do. That is true prayer. The moment you are saved you can pray. If your Christian life is to be successful you must PRAY. AT ALL TIMES. Prayer is the Greatest Force in all the universe. Some one said, and surely this is true.
BUT;
What Has PRAYER Taught Me?
( 1 )
The Folly of Worry And The Wisdom of Faith
Psalms 71:1- David’s prayer to God.
1 Peter 5:7,-"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." Luke 18:1,-"And he spake this parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;"
It is a sin to worry, but it is right to have faith. It has been said that 90% of all worry never happens. Only 10% does, so much of our worry is never going to happen. So why worry? Why not trust God, put your faith in Him. Worry is folly, Faith is believing God. Worry is a sin. Worry is saying, I don’t believe I am afraid. Worry always says, What If? The Bible says,
Cast your care on Him. Trust in God, have Faith in Him, He cares for you, He said so.
( 2 )
THE JOYS OF OBEDIENCE
ASK, SEEK, FIND
Though Christ had all power, He prayed. It is right to Pray. Follow Christ in Prayer.
Other men prayed, Paul prayed, John prayed, Peter prayed. We should pray, and pray earnestly. How often we find ourselves out of obedience of God’s will, because we failed to spend time in prayer. How often have we missed the joy’s God has for us, just because we failed to pray. Ask, Ye have not because ye ask not. Seek, and ye shall find.
There is joy of obedience when we learn to pray, so begin to pray, pray at all times, for all things, about all things.
( 3 )
THE REALITY OF SPIRITUAL BATTLE
Prayer is conflict ! The flesh and Satan always are in rebellion to prayer.
There is a battle going on in our lives, but we must continue to pray. Without prayer there is no hope for victory over the forces that are against us. In the book of Ephesians chapter six we have the forces with which we are in the conflict against. Look with me if you will at these forces. Ephesians 6:12,-"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Our battle is not against men, but principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places. The battle of the flesh is with our own flesh. 1 John says in chapter two, that the children of God are not to love the world, neither the things that are in the world. Lets read it please. 1 John 2:15-17,- "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the FLESH, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."
We are in the battle of our lives, and without prayer we cannot expect to be the victor.
Praying is agony, but pray you must !
( 4 )
THE UNWORTHINESS OF MY LIFE
David cried for mercy as he prayed, and we should always come before God in a sense of unworthiness. We are all sinners saved by Grace. Confess your sins to God, and He will forgive you of your sins. 1 John 1:9,-"If we confess our sins, he is faithful, and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We will always be unworthy, but we stand worthy in the Lord Jesus Christ, so pray.
( 5 )
PRAYING FOR GODS WILL TO BE DONE
This is what submissive praying does; 1.- It quiets the heart. 2.- It increases your vision.
3.- It cleanses the heart. 4.- It brings true dedication to Christ. 5.- It brings fullness of power in your life. Pray for Gods will to be done in your life. In that model prayer He gave to His disciples, He said, "thy kingdom come thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
Matthew 6:10. If you are to know the will of God for your life you must pray, pray, pray !
( 6 )
THE VALUE OF INTERCESSION
Prayer has taught me the value of intercession for others. We are to pray for other people.We are to pray for the Church, our local Church, and for other local Churches. We are to pray for our homes, and the homes of others. We are to pray for the lost souls. Praying for others is intercessory prayer. Jesus prayed for others. In Johns Gospel in the text verse we read at the beginning of this message we see Him praying for us. Look again at John 17:3,-"And this is life eternal, that THEY might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." The they here is for us. Jesus prayed for others, and we should follow His example to pray for others too. We should pray daily. We all need to learn the discipline of prayer. We should be willing to work in prayer. Pray always, Pray without ceasing. Ephesians 6:18,-"Praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. This means we should be always in the spirit of talking with God, and praying for others.
In closing I am thinking of a story illustration I heard recently.
A prisoner in a Baltimore prison tunneled out of the prison with a home made knife he had made. He worked every night digging a small tunnel with hopes of escaping from the prison. He had to work laboriously at the task at night, for every fifteen minutes a guard would come by to check the cells. He would take the dirt and wash it down the sink drain little by little, to dispose of it. Every fifteen minutes the guard would stop and check each cell, so he had to be back to keep from being found out. For twenty months he worked, often all night long, many nights digging the tunnel, and finally he reached the outer edge of the prison, and escaped. Two days later he was recaptured and brought back to prison, only to have more time added to his sentence. As I heard this I thought, just what could have been accomplished if we would spend that much time praying. What could be the results if one would surrender themselves to prayer as this man gave his efforts to escaping from prison ? Oh the mighty power of prayer ! How much do you pray ? If Jesus were to come back today would you stand consistent in your prayer life to Him ? if not then please begin a life of constant, consistent prayer. PRAY !
Now, I must ask you, Do you know the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior ?
If not, why not ? He wants to save you, but you must call out to Him for forgiveness. How by prayer. If you would like to receive Christ as your personal Savior pray this prayer with me right now.
Lord Jesus, I receive you as my Lord and Savior, I believe that you died on the cross and rose from the dead to save me from my sins. I repent of my sins, and trust you as Lord of my life forever. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
If you have trusted Christ as your Savior please write and let us rejoice with you in your decision, we will send you some helps to get you started in your new life for Christ.
Some verses you should read as soon as possible are John 1:12, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 John 5:13. John 3:15,16,36.
Our mailing address is;
HUCKABY’S EVANGELISM
P.O.Box 1011
Pine Mountain, GA. 31822
or you can e-mail us at;
glhuck@earthlink.net
