Enter His Gates | POWERFUL PRAYER
Powerful Prayer • Sermon • Submitted
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· 7 viewsWhen you ask God to teach you to worship, you are asking something that is very close to His heart. It’s a prayer that honors Him and He honors every time. If we desire to pray powerful prayers, we must begin with heartfelt worship and praise.
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Introduction
Introduction
Welcome Church Online Fam
New series: Powerful Prayer
Prayer is the heart and soul of every successful relationship with God. Prayer is absolutely crucial to every area of a believer’s life.
A primary means of communication that binds together God and humankind in intimate and reciprocal relationship.
Lexham Theological Wordbook Prayer
Prayer is intentional communication with God
Lexham Theological Wordbook Theological Overview
Prayer is regarded throughout Scripture as a fundamental means of religious expression. This is because praying to God assumes in faith that he is powerfully willing and also graciously able to hear and respond to the prayers of his people—and further, that he chooses to work in and through these prayers. Thus, prayer is seen all through Scripture as both a wonderful privilege and also a solemn responsibility for God’s people.
“We must stop viewing prayer merely as a means to get our needs met. Far more than just meeting needs, prayer is God’s primary means of our coming to know Him, worship Him, and experience transformation through the indwelling Christ.”
Prayer is not primarily about what we can get out of God, but what He purposes to do in and through us for His own pleasure.
“The great secret of prayer is to align ourselves to God’s purposes rather than seeking to align Him to ours.”
“I found my life when I laid it down. // I touched the sky when my knees hit the ground.” -Touch the Sky, Hillsong United
What God wants you to gain through prayer:
What God wants you to gain through prayer:
1. Your relationship with Him will become much more real and personal
1. Your relationship with Him will become much more real and personal
3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.
As believers, our greatest priority is to personally know and love God with all our heart, soul, mind, strength.
Like any good parent, God’s greatest desire is to have a close relationship with His children. Yet, it is impossible to develop this relationship without spending significant time with God.
2. You will experience deeper holiness and discipleship
2. You will experience deeper holiness and discipleship
There is no such thing as life-transforming discipleship that is not centered on significant time in fervent prayer and Scripture reading.
3. Your ability to hear God’s voice will increase dramatically.
3. Your ability to hear God’s voice will increase dramatically.
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
Scripture promises that those who diligently seeks God’s face, will find Him.
Unless you spend significant time in regular prayer, God’s voice will remain difficult to discern.
4. The spiritual power of your life and ministry will increase
4. The spiritual power of your life and ministry will increase
Where there is little prayer, there is little power.
42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. 43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.
acts2.42-
Jesus told His followers that they would do even greater things He did (healed the sick, sight to the blind, lame to walk, raised the dead, etc).
Why aren’t we experiencing this?
The first church devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, and prayer. The result = The Lord added to their fellowship daily those who were being saved.
We’ve prioritized the wrong things.
5. You will experience a dramatic increase in answered prayer.
5. You will experience a dramatic increase in answered prayer.
7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!
Failure to spend adequate time in confession and cleansing is the primary reason many believers see so few prayers answered.
It is only through the constant cleansing and filling of God’s Spirit that our prayers have mountain-moving power.
6. You will experience greater power to withstand trails, temptations, and spiritual attacks.
6. You will experience greater power to withstand trails, temptations, and spiritual attacks.
When our prayer life is weak or inconsistent, our spiritual defenses are down and the more vulnerable we are to sin.
3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.
2cor10.
Prayer is the primary way we put on the whole armor of God and wage engage in spiritual warfare.
The more we pray, the greater our ability to overcome the world, our flesh, and the schemes of the enemy.
7. You will see increased numbers of friends, family, and even those everyday people you encounter throughout your day saved.
7. You will see increased numbers of friends, family, and even those everyday people you encounter throughout your day saved.
God will use prayer to soften your heart for the lost around you.
Not only that, but throughout the ages, God has used prayers of His people to soften the hearts of the lost to the Gospel.
This will make an impact in your family, in our church, and in our community as more and more of our everyday people discover new life and new possibilities!
8. You will discover how to pray effectively for revival and spiritual awakening in our church, our country, and our nation.
8. You will discover how to pray effectively for revival and spiritual awakening in our church, our country, and our nation.
No one’s relationship with Christ will ever rise above the level of his or her praying.
If your prayer life is inconsistent and weak, so will be your relationship with God.
No church will rise above the collective prayers of those that attend.
No nation will rise above the strength of the prayers offered up by its churches.
30 “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one.
>>> Beyond a doubt, a powerful prayer life with will revolutionize your relationship with God—even more than that, your prayer is your relationship with God. Regardless of how long you’ve been following Christ… this is an area we can grow in.
New — What a way to begin
Stagnant — Perfect opportunity to learn to pray powerful prayer that will deepen your walk with Christ in ways you can’t imagine.
Rich/Growing — The more we know, the more we know how much we don’t know. Know Him as well as a forgiven sinner can.
Three Foundations for a Powerful Prayer Life
Three Foundations for a Powerful Prayer Life
1. You must view your daily prayer time as a relationship with God and not some legalistic duty or discipline.
Not about checking a box. Pharisees
A powerful prayer life is not just a discipline or ritual, it is your commitment to a personal relationship with God.
God's primary love language is quality time.
God's primary love language is quality time.
Martha and Mary
40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” 41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
lk10.
>>> When we say we say we are too busy to spend devoted/committed time to prayer, we have missed the whole point of our relationship and service to God. A relationship with you is what God is after most.
2. You must make an absolute commitment to consistently spend significant time alone with God in uninterrupted prayer.
In America, we have made a “god” of convenience and ease.
We want to give God a minute or two before bed or a meal, and try to fit Him into our busy schedules if/when its convenient.
I know must of us feel some level of guilt about this. We know we should pray more. We know we should spend more time in His Word.
“God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” ()
The key is to quit ignoring His promptings.
The more we ignore the harder our hearts become.
As we respond the softer our hearts become and our ears are better tuned to hear His voice.
Making an absolute commitment means: You make this time a major priority. You schedule and plan for it. You take steps to protect it.
You make this time a major priority. You schedule and plan for it. You take steps to protect it.
3. A powerful prayer life requires the “balanced practice” of all five types of prayer.
Going to discuss each type of prayer over the coming weeks.
Powerful prayers are balanced prayers.
Each type of prayer has a unique role in developing and maintaining your relationship with Christ.
To be weak and inconsistent in any one of the basic prayer types is to be weak in your relationship and service to God.
Developing a Powerful Prayer Life
Developing a Powerful Prayer Life
1. Spend consistent time in the Word of God
1. Spend consistent time in the Word of God
17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
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.
In order to pray and ask according to His will, we must know what His will is. We discover this only through spending time in His Word.
Love that John says, because He hears us when we pray according to His will, “We know that we have what we asked of him.”
Do you long to see answered prayer?
Pray according to His will.
Every promise is “yes and amen.” ()
2. Give God the best part of your day
2. Give God the best part of your day
A powerful prayer life isn’t usually developed in the fading moments when as we mumble a few words between the time our head hits the pillow and we start snoring.
Just like we are to give God the first of our treasure, we should give him the best of our time and energy.
Approaching this time as a relationship and give God your undivided attention.
How much time is sufficient? Shoot for 30-60 mins. Work your way up. Develop the habit.
40forFORTY
3. Ask God daily to teach you how to pray
3. Ask God daily to teach you how to pray
“Lord, teach us to pray...” ()
4. Six Principals for Powerful Prayer
4. Six Principals for Powerful Prayer
Pray with an attitude of authority, confidence, and expectancy through the name of Jesus.
When we come in Jesus’ name, we are coming in His authority and not our own.
“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.” ()
“But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” (, NIV)
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.
Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2013), .
Spend quality time in confession
Allow God to search your heart and reveal any sin or hinderance
Scratch Sheet
Scratch Sheet
Prayer is the heart and soul of every successful relationship with God. Prayer is absolutely crucial to every area of a believer’s life.
“ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” ()
“No one’s relationship with Christ will ever rise above the level of his or her praying.”
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Ask God to fill and anoint you with His Spirit.
If your prayer life is inconsistent and weak, so will be your relationship with God.
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
New Living Translation Chapter 8
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
“We must stop viewing prayer merely as a means to get our needs met. Far more than just meeting needs, prayer is God’s primary means of our coming to know Him, worship Him, and experience transformation through the indwelling Christ.”
24 Point out anything in me that offends you,
Pray against the influence of Satan
Prayer is not primarily about what we can get out of God, but what He purposes to do in and through us for His own pleasure.
Prayer is not just how we prepare for spiritual battle, pray is the battle.
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
“The great secret of prayer is to align ourselves to God’s purposes rather than seeking to align Him to ours.”
Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2013), .
“Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.” ()
“I found my life when I laid it down. // I touched the sky when my knees hit the ground.”
Pray specifically
Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.
A primary means of communication that binds together God and humankind in intimate and reciprocal relationship.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (, NIV)
Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2013), .
Lexham Theological Wordbook Prayer
Prayer is intentional communication with God
“You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” ()
Lexham Theological Wordbook Theological Overview
Prayer is regarded throughout Scripture as a fundamental means of religious expression. This is because praying to God assumes in faith that he is powerfully willing and also graciously able to hear and respond to the prayers of his people—and further, that he chooses to work in and through these prayers. Thus, prayer is seen all through Scripture as both a wonderful privilege and also a solemn responsibility for God’s people.
Find prayer partners
“If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.” ()
Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2013), .
There is special power when we unite together in prayer.
Nearly every great revival and spiritual awakening came through intense, united prayer.
Phase One: Approaching God through Daily Praise and Worship
Phase One: Approaching God through Daily Praise and Worship
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.
God reminds us that we are to come before Him with a sense of awe, praise, and reverence.
Jesus modeled this when teaching His disciples how to pray:
2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon.
“God is good, God is great...”
Even this simple prayer we learn as kids begins with recognition that this is all about God. His goodness. His greatness.
Too often, we rush right into rattling off a list of demands and wants.
We make prayer all about us.
When we neglect praise, prayer feels more like a dry ritual than a personal relationship. God feels more like a vending machine than good, good Father.
Beginning our time of prayer with praise and worship serves to align our focus and adoration. It lifts our eyes above our present circumstances and our greed/pride/selfishness, and fixes our eyes upon Jesus.
The psalmist declared that God inhabits the praises of His people.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Like nothing else, praise and worship prepare our hearts for dynamic prayer.
2 Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.
Our exuberant worship of God — our get-up-out-of-the-chair-and-lift-our-hands-and-raise-our-voices-to-heaven worship of God — is an act of audacious defiance against the spirit of this present age relentlessly, successfully, and daily indoctrinating us in nauseating self-praise. Live defiantly today. -Beth Moore
Steps to a Meaningful Time of Praise
Steps to a Meaningful Time of Praise
1. Dedicate adequate time
God wants your heartfelt praise and worship above everything else.
2. Spend time thanking God for things He has done in your life.
2 Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.
Thank God for past, present, and promised future blessings.
Nothing builds your faith and prepares you to pay like thanking God for answered prayers and His past faithfulness.
3. Spend time praising God for who He is and what He’s like
Praise Him because He is: loving, kind, compassionate, merciful, patient, forgiving, gracious, all powerful, all-knowing, faithful, just, sovereign.
Meditate on the names and characteristics of God: Almighty, Fortress, Jehovah, Our Strength, Lord of Lords, Wonderful Counselor, Our Healer, Prince of Peace, Alpha and Omega.
>>> When you ask God to teach you to worship, you are asking something that is very close to His heart. It’s a prayer that honors Him and He honors every time. If we desire to pray powerful prayers, we must begin with heartfelt worship and praise.
Phase One Prayer
Phase One Prayer
“Father, teach me to give you thanks and praise at all times—especially during times of trial. Make me keenly aware of the many things for which I should praise, thank, and worship you.”
Praise puts power on your lips, as we remember that He is our healer, our firm foundation, that He never fails.