Part 3: ITS TIME TO FIRE UP

LORDS PRAYER: RECITE TOGETHER

Matt 6:9-13 “9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Message Title: ITS TIME TO FIRE UP // The Secret PRAYER? How do i pray?

Matt 6:6 “6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Today i want to talk about the secret place of prayer… There’s a verse that i believe is going to be a marker for you in yoour life and your prayer life especially.

This is the WORD of the Lord through Moses to the PRIEST’s (aaron):

Leviticus 6:12–13 ESV

12 The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. 13 Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.

I wanna talk today about the FIRE on the ALTAR of your LIFE> TEACHING MESSAGE.

what is the FIRE.

Its the FIRE THAT BURNS BEFORE THE LORD.... / It was TRUE of the ALTAR for the PRIESTS but now we are all PRIEST’s called to Minister to GOD… and People. Love God, Love people

BUT WHAT IS THE FIRE?

The FIRE is YOUR PRAYER LIFE.

“God warms his hands at man's heart when he prays” - John Masefield.

ITS TIME TO FIRE UP A LITTLE....

Its the same in our prayer life but lets look together today at one such example in scripture (we have looked at some prayers that have been prayed: last week was Jehoshaphats prayer of despair that really was a prayer of faith and thee response was a delivering by God.

Today: the Prayer of Dedication by Solomon at the Building of the temple:

This is a powerful prayer but the answer from god is so much greater:

2 Chronicles 6:36–42 ESV

36 “If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near, 37 yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ 38 if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, 39 then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you. 40 Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place. 41 “And now arise, O Lord God, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in your goodness. 42 O Lord God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one! Remember your steadfast love for David your servant.”

2 Chronicles 7:1–3 (ESV)

1 As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

Write this down: A NATURAL OFFERING ALWAYS BRINGS IN A SUPERNATURAL RESPONSE.

all sacrifice is costly otherwise it wouldbe a sacrifice.

And when we sacrifice at the altar and we attend to the ALTAR of our heart in prayer (& sacrifice) theer is always a supernatural response.

When we pray, something happens in the supernatural that we don’t understand in our bodies but our spirit is impacted by His spirit and that leads us to a greater place in our own lives.

The FIRE begins in our hearts

in prayer.....the moment of salvation. WE GET LIT UP.

It begins… there’s a fire. Theres an altar and there is the DARKNESS now FILLED WITH LIGHT

but as we go along in life. The call of every believer is to continually return to that fire in PRAYER.

YOUR NOT GONNA MAKE IT IF YOU DONT PRAY.

Its your burning fire that is HOLY TO THE LORD.

for the NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH that is meant to be the fire.

SO HOW DO I PRAY: This is the KEYS to EFFECTIVE PRAYER.

1.PRAY TO THE FATHER (this is relationship).

there is an in-ate thing inside all of us to be in relationship with the one who created us.

When you pray… pay like this:

“our father”

the Our is a GREAT reminder that we are all in this together.

But NOTICE who Jesus gave us to DIRECT our prayers to?

You dont pray to the ceiling, or the sky or the roof over your head or some outside object we PRAY TO GOD. OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.

Q: Do you call out to him as FATHER: this is why its important. its because THATS WHO HE IS. He is Lord. He is God. He is Yahweh. He is “THE LORD GOD”

But He wants to be KNOWN to you… as who HE IS. a FATHER>

The enemy knows this & is attacking and HAS BEEN ATTACKING the FATHERHOOD of God in our lives since the very beginning. Here at our church we are VERY PROUD of our FATHERS. and WE want to RAISE UP GREAT FATHERS Who search for and go after the VERY HEART of GOD.

We pray to OUR FATHER.

why?

Because he wants to meet with you.

(this is a WORD for someone today: God WANTS to have HIS MEETING every day.... with YOU)

the priority of PRAYER matters because God matters and He wants HIS time with you. With no one else. But you. When do you go off and meet with him in the cool of the day? I have this place i walk to by myself. to meet God. I have my place in my House, a chair, that i go to… to meet with GOD>

MANKIND had a secret place. It was the GARDEN.

Genesis 3:8 “8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

This SHOWS us something about GOD

He wants to come down and meet with you

THIS IS THE SECRET PLACE: OF PRAYER and COMMUNION with GOD.

DO YOU HAVE YOUR SECRET PLACE? where you know… when i go there - i meet with HIM.

Matt 6:6 “6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

You gotta GO

You gotta find a place

You Gotta shut the DOOR. (its you and HIM).

Challenge this week: establish yoru secret place. or re-establish. that place.

(TF TENNY said it this way ““Talking about God must never be a substitute for talking with God.”

Find your place

Make your appointment every day… and MEET WITH GOD.

2.PRAY BY THE SPIRIT (This is Power)

What is it that makes your prayer actually GO TO GOD?

Is there a piece of SPIRITUAL conduit that you pop uyour message to and it goes up to HEAVEN.

its the HOLY SPIRIT that EMPOWERS us to PRAY and CONNECT with GOD. Its not in our OWN strength WHEN we pray which is why even when you mumble out a prayer to GOD that you are actually praying because its not the FANCY WORDS or the USE OF GREAT POLISHED PRESENTATION.

WE CAN ALSO PRAY TO JESUS as our SHEPHERD.

WE CAN AND ALSO SHOULD PRAY TO THE HOLY SPIRIT Because He’s our HELPER.

Ephesians 3:15-16 “15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,”

The SPIRIT empowers us to PRAY, spirit to SPIRIT & connect wityh GOD in OPRAYER.

so if you are ever womndering “HOW” this is happening, its By the SPIRIt of God.

But PRAY and ask the HOLY SPIRIT to HELP you PRAY.

You say the WORDS, He Has the POWER.

To PRAY is to BE A POWERFUL FORCE in the KINGDOM OF GOD.

One prayer can change the course of someones eternity.

Do you see how POWERFUL that is?

If we truly realized it, we wouldn’t STOP praying. This guy, That Guy EVERY person or hardship or challange or problem would become our prayer list and we wouldnt STOP PRAYING.

SO WHAT STOPS US?

We forget how powerful it is. I don’t want to much credit but what i would say is that the reason some people DONT pray is they dont think its powerful! And the enemy has a field day telling you

“your past disqualifies you, your prayer wont work”

“your not spiritual enough so dont bother praying”

“i saw what you did this past week.... dont even think abouyt prayer”

AND IN THE MEANTIME WE THINK THAT SOMEHOW THE EVENTUALITY OR THE POWER OR THE DLIVERANCE OR THE ANSWER IS ACTUALLY UP TO US?

so we DONT pray....

but what if we got a revelation of Just HOW POWERFUL Prayer was - and What if we got a revelation today that its the very brokenness of my past and the very horrible sin of my beginning is actially what QUALIFIES me to PRAY because if i wasnt a SINNER i COULD NEVER BE A SAINT!

And when SAINTS PRAY....

Something CHANGESS

James 5:16 “16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

3.PRAY IN THE NAME OF JESUS (Authority)

When you & I pray - WE pray in the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH.

Without that name, its an aimless, directionless.... and POWERLESS Prayer.

When you use the name JESUS. you pray the BLOOD that was poured out

You Declare the same resurrection power on the Third Day now lives in you.

Ephesians 1:19-21 “19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

You USE THE NAME that is GREATER than any other name.

*I like to think of it like this: the NAME JESUS reverberates throughout all of heaven when that name is used in prayer!

All of heaven Hear’s

All of Heaven is attentive when you PRAY: IN JESUS NAME.

There is NO OTHER NAME like the NAME of JESUS.

John 16:23–24 (ESV)

23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.