Wednesday night prayer
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Intro
Intro
Explain the purpose of the evening
Neighborhoods
Families
Finances
Clearly it is a time for prayer.
Explain order of events
Prayer
Prayer
1 Hear my cry, O God;
listen to my prayer.
2 From the ends of the earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;
lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Psalm
There are times when we simply need to call out to God in prayer.
Every revival in history began with prayer.
Every church revitalization begins with prayer.
Restoration and reconciliation between Christians happen by prayer
Families are restored by prayer.
Prayer is vital!
2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Prayer is vital!
Often we pray - my will be done, instead of thy will be done. We can try to manipulate God into doing what we think is best rather than what might actually be best.
The Power of Prayer
The Power of Prayer
Sometimes non-Christians recognize this more than we do!
The Battle of Chester in 615
Aethelfrith of Northumbria noticed all these men who were unarmed. 200 monks had gathered to pray for the battle. Aethelfrith killed them first!
17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
It was a notable event for God to put heaven, in some sense, under the control of Elijah’s prayers, to be obedient to his requests. By his prayers, Elijah kept heaven shut for two years and a half. The he opened it, and make it suddenly pour with great rain, from which we may see the miraculous power of prayer. Calvin on the Christian Life pg. 159
We will call this the practical mystery of prayer. God is sovereign and yet he invites us to pray and responds to prayer! Prayer is a great and wonderful mystery!
Here in lies the rub:
Often we pray - my will be done, instead of thy will be done. We can try to manipulate God into doing what we think is best rather than what might actually be best.
Or, we assume God has only answered my prayer if he is obedient. TK - did he answer? The rear-view mirror is the best place to analyze the way God has answered prayer.
Thoughts on Supplications
Thoughts on Supplications
Let’s avoid the grocery lists, because genuine prayer is more than simply mentioning a prayer request.
Connect your request to the character/will/word of God and to yourself. Example - I pray my child would come to Christ
Why would God listen to my prayer?
Because of Jesus. Gethsemane. Now I am a child.
Why would he answer this prayer?
Because it is not his will that any should perish but that all would come to repentance.
Does this request expose a sin in me?
How have I lived in front of this child? Prioritized Scripture/church/Jesus.
Is there a response for me?
Rest
Giving up control in prayer is way God grants rest
Pray Honestly
Pray Honestly
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
Sing
Sing