The Purpose of the Church, Prayer
Last week, we looked at: Worship Him before you work for Him
This week, we are going to be looking at: Seek His face before you serve Him.
Having a great prayer life.
My brother used to say there were two men in his life who, if they ever prayed for him to die, he’d just go ahead and lay down. That was Ben Turner and George Lauderdale.
Isn’t it great to have that kind of relationship and closeness with God that people see it?
How do you pray to the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and to the Father all at the same time?
We pray by the Spirit
We pray through Jesus
We pray to the Father
The spirit gives us the word when we don’t have it
Jesus is the way, I am the way, the truth, the life, no one comes to the Father but by me
The Father is the one we run to
INTRODUCTION
Prayer is an activity that every person, regardless of their physical limitations or age, can do. Eva???
- E.M. Bounds.
He will never talk well and with real success to men for God, who has not learned well how to talk to God for men.
Talking to men for God is a Great thing, but talking to God for men is Greater still.
This activity is a channel of blessings for all who will use it.
Somebody Prayed for Me
This is a song our choir used to sing
“Somebody prayed for me
They had me on their mind
They sacrificed their time
They fell down on their knees and prayed for me
They had no doubt that God would bring me out
That he could change my life and set me free
I’m so glad that someone prayed for me”
Chuck Swindoll
There is nothing God cannot do. Job finally came to realize that his Lord and master was capable of doing anything anyway, He pleased with anyone who wished for as long as He desired and in any way for any reasons not only to Him because God is able to do anything with him. So grab hold of this thought: they give it a word that you may have heard, but maybe you’ve not known what it meant. The word they give. It is simply omnipotence. Unpack it: omni, the first part of it means all or everywhere; potent means powerful, effective. God is all-powerful, with absolute and unlimited might, strength, and power. He is able to create from nothing; we invent with things already in existence. God creates, we invent, and He maintains the vast universe. We can’t change a thing in the universe. We can only observe and enjoy it.
Job 40:1-5 Then the LORD said to Job, “Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?” Then Job replied to the LORD, “I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.”
God ends up scolding Job’s friends for the counsel that they gave Job, and then God lifts Job up, and the whole reason is that Job never stopped praying and calling out to God.
Even if they were bad prayers, they were still prayers. He was still calling out to God: Don’t stop trusting and calling out to God.
Doesn’t matter if you’re doing it well or not. What matters is that you acknowledge that you have to go to God for help.
My mother said that after she lost her first husband, he was a motorcycle police officer for the city of Atlanta. He was killed in the line of duty, she said she got mad at God. She said she would holler and scream at God, and she was telling God You don’t exist; you’re not real. And then she said she stopped and thought, she said, “Well, then who in the world am I talking to?”
She said such a peace came over her, and God held her and took care of her. She said up to her dying days that God sent her my Dad, and it was the best thing that ever happened to her outside of accepting Christ. I always told her that She was the best thing that ever happened to him.
When it’s all said and done, you can see what Job said
Job 42:5-6 5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”
Sometimes we have to go through a lot to see who God is and recognize Him, but now my eyes see you, now I know you, and He’s well worth knowing.
Nothing happened to Job that was God’s idea. But He allowed it. Sometimes we are put in a storm for God to teach us to trust Him. Walking on water.
- This purpose is prayer. Everything that we do as individual Christians and as a Church should be bathed in prayer.
- We feel that we just don’t have time to pray.
- If prayer does not drive sin out of your life, sin will drive prayer out.
If you don’t feel like praying, force it because something is also forcing you not to pray.
James 4:7-10 (NKJV) 7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. That’s the reason we have the Lord’s Prayer: lead me not into temptation but deliver me from the evil one 8 Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and look what happens He will lift you up.
Keep Praying Until God Answers
When He Seems Not to Hear, Trust Him Still
There are three answers to prayer. There’s yes. There is no and no is an answer, and then there is, And sometimes this is the hardest one; sometimes the answer is just wait. We’ll get into those next time.
Waiting means resting in the assurance that the promises that God has made He will fulfill.
Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
Charles Spurgeon:
God is too good to be unkind, too wise to be mistaken, and when you can’t trace His hand, trust his heart
Most of the time, we use prayer only in an emergency.
- A young soldier who was fighting in Italy during World War II jumped into a foxhole just ahead of some bullets. He immediately tried to deepen the hole for more protection and was frantically scraping away the dirt with his hands. He unearthed something metal and brought up a silver crucifix, left by a former resident of the foxhole. A moment later, another leaping figure landed beside him as the shells screamed overhead. When the soldier got a chance to look, he saw that his new companion was an army chaplain. Holding out the crucifix, the soldier gasped, “Am I glad to see you! How do you work this thing?”
- Prayer is important. Someone asks the question, “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?
- Too many times, prayer is used as a spare tire instead of the steering wheel in our and the church’s lives.
What can we do to change this?
Why should prayer be an important part of our lives?
In the Bible, Nehemiah is often known as a great leader who led a great effort, but…
When he got the news that Jerusalem’s walls were in ruins, before he led any charge, he prayed
In fact, he prayed for 4 months
In contrast, rebuilding the walls took only 52 days
Think about that: A 52-day project had a four-month foundation of prayer
Not only did he repent
He confessed
Before Nehemiah built a wall, God built a wall of dependence
Before God did something through Nehemiah, he did something in Nehemiah
God shapes us in the quiet before he sends us into the noise
My favorite place to pray is up in front of the drum riser.
I used to go over to Praise Tabernacle and pray around that building because I sensed God’s presence there.
I was going through a lot back then, but I learned a lot. I learned God was more interested in changing me and my heart than he was in changing my circumstances.
Did He answer my prayer? He did. He said no. She had free will, and I learned this: God’s not going to make someone love you because He doesn’t even make anyone love Him!
I go down to the graveyard every single day, and I have my devotion in prayer time beside my mom and dad’s graves. I don’t talk to them; I know they’re not there, but I feel God’s presence there, and I go there to get into His throne room of grace.
This church used to have a 24-hour prayer vigil and cottage prayer meetings for Jubilee, which were amazing. That was the whole reason we had amazing Jubilees and meetings. They were submerged in prayer
Ex: Chuck and I were praying for the Jubilee, about three o’clock in the morning during one of the 24-hour prayer vigils, and I said in my prayer Lord shake the very foundation of this building and a storm came up just as I said that. The thunder rolled, and this whole building shook.
Chuck said, ” Brother, whatever you’re doing, keep doing it because you are in the throne room. God is hearing you, listen; he hears me every time.
I was doubting, and sometimes we do, but don’t stop even in the doubt!
Praise Tabernacle 7 passes around the Church 7 times. I asked him, Lord, if you hear me, give me a soul, and they had 7 souls saved in the service.
I don’t know about you, but I need that reminder and to keep in mind that;
“Ugh” Can be a prayer
“Thank you” should be a prayer
“I’m sorry” can be a prayer
“Help” can be a prayer, and is that not what Peter cried out when he started sinking after he stepped out of the boat
“Tears” Thank God, Tears can be a prayer
In fact, it might be the best one
Psalm 56:8 (NKJV) You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book? He has my tears cataloged in a book. He has 55-gallon drums for me
Some walls are rebuilt with tears before they are rebuilt with tools
Matthew 5:4 (NKJV) Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
Blessed Are the Tears
Bryan Duncan
Blessed Are the Tears Lyrics
Think of all the times you’ve fallen victim
All the restless nights you’ve wrestled through
The closest of your friends abandoned, helpless
They’re reaching, but they’re just not reaching you
You hold no valid thoughts of consolation
The future holds no interest, no concern
The world you love is closing in around you
Clearly, now there’s nowhere left to turn
The time has come to share your well-kept secrets
The hatred and guilt degrading you
I’m sure you blame yourself for all that’s happened
This time, there’s just no way that it’s true
You need to know you’ve got a friend in Jesus
You need to know he felt rejected, too
Humiliating pain and unjust treatment
He’s been there, so he knows what you’ve been through
And God will send a Merciful Peacemaker
Comforter of all of those who mourn
We’ll become the pure in heart, the earthly meek
Enduring misdirected scorn
Blessed are the tears that fall
Clean the windows of the soul
And usher in a change of heart
And bring a joy that angels know
Blessed are the tears that fall
Wash the stains of life away
Forgiven and forgotten now
A new creation’s here to stay
Blessed are the tears that fall
Worry less about having the right words. Just bring your whole heart and Honest self before Christ.
I saw a thing that said; I think God cares a lot more about our sincerity than our stage presence
God would rather have our honesty than our eloquence
God needs us where we are, not where we pretend to be
Honesty is the doorway to intimacy with God
As John Ortberg says:
“It’s better to be an honest mess before God than a dishonest saint.”
You don’t need to clean up to show up; that’s how we clean up.
And even when we don’t have words at all, God still steps in to help us
Romans 8:26-27 (NKJV) 26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
That’s really good news
Last week in the Praise time, I thanked God for the rain because I sowed some grass seed at my mom and dad’s grave, and the weather app said 5% chance of rain, so I prayed for rain and it rained.
Greek word for prayer;
It means something more beautiful than we might realize
The most common New Testament word for prayer is PROSEUCHE (Praws-yoo-khay) used more than 120 times.
It’s made up of two parts PROS plus EUCHE/ euchomai
And together it’s an incredible picture of prayer.
pray earnestly from <G4336> (proseuchomai); prayer (worship); by implication an oratory (chapel) :- × pray earnestly, prayer.
Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
Praws (PROS) means to have closeness to someone, not a place, but a person.
Did you get that? You’re not praying to heaven; you are praying to Our personal God! Our Heavenly Father, Abba, the creator of the universe.
It carries the meaning of being with someone face-to-face, intimately.
yoo-khay EUCHE/ euchomai means wish, desire, or longing.
So, you’re face-to-face intimately with a longing and a desire, and you’re sharing it with the creator of the whole universe.
Isn’t that the coolest thing in the world that you have the power and you have permission to do that?
Then why don’t we do it more?
Why don’t we trust him more?
Why don’t we call on him and see a miracle happen here?
And it can! It’s up to you. It’s up to me.
- R. A. Torrey “We are too busy to pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity, but we accomplish little; many services but few conversions; much machinery but few results.”
Truth in nature had one of its camps this week. It’s a ministry that I help and I love. My buddy Tim Croft, who was here a couple of weeks ago, is one of the mentors. He was a campus director there for a good while. We’re prayer partners, and when it was over, He sent me a text yesterday that simply said 12 salvations, 4 rededications and 13 baptisms. Not too shabby for a Christian camp of a bunch of unfathered boys
Chuck and I used to get together at least once a week. He was my accountability partner and Prayer partner.
We were at Shoney’s and talking about how God was using other Churches and other people and preachers.
Chuck asked why we don’t have that power.
Without thinking, I said because we don’t want it bad enough.
I heard Chuck’s fork hit his plate, I looked at him and sat mine down, we got the check and came here and got on our faces asking God to use us.
That’s where the desire to start an Awanas program here came to Chuck that night. And look at how God used that.
- In the Book “The Meaning of Prayer,”
“Our failure to think of prayer as a privilege may be partly due to the fact that we can pray any time. The door to prayer is open so continuously that we fail to avail ourselves of an opportunity which is always there.” - If we tell someone to do something that seems hard or spectacular, we are more apt to do it than to do something as simple as praying.
- Joni Eareckson Tada: “Like art, like music, like so many other disciplines, prayer can only be appreciated when you actually spend time in it.
Spending time with the Master will elevate your thinking. The more you pray, the more will be revealed. You will understand. You will smile and nod your head as you identify with others who fight long battles and find great joy on their knees. “
- When we don’t pray, it’s primarily because we don’t sense our need for God.
This word tells us that prayer is bringing our deepest hopes to God.
But the Bible gives us another word related to prayer.
The word THELEMA in Greek refers to the desire and will, and is often used to describe God’s purpose and His heart.
So, as we move closer to God in prayer, it becomes more than just sharing our desires.
You grow to get everybody else out of the way. Just put God first.
Prayer becomes an exchange for our desire to be His desire.
Psalm 37:1-7 (NKJV) 1 Do not fret because of evildoers, Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, And wither as the green herb. 3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
And here it is:
4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Delight = OT:6026 `anag (aw-nag’); a primitive root; to be soft or pliable, i.e. (figuratively) effeminate or luxurious:
KJV – delicate (-ness), (have) delight (self), sportself.
(Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong’s Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994, Biblesoft and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
Desires = request. As long as your desires are His desires, because the next verse tells us exactly that;
The text goes on;
5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.
7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Just as Jesus showed us with “Not my will (THELEMA) but yours will be done Luke 22:42 (NKJV), saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”
If God had answered the prayers that I was praying some 37 years ago the way I wanted it, would I be in a pulpit today?
Would I have written the books that I have written?
Would I have preached the sermons that I preach?
I’ve seen Hundreds of souls saved as part of ministries that I’ve been in.
But the Greek word for prayer reminds us that this exchange is transactional, like a child resting in the heart and arms of their father. It means an interaction relationship or process based on mutual exchange.
Andy Stanley says it will make your life better and make you better at life.
Even if you’re not a believer, if you do what the Word of God says, your life will be better.
Mr Townsend told me this morning about how he used to look at his brother Glenn Townsend, who was a pastor and a preacher and a great man of God, and he said I looked at him and he saw how much better his life was before I was a believer, and I wanted what he had.
Well, Amen and Hallelujah
If you want to read some good books on prayer, read anything that Edward M Bounds has written.
Purpose in Prayer By E.M. Bounds Prayer Is a Keynote
THE more praying there is in the world, the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil everywhere. Prayer, in one phase of its operation, is a disinfectant and a preventive. It purifies the air; it destroys the contagion of evil. Prayer is no fitful, short-lived thing.
There is no voice crying unheard and unheeded in the silence. It is a voice which goes into God’s ear, and it lives as long as God’s ear is open to holy pleas, as long as God’s heart is alive to holy things.
God shapes the world by prayer. Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may be closed in death, the heart that felt them may have ceased to beat, but the prayers live before God, and God’s heart is set on them, and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world.
You want to see how prayer works
A prime example of that is the property behind us. I remember growing up and coming out here as a little kid. We had prayer meetings on Wednesday night, and they were prayer meetings; the men would go out in the back field, and the women would stay in the sanctuary. If you’ve ever been around those kinds of praying people, it sounds like a competition they’re all hollering out to God all at once. As a child, I wondered how in the world God understands what’s going on. But they were praying and calling out to God and asking God for that property behind us. Years went by, and Chuck Sprayberry and I came out here, and we walked around that property. We were going to walk around it 7 times, but after the first time around, we met on the other side, and we both knew in our hearts that God was going to give us that property. We claimed that property and prayed for it, and within just a few months, I got a picture at home of me signing the papers for it. The ones in the 60’s that prayed for the property were gone, but those prayers were still in God’s ear.
Revelation 5:8 Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
You are either a saint or ain’t.
Back to EM Bounds:
That man who is the most immortal is the one who has done the most and the best praying. They are God’s heroes, God’s saints, God’s servants, God’s deputies. A man can pray better because of the prayers of the past; a man can live holier because of the prayers of the past. The man of many and acceptable prayers has done the truest and greatest service to the incoming generation.
The prayers of God’s saints strengthen the unborn generation against the destructive waves of sin and evil.
Woe to the generation of sons who find their golden bowls empty of the rich incense of prayer; whose fathers have been too busy or too unbelieving to pray, and perils inexpressible and consequences untold are their unhappy heritage.
Fortunate are they whose fathers and mothers have left them a wealthy storehouse of prayer.
My Parents were praying people, my Mother called out my name to God every day, I miss her and her prayers. But God still has her prayers in His ears.
So, let’s sit closer with our Father today and bring our deepest desires to the Lord.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV) 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer (PROSEUCHE) (face-to-face intimately with a longing and a desire) and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Back to our texts from last week
Acts 2:42-47
42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV) ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
God didn’t say He would give you anything; He said, SHOW you.
God can do a work here. God is doing a work here!
Prayer’s just talking and communicating with God. I love talking to people that I love; that’s not hard.
I miss my Mom because I used to share with her every chapter when I got through my books, and she’d always say How do you do that? Where do you get that from? I tell her it comes straight from God and I don’t do it; He does.
Always love getting out on the lake with my Dad.
The whole reason I started hunting was to spend time with my dad. And my brother.
Before Alzheimer’s got too bad in him, he would call me every single morning and tell me to wake up. He knew I had alarms, but he still called cause he just wanted to hear his boy.
He just wanted to hear his son’s voice. I think God’s that way somewhat.
I loved just coming by his house and sitting and just visiting with him.
I think that’s what God wants: He wants us just to come by and sit and visit. He and my mom would talk about when they were children or even when this Church was first started.
I love spending time with people I love, and so do you.
I love coming into this house and spending time with a God that I love. And talking to Him, that’s Prayer.
Tina Turner had a song said what does love have to do with it and my replies everything.
For God, so loved …
So how do you do that in prayer, by getting in the Word of God, spending time with God
Nothing’s too hard for God
Praying to the sovereign Lord
Alistair Begg
If He is sovereign, and He is sovereign therefore, He is sovereign over the good, the bad, and the ugly.
In His sovereignty, he is in charge of all through His grace
Jesus is in charge.
Jesus, actually, if he walks with me, if he talks with me, if he tells me I am his own and I am here with you, then he’s here with me too; therefore, in the presence of Jesus, and there’s more than that: Jesus is what leads us to God. Jesus is the one who leads us in our praise. Jesus is actually the preacher (or Pastor); he brings forth the truth that he chooses to use some mechanism that involves you or me, which is a mystery of grace.
I serve a mighty God; it’s up to you what God you’re a servant to.
Snyder had a prayer meeting one Sunday night. He wanted Alan Clayton, Alan Young, and me to do the sermon. He broke it down this way
3 Prayers
Prayer of penance, supplications, or acceptance. One of the Alans
Prayer of petition or intercession. The other Alan And then he gave me:
Prayer of Praise or thanksgiving. With Adoration and Thanksgiving
Adoration = thanking for who He is.
Thanksgiving = for what He does.
You don’t know what to pray. Start praising God for who he is, and you’ll be here a while. Start thanking God for what he’s done, and you’ll be here a while longer
Charles Stanley said When you ask God for something, do you close your prayer with a sense of expectation of God answering your request?
Or do you do as most people do, that is, they pray and talk to God, they ask for this or that, then say in Jesus’ name, amen.
You get up and walk away.
First of all. We must listen to Him.
Secondly, we must trust Him.
I recently saw this on Instagram. This is how I am going to close
Then you end it with Amen.
The Hebrew word that changed how I think about prayer
We spent years saying amen without thinking about it
When I discovered what the word actually means
For most of my life, amen felt like a punctuation
A spiritual period. Our way of saying the prayer is finished.
That’s not what amen means
The Hebrew word amen comes from the root word, which means faithful, trustworthy, reliable, and firm
In the Bible, amen wasn’t just a word people said at the end of a prayer
It was a response of trust
A way of saying, yes, that’s true. I believe it.
That completely changes how we hear our own prayers
Because every time I say amen, I’m not just ending a conversation with God; I’m saying I trust him
Think about the prayers you’ve said amen to. prayers for healing, peace, or forgiveness
I wonder how often I’ve said amen. What I really meant was God please do this my way.
I think that’s what changed for me
Amen, has to stop being the last word of my prayer, and become the first response of my trust
The next time you say, amen, don’t rush past it
Pause for a moment and ask yourself
Do I trust the God I just prayed to?
Revelation 22:20-21 (NKJV)
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
PRAY!
