Sermon Tone Analysis

Review of Part 1

the Lord gave my son a song: “we are victorious”

Why are we here?

Because God called this meeting, he said “my son, prayer is a tool, I want you to teach your children how to use that tool.”

For anyone of us to benefit from this teaching, we will need the childlike humility to receive.

we will also need the childlike desirability, strong eagerness and earnest desire for more of God.

Why should we learn about Prayer?

Because your life as a disciple of Christ depends on it

So that we can learn to pray effective prayers

Why should I pray?

God w

Though effective prayers, the outcomes of your life will no longer be subject to time and chance, your life will produce fruits after the ordination of God for your life.

Through Effective prayers, you will be able to discover the will of God for your life; become empowered to engage a fruitful pursuit of your purpose; and through prayer you will become en-graced to sustain your a life of fruitfulness.

Prayers bring you into alignment with God and keep you in alignment…invariably, your life as a christian depends on prayer...

Today: winning through prayer part 2

psa 116:1-

What Can you see in this scripture?

by the grace of God, today I will discuss prayer with us under this sub-headings: The God who hears and answers prayers; the man whose prayer was answered and his response (we will use this heading to illustrate why God is willing to answer our prayers); and the the transaction of prayer.

1.

The God who hears and answers prayers;

3.

And the transaction of prayer.

1.

The God Who hears and answers prayers:

Recall some definitions of prayer:

Who is this God?

Jonah

Prophet Jonah gave us a vivid description of the God who hears and answeres prayers:

Thou art gracious God -

And merciful - compassionate (NIV)

Slow to anger -

slow to anger

And of great kindness - abounding in love (NIV)

And relenting of disaster - God who relents from sending calamity

in this one verse the prophet highlighted in the clearest posible way the nature of God - His nature is defined by love towards his creation.

The bible says: God is Love”

Exodus 34:6

We have come to KNOW and BELIEVE the LOVE that God HAS FOR US: his defining nature towards his creation is love.

Who is this God?

luk 1:49-

Isam 2:6-

1 sam

i sam 2:6-11

The unique content common to these verses is that, they both speak of the SOVEREGN NATURE OF GOD - God is Omnipotent, he is unquestionable, that is: “he does what he want, when he wants, how he wants and wihtout seeking the permission of anyone” - He is the ALMIGHTY GOD.

Mary said: The one who his mighty hath done to me great things...

luke 1:51

Hannah said: There is no rock like our God - rock describes strength and stability

Isam 2

Who is this God who hears and aswers prayers?

deut 32:

rev

isam 2

rev 15:4

Another undeniable nature of God is found in these verses: GOD IS HOLY.

Another unique nature of God found throughout the scripture is that God is our father.

4

After Jesus rose from the dead, he said to Mary:

Jesus said: God is my father and he is also your father; Jesus said we are brothers..

Who is this God who hears and answers prayers?

God who is defined by love

God who is by nature and power: “soveregn”

God who alone is the Holy God

The God, who above all else, “is my father”

How does this knowledge become important to our prayer life?

1. when we pray to a loving God, his love compels him to answer our prayers

2. Because he is soveregn, there is nothing you will ask him that he is not capable of accomplishing, with, or without human instrument.

3. Now a holy God can not lie regarding his promises that have been written in the scripture.

4. Knowing that God is your father opens the door to a cordial relationship with him.

Merciful

gracious

longsuffering

abundant in goodness and truth.

2. The Response of the man whose prayer was heard and answered:

The response of the man whose prayer was answered was captured in at least two distinct ways:

The openin:

psa 116:

Loving God becomes the first nature of a man whose prayer is aswered by God

Three things:

Because he inclined his hear to me, I will call on him as long as I live

The Response of love - i love the Lord...

when your prayer is answered by God, your resolution about prayer will become a lifetime pursuit...

The response of trust - a resolution to a lifetime commitment to God

The response of Uprightness - i will walk before the Lord

Clearly, we can see from this scripture that, the immediate response of the man whose prayer was answered, was a sincere love for God (I love the Lord because he hears my prayers), and his resolute response was a lifetime comittment to a life of prayer (I will call on him as long as I live

TAKE NOTE of this evolving pattern as I read these words from Jesus:

Answered prayers have the tendency of opening the door of our hearts to a deeper relationship with God (and this is what God desired)

- after a succesful prayer exploit, we naturally respond to God in love, and we willingly becomes submissive to his demands for our lives.

This quickly quickly give you the reason why God will always answer your prayers - He is looking for a deeper relationship with you, he is looking for a closer walk with you, and he knows that if your prayers are answered your natural response would be that of LOVE, Submission and Trust.

Lets go deeper:

The RESPONSE OF LOVE:

john

genuine love is what leads to willing obedience

genuine love makes submission posible

Through love relationship is desired

sacrifice becomes posible through love.

Highest love, leads to

the love of God came before his sacrifice

2. The Response of COMMITMENT: “therefore will i call upon him as long as i live” - this is reflection of TRUST for God:

fellowship happens as a result of trust

hope happens as a result of trust

we no longer withhold anything from God because we have come to trust him

Trust is what helps faith to grow.

rom 4:19-21

lets go deeper: the response of the psalmist was unque in two ways -