The Prayer Experience wk 1

A Prayer that Changes Everything

Prayer is our line of communication with God.

Prayer is our greatest tool as Christians, but is a tool that seems to be left out of many Christian’s toolbox.

A Pew research study from March of 2024 found that 58% of religiously affiliated Americans pray daily, while 60% of those who claim to be Christians pray daily, 64% of protestant pray daily.

Honestly those numbers are higher than I thought they would be

We must understand and believe that prayer changes things.

We must remember that our prayers are not always answered the way we want them.

In 2006 my grandfather got cancer for the third time, with each time being worse than the previous time.

By Thanksgiving, the doctors had only give him a 10% chance that any treatment would help even just slow it down.

Him and my grandmother made the decision that he was going to stop the treatments and live out the rest of his life however long God granted him.

I moved in with my grandparents and helped my grandmother take care of him, and he made us promise that we would not make him go to the hospital but would allow him to remain at home and pass there with his family.

The first week of December we called in hospice and they evaluated him and stated he had a week to two weeks at the most.

Well six weeks later on January 11, 2007 he passed away.

There was times that the pain was so unbearable that he would call out to God to just call him home, I would pray all the time that God would heal my Granddaddy.

And when he passed away, I got angry with God, I went into a very dark depression.

It took me years to realize that God did heal my Grandfather, not the way I wanted, but an ultimate healing.

We must remember that God always answers prayers, it may be an immediate yes or no, or it may be wait it is not time yet.

As I think of the 30 to 45% of people who claim to be Christians but do not pray daily, I think about how that effects their life, their influence and their faith.

The United States was founded and built on God, His word and prayer, but in the past 250 years that we have had independence, that foundation on God, His Word, and prayer has slipped further and further away.

A Gallup Poll found that the majority of Americans, 59%, continue to say religion is losing its influence on U.S. society, but that is down from 75% a year ago.

We have seen a movement of God lately in our country.

John Wesley is known for be a co-founder of the Methodist church in England, but he also had an impactful role in the Evangelical Revival movement in England.

There is a story that A Seminary professor took a group of students to tour John Wesley’s home, when they got to the bedroom one of the young men noticed two wear marks in the floor next to the bed, the student asked what those marks were from and was told that Wesley would spend hours kneeling in prayer there everyday.

As the students left the room, and out of the house the professor noticed that one of the students were missing, the professor went back in look all over the house and found the young man kneeling next to the bed praying, the professor hear him say, “Do it again, Lord, do it again.”

That young student was Billy Graham.

If we are going to impact this community for God, and reach the lost for Jesus it must begin with prayer.

There is a short prayer in the Old Testament that had great impact.

In 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, we see the prayer of Jabez.

This is a prayer that I have heard, read and even prayed off and on through out my life.

There is a book titled “The Prayer Experiment,” by Jay Dennis and Marilyn Jeffcoat.

Jay Dennis was the Pastor of First Baptist Church of Lakeland, the church grew to the point that they had run out of room, they eventually bought a closed down mall, and turned it into their church, I have been to that Church and it is huge.

Pastor Jay shares experiences and stories of how he had lead the church through what he called the prayer experiment.

The prayer experiment is based on the prayer of Jabez.

There is only two verse in the entire Bible that speak of Jabez, those verses are 1 Chronicles 4:9-10

1 Chronicles 4:9–10 NASB95

9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, “Because I bore him with pain.” 10 Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested.

As I have read the prayer of Jabez, I have realized that even though it is simple, it is also powerful.

We need to see that God wants His people - to pray big - to believe big - to dream big - and to impact big.

I had a pastor that use to say all the time, dream so big that you are destined to fail without God.

The Prayer Experience is not a goal; it is a process - a process of life transformation.

Jesus speaks about prayer in His sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6:5-8

Now I generally do not use the Message Bible, but I like how it puts these verses.

Matthew 6:5–8 MSG

5 “And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? 6 “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. 7 “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. 8 Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.

The prayer of Jabez transformed the life of missionary John Hyde, who lived from 1865-1912.

The prayer moved his heart to pray with such great faith and fervor that he became known to others as “Praying Hyde.”

Through praying as Jabez, Hyde learned to pray the kind of prayers one prays when one truly expects God to answer.

Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman wrote to a friend to tell the story of Praying Hyde’s profound influence:

“I have learned some great lessons concerning prayer.

At one of our missions in England the audiences were exceedingly small.

But I received a note saying that an American missionary … was going to pray God’s blessings down upon our work.

He was known as “Praying Hyde.”

Almost instantly the tide turned.

The hall become packed, and at my first invitation fifty men accepted Christ as their Savior.

As we were leaving I said, “Mr. Hyde, I want you to pray for me.”

He came to my room, turned the key in the door, and dropped to his knees, and waited five minutes without a single syllable coming from his lips.

I could hear my own heart thumping and his beating.

I felt the hot tears running down my face.

I knew I was with God.

Then, with tears streaming, he said, “O, God!”

Then for five minutes at least he was still again; and then, when he knew that he was talking with God … there came up from the depth of his heart such petitions for men as I have never heard before.

 I rose from my knees to know what real prayer was.

We believed that prayer is mighty, and we believed it as we never did before … It was a season of prayer with John Hyde that made me realize what real prayer was.

I owe to him more than I owe to any man for showing me what a prayer-life is.

Through performing his own Jabez experiment, Hyde’s life was changed, his influence increased, and the world dramatically impacted for Christ.

 Genuine transformation is needed in all of our lives for us to be who we say we are.

The world desperately needs for us to be “the real deal.”

The Prayer Experiment can transform our lives, our way of thinking, our way of praying, and our way of influencing others lives.

Praying the prayer of Jabez is a great vehicle for drawing you more deeply into a relationship with God.

The prayer is simply.

Lord, bless me indeed.

Do something so big in my life that it is obviously from you.

Increase my influence and opportunities for you,

And give me a sense of your continual presence and direction.

Protect me, and keep me from falling into Satan’s traps. Amen