Sermon Tone Analysis

So far, we have talked about “drawing a circle around ourselves”… We’ve talked about the need to “Dream Big”, so that we will “Pray Big”…

All in an effort to develop a “prayer-filled lifestyle”… A “Prayer-filled” lifestyle is one that always circles back to prayer!

But… (let me tell you)

A prayerful lifestyle is not easy...

I'm not talking about "praying without ceasing" in the manner in which much of the Church has been taught.

I'm talking about a Prayer life that goes beyond the normal, everyday, "toss up" prayers... and reaches deep into the soul… bringing forth those deep, gut wrenching, life-changing, prayers for answers that only God can give.

— Those prayers that come straight from the deepest concerns of our hearts and cry out for God to move!

Those prayers are not easy...

They are challenging...

They are difficult...

They take work... dedication... consecration...

As we learn to draw a circle around ourselves, we must learn to "Pray Hard."

Mark Batterson shares about when he first began pastoring “National Community Church”… He began to prayer-walk Capital Hill every day…

He shares that it was a nearly 5 mile circle!

And… It took him nearly 3 hours to make the walk the first time…

It wasn’t easy, but…He stuck with it…

And… today, National Community Church has 7 campuses meeting every Sunday!

Batterson confesses: “Pray isn’t easy… but when we ‘pray hard’ and pray with ‘perseverence’, God responds in amazing and powerful ways.”

(paraphrased)

We find that truth over and over in scripture… and in our lives.

If we are going to learn to “pray hard”, then there are two decisions that we have to make:

I. Praying hard requires consecration to God.

Look at:

This is after the spies have been sent out… after they have visited with Rahab the prostitute… after she has saved them and gotten them out of the city… and after they have promised that she and her family would be protected…

The Israelites are preparing to enter into the promised land…

Joshua tells them, “Consecrate yourselves.”

To Consecrate (Hebrew: ‘hit qad da su’) — “to set apart”, “to be fully devoted”… “To be dedicated to service and loyalty to God...”

It means — You give ALL of yourself to ALL of God… Holding nothing back!

— Keeping nothing for yourself…

— Trusting that God WILL take care of it… That He WILL bless it… That God truly means you no harm, and that He WILL use it to PROSPER you and not to HARM you!

Have you Consecrated yourself to God?

Have you given EVERYTHING to Him?

Let me ask you about what is probably the single most difficult place for Christians to “give to God”… Your finances.

Are you letting God write the checks?

or, Are you still arguing with Him about how much and where to give?

If you are… let me tell you… You haven’t consecrated yourself to God!

We are called to fully devote ourselves to God!

To give it ALL — our money, our time, our resources, our families, our relationships, our worship — to God, because… He gave it ALL for us!

There is a story told of Dr. J. Edwin Orr…

Dr. Orr took a group of college students to England, where they visited Epworth Rectory — the childhood home of John Wesley.

The rectory is now a Methodist Museum.

In one of the bedrooms, there are two impressions in the floor next to the bed, where it is believed that John Wesley regularly knelt to pray.

As they were loading the bus after the tour, Dr. Orr discovered that one of the students was missing.

When he went back in in search of him, Dr. Orr found the young Billy Graham kneeling in those knee holes praying: “O’ Lord, Do it again!”

Is that how we are praying?

Are we looking at what God has done and praying “O’ God, Do it again!!!!”?!?!?!?

Henry Varley once said: “The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man (or woman) who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.”

Like Graham, Dwight L. Moody set himself apart for God, and the Moody Institute has since reached millions around the world for the Gospel!

In the 1930’s, God used the lives of four men and their families, who had consecrated themselves to Him completely, to reach people in South America who were on the brink of extinction with the gospel.

Everyday, God uses the lives of those who consecrate themselves to Him to do powerful things… Regardless of education or skill levels!

Do we want God to use us like that?!?!

Do you want to see God move through you like He has with Moody, Graham, and so many others?

Then you MUST consecrate yourself!

(repeat quote)

When we Consecrate ourselves, it puts us in a position to SEE God work…

But… We ALSO need to work!

John 4:34–36 (NIV)

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’?

I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields!

They are ripe for harvest.

36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.

This takes place after Jesus has spent time talking to the Samaritan woman at the well…

Do you see His plea to His disciples?!?

(repeat highlight)

Jesus’s plea is for them to consecrate themselves to the work of the Kingdom… to the work He has consecrated Himself to!

He is pleading with them to see the work that NEEDS to be done!!!!

Mark Batterson states: “You can’t just pray like it depends on God.

You also have to WORK like it depends on YOU!”

Isaiah 6:8 (NIV)

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send?

And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

God is still asking that question!

Will you respond?

Will you be one to say “Here I am… Send ME!”?

Have you fully devoted yourself to God? What is holding you back?

What is that big, bold, brave dream that you are praying hard about?

What is God asking you to step out and do to move towards it?

II.

Praying Hard requires a Step of Faith.

When we are praying about it… when we are asking God to do something BIG… We MUST go first!!!!

Joshua and the priests had to step out into the water first… It wasn’t until they had entered the water that the Jordan stopped flowing and the Israelites were able to cross on dry land.

Look at:

The disciples obeyed Jesus’s command… They stepped out in faith and began the work He had commissioned them to do…

And God confirmed their obedience through the signs that “accompanied” their work.

Look at verses 16 and 17 again…

The word “believes” (in some translation “have faith”) is the word “pisteou” again.

It means…

FAITH is taking the first step BEFORE God reveals the SECOND…

We need to learn to PRAY ABOUT IT and then ACT ON IT!

We need to step into the river — whatever that river is to us.

Jesus is talking about offense and forgiveness here, but the principle applies to prayer and faithful action as well…

Jesus tells us to act — to “first go”…

If we are praying and God tells us to do something, there’s no time to waste… We need to get up, and go do it!

Then come back to prayer.

Look at Joshua… God didn’t tell Joshua to “Pray about it”… NO!

Joshua prayed and God told him “Now act on it!”

Let me tell you… Praying can become a form of spiritual procrastination!

We pray… and pray… and pray… and tell people we are “praying about it”… all the while God is telling us to “Go and Do!”