(Audio/Video and Text Available)
Title: Often Forgotten Characteristics of Prayer
Intro:
Have you ever experienced a thing (a movie, a song, a book) and for years said, “Oh that thing is great! It’s one of the classics! One of my all time favorites!”
But then years go by and you sit down and watch that movie, or read that book, or listen to that song and you are totally blown away by it all over again?
What changed to make you appreciated (possibly more that ever) all over again?
There is a difference between remembering a thing and experiencing a thing.
18 With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints.
(Slide with verse “broken into three sections)
“every prayer and request”
There are no small prayer requests or small prayer requestors.
(Ben going to Walmart that day for no reason, lady in the scooter)
When you pray for someone, right there, right then, instead of saying, “I’ll be in prayer for you” whether in person, or on the phone, it means so much to that person, it means so much to God.
(Ben missed opportunity with Dan H. last Sunday.)
“Pray at all times in the Spirit”
Before you pray, consider and remember WHAT and WHO God is…the things you ALREADY know about God’s character from Scripture and experience.
This will help you:
- To NOT pray selfishly
- To NOT pray for something outside of God’s will
- To be HUMBLE in your approach to God.
“With this in view, be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints.”
- Prayer should be an ACTIVE action in our lives. For most of us, it is usually REACTIVE. (Can someone give an example of the difference?)
- Therefore, we should be SEEKING opportunities to pray, not WAITING for something to CAUSE us to pray. (alone, with others, for big things, for routine things, for vision for the future, for praise regarding the past, for God’s character, for discernment, etc.)
- Prayer requires perseverance. You most likely are NOT going to get your answer right away. Prayer’s greatest gift is that is draws you into the FATHER, makes you sit and dwell at HIS feet. Prayer takes you away from the greatest distraction (yourself) and develops the relationship with Jesus. (Imagine if we got our answer and then withdrew from God…at that point we have as much relationship with him as we do with Google.)
- We are to consider EVERY request for ALL the saints. We don’t get to be the selection committee. We don’t decide which prayers or situations are WORTHY of our prayers.
HUGE POINT:
The prayer isn’t about the request primarily. It’s about the RELATIONSHIP between the FATHER and the praying person. So if it’s a prayer about a cancer diagnosis or a prayer about a lost set of house keys, BOTH provide the OPPORTUNITY to sit and dwell and exist with the FATHER.