An Amazing Prayer Partner

May 11, 2008 SD21

An Amazing Prayer Partner.doc file: G2

(Mother’s Day)

Third in series on the believers Senior Partner

(open with illus re: mother’s day—10 things mom really wants for Mothers Day)

What Mom Really Wants for Mothers Day

10. To be able to eat a whole candy bar by herself, and drink glass of

Coke without any "floaters"

9. To have my 14 year old answer a question without rolling her eyes in that "Why is this person my mother?" way.

8. Five pounds of chocolate that won't add twenty.

7. A shower, without a child peeking through the curtain with a "Hiya, Mom" just as I put razor to my ankle.

6, A full-time cleaning person, who looks like Brad Pitt.

5. For my teenager to announce, "Hey, Mom! I got a full scholarship

and a job all in the same day!"

4 A grocery store that doesn't have candy/gum/cheap toys displayed

at the checkout line.

4. To have a family meal without a discussion about bodily secretions.

2, To be able to sit down on a plane with my toddlers and not have

some pencil-neck-yuppie moan, "Ohhh, nooo! Why me?"

1. Four words: Fisher Price Play Prison.

Today is Mother’s Day and also Pentecost Sunday—

And This is the third in a sermon series on the Believer’s Senior Partner…the Holy Spirit

If there is anything a Mother needs it is a Senior Partner in the work of parenting…(Fathers too!)

And you especially need a partner in prayer.

Because a mother’s Prayers can make an eternal difference

And today I want to talk to you about an amazing prayer partner.

How many of you believe that prayer is important???

We all agree! But let me ask you a few more questions

Have you ever struggled to pray? (Guilt; Busyness; Weariness)

Have you ever struggled to stay focused while praying?

Have you ever been confused about what to pray for; or how to pray about it? (Some counsel us to "Be Specific With God" -- we would if we could! Is God really waiting on us to word the prayer right before He'll consider it?)

I was looking through my file on all the articles and books I have saved on the subject of prayer—

The hour that changes the world—how to praying one hour a day

Praying without ceasing

100 reasons why I must fast

19 ways to pray for our missionaries

101 ways to pray without ceasing

The sixty second sin

31 Biblical Virtues to pray for your kids

30 Scripture based Prayers for your pastor

Now don’t misunderstand me! I believe in prayer! But what I don’t believe in is guilt-motivated prayer…I believe in Spirit driven prayer…

Much of what I read on prayer makes me feel very un-spiritual…and so there is this tendency to “leave it to the ones who really know how to do it right…” It makes me feel that if I can’t do it the way the spiritual people can then why do it at all?

Chuck Swindol writes: “To be painfully honest with you, most of the stuff I have ever read dor ehard said about prayer has either left me under a tone-and-a-half truck-load of guilt or wearied me with pious-sounding clichés and meaningless God=talk. Without trying to sound ultra cynical, I frequently have walked away thinking, “who needs it?” Because I didn’t spend two or three grueling hours a day on my knees as dear Dr. So-and-so did…or because I failed to say it just the “right way” (whatever that means)..or because I wasn’t able to weave several Scripture verses through my prayer…or because I have not been successful in moving mountains, I picked up the distinct impression that I was out to lunch when it came to this part of the Christian life. It seemed almost spooky, mystical, and (dare I say it) even a little superstitious. A lot of the verbal mumbo jumbo laced with a secret jargon some people had and others didn’t. And I definitely didn’t…”

Can you relate to Chuck’s thoughts????

We all have some time thought that prayer was just too mysterious for us---something that ought to be left to those especially called to this ministry of prayer…the very spiritual!

But the power of prayer is available to each and every one of us and it is not all that secret…

The secret of prayer is just pray!

Just talk to God!

True spirituality is very natural---it is supernatural but it is very natural to the one who has been born from above—born again by the Spirit.

It is not some ethereal mystery—

You can be naturally spiritual—living life to its fullest!

Today I want to talk to you about your prayer partner—your senior partner in life is also your partner in prayer---he is the one who will teach you to pray!

He is the one who will help you keep the communication lines open…

This “prayer partnering relationship” we are meant to have with the Holy Spirit is made clear in three powerful passages of scripture:

PPT Jude 20 — "But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit."

PPT Ephesians 6:18 —"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

PPT Romans 8:26,27 — "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."

I want us to focus on 3 very practical ways the Holy Spirit partners with us in prayer—

PPT 1. The Holy Spirit Stirs Us to Pray

If the truth be known —

There are many of us who view prayer as our idea -- as something we initiate –

· let’s be honest, it's most often when we're in a jam —

Like the pilot of a single engine plane who radioed an urgent message to the control tower:

“Pilot to tower, I’m 300 miles from the airport, 600 feet above the ground, and I’m out of fuel. I am descending rapidly. Please advise. Over.”

Moments later the air traffic controller responded —

“Tower to pilot ... repeat after me — ‘Our Father who art in heaven...’”

For many people prayer is a way of trying to get God’s attention and help for our specific problem…a way to get God to do what we want him to do….for us! NOW!

LISTEN-- Prayer doesn't start with us knocking on God's door … prayer starts with God knocking on our door!

Revelation 3:20 “behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in to him and eat with him and he with Me.”

This verse is not about evangelism for the lost it is about God’s call for fellowship to a group of people (a church) that had lost its vital connection with Him.

PPT and this is relational prayer

The Holy Spirit stirs us to – relational prayer

Getting closer to God—we build our relationship with God through prayer---

PPT The Holy Spirit stirs us to – Fighting prayer

Warfare prayer—

Front line battle

Do you know that our greatest battles are not financial?

They are not physical or relational

THEY ARE SPIRITUAL!

Ephesians 6:12 — "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Prayer is an offensive weapon in the armory of God … that's why Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:4 —

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."

Listen carefully —

There are times when the Holy Spirit wants to stirs us to stand in the gap for someone or something … to battle in prayer … to fight or wrestle for God's will to be done!

You mothers often do that for your children—

You are awakened in the middle fo the night and you don’t know where your kids are and you begin to battle for them in prayer---

Every church has some people who have been gifted with a gift for warfare prayer---they often wake and prayer for people who the Holy Spirit brings to mind—

and each of you will have specific times and seasons when you receive an extra impulse to pray—

sometimes for your pastor

sometimes for a missionary

sometimes for the youth pastor

sometimes for a nation

sometimes for a school

sometimes for an individual, etc.

it is a special privilege and a call from the heart of God to intercede and to enter in to fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit…your prayer partner!!!

Not only does the Holy Spirit —

1. Stir Us To Pray!

Note secondly that —

PPT 2. The Holy Spirit Strengthens us to Pray!

Romans 8:26 says —

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

There are 3 vital ways in which the Holy Spirit helps us … or strengthens us to pray:

PPT A. The Holy Spirit Strengthens us by — energizing Us!

Romans 8:11 — "And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."

This isn't simply a promise of life after we die …

Its the promise of overcoming life while we live!

Your prayer partner wants you to live life to the fullest and He will be your helper in prayer to bring you to the place of strength for living!!!

Prayer is not our way of coercing god it is His way of getting His life into us! A life well lived!

PPT B. The Holy Spirit Strengthens us by — enlightening Us!

Have you ever struggled with what to pray for and how to pray rightly?

The Bible says (Ro. 8:26) that we don’t know how to pray as we ought…

If we'll pray about what to pray for …

The Holy Spirit will burden us with the agenda of God!

“Lord direct me in my prayer!”

The holy Spirit will direct you as to who to pray for and how to pray for them…

A pastor told his congregation —

"Many of our prayer requests are for the sick rather than for the lost. We more interested in keeping the saints out of heaven than we are the sinners out of hell."

Key — The Holy Spirit wants to shape our prayers … and give us a strategy for our prayers! (That's what's meant by praying in "Jesus name" … according to his purposes and power!)

PPT C. The Holy Spirit Strengthens us by — engaging us!

Don't miss the phrase —(Romans 8:26)

"…helps us in our weaknesses…"

He Helps US!

He is not going to do it all! He will help us do the work of prayer!

The Holy Spirit is at work—but He will work through us!

The Holy Spirit wants to speak—but he will speak through us!

The Holy Spirit wants to weep—he will weep through your eyes!

There's a third partnering principle we need to understand —

PPT 3. The Holy Spirit — Stands With us in Prayer!

Note this phrase: But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words

He prays for you as He also prays through you…with deep inner movement of the spirit (groaning which cannot be uttered)—wordless prayer…or prayer with words that come not from your own mind but from deep within your spirit---

He prays for you as you pray for others!!!!

On this Mother’s Day---I hope that each of you mothers (and fathers and sons and daughters) will experience a deep desire to pray

To get to know the God who loved you so much he would rather die than live without you

To Pray with each other and to pray for each other.

And to invite the Holy Spirit to be your Senior Partner

Because He wants to:

Stir you to pray
Strengthen you to pray
Stand with you in prayer

THERE IS NOT SECRET TO PRAYER

NO SECRET WAY TO DO IT

JUST DO IT!

JUST TALK TO GO ABOUT EVERYTHING

AND DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU TO DO!

The Saints Senior Partner—Part Three

AN AMAZING PRAYER PARTNER

Jude 20, Ephesians 6:18, Romans 8:26-27

Three practical Ways

the Holy Spirit Partners with us in Prayer

1. The Holy Spirit us to pray.

The Holy Spirit stirs us to --

The Holy Spirit stirs us to--

2. The Holy Spirit us to pray

The Holy Spirit strengthens us by--

3. The Holy Spirit with us in prayers