The Power of Prayer
I’m sure most of you will remember the sniper incident that terrorized the Washington area for awhile.
Before they caught the snipers, they managed to kill 10 people and wounded 3.
What you may not know is, prayer played a vital role in bringing that situation to an end.
50 Christian truckers got together to pray that somehow the sniper terrorizing the Washington area would be caught.
Ron Lantz was scheduled to retire in a few days and didn’t even live in the area, but he felt sure that God would answer their prayers.
In fact, he told the others attending the prayer meeting that God was going to use him to catch the sniper.
A few days after they began to pray
Ron was listening to the radio as he was driving through the region
and he felt compelled to pull off the highway to a rest stop.
It was just a couple of miles from where the initial prayer meeting had taken place.
As he pulled in, he was shocked to see a car similar to what was being described on the radio.
Carefully trying to read the license plate, a chill went up his back as the numbers matched.
He quickly called 911 and stayed there for what he said were the longest 15 minutes of his life,
until the police arrived.
He pulled his truck across the exit,
so there would be no escape for these murderers.
The rest is history-
the snipers were taken into custody without incident
and the horrifying ordeal was over.
I heard that Ron Nantz attended a Nazarene Church and was a small group leader in his church.
I’m sure most people would look that and say that it was a coincidence...
But, I guess I’m not most people...
I believe that God heard the prayer of that group of truckers....
and many others who cried out to God...
I believe that God directed the mind of Ron Nantz...
And, I believe that God will direct us as well...
If we will humble ourselves before God in prayer...
and if we will listen to God’s voice when He speaks to us...
and, if we will obey, and do what God tells us to do.
I. The Promise in 33:3 Call unto Me
A. . in Person - Jeremiah see 1:1-10!!!!!!!
B. in Prison v1 faith !
The Hebrew word for "call" is the same word that is used in Psalm 147:9, to describe the "cry" of the young ravens for food.
C. in Purchase 33.4-5 / 32.6-15 // risk for God// invest in God // buy into God’s plan by faith
"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you." - Jeremiah 32:17 (NIV)
D. in Provocation 32.31
* "Yes, but you don’t know my husband. He’ll never change." - NOTHING
* "Yes, but you don’t know my boss." - NOTHING
* "Yes, but you don’t know my situation" - NOTHING
"God Will Make a Way" (Don Moen), c. 1990 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music (ASCAP) (c/o Integrity Music, Inc.)
"God will make a way,
Where there seems to be no way,
He works in ways we cannot see,
He will make a way for me;
He will be my guide,
Hold me closely to His side,
With love and strength for each new day,
He will make a way, He will make a way."
II. The Pardon if you Call
A. resulting in Peace 33.6 / 32.37-44
If you compare that idea with the idea of prayer...
then you begin to see that our prayer life should be one of urgency...
we should be pouring out our hearts to God with great passion.
Now, I’ll be the first one to admit that we don’t have to break down into tears and convulsions everytime we pray...
sometimes our prayers are calm...quiet...and peaceful...
sometimes we meditate without great emotion...
but there should be other times....
times when our prayer becomes so urgent that we literally break down in tears...
there should be times when our hearts are so broken with whatever the burden is...that perhaps we cannot even mention the words...and we just communicate in groans and cries that only God could understand.
ILL>>>John Bunyan wrote, "When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words without heart."
There are many verses in the Bible that exhort us to "call upon God"
Psalm 50:15 says, "call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you"
Jeremiah 29:12-13 says, "you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart"
Psalm 10:17 says, "You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,"
Isaiah 30:19 "The Lord will hear your crying, and he will comfort you. When he hears you, he will help you" Isaiah 30:19 (NCV)
Isaiah 55:6 "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6 (NIV)
Psalm 91:15 God Himself says, "He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him." Psalms 91:15 (NIV)
Do you begin to get the idea that God wants us to cry out to Him?
B. resulting in Praise 33.9-11 // PS 136.1 // Ezra 3.11
C. resulting in Provision 33.9,14 “God will make a way when there seems to be no way”
III. The Person we call unto v2 // v16
A. of Praise v11 not pleasure
2 Timothy 3:4 Paul warned that in the last days men would be "lovers of pleasure rather that lovers of God."
B. of Promise v14 v17
C. of all People v19-22
ILLUS" Give me Souls, O God, or I die!" That became the plea of John Hyde, born on , November 9, 1865 in Carrollton, Illinois. John’s family were praying people. Consequently, as a young man, he learned to pray expecting results.
During his senior year at school-, he came to the room of his friend Mr. Konkle near midnight, saying he wanted all Konkle’s arguments in favor of going to the foreign mission field. "I told him that he knew as much about the foreign field as I did; that I didn’t believe it was argument that he needed, and that I thought the way for him to settle it was to lay it before our Father and stay until He decided for him: We sat in silence a while longer, and, saying he believed I was right, he rose and bade me good night."
The next morning Konkle felt a hand on his arm. Looking around, he saw John’s face radiant with a new vision. "It’s settled, Konkle," said he.
John left for India. Aboard ship, he opened a letter from a friend who wrote that he would pray until John was filled with the Holy Spirit. Angrily John crumpled the letter and hurled it aside. He had yielded his heart to the Lord, gotten his degree, studied Indian languages and was obediently on his way to a life work. How dare his friend suggest he lacked the Spirit? But when he cooled down, he realized that his friend was right. He pleaded for the power of the Holy Spirit.
The result was that John became a notable intercessor, one who pleads for the souls and needs of others. He was nicknamed "Praying Hyde." He paid for his concern with sleepless nights.
Revival began when he came late to a meeting. "I have been having a great controversy with God. I feel that he has wanted me to come here and testify to you concerning some things that he has done for me, and I have been arguing with him that I should not do this. Only this evening...have I got peace concerning the matter and have I agreed to obey him, and now I have come to tell you just some things that he has done for me." John told them how God had freed him from certain sins. Soon his listeners were weeping and confessing their own.
In 1908, anguished by the sight of sin and souls doomed to hell, he asked the Lord to bring a soul a day into the kingdom of God. Soon he upped that to two souls, and then four. God answered his prayers.
But in March of 1911, Hyde had to say good-bye to India. His heart had shifted in his chest and required medical attention. In the United States it was found he had a malignant brain tumor. Surgery was necessary. On February 17, 1912 he died. His last words were "Shout the victory of Jesus Christ!"
Paul exhorted Pastor Timothy, "Let your request be made known to God."
James declared, "You have not because you ask not."
If we do not have what He wants us to have it is only because we have not asked!
Let us "Call unto Him."
I’d like us to end this service as a praying Church.
Some of us need to take God at His word and "Call unto Him."
Who knows, but that He will immediately "answer us and give us access to what has been inaccessible and make known to us what has heretofore been unknowable.
Will you join me in these altars for a time of prayer?
