Intentionally Pray
Notes
Transcript
Handout
As we continue looking at the book of Acts, I would invite you to turn in your Bible to Acts 4:23-31. I find it interesting that as the early church as experienced one of the first instances of persecution, they immediately go to God in prayer. One night spent in jail pales in comparison to the level of persecution the early church will experience. It is important to notice, the early church doesn’t just assume they can handle what is thrown at them or simply try to go back to life as they knew it. No, they realize the absolutely need God and they run to Him in prayer.
Prayer must be foundational in the life of each believer and the church. Unfortunately, a lot of people think prayer is second, third, or even last choice. That after they have tried their plans or have attempted everything they can think to do, they will run to God. That approach is completely backwards. Prayer isn’t something to only be used because we have reached the end of our rope or the difficulties of life have become to much. Prayer needs to be an essential daily part of both our lives and the life of our church. Prayer is how God speaks to us, leads us to discover His will, and empowers us. Why would anyone not want to engage in the powerful and essential connection to God.
If we look throughout history, revival is always preceded by intense prayer. Whether that was students, business men, or pastors, prayer is always a part of revival. Our world is in desperate need for revival. Revival doesn’t just happen, God always uses His people to bring about change. As believers in Jesus Christ, we need to intentionally prayer for God’s Spirit to move both among believers and the lost. As individuals we are powerless to invoke the change the world needs, but we can prayer. As 2 Chronicles 7:14 says,
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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
As God’s people, we must be intentionally in prayer. I believe the early church in Acts 4:23 gives us a great outline for what prayer should look like. So please follow along as I read, beginning in Acts 4:23.
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—
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, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
When I read this passage, I don’t see a time of prayer that is without direction. What I see is the intentional prayers of God’s people and it all begins with recognition of who God is.
Recognition
Prayer needs to begin with recognition of who God is. Peter and John, who are leaders within this group people, were priviledged enough to be taught directly by Jesus about how to pray. As Jesus instructs them to pray beginning with “Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” For us to be in the right mind set, we need to begin our prayers with a time of praise and worship.
Many times, I think we kind of skip this step. We either are rushed in our prayer time or perhaps we just jump straight to what we want to pray for. However, I believe when we fail to recognize the Holiness and majesty of God, it becomes difficult for us to pray in the will of God. Even the most devout Christians need to spend time aligning their hearts and minds to God. It isn’t natural for us. Without this step, we will pray for things within our desires, instead of praying for God’s desires.
As we spend time focusing on the characteristics of who God is, we realize how much we need Him. In fact, I would even say that God will use this time to change our prayer list. There have been many times where I had planned to take my prayer list to God, only to find that after a time of worship, my prayer list had changed completely. In fact, sometimes my prayer time I had planned for the day never moved beyond the step of recognition and worship of God. There are times where I am so consumed by who God is, I spent the entire time praising Him for who he is. We see this practice throughout Scripture. In the Psalms, many of them begin with this time of praise for who God is. We must intentionally spend time worshiping God as part of our prayer time. Jesus did it, Old Testament writers did, as well as the early church, we must as well.
The natural transformation that occurs as we recognize God for who He is, is a thankful heart. Worship naturally leads to thanksgiving.
2. Thanksgiving
Unfortunately, it is easy for us to see what we don’t have compared to what we do have. Our society is always telling us we need more. Commercials are everywhere; tv, movies, sports, social media. Everywhere we look we are being told about a new product that our life is incomplete without. It seems we are taught from a very early age to always be looking for something new. These attitudes lead people to a place of discontentment that is completely against what God desires for our lives. Paul tells us in Philippians 4:11-12
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
Paul has learned to be content no matter what situation he finds himself in. This attitude is not related to his earthly situations, but is connected to his faith in Christ. Paul is not concerned with how much stuff he has, his life is not defined by what he has, but it is defined by his faith. He is content in every situation because he knows that God will take care of him. We need to learn how to be content. God will carry us through anything in our lives. He will give us what we need. With that in mind, we must be thankful for everything God has given us. Everything we have talents, health, family, posessions: everything is a gift from God. Part of our prayer time needs to be used to thank God for what He has given us and what He has done. God is always faithful, when we are not. He provides for us in ways we do not deserve. We need to make sure we spend time thanking Him.
If we are thankful, it appropriately aligns our hearts with God. When we truly understand and can focus on the generous nature of God and how he provides, it helps us to be better stewards of God’s provision. I know in my own life, I always try to be a good steward of things other people have entrusted to me. For example, when I was attending seminary, First Baptist Church of Effingham was helping pay for my tuition. Because they were helping pay for my schooling, I worked very hard to ensure I did well in my classes. For classes in seminary, anything less than a c would result in no credit. While I wanted to achieve this for myself, I was very motivated to succeed. I did not want to have to explain to the church why I needed money to repeat a class.
At least for me, when I live with the fact that everything I have comes from God. It helps me to be a better steward and live humbly. These are characteristics Christians need to live with.
After recognizing God for who He is and then thank God for what He has given these early Christians then ask for the will of God to occur by praying for the world and It’s leaders
3. World & It’s Leaders
Every earthly authority in the past, present, or the future is there because God allows them to be there.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Paul and John have just been arrested. I would think that instead of praying for the earthly leaders, they might have prayed for God to institute new “Christian” leaders. However, we see them praying for the will of God.
As I look around the world, I see a world that is in despite need of God. Situations are difficult. A world pandemic, racial tension, hate filled people, wars. I could go on and on. Sometimes I am tempted to pray about these things and ask God to answer prayers as I would desire for Him to answer them. However, We must ensure we are praying for His will and part of that prayer needs to be for wordly situations and our wordly leaders. Not that God would remove them, but that these leaders would be used to bring about the will of God. Just look at the early Christians, the mention Herod and Pontius Pilate in their prayer. These men were responsible for carrying out the death of Jesus Christ. Definitely not leaders who acted in respect to God. However, they were both used to bring about the plans of God. It takes Christian maturity to pray for people we disagree with, but we must pray for them and that God would use them for His will.
I know we are tempted to pray for our candidates or political leaders. God not call us to just pray for political candidates that fit what we believe. No, we are called to pray for them all and ask for God’s will to be accomplished. So today, I am calling us, as Christians, to actively be praying Christ’s name over our current situations and over wordly authorities on all levels, locally, state, nation, and world. Imagine what would occur if Christians around the world got serious about these types of prayers. Not for God to remove authorities, but for God to use these authorities to accomplish His will. God promises that when we humble ourselves and pray, He will change the world.
Only after recognize and worship God, humble ourselves and thank him, and pray for earthly situations, authorities, and God will, then we can pray for ourselves.
3. Self
For most people, I think we start our prayers focusing on this section of prayer. I want to make sure to say that we must spend time praying for ourselves. There is absolutely nothing wrong with praying for ourselves or for things that God has laid on our hearts. I would say that this practice is essential for a healthy pray life, but our pray life must not only be prayers for ourselves. God genuinely cares about things that are going on in our lives. He cares about our worries, our passions, and things we care about. We need to lift all of these to God, but after we have spent time humbling ourselves and worshiping him.
These Christians in Acts pray for themselves. But it is different than we might expect. They are not praying for God to remove persecution, they are not asking for God to give them physical blessings, not they are asking for boldness.
Boldness
I’m sure these early Christians are not worried about the persecutions that may come. They have worries and problems of their own, but instead of asking for these items in this situations, they are asking that God will give them boldness to continue to proclaim the Gospel. Like I said early, I think we should be praying for all these other concerns in our lives, but we must pray for us to be boldly on mission for God as well. God has called us to share the Gospel message with the lost around us. We must pray for God to give us opportunities, pray for wisdom to recognize those opportunities, and boldness to take advantage of those opptunities. God desires to us to reach the world, we should be praying and expect to be used by God.
Ministry
The early Christians also prayed for minsitry opportunities. They prayed for the power of God to continue to work around them. While I have never personally healed someone, that doesn’t mean I have not seen God use me to minister to others. The Holy Spirit will guide us when we are focused on Him. Let us pray for these opporutunities to minister to hurting people all around us. We talked about earlier how we need to be thankful for everything God gives us. Ministry is the reason he has blessed us. Not so we can hoard things, but so we can bless others. We are called to care for everyone. Let us pray for God to use us for to boldly work in the ministry He has provided for us.
5. God Answers
One of the biggest promises we have in Scripture is that God will answer prayer. No matter what we pray God will answer. That doesn’t mean He will give us everything we ask for but he will answer. Sometimes it will be yes, other times no, and sometimes He might say wait, but He will answer. In Acts 4 we see God answer. His answer, as He provides the spirit actually shakes the building. Blake and I discussed a little bit about what type this means. We both believe that this was an actual shaking of the building. Think of praying for God to provide and when you receive the answer, the building your in physically shakes. There have definitely been times where I could feel God answer prayer. Coming to Monticello and Calvary Baptist was one of those times. God provided both myself and my wife a tremdous sense of peace and we knew He had called us to serve at this church. While I knew the answer to our prayers, the building didn’t shake.
I can only imagine the confidence I would have if God answered and provided as He did in Acts 4. I know the early believes had no doubt that God was working in their midst. Perhaps other people might argue that the shaking was not physical, but spiritual. But even if that is the case, pray has lead these people to a new encounter with God. Where they are defintely empowered. The church today can experience this as well. We just need to get serious in our pray lives. As individuals and as a church. Just look at the language used in Acts. It says they lived their voices. Not just individuals, but as a group. We are called to pray as a church. In fact, I would encourage you to find other Chrsitians to pray with on a regular basis. It doesn’t have to be something organized officially as the “Church,” but find times to pray for and with each other.
So today is a call for us as both a church and as individuals to rededicate ourselves to the discipline of prayer. I don’t know what you prayer life has looked like in the past, but today we can be dedicated to a life of prayer. Perhaps you might say I don’t even know what that looks like, I know myself, blake, and others in our church would love to help people grow in prayer. So I would ask you to reach out to others and I know when we are dedicated to the practice of prayer and Christ, God will lead us. So as we close our service in worship and song, May you use this time as a chance to respond and ask God to give you a passion for prayer.