Oct. 19 Praying at all times
Acts 1:12-13 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city. 13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
Volunteers - experiment with prayer - each week for the next 6 weeks leave the room and pray. Different people each day. Give them scriptures and prayer thoughts
Lev. 24:1-4 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. 3 Outside the curtain of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. 4 The lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD must be tended continually.
Light a lamp - let this represent prayers of the church - each time you see the flame
1Thess. 5:16-19 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not put out the Spirit’s fire;
Eph. 6:18 Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all Christians everywhere. (NLT)
Not a command to become neurotic
1Thess. 1:2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
What does it mean to be constantly in prayer?
Are we to take this word literally? Did Jesus pray constantly? How did He do this?
Why should we always pray - How can we do this? Practice the Presence
What does it mean to be constantly in prayer? Passion!
Prayer mountains in Korea
Hungry for prayer now in it’s 3rd decade - early morning prayer services
Pastor Sun Do Kim at 5-6 am - standing room only at Kwang Lim Methodist church.
3-4 thousand gather for each service
Pastor Sam Hwan says people have to reserve a seat for his 6 AM service, it only holds 4000 - and that follows two services at 4 and 5 AM
What does it mean to be constantly in prayer? Foundation
Effective ministers and ministries always undergirded by prayer
Our MC foundation is going to be the strongest in all of Mentor
God is hidden but we discover Him in prayer - discovered He becomes Mighty in our lives.
Experiencing what we already possess
What does it mean to be constantly in prayer? Investment
More is better - busy men
John Wesley - 1-2 hours a day
Martin Luther 2 or more hours a day.
John Welch the great Scottish preacher and revivalist - 8 - 10 hours a day
Francis Asbury - built up the Methodist church in USA from a few to over 200,000. Rode horseback 300,000 miles and preached twice a day for fifty years. - never start a day without 2 hours in prayer
What does Palmolive, pickle, OneStep have in common?
Soaking - Through all – permeate – marinated in prayer -
The result will be:
1. Soaking Cleanses - protects preserves from invasion of elements that destroy
2. Soaking Changes the composition - stuff on the outside gets on the inside
Four times you can pray
Give God your WAKING thoughts
A life lived that is always available to serve God is characterized by constant prayer.
Baptize me - Have your perfect way - Your will be done - Show me how today’s meant to be
What is it that You want Father? What are you doing? I want to join with you.
Give God your WHISPERING thoughts
Are we OK? - Adoration - I love you
1Cor. 3:16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
Not about getting anywhere in prayer but realize that I’m already there. Don’t spend so much time doing things that please God that you have no time left to be with God -
Wasting time with God
Willingness to waste time with a friend affirms the value you place in them
Let yourself be loved by God - respond to God’s love through adoration and abandon yourself completely to a loving God
Heb. 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that confess his name.
Dan Rather to Mother Theresa " I listen - and God - He listens back"
Grace a dozen times a day - Intercession so often you couldn’t count it.
Give God your WANDERING thoughts
Don’t be shocked if weaknesses keep nagging at you begging you to stay from prayer
Begin early to nip that in the bud - soon you will change from trying too make more time for God to looking for more time to spend with him
Pg. 143 of Signature of Jesus Teach me to pray -
Wandering thoughts are clues of what God is wanting to do in you today.
Experiencing grumpy, vindictive, bitterness, anger, lust, revenge, gossipy mouth. etc.
God can use your wandering thoughts to draw you near.
Ask - what is this a symptom of? What can this tell me about myself?
How does God plan to transform grumpy grumbling sinners into saints?
God wants to trace every sin to it’s root - more often than not it is a forgiveness problem
Forgiveness an issue
Forgiveness increases gratefulness in us - and causes us to forgive freely
Inability to forgive is a sign that we are not grateful, a sign that we haven’t received forgiveness - probably because we haven’t confessed - because we haven’t been broken
How far do you have to be dropped before you will be broken? (egg - water balloon)
Gratitude is woven with forgiveness the same way brokenness is woven with bitterness
Will you let go to allow God to make you better?
Give God your WANING thoughts
as I fall asleep - Ps. 121:4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep
Contemplative prayer Asking questions - experiment more with next week
Show me anything I need to repent of
close
Prayerlessness is sin
Pray strategically Pray instantly
