Rom 12-Getting through tough times-2
| Getting Through the Tough Times – Part 2The Gift of Prayer! Romans 12:12
May 18, 2008 (NIV) Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (NLT) Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and always be prayerful. PRAY Scripture Memory:Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. – Romans 12:12 (NIV) Intro:How do you deal with tough times?When things get painful and the answers seem elusive at best, what do you do?1. Be joyful in hope.2. Be patient in affliction.3. Be faithful in prayer.Review:1. Be joyful in hope NLT Be glad for all God is planning for you.☞ Be JoyfulThe joy of the Christian is bound up in the Lord. It is found “…in the contemplation of His person, His offices, His power, His love, and in their union with Him. (Haldane, R.) ☞ Be joyful in HopeBiblical Hope: A confident expectation of a good future, based upon the fully reliable promises of God 2. Be patient in affliction What is the key? Hope Be patient. Why? Because GOD is still on the throne…Because God is faithful…Because we have a SURE hope (confident expectation)Because God has proven the depth of His LOVE for us and His power to save and protect us.Romans 8:32 – If God didn’t even spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things? 3. Be faithful in prayer – lit. in prayer, steadfastly continuingproskartereo – To be steadfastly attentive unto, to give unremitting care to a thing Strong’s —in this case, to prayer…. O'Leary was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up toward heaven, he said "Lord, take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of my life and I'll give up me whiskey." Miraculously, a parking place appeared. O'Leary looked up again and said "Never mind Lord. I found one." ☞ What motivates people to pray?· Guilt – I know I SHOULD pray more…· Desperation – Foxhole pray-ersFor large numbers, prayer is merely a spare tire, something to be used when the other tires fail. C. AllenPrayer will enable us to be at peace in the midst of our troubles or troubles will drive us to desperate prayer.Sometimes God has to force us into a corner before we will pray. Sometimes He has to remove all our idols, all our human supports before we will come to Him.Pray often; for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, & a scourge for Satan. John BunyanA praying man can never be very miserable, whatever his condition be, for he has the ear of God, the Spirit within to indite, a Friend in heaven to present, and God Himself to receive his desires as a Father. It is a mercy to pray, even though I never receive the mercy prayed for. William Bridge | | Faith is relying on and resting in Christ to be and do what we cannot do in our own resources. It is our heart coming with empty hands, and in hope and confidence, to receive from Him who has promised to provide. Tim Keller· Tasks – I want to see things happen…· Love (for others) – Note the difference between this and desperation driven prayers…· Love (for God) – Obedience / Worship – Note the difference between this and guilt-driven prayer…Prayer is the life-breath of the one who is truly walking in hope.Prayer is not so much something we do, as an attitude of our hearts expressing our dependence upon the God we serve and our belief that He delights to give good things to His children who ask."Prayer is an expression of our dependence upon God, while prayerlessness is an expression of our independence." source unknown ☞ What do our prayers look like?· Human centered prayers· Kingdom centered prayers ☞ Two types of pray-ers· Warriors· Casual Observers☞ Prayer should be an ever-growing and constant part of a believer’s life.It is impossible that believers can discharge the various duties which are here enforced, without having their eyes constantly directed to their heavenly Father Haldane, R. ☞ Prayer should be both a corporate and a private exercise.The problem with us is that we have become so individualistic that we have largely lost our sense of communal responsibility… ☞ Why don’t Christians pray more?· We are too distractedWe just don’t give it a lot of thoughtThere are so MANY things in our busy and crowded lives…· We love this world more than we love GodThe things of this world, the entertainments, the tasks, the people, etc. are more important to us than God is.· We don’t enjoy prayingFrankly, it’s rather boring.· We really don’t believe that it makes that much of a differenceTheoretically we would agree that prayer is powerful. But, in everyday life…?· We are embarrassed by our inexperience in prayerWe don’t feel like we can pray eloquent prayers like those other people.· We don’t know what or how to prayWe run out of things to pray for….· We are too comfortable (We’re not desperate enough)It was amazing how many people wanted to pray after 9-1-1. Summary / Review:“The GIFT of Prayer…”The Christian has every reason to be joyful in hope because that joy and that hope is bound up in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. He/she can be patient in the midst of severe affliction because he/she is in constant communion with the One who holds all things His hands. He/she is faithful in prayer (both individually and corporately) because he/she understands the frailty and inadequacy of anything in this world to provide the peace and security we all long for. A Truth to Remember: The hope of a Christian is FAR more than wishful thinking. It is a confident expectation of future blessing, based upon the love and power of God seen in the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. A Challenge to Consider: Does your prayer life show you to be a person of hope, prepared to find joy even in the midst of difficult circumstances, or does it show you to be a person of this world who needs to be DRIVEN to prayer when faced with hard times? One thing I heard this morning was… |