Prayer very well might be the most wonderful privilege we have as His people.

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1 Cultivating a Healthy Prayer Life Sunday, July 14, 2013 I do not have the words to adequately describe the importance of prayer; prayer is powerful, prayer is beautiful, prayer is wonderful, prayer is the amazing privilege we have as Christians to actually talk to Almighty God. Prayer very well might be the most wonderful privilege we have as His people. How marvelous that I, a filthy clod, through prayer, may communicate with God! Prayer is like simple solid steps toward God, believing that He Himself will respond. When our prayer life is healthy, we draw near to Him, as we read in James 4:8, Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you Prayer comes closer, dives deeper than God s omnipresence; there is a difference between God s general presence, and His special presence, and Psalm 73:28 says, It is good to draw near to God It s been said that, Prayer moves the hand that moves the world. E.M. Bounds said that, Prayer can do anything God can do. The last time I checked, God was pretty powerful, God was all-powerful, He spoke to Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 32:27, Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me? The obvious answer to the Rhetorical question is no. Some may say that prayer changes things, and it does; but more importantly prayer changes people; people like you and me; and then what happens is God will use changed people to do what? To change the world; So if in prayer I draw near to God, who then draws near to me. If, in-and-through prayer God Himself provides His omnipotent power to every relation, and every situation; If it s true that prayer is probably the greatest privilege we have as God s people on planet earth, then why is it that so many Christians struggle in the area of prayer? Perhaps the answer is two-fold. 1

2 1. Some Christians don t really know the power of prayer. They can t conceive, they don t believe, they won t receive. Some Christians don t really know the power of prayer. 2. The Devil and his demons do know the power of prayer and so they ve done all they can to keep us from praying. And remember, our spiritual enemies work in conjunction with the world, and our fallen flesh, to keep us from this Spiritual life-line. William Cowper said that, Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees. Why s is that? Samuel Chadwick said, The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayer-less studies, prayer-less work, prayer-less religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom but trembles when we pray. Because of the fact that prayer is one of the most effective things you can engage in, in life all of our enemies unite in their attempt to keep us from praying effectively. The world keeps us busy, and distracted, focused on getting things done withing their system. The flesh has a hard time sitting still, and then getting out of bed; the flesh would much rather go to the phone, than to the throne. The enemy lies to us, planting seeds of doubt, vying to make us think that prayer doesn t really make much of a difference, or God doesn t really hear your prayer. A healthy prayer life will be resisted at all fronts; but it s here that we need to adopt the mindset and motto of Winston Churchill, who in the midst of World War II, simply said, Never give up, never give up, never give up! The other day, I went to McDonalds and got a little Minion for one of the little boys. He was so happy. But one of the other kids later that night saw the minion; and he told the little boy he wanted one, to whom he said, Ask Pastor Manny. So now the second little boy has a decision to make; the desire is there, but is the fire there, what would his decision be, would he ask me? And the same is true in the Kingdom of God. Haven t you seen Almighty God move in the hearts and lives of people around you, people in the past? Or maybe you ve read the chronicles of miracles in the Bible and throughout church history. God did it for them, God changed that relation; God chose that nation; God altered that situation; He did it then, can He do it again? 2

3 James 5:17-18 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Some might ask, I don t get it, God did amazing things back then, where s the God of Elijah? But God s the same, He s alive and well, He s here, there, and everywhere, the real question is, Where are the Elijah s? Where are the people set apart with such a heart, the holy people, with healthy prayer lives? A couple of weeks ago I mentioned to you that one of the things we need to do in order to rescue the United States of America is to pray. The LORD made a promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14 If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Psalm 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. If we love this country, if we love our children, if we love the next generation to whom we will leave this country, then we will exhaust our God given resources, and do our best to reroute this Republic in order that we might leave behind a land that loves the Lord but that can never, ever, ever happen unless we Christians cultivate a healthy prayer life. These aren t my words, this is God s Word in John 16:24 Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. As a pastor I would love to take a survey, to find out how our prayer life is as a congregation. I wonder, how many people take quality, quantity time to pray before they rush into their day? How many pray morning, noon, and night, like Daniel did? How many husbands pray with their wives? How many families pray together, that they might stay together, and if so, how many times a week? How many people, are having those heart to heart talks with God, searching their within, confessing their sins, times of thanksgiving, and worship, praying for their family, praying for the ministry, praying for their allies, praying for their enemies. What does a healthy prayer-life look like? 3

4 This is a huge topic, one that I m actually looking forward to teach for 15 weeks in the Bible College this fall, How to Cultivate a Healthy Prayer Life. And we re going to be covering so many qualities of quality prayer, including the content of our prayers, public prayers, private prayers, hindrances to prayer; we re going to be studying in depth the various passages in the Bible on prayer and one of the most important aspects of the class, is you will not be allowed to hear it and not live it; so many, hearing so many messages on prayer, but far too frequently, the go home and spend the rest of their lives not praying the way God has called them to pray no, this is hands on, knees down, humbly making ourselves accountable, to pray. One of the areas of study will be the prayer lives of those used mightily by God in the history of the world; and of course the one used most mightily is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, today, I d like to share with you 10 things about Jesus prayer life; time only permits us to touch on these things; but, if you re honestly interested in having victory in this area of your life; I d like to invite you back this evening at 6pm; we ll be doing a prayer lab, a practical follow-up, and talk more about these things, with even the opportunity to make yourself accountable to follow through on your personal convictions. We ll be meeting here in the main sanctuary. I hope you don t need a lot of convincing that we are to emulate the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the heart of His most common command, Follow Me. We are to follow His steps and His example (1 Peter 2:21) We are to imitate Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1) 1 John 2:6 speaking of Jesus, says, He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. The disciples spent 3 years with Jesus, and the only thing they every asked Him to teach them, was to teach them to pray. His prayer life was His key to life. And the first thing we see is that: 1. Jesus prayed Privately (Matthew 14:23) Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 4

5 Luke 6:12 Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray... John 6:15 Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone. 2. Jesus prayed Corporately (Luke 9:28) Something the church carried on. Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. Acts 4:24-31 (they raised their voice to God with one accord) 3. Jesus prayed Personally (John 17:1-5) 4. Jesus prayed Vicariously (Matthew 19:13; John 17:6-26) Samuel said, it would be a sin if I didn t pray for you! 5. Jesus prayed Passionately (Luke 22:44; Hebrews 5:7) Sweating drops of blood C. H. Spurgeon, Prayer pulls the rope down below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly; others give only an occasional jerk at the rope. But he who communicates with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously with all his might. Some people s prayers need to be cut short at both ends and set on fire in the middle. Colossians 4:2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 6. Jesus prayed Extensively (Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12) All night, early morning 5

6 (Genesis 32) Daniel 6:10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. 7. Jesus prayed Yieldedly (Luke 22:42) A Practical/Detailed plan 1. Ask God for His will, His plan for your prayer life. 2. Write down that plan, put it in writing as a formality, make it a reality; writing reminds you, so that God might find you obeying in your praying (for most of us, this is necessary). Who are you to pray for? What are you to pray for them? How long do you pray for them? (10 minutes) (10 years?) (For some, you make mention Romans 1:9; Ephesians 1:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:2; Philemon 4) What (else) are you to pray for? (El Monte, our Country, maybe it will be your leaders, or those you aspire to lead, 3. If you find in time, that you re not following through with the plan; reevaluate; make adjustments if necessary, once you re convince of God s perfect will for your prayer life, make yourself accountable to someone, if you re not following through, until the day comes, and the training wheels are taken off, replaced with wings, and not only will you roll along, but I believe you will fly, when you cultivate a healthy prayer life! Sometimes we don t have, simply because we don t ask. James 4:2, Yet you do not have, because you do not ask. Remember the little boy who wanted a Minion? 6

7 He asked. And here it is. I can t wait to give it to him. Now, as you know, I m very limited, I can only produce an extremely limited amount of minions, or anything else, for that matter, but God that s different His minions are infinitely beyond millions. And His answers are the real deal, they re not plastic or pretend, they re not fantasy, but rather, His answers are reality. It s time, it really is; it s time to make time to pray. It s time to ask God, to cry, to look up, to lift up our voices; to turn from our wicked ways, to humble ourselves, to pray, to seek God s face. Joel 2:12-14 Now, therefore, says the LORD, Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him For some it means you turn, you return to the Lord, repeatedly; for someone else here today it might mean you turn to the Lord, initially. 7