An All In Prayer
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Opening:
Living Hope Church vision is restoring hope and changing lives.
Living Hope Church 2020 theme is All In.
All in, in our walk with Christ.
All in, with the vision and mission of LHC.
All in with one another as the body of Christ.
So, with that being said, today, I want us to take a moment to pray An All In Prayer. Often times, when we think about prayer, we think about our needs &/or wants. And taking our needs to Christ is a good thing. He tells us to cast our cares on Him. We absolutely can and should, take our needs and our wants to Christ, but those shouldn’t be the only things we pray.
Our prayers shouldn’t just be focused on asking God to do something for us, instead, we should also take time to ask God what we can do for Him.
Our prayer times must be more than, “Lord, please do this, or provide that, or bless me, or keep me safe,” or anything like that. There must also be time where we pray bold things, such as, “God, I am your servant and I want to be available for whatever you might call me to do.” And that is what An All In Prayer does. An All In Prayer is one of availability. Friends, Christ wants us to be All In!
Christ has not called us to just come to church, He’s called us to actually be the Church.
And in order for us to be the Church we must be All In! We must respond to God the way Isaiah responded.
Text:
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Body:
Isaiah has this amazing encounter with the presence of God, and he has the guts to respond in a very bold way.
If we’re honest, many of us don’t want to respond to God in that way for fear of what He might have us do. We fear that if we respond to God in that way, He will have us do something we are uncomfortable with or that we don’t want to do. And that’s true,
God will stretch us beyond our comforts so that we could enjoy His blessings.
And when God calls, there are three different responses we can have.
3 Responses to God’s Call:
1. Jonah – Here I am. I’m not going
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai:
2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
*God told Jonah to do something and what did he do? Jonah ran away from the Lord. He said, "Here I am God. I'm not going."
I wonder how many of us have had a similar experience. We’ve felt prompted to do something. "Hey, I'm supposed to reach out. I'm supposed to say something. I'm supposed to help this person. I’m supposed to step up and serve in kids, or youth, etc. Here I am God. Not today. I'm not going."
*Story about not going to talk to the man sitting outside of the church.
*There are those times when God prompts us to do something and we think, "I need to. I'm going to. I should. Here I am, but not today. I'm not going to do this." When we respond like that we’ll miss out on what God wants to do in & through our lives.
2. Moses – Here I am. Send someone else
10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”
*Moses says, "Here I am. Send someone else.” This is something Moses would have agreed needed to happen, but instead of saying, "Sure God, I'll go," Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? Who am I? I'm not good enough. I'm not talented enough. Someone else would be better at this than I am. Here I am, God. Send someone else. I'm not the right person."
It's so easy for us to do this. "I'm not going to give or to serve, someone else can do that.” And we think, someone else has more money, or more time, or more talent and is more capable of doing it. So, we respond like Moses and say, “God, Here I am. Send someone else.”
*God’s call is not based on our time, our finances, or even our capabilities.
God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
No one else is better suited for the job than the one that God calls.
And God has called all of us to go all in. How will we respond?
· Jonah – Here I am. I’m not going.
· Moses – Here I am. Send someone else.
3. Isaiah – Here I am. Send me
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Notice he didn't say, "Where are you sending me? Is the climate nice? What's the cost of living there? What is the pay range? Are there benefits? How much vacation do I get?" He didn't ask for any of that. What he simply did was respond with, “Send me.” He essentially signed a contract that was blank and said to God, "Here I am. Send me.”
I want to encourage each of us this week to daily pray, "God, I give you my mind. I give you my eyes. I give you my mouth. May I speak what you want me to say. May I hear only your truth today and have the wisdom to reject that which is not true. Here are my hands. May they be used to build your kingdom. Here are my feet. Lead me to where you want me to go. Help me to do what you want me to do. Here I am. Send me."
I want to challenge us, dare us, motivate us to pray that prayer of availability.
Our availability is God’s opportunity to do a great work in and through us.
Let’s pray, "Here I am God. I'm available. You have permission to interrupt me. If you want me to go somewhere, I'll go. If you want me to stay, I'll stay. If you want me to say something to somebody, I'll speak. If you want me simply to be quiet and pray, I will pray. If you want me to give something away, if you want me to use my time, whatever you need me to do, wherever it is, here I am. I am completely available to you. I am your servant. Here I am Lord. Send me."
That’s An All In Prayer. And when we start praying that, God is going to interrupt us, prompt us, move upon us, and suddenly we’ll recognize God has a lot for us to do. When we pray, "Here I am. Send me,” we get to be a part of miracles, blessings, and amazing things.
So, how do we get there? How do we get to that kind of attitude before God? How do we fully surrender our lives to God and go all in? Well, before we go today, I want to look at three things we need in order to do that. And we can look at the encounter that Isaiah had with God to learn those things.
3 things we need in order to go all in for God:
1. A genuine experience with the presence of God
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
*Isaiah saw the presence of God. He saw God in all of His majesty and all of His glory. When Isaiah saw the presence of God, when he experienced the glory of God, it completely transformed who he was.
Why is it that we might not be very available to God? Perhaps it's because we have not truly experienced the presence of God.
When we truly experience the presence of God it transforms us.
When we experience the very real presence of our holy God it will fill us, renew us, strengthen us, comfort us, equip us, and change us!
*We don’t need the right mood, song, atmosphere, etc. We need the right heart.
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
If we’re going to really pray An All In Prayer then we need a genuine experience with the presence of God.
The presence of God will bring us to a deeper place of real submission.
Why is it that we’re not as available to God as we should be? Maybe it's because we haven't sought after him in awhile, because when we experience His presence we will be transformed.
3 things we need in order to go all in for God:
1. A genuine experience with the presence of God
2. A genuine awareness of our sinfulness
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
*One of the biggest cultural lies that people believe today is, "I'm a good person. You're a good person. She's a good person. We're good people." The truth is, without Christ we are not a good person. We are a horrible, pathetic, evil sinner in the eyes of God.
Welcome to LHC, where I'm here to make us feel better about ourselves. We’re wicked, evil, sinners. We're despicable in the eyes of God. It was when Isaiah saw the goodness of God that he realized how bad he was. He saw how holy God was, and in that moment, he recognized his own unrighteousness. It was a genuine awareness of his sinfulness.
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Our goodness isn’t good enough, but Christ is more than enough.
What does it take to get to a place where you're fully surrendered, and you can pray An All In Prayer?
3 things we need in order to go all in for God:
1. A genuine experience with the presence of God
2. A genuine awareness of our sinfulness
3. A genuine understanding of God’s grace
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.
7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
*With one touch from the goodness of God, his sins were forgiven and completely atoned for. How amazing is that?! Our lying lips, forgiven. Our lustful attitudes, forgiven. Our self-centered thoughts, forgiven. Our angry outbursts, forgiven. Every secret sin we’ve never told anybody before, but God knows them all, forgiven as if they never ever happened. God separates our sins as far as the east is from the west. He does not remember our sins anymore.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
When we understand the grace of God, it transforms everything. The same way that coal that touched Isaiah’s lips removed his guilt, is the same way the blood of Jesus covers our sins.
When we understand just how amazing His grace is, it brings us to a point of full surrender.
We recognize that we don't bring anything, but Jesus brings everything.
Closing:
When we have a genuine experience with the presence of God, a genuine awareness of our own sinfulness, and a genuine understanding of God’s unmatched and undeserved grace through Jesus Christ, our only reasonable response is, "Here I am God. Send me. It's not my life. It's not my desires. I’m going to go all in! Whatever you want Lord, I ready for it!”
God has called every single one of us. He has given each of us gifts and talents. He has put us at this moment in history to bring glory to Him. How will you respond to His call?
· Here I am. I’m not going.
· Here I am. Send someone else.
· Here I am. I’m all in. Send me.
Maybe you want to respond with, “I’m all in. Send me,” but you’re struggling with that. Seek a genuine experience with God’s presence. This is not a onetime thing. God desires for us to genuinely experience Him every day. When that happens, we’ll have a greater awareness of our sinfulness and of how much we don’t deserve what Christ does for us. And when that happens, we’ll have an even greater understanding of God’s grace and we’ll want to honor Him and serve Him with every ounce of our being. We’ll want to go all in.
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