Series: Prayer Power: Plugging into the Power of Prayer Intro: Prayer is God inviting us to know Him, AND it s inviting God to know us. When we pray, we better know God and plug into an unlimited power source that s full of wonder and awe! Just like your Microwave or TV need to be plugged in to function, we need to continually plug in to God to function well! Sermon One: Wonder & Awe of God Grand Canyon one of 7 Wonders of the world Wow Factor Our family just sat there for hours gazing at this wonder! True prayer begins with an awe & wonder of our creator, who s also our heavenly Father! God brought wonder & awe into Moses life through a burning bush God brought wonder & awe to Joseph through dreams God brought wonder & awe to Gideon through an angel God brought wonder & awe to Job through His creation God brought wonder & awe to the disciples through miracles God brought wonder & awe to Mary & Martha through Lazarus resurrection Prayer is full of wonder - Prayer is awesome! Prayer is communicating with God, your heavenly dad! Prayer changes us and prayer changes our situations Prayer is relationship with our creator Prayer prepares us for tomorrow, gives us strength for today and helps us understand yesterday. Prayer is not a duty it s a delight Prayer is not to impress God, it s to press into God Prayer is that close, deeply satisfying and meaningful experience with God that ruins us for anything the world offers. Answer my prayers, O LORD, for your unfailing love is wonderful. Take care of me, for your mercy is so plentiful. Psalm 69:16 NLT (read together) Tim Keller: Prayer for those who don t know God is a list of wants that we ask God to give in a timely manner. But when we pray, it s not so much a focus on things, but on God. It s pressing into the wonderful love and mercy of God. The wonder of God is that moment of spiritual awakening that makes us curious to know God more. Wonder Struck, Margaret Feinberg Turn this into a personal prayer: Father, I believe you hear me and listen to me. I invite you into my life. I want to talk with you everyday! God reveal yourself, Your whole self to me. I want to know you as Wonderful. I want to know you as I ve never known you before. Give me these awestruck moments in your presence. Open my eyes. Open my ears. Soften my heart. Cause the awesome wonder of you to take my prayer life higher than ever! AMEN! 1
Prayer is the most amazing privilege of the Christian. The Bible says that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Prayer is powerful. It s effective. It s life changing. Prayer is a powerful spiritual force and something that God calls His people to experience. Jesus' deep desire is that you and I would pray. He wants us to be enthusiastic about prayer and excited about all its possibilities. He loves it when we earnestly seek Him & trust Him, praying with our heart & soul. He loves it when we believe that prayer can change anything. Prayer delights God s ear; it melts His heart; and opens His hand. God cannot deny a praying soul. - Thomas Watson Please go to Luke 11:1-2 The disciples had been with Jesus for a while now. They saw the miracles, the healing, the supernatural deliverances, the crowds of people. But nothing caught their attention like the life of prayer that Jesus modeled for them. Whether in the middle of the day or in the middle of a conversation, it was common for Jesus to steal away to a quiet place where He could have uninterrupted communion with His Father. Jesus loved His family, He loved his disciples, He loved the multitudes, and He loved fellowship and ministry, but nothing was more important to Jesus than His relationship with His Father. And after watching Jesus live a life of prayer, the disciples asked for help to learn how to pray: One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. Luke 11:1 This verse shows that Jesus was praying in a certain place and the disciples were watching. And what they saw created a hunger in them for prayer. You have to understand that the disciples had grown up under the teaching of the Pharisees. They watched these religious, pious men pray three times a day. Their prayers never inspired awe or wonder in these young men. But when they saw Jesus praying, it created a hunger in them. In Jesus they saw a delight, a joy, a privilege, a power in prayer. Grown men, who had seen the empty practice of religious prayer for years, saw something in Jesus that created a thirst in them and prompted them to ask, "Lord, teach us to pray." "Prayer should not be regarded "as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty." E.M. Bounds 2
It wasn't so much that the disciples wanted to learn a method of praying, or the duty of praying, as that they wanted to understand the secret of Jesus amazing life and why he was always praying. As they watched Jesus pray, they became aware that prayer was not an afterthought or something Jesus did when he wasn t preoccupied, but prayer to God was his source of life. There in prayer Jesus did not recite rote prayers like the Pharisees, he spent time in prayer with His Father - there was an intimacy, a deep relationship that brought him strength, courage, wisdom, peace, joy, and power to overcome. What Jesus is about to teach them is not a mantra or rosary-like repetition, but a framework for how to pray. Pray: Jesus, teach us how to pray! Amen 2 He said to them, When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Notice the focus of this verse: Father your name, your kingdom. The focus is on God our Father. Jesus is describing the great and powerful God as a divine Dad! He s wanting us to relate to God as this perfect Father in heaven. Prayer is all about relationship. The focus of prayer should not be the words we use, but the person we are speaking them to. The reason why many of us struggle to pray is because we are focusing more on the duty of praying than we are getting to know God and opening our soul to our divine Dad. Here lies the secret of Jesus prayer life -Luke 5:16: "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. He often withdrew because He knew the power of prayer - getting to know and love God as Father. It was this relationship that Jesus desired. It was this relationship Jesus had with His Father that created a hunger and thirst in the disciples. They said, Jesus, we have to know God like you know and experience Him - teach us to pray like you pray. Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. Oswald Chambers We will continually do prayer exercises throughout this series to apply and practice what we re discussing Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue; God's voice is its most essential part. Listening to God's voice is the secret of the assurance that He will listen to mine. Andrew Murray I want us to take 60 seconds and quiet our souls and actually talk with God and then listen. I would like you to ask God how much He cares about you. Then I want you to wait and let God speak to your heart and soul. Pray: Father, would you show me how much to you care about me? AMEN! 3
Hallowed be your name: Hallowed = Hagiazo = holy, awesome, set apart for honor and wonder. Jesus is saying, Keep the awe & wonder of God close What to do when the wonder wears off: New Car, New Computer, New Child all good, but eventually the awe and wonder begins to wear off like the shine off your new shoes! What do we do? 1. Speak with the Father What throws opens the doors of heaven for us to experience the awe and wonder of His kingdom is the first word: Father. When we see God for who He is, everything is possible! When we say Father, the sense of drudgery and duty leaves and wonder & awe overtake us. Personal story I always felt that if I got close to this wonderful, awesome God of splendor that He d ask me to do something hard, difficult or time-consuming like go share the gospel with everyone on your street or become a missionary to Mongolia. I Focused on God being my Father closeness, not busyness 2. See the world through a child s eyes Children see colors, touch textures, taste things, listen expectantly, and then wonder about their experiences no worries, just wonder! We re in danger of losing divine wonder when we re driven by a job, a career, bills & social media. 3. Spend some time with a Christian friend listening to God s amazing work in their life I m always amazed with every Christian who s joined this church! Are you savoring the story and beauty of God s artistry in a friend s life? Taking time to experience the wonder of God s work in them? D-Group plug! 4. Search for amazing stories in scripture and place yourself in that story Think of an awesome movie in terms of cinematography Hugo or Avatar or LOTR there was such a wow factor as you experienced the vivid moving picture on the silver screen. We want to go there/experience it in some way. Do this with scripture: slow down an amazing story into slow motion and high definition as you read it through several times and place yourself in it. What was the main character feeling? Thinking? Others around? Become a part of God s kingdom through meditating on scriptural stories! What mental/emotional barrier is keeping you from such an awesome, wonderful God? Pray: Father, show me any barrier that s keeping me away from you. Break this barrier in my heart, mind and soul and let me come close and know you and be known by You. 4
Objective: To Inspire the church to pray - to create a hunger in them to know the awe, wonder, privilege, and power of prayer. What do I want them to know? Prayer is wonderful and awesome Why do I want them to know it? So they ll come close to God and talk with Him not just during difficult times but all the time What do I want them to do about it? Knock down mental/emotional barriers that keep them away from such an awesome, wonderful God 5