If My People…
Pursuit in Prayer • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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14 If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Pray
Introduction/Recap
Last week, we talked about the tragedies that have recently befell this country. The loss of such an influential Christian man has rocked the faith community; and there has been a sense of something that has shifted in the atmosphere of America and around the world.
This isn’t just another headline, it is one of those moments that we will remember forever. But not only that, it has been the catalyst for explosive growth, spiritual awakening, and curiosity about the faith and the values that drove Charlie Kirk.
According to Turning Point USA, as of 2 days ago,
UPDATE: In the past 8 days, TPUSA has received 62,000+ requests from high school and college students nationwide to start a chapter or get involved with an existing chapter.
To put that into perspective, Turning Point USA had about 900 college chapters and approximately 1,200 high school chapters, so ~2,100 total chapters before Charlie Kirk was assassinated.
Turning Point is an apt name for the shift we are seeing take place across the country.
Here’s what I believe: There are certain events in history that we can look at and say, “I bet the enemy regrets ever doing that…”
In the scripture, when Stephen was killed and a man named saul stood by and held the coats of the murderers… That was the catalyst that caused the church to spread like wildfire and eventually played a key role in Saul becoming Paul after an encounter with Jesus…
Today, the assassination of Charlie Kirk has had the Stephen effect on the church of the west… where all those who have been spiritually apathetic… Christians who have been complacent in their faith… are now rising up with one voice… in one mind and one accord…
With one goal in mind: It’s time to take back territory…
We echo with one voice the proclamation of the psalter:
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary
3 And gathered from the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.
Let the redeemed SAY SO!
And in case you haven’t gathered it from what I’ve said so far, Last week wasn’t a one-off or a blip on the radar… It was a wake up call for you and for me!
At the end of last week, my call to action was two fold: First we said that we would dedicate our Friday night grow group to an open discussion about current topics that were relevant to life today…
We did that Friday night and spent over two hours discussing the events that are unfolding in the news, all the while using Scripture as our guide…
We talked about everything from Charlie Kirk’s martyrdom to the role of governmental authority in the justice of God according to Romans 13, along with a few other topics.
We came to the end of our time and decided we will do the same thing again at our next grow group meeting on October 3rd.
We will continue this open discussion about relevant topics and how the events of today connect to scripture as long as we need to.
We cannot allow this moment to pass us by and not allow our hearts to be affected.
God is doing something in this hour, through these events, in each of our lives if we will allow Him.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
The second part of my call to action last week was a call to prayer.
14 If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
I think it no coincidence that we are already weeks into a season of prayer at this moment in time.
If there is anything this world needs at this moment it is a wave of believers who will flood heaven with prayers and the earth with the Gospel.
It is my challenge to you that one will not stand without the other. It is the mission of God that we make disciples and teach them to obey all that Jesus commanded.
The elements that made that effective in the early church was a dedication to prayer and a hunger for the teachings.
Something else I believe is that the promises of God are forever…
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever.
35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.
So if God said…
14 If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
It was true then… and it is true now…
What we need in this hour is a people who will be as bold as a lion, declaring the word of the lord, but also who are faithful to pursue His presence in the prayer closet!
Please, please, please don’t think for a moment that you can do this without prayer..
Prayer is the place where you align with the heart of the Father…
What sometimes happens in times like this is that we find ourselves speechless, searching for words because our hearts are challenged and broken and contrite, yet we feel an urgency that pushes us to seek God like never before…
It’s in those moments where scriptures reflecting prayer and worship come in as an invaluable resource…
So what I want to do for the next few minutes is to explore what the psalter might have prayed in moments like this…
A search through the Psalms reveals that when the world is loud and chaotic as it often is, a right perspective is the first step to an effective prayer…
That’s why we see so often in the psalms the titles and descriptions of God lead or refresh the prayers of the psalmist:
9 The Lord will be a stronghold for the oppressed,
A stronghold in times of trouble;
16 The Lord is King forever and ever;
Nations have perished from His land.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
5 We will sing for joy over your victory,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners.
May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.
1 The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
8 Who is the King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
10 All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth
To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life;
Whom shall I dread?
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart exults,
And with my song I shall thank Him.
17 You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God.
35 O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary.
The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people.
Blessed be God!
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
9 For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth;
You are exalted far above all gods.
114 You are my hiding place and my shield;
I wait for Your word.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
Do you feel what happened there?
Even while we were talking about the craziness of the world and being without words to speak…
When we put God in the right place in our perspective all of a sudden… power entered the room…
All of a sudden, anointing started flowing…
Because prayer begins with a right perspective on God’s place in our life…
Often we inflate the urgency and importance of the problems that are screaming so loudly in our ear…
It’s not that they aren’t big problems… It’s not that there aren’t urgent needs…
But when you look at God like this, everything else tends to melt away under the weight of His glory…
So we begin with adjusting our perspective…
Next we approach God rightly…
3 Know that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.
Because we begin with the understanding of who HE is, then we can approach Him rightly!
We cannot begin to approach Him rightly if we do not have Him in right perspective in our life…
But when we begin with His glory and His majesty…..
We approach his throne with reverence in a way that is reflected in our praise…
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
When we approach Him we approach him with thanksgiving and praise…
Before we ask about anything… before we jump into anything else…
we begin with who He is and give Him thanks and praise for that…
Here’s what I don’t want you to miss… when we begin with these elements, we actually invite the authority and rule of the almighty into our circumstance…
Because Ps. 22 tells us God is enthroned on the praises of His people…
That word enthroned literally means to set up His throneroom in the midst of…
So when we start with praise, putting Him in the proper place in our life, we actually invite Him to be enthroned in our circumstance…
We submit everything we are going through to Him…
And where He is enthroned, everything else comes into alignment…
Explain my pattern of prayer… Father, I thank you…
Lord, we give you praise…
Everything else will align to where you begin, so it’s important that we begin by beholding Him… seeing Him rightly, and boldly approaching His throne with reverence…
The next thing the psalms teach us about prayer is that we can be honest…
Especially in the day and hour we live in, it’s important we don’t think we have to have it all together when we talk to God…
We can be honest when life is tough… We don’t have to dress up our circumstance when we approach God…
Here’s a secret:: HE ALREADY KNOWS…
1 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever?
How long will You hide Your face from me?
2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
Having sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4 And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
But here’s the important part…
Once we tell Him about it, put it back into perspective the same way you began…
5 But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness;
My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
In the midst of your honesty, your lament, your request, the thing that keeps you awake at night… As you tell Him about it, don’t get stuck in it…
Remember who He is and what He has done…
Declare with David:
13 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord.
I would have despaired… This world would have overtaken me… I would’ve given up…
BUT I BELIEVE… I WILL SEE THE GOODNESS of the LORD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING!
I’m not just waiting on heaven… I’m not just passing time until He takes me home…
I WILL SEE THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING…
Be strong and let your heart take courage! Wait for the LORD!
Set your resolve! Let your heart be encouraged!
1 Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered,
And let those who hate Him flee before Him.
12 Through God we shall do valiantly,
And it is He who will tread down our adversaries.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart exults,
And with my song I shall thank Him.
We see this type of prayer reflected in the first persecution of the church in Acts 4 and they prayed this:
25 who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said,
‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
And the peoples devise futile things?
26 ‘The kings of the earth took their stand,
And the rulers were gathered together
Against the Lord and against His Christ.’
27 “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.
29 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence,
30 while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”
31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
Call Worship Team
Remembering the prayers reflected in the scriptures, reveling in the victory of the psalms… standing in the assurance of those who have come before can build your faith… encourage your heart… and see your eyes lifted up to the hills from which comes our help…
This is the power of the prayer room…
We approach Him humbly…
We repent completely…
We seek His face and behold His glory…
And if we are faithful to it, we walk out with our heads held high in victory, empowered for the mission ahead…
Ready to see the sick healed.
Ready to see the lame walk and the blind see…
Ready to see demons cast out and deliverance take place…
It happens in prayer!
Some weeks ago, we had a prayer session where we read prayers from the psalms and made them our own…
Here’s what I would like us to do… Will you pick a psalm today, find a word of victory that you can cling to and follow the patter of what is written…
Let’s get our perspective in line… put God in His right position in our hearts… approach him with thanksgiving and praise… then let our circumstances be subject to the might and the power of the omnopotent God of the universe…
Will you do that? Please gather around this front area, pray and praise and align your perspective with His…
