#2 WHY SHOULD I PRAY?
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
This is part #2 of a two part series. I do part #2 in two parts.
God teach me not only to pray,
but to love those for whom I pray.
I LOVE THIS POEM:
I STAND AT NIGHT
Author Unknown
I STAND AT NIGHT,
AMID THE CITY’S THRONG,
AND I SCAN THE FACES THAT PASS ALONG.
AND READ A HISTORY OF WOE,
AND OF WANT, AND OF GRIEF,
AND MY HEART GOES FURTHER
THAN MY HANDS CAN REACH.
AND I FEEL A SERMON I COULD NEVER PREACH.
XIII. WHY SHOULD I PRAY?
PRAYER IS MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL VENTILATION.
A. We have accumulated much spiritual garbage over time.
This stress can break a persons hopes. We need to release all despair into trusting God’s plan.
B. When I was a boy my Mom often used a pressure cooker. The pressure cooker may have been the forerunner of the microwave.
C. With a pressure cooker you cook with more than heat, you harness the pressure that builds in the pot.
D. I don’t know what the thing is called on top of a pressure cooker, we called it a jangler.
E. The pressure would build up to a safe point of heat and pressure, and then the jangler would rock and rattle and let the pressure escape through the top of the cooker.
F. By slowly letting off the steam and the pressure the danger was reduced, and the pressure cooker was very safe.
G. If the pressure built to the red line area, the cooker was in danger of exploding.
H. I remember several accidents happening in kitchens when the pressure cooker did not release the pressure slowly and the pot blew up.
I. PRAYER CAN BRING GREAT RELEASE OF STRAIN, PRESSURE, AND STRESS TO THE HEART OF EVERY BELIEVER.
J. You don’t have to worry if you know how how to pray.
PRAYER IS DAILY MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL VENTILATION.
By being faithful in prayer one can help bring relief to the stress and strain of the daily menial messes of every day living.
K. Through prayer messes become messages.
Through prayer great tests become greater testimonies!
When man prays, God works!
XIV. WHY PRAY? BY TRIAL AND ERROR WE FIND GOD’S WILL IN PRAYER.
A. GOOD PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.
B. PRAYER IS A DISCIPLINE.
James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
C. By daily communicating with God we can express where we are, and step in new directions.
XV. WHY PRAY? THE MORE YOU PRAY, THE MORE YOU WILL
WANT TO PRAY!
A. PRAY MUCH, LEARN TO WAIT, AND RECEIVE MUCH.
B. Exercise brings strength.
II Corinthians 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
XVI. WHY SHOULD I PRAY? PRAYER GIVES POWER FOR SERVICE.
A. Seems every thing is draining our power, we must fill our energy levels by prayer.
B. Prayer teaches us to feed on what drains others.
John 14: 12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
XVII. WHY PRAY? WHAT YOU GAIN BY INTERCESSION,
YOU KEEP BY INTERCESSION!
Psalms 34: 18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
Jeremiah 3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.
Joel 2:13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
XVIII. WHY PRAY? PRAYER SHAKES WHAT WE CANNOT.
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
XIX. WHY SHOULD GOD’S PEOPLE PRAY?
GOD PROMISES TO ANSWER PRAYERS:
Psalms 91:15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him.
Isaiah 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
XX.WHY PRAY? OUR NATION IS SICK, PRAYER CAN CHANGE
OUR NATION:
A. By prayer we can change history.
B. We have guns in our schools, we need prayer.
II Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
XXI. WHY PRAY? WE START OUR PRAYER AND GOD WILL HONOR
OUR EFFORT AND ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO HELP US PRAY!
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
XXII. WHY PRAY? PRAYER HELPS WITH OUR ENEMIES:
Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies,
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
A. When you bury the hatchet, don’t bury it in someone’s head.
B. There is only one way to defeat an enemy, make him your friend.
C. Feed your enemy and pray for them.
XXIII. WHY PRAY? PRAYER BRINGS FORGIVENESS AS WELL AS
HEALING.
A. WILL WE SHOW OUR FAITH?
Mark 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
B. UNFORGIVENESS BECOMES A TERRIBLE PRISON.
James 5: 13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray.
Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church;
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he hath committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
XXIV. WHY PRAY? GOD EXPECTS HIS PEOPLE TO PRAY!
A. PRAYER RELEASES DIVINE POSSIBILITIES BEYOND THE
ABILITIES OF MAN
B. God commanded us to pray one for another.
James 5:16 (see above)
Isaiah 59:16 And he saw that there was no man, and
wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness,
it sustained him.
XXV. WHY PRAY? PRAYER HAS REAL POWER!
A. The atomic bomb is a very powerful weapon.
Its great explosive force comes from a sudden release of nuclear energy through fission.
B. On August 6, 1945 the USA dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima,
and three days later on Nagasaki, Japan.
C. These two atomic bombs dropped over Japan killed around 92,000 people, and brought an end to World War II, now talk about power?
That is great power.
D. That was great power, but God has more power than that. In one prayer a hopeless King Hezekiah prayed over Jerusalem’s
entrapment, God sent one angel and killed 185,000 of the enemy!
XXVI. WHY PRAY? WE ARE A HOLY PRIESTHOOD.
A. A PRAYER WARRIOR ESTABLISHES A GOOD PATTERN AND
A GOOD EXAMPLE FOR OTHERS TO FOLLOW.
B. WE ARE A HOLY PRIESTHOOD.
C. PRAYER IS A GOD GIVEN RESPONSIBILITY!
I Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
XXVII. WHY PRAY? GOD’S EYES GO TO AND FRO LOOKING FOR
PRAYER WARRIORS TO RELEASE HIS POWER!
II Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly:
therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
XXVIII. WHY PRAY? IT IS GOOD TO COME TOGETHER AND PRAY!
THERE IS POWER IN AGREEMENT IN PRAYER WITH A WHOLE HEART.
Matthew 18: 19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father which is in heaven.
Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
XXIX. WHY PRAY? STUDY GOD’S INCENTIVES FOR PRAYER.
II Chronicles 20 :20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye
be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
XXX. WHY PRAY? GOD WANTS PRAYER TO BE NUMBER #1
IN OUR PRIORITY SYSTEM!
I Timothy 2:1 Exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior;
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
LORD TEACH US TO PRAY!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Help me, be a team member, pass this on to others?
THIS IS PART #2 OF A TWO PART SERIES. I do this second part in two parts.
