PRAYER:Wait a minute
Greetings in the name of Jesus
We have been calling attention to some of the finer points of our relationship with God by making statements about attitudes, and intent of heart for us as Christians. In order for us to restore any level of righteousness in our judgment of what has been going on in our country we must realize that prayer and communication with God is of utmost importance.
We say that God always answers prayer; sometimes he says yes; sometimes he says no and sometimes he says "wait a minute". For Those of us awaiting for prayer to be answered the time spent can be grueling. Since we realize that to the Lord a day can be as 1000 years (according to 2 Peter 3:8) it could mean a good long 10 year wait for us to find out an answer to a prayer. There are four areas of prayer that I would like to mention to you today that we need to be aware of
PRAYER WITH FAITH Hebrews 11:6. PRAYER WITH CLEAN HANDS AND A PURE HEART (Psalms 24:3-4) PRAYING GENUINE HEARTFELT PRAYERS, OTHER THAN REPETITIONS (Matthew 6:7), And then finally MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE PRAYING TO THE GOD OF THE SCRIPTURES (Exodus 20:3-6). I would very much like to take some time to go over a few of these things with you as we get closer to the elections, because I want you to be aware for yourselves of the importance of prayer in our country. I have seen that surveys show that more than 90% of Americans say that they pray daily. I have no doubt that they pray for things like health, wealth, happiness and so forth; and I have no doubt that they pray when someone gets sick in the family. I am also not surprised to find out that a lot of the people that say they pray get disillusioned quite easily or even bitter when they feel their prayers are not answered.
One of the things that we need to know is that there are things that can keep God from hearing our prayer. One of those things is to PRAY WITHOUT FAITH. I read one time were evangelist Ray Comfort was told by someone who thought they were paying him a compliment that he was a man of great faith in God. Ray said "they weren't, what if I said to you, I am a man of great faith and my doctor. It is a complement to the doctor, if I have great faith in him, it means that I see him as a man of integrity, a man of great ability; that he is trustworthy. I give glory to the man through my faith in him." A part of Paul's great conviction about Jesus Christ is that he was strong in his faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised to Paul, he was able to also deliver to him .( Romans 4: 20-21) you see it was not a great complement to say that Abraham was a man of great faith in God, because it is not a complement to Abraham, because he merely caught a glimpse of God's incredible ability, his integrity, and his wonderful faithfulness to keep every promise that he makes.So when you pray don't say", oh God, I hope you will supply my needs. "Instead say something like "father, thank you that you keep every promise you make, your word says that you will supply all my needs according to your riches in glory by Christ Jesus as it says in Philippians 4:19. Because I can believe in that promise I can therefore think you that you will do this thing for my family for me and I asked this wonderful name of Jesus amen".I want to take some time to go over the other three of these concepts of prayer for us this week so that we can use prayer effectively as we ask for guidance from God's Holy Spirit in these times of need. I love all of you in the power of God's Spirit, may you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
We have been calling attention to some of the finer points of our relationship with God by making statements about attitudes, and intent of heart for us as Christians. In order for us to restore any level of righteousness in our judgment of what has been going on in our country we must realize that prayer and communication with God is of utmost importance.
We say that God always answers prayer; sometimes he says yes; sometimes he says no and sometimes he says "wait a minute". For Those of us awaiting for prayer to be answered the time spent can be grueling. Since we realize that to the Lord a day can be as 1000 years (according to 2 Peter 3:8) it could mean a good long 10 year wait for us to find out an answer to a prayer. There are four areas of prayer that I would like to mention to you today that we need to be aware of
PRAYER WITH FAITH Hebrews 11:6. PRAYER WITH CLEAN HANDS AND A PURE HEART (Psalms 24:3-4) PRAYING GENUINE HEARTFELT PRAYERS, OTHER THAN REPETITIONS (Matthew 6:7), And then finally MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE PRAYING TO THE GOD OF THE SCRIPTURES (Exodus 20:3-6). I would very much like to take some time to go over a few of these things with you as we get closer to the elections, because I want you to be aware for yourselves of the importance of prayer in our country. I have seen that surveys show that more than 90% of Americans say that they pray daily. I have no doubt that they pray for things like health, wealth, happiness and so forth; and I have no doubt that they pray when someone gets sick in the family. I am also not surprised to find out that a lot of the people that say they pray get disillusioned quite easily or even bitter when they feel their prayers are not answered.
One of the things that we need to know is that there are things that can keep God from hearing our prayer. One of those things is to PRAY WITHOUT FAITH. I read one time were evangelist Ray Comfort was told by someone who thought they were paying him a compliment that he was a man of great faith in God. Ray said "they weren't, what if I said to you, I am a man of great faith and my doctor. It is a complement to the doctor, if I have great faith in him, it means that I see him as a man of integrity, a man of great ability; that he is trustworthy. I give glory to the man through my faith in him." A part of Paul's great conviction about Jesus Christ is that he was strong in his faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised to Paul, he was able to also deliver to him .( Romans 4: 20-21) you see it was not a great complement to say that Abraham was a man of great faith in God, because it is not a complement to Abraham, because he merely caught a glimpse of God's incredible ability, his integrity, and his wonderful faithfulness to keep every promise that he makes.So when you pray don't say", oh God, I hope you will supply my needs. "Instead say something like "father, thank you that you keep every promise you make, your word says that you will supply all my needs according to your riches in glory by Christ Jesus as it says in Philippians 4:19. Because I can believe in that promise I can therefore think you that you will do this thing for my family for me and I asked this wonderful name of Jesus amen".I want to take some time to go over the other three of these concepts of prayer for us this week so that we can use prayer effectively as we ask for guidance from God's Holy Spirit in these times of need. I love all of you in the power of God's Spirit, may you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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