Partners in Prayer
Exodus 17:8-13
One night in 1968, the pilot of an airline bound for New York realized that the landing gear of his jet would not engage. Traveling ever closer to his destination, he continued to work the controls, trying to get the wheels to lock into place, but he had no success. Circling over the airport, he asked the control tower for instructions. The ground crew, responding to the impending crisis, sprayed the runway with foam, and emergency vehicles moved into position. The pilot was instructed to land the plane the best he could.
The passengers were asked to prepare themselves for the worst and to put themselves into a crash position. Moments before landing, the pilot announced over the intercom: "We are beginning our final descent. In accordance with International Aviation Codes established at Geneva, it is my obligation to inform you that if you believe in God, you should commence praying.¨ The plane then performed a belly landing, and miraculously, came to a stop with no injury to the passengers.
If that pilot hadn’t found himself in a crisis that day, his passengers would never have known about the airline¡¦s hidden provision for prayer. Many don’t see prayer as a regular privilege and opportunity. But when crisis times come then they think about the value of prayer.
Have you noticed that it is often after times of blessing and seeing good things happen that we are faced with times of crisis?
Several years ago I was flying from New York to Wichita, KS. I departed on Saturday and was due to arrive in the evening at the Wichita, KS airport. The pastor of the MicPherson, KS Church was going to pick me up to speak at the church that Sunday morning to begin a four day spiritual life emphasis at the church.
We took off from the JF Kennedy airport and were in the air for a short time when there was a loud bang and the plane shook. Loud gasps went up all over the wide belly airplane. After a while the captain came on the intercom and said one of the jet engines had failed, but the good news was we still had three engines and should make it okay to St. Louis. After another 15 ¡V 20 minutes there was another loud bang and the plane shook and shuttered again and lost altitude. Louder cries and gasps could be heard in the plane. Then the captain came on the intercom again and said that another engine had failed so we were going to have to make an emergency landing at the Pittsburg, PA airport.
At that point there was a hushed silence and you could hear people praying and talking in strained voices. I also prayed, ¡§Lord if this is my time to go be with you I am ready. But I pray for a safe landing.
When we neared the Pittsburg airport I could see emergencies vehicles along the runway with lights flashing. We all braced for the landing. It was bumpy but okay.
I caught a later flight from Pittsburg to St. Louis but missed my flight to Wichita. I called and made arrangements to fly early Sunday morning to Wichita. One of the members of the McPherson FMC flew his private plane to Wichita and picked me up. We arrived in McPherson the time church was to start. I made it to the church just in time to walk to the pulpit and preach. The service was broadcast on the local radio station.
In times of trauma and crisis we go to prayer and our prayers are desperate.
The Children of Israel had just experienced an answer to their prayer. Exodus 17:1-7 They were in the desert and without water. They blamed Moses for leading them into the desert to let them die. They were about ready to stone Moses when God told Moses to take his staff and some of the leaders of Israel and go to the Rock at Mount Sinai. Moses was to strike the Rock with his shepherd¡¦s staff and water would come pouring out.
Moses took several leaders with him and went to the rock. He struck the Rock and water poured out like the Niagara Falls. It took lots of water to quench the thirst of 2-3 million people. Exodus 12:37 says there were 600,000 men in the exodus from Egypt.
Right after this blessing of having fresh water the Amalekites attack the children of Israel. The Amalekites were descendents of Esau though not part of the Edom nation. The Amalekites disregarded God and their attack on God¡¦s people brought them under the judgment of God. History would record that the Amalekites would b ultimately wiped out as a people in the days of Hezekiah. (I Chronicles 4:41-43)
Moses asked Joshua to form an army and protect the children of Israel against the Amalekites. Joshua may have armed his men with the weapons taken form the dead Egyptians.
Moses went up on the hill while Joshua fought the battle in the valley. Moses took his shepherd staff and two helpers, Aaron and Hur with him. Tradition says that Hur was married to Miriam, sister of Aaron. Hur was also the grandfather of Bezeleel, (Exodus 31:2), the skilled workman of the Tabernacle.
Moses held up his hand with the staff pointing toward heaven signifying that they were depending on God for their help. As long as the staff was held high the Israelite Army had the advantage, but when Moses¡¦ arms grew weary, the Amalekites gained the upper hand. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for Moses to sit on and Aaron stood on one side and Hur on the other side of Moses holing up his arms and staff until sunset. As a result Joshua and his troops were able to crush the army of Amalek.
From this example of Moses, Aaron and Hur we realize that prayer is our primary weapon against our enemy Satan.
I. Prayer is our primary weapon against our arch enemy, Satan.
Last Sunday Luke Jones gave an excellent message on putting on the whole armor of God... Every piece of the armor is important. Every piece is needed for battle.
* It is through prayer that we pull down the strongholds of the Devil. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ¡§We are human, but we don¡¦t wage war with human plans and methods. We use God¡¦s mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil¡¦s strongholds. With these weapons we breakdown every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God. With these weapons we conquer their rebellious ideas, and we teach them to obey Christ.¡¨
* In the early church persecution was a call to prayer. Acts 4:29-30 Peter and John were arrested and beaten and put in prison for preaching the good news about Jesus. They were told to stop telling about Jesus. They replied that they could not stop telling about the wonderful things they had seen and heard. When threatened they prayed: ¡§And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give your servants great boldness in their preaching. Send your healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.¡¨ Acts 4:31 ¡§After this prayer, the building where they were meeting shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. And they preached God¡¦s message with boldness.¡¨
1. Prayer brought power and boldness to the early church.
2. Miracles were the result of prayer.
3. Lost people were convicted of sin and became Christ followers.
Someone noted that the early church in Acts prayed 10 days, preached 10 minutes and saw 3,000 come to Christ. Today we pray 10 minutes, preach 10 days, and very few come to Jesus.
Moses had partners in prayer. Your pastor and ministry team need each of you to partner with us in prayer. The enemy only wins when prayer is an occasional nod or when Christians get so busy they have no time to pray. If you¡¦re too busy to pray then you¡¦re too busy.
Be sure to put the ministry staff listed in the worship program on your prayer list. To minister effectively we need prayer power; because there are no perfect ministry leaders.
Some one wrote a letter entitled: ¡§A Perfect Pastor.¡¨
After hundreds of years the perfect pastor¡¦s been found. He is the church elder who¡¦ll please everyone. He preaches exactly twenty minutes and then sits down. He condemns sin, but never steps on anybody¡¦s toes.
He/She works from eight in the morning to ten at night, doing everything from preaching sermons to sweeping. He makes $800 per week, gives one week¡¦s salary every month to the church, drives a late-model car, buys lots of books, wears fine clothes, and has a nice family. He always stands ready to contribute to every other good cause, too, and to help homeless who drop by the church on their way to somewhere.
He is thirty-six years old, and has been preaching forty years. He is tall, on the short side; heavyset, in a thin sort of way; and handsome. He has eyes of blue or brown (to fit the occasion), and wears his heir parted in the middle, left side dark and straight, right side brown and wavy.
He has a burning desire to work with the youth, and spends all his time with the senior citizens. He smiles all the time while keeping a straight face, because he has a keen sense of humor that finds him seriously dedicated. He makes fifteen calls a day on church members, spends all his time evangelizing nonmembers, and is always found in his study if he is needed. Unfortunately he burnt himself out and died at the age of thirty-two.
Effective ministry demands team-work. Ministry is never a one-man show. It is teams working together to advance the Kingdom of God. TEAM spells, Together, Everyone, Achieves, More. One way you can be supportive is by joining your Ministry Team for the Prayer Breakfast this Saturday at 9 a.m. in the Church Fellowship Hall.
II. The Primary Purpose of prayer is to change the one praying.
* Prayer changes us by drawing us closer to God. Through prayer we become more and more like Jesus.
C. Neil Strait said, ¡§Prayer is ¡K talking with God and telling him you love Him ¡K conversing with God about all the things that are important in life, both large and small, and being assured that He is listening.¡¨
1. Prayer is spontaneous. From our heart we can pray anytime and anywhere.
2. We are to pray specifically. We are not to ramble on and on in our prayers: Jesus warns his followers in Matthew 6:7 "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling on and on as people of other religious do. They think their prayers are answered only by repeating their words again and again."
3. Pray with the right motive. James 4:2b-3 And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don¡¦t get it because you whole motive is wrong, you want only what will give you pleasure.¡¨
4. Pray with all your heart. The person who prays and surrenders his/her life to God’s will is the prayer that gets through to the Lord. In prayer we express our love to God with all our heart, mind and soul.
It is sometimes helpful to keep focused in prayer by praying out loud or walking and praying or keeping a prayer journal.
5. Pray continually. As you go about your work, driving on the interstate highway, facing difficult decisions in your family. Pause and pray or stop what you are discussing as a family and have a time of prayer. I often pray, ¡§Lord help me to be conscious of your Presence throughout this day.¡¨
The serenity prayer is a helpful pray to pray during times of stress and crisis.
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."
Prayer is our primary weapon against Satan, the god of this world.
Prayer¡¦s paramount purpose is to change us and draw us closer to God.
This week make prayer your personal priority. Write short prayers in your Life Journal. Find a friend or those in your family to partner with you in prayer. Then give God the glory for His answers to prayer.
