THE SECRET TO PRAYER - DEPENDENCY
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nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
Sample Prayers
Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me; For I am afflicted and needy.
Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man; O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, For to You I cry all day long.
Make glad the soul of Your servant, For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; And give heed to the voice of my supplications!
In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, For You will answer me.
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
“O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”
All Judah was standing before the Lord, with their infants, their wives and their children.
Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph;
and he said, “Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.
‘Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel.
‘You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.”
Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.
The Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.”
When he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, “Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”
dependency is what is needed to drive us into ceaseless, meaningful prayer
dependency is what is needed to drive us into ceaseless, meaningful prayer
In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
• Mary’s request to Jesus at the Wedding of Cana is a perfect description of prayer
• “They have no wine.” John 2:3
• John 4 the woman had no living water
• John 4 the official’s son had no health
• John 5 the crippled man has no help to get into the water
• John 6 the crowd has no bread
• John 9 the blind man has no sight
• John 11 Lazarus has no life
PRAYER IS HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS
PRAYER IS HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS
Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
“I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.
In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The thing we are allergic to – our helplessness – is what makes prayer work. It works because we are helpless.
The thing we are allergic to – our helplessness – is what makes prayer work. It works because we are helpless.
2 PRIMARY COMPONENTS THAT WILL HELP US IN OUR DEPENDENCY: Our Humility & His Holiness
2 PRIMARY COMPONENTS THAT WILL HELP US IN OUR DEPENDENCY: Our Humility & His Holiness
Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one besides You to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength; so help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in You, and in Your name have come against this multitude. O Lord, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.”
At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand.
“Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand.
“For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.”
Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him for this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.
Now, the acts of Asa from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.
So Asa slept with his fathers, having died in the forty-first year of his reign.
They returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few.”
So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord.
Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
It came about at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were neighbors and that they were living within their land.
Then the sons of Israel set out and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon and Chephirah and Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim.
The sons of Israel did not strike them because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the Lord the God of Israel. And the whole congregation grumbled against the leaders.
But all the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them.
“This we will do to them, even let them live, so that wrath will not be upon us for the oath which we swore to them.”
Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.
So David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring me word that I may know their number.”
Joab said, “May the Lord add to His people a hundred times as many as they are! But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord seek this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt to Israel?”
Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore, Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
“Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today;
But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
• Think about dependency in prayer this way….It is not just a plea for tangible answers to our requests but it is a means of progressive sanctification.
• It is a powerful way in which we align our wills with the will of God.
• It is a call of our submission and surrender of these things we bring to Him in prayer.