Pray Always
Notes
Transcript
The coach before the game give a pep talk. He is wanting his players to go out and win the game.
We had a pep talk on Friday night , a passion for the word and a passion for the people . The of course Sunday morning do we hunger for the word.
Well everyday is practicing for the game, reading the play book, practicing what we have learned to be ready for game day.
In Ephesians 6 we are told of the enemy - the fight we are up against. There is a battle brewing. So GAME ON!
Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
So we are given the the instructions, what to put on,
The Belt of Truth
Breastplate of Righteousness
Feet with the Gospel of Peace
Shield of Faith
Helmet of Salvation
Sword of the Spirit
we need the armor to fight the battle everyday but is where Paul talks about at the end of the chapter. Pray Always
I was recently on a zoom call with The Namb youth cohort with Shane Pruitt. On of the things that was discussed was about prayer and reminded us youth leaders, about our prayer life and what we were praying for. Praying for a passion for the people and what I got from the zoom call was wow!
He talked about praying for BOB. As we are reminded in our own lives to Pray for Bob, not sure if any of you have heard before but it got my attention.
BOB - Pray for B.O.B.
Burden to Share - Matthew 9:36-37
Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
Praying for a burden to share - having the compassion for others. It is easy to get into our routine and being task oriented. So praying for the Lord to increase the burden for others.
Opportunity to Share : Matthew 9:37
Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
I have a new neighbor across the street from us. I seen them a couple of times. I thought I need to go and get them know them, but i will get to it, well the thought of it changed when I saw wolves in sheep clothing making a visit. That fired me up. So I have been praying for them, praying for an opportunity to meet them and invite them to church.
Boldness to Share : Ephesians 6:18-20
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Paul is giving us the example of praying that we have boldness to share the gospel. I set out to have conversations but to pray for boldness to speak.
We can say that it is through prayer that spiritual strength and the armor of God go to work.
In theory, the prayerless Christian can be strong and wearing all the armor; but never accomplishes anything because he fails to goes into battle through prayer.
As we have been discussing in previous staff meeting is about prayer, I have been encouraged to pray more. In Middle school we are going through the book of James and one of the things I read about James was his camel knees because of spending so much time on his knees.
Spending that time in prayer everyday - one of the things that Shane asked me since I was one of the older ones, if I could go back to my first year in working with students what would I say to my self - it would be 1st do not make my ministry my mistress, second would be spending more time in prayer and in the Word!
Your time with God is your most productive time of the day
Hand out the coin - it had the armor of God, but says Pray Always.
