Why Prayer is Crucial

Apocalypse, Act 2: The Seven Trumpets

My Journey

At the moment involves learning more about prayer and about worship

My “Wall”

The more I study

The more I try

The more I realize

How little I know

Len Crowley’s Book

Likens it to being a parent

Your child is perfect, normal

Until one day contracts a disease

Doctor explains that your child will never reach “normal” growth and development

Will only be able to understand and communicate on a very limited basis

Yet even as the child grows older

And you watch the child grow older

That child does not realize what his state could have been

While you do

Similar to where we are with God

Sin has left us unable to reach the condition we were originally designed to reach

But we don’t know any different

All the while, we barely scratch the surface on communicating with our Father

Because our disease called sin has so crippled us

Yet as parents can see and realize the efforts of their child to communicate and convey in their condition

So too does the Father covet our prayers

Why Prayer is Crucial

Revelation 8:1-6

Revelation 8:1–6 NKJV

1 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. 3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. 6 So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

Timeline

Three sets of Seven judgments each

Seven Seals

Seventh Seal introduces Seven Trumpets

Seventh Trumpet introduces Seven Bowls

Each set of judgments more severe than the previous set

Even during the Tribulation

Prayer is important

Plays a critical role in the execution of the judgments upon the world

Here are some reasons why Prayer is so Crucial:

1. Prayer is Pleasing

V.3

Prayer is combined with incense

Incense

Purpose was to satisfy

By which divine wrath was avoided

Why do you need to pray?

Prayer will bring you into alignment with God’s will

Prayer pleases God

He loves it when you talk to him

He has already initiated the conversation

It’s called the Bible

Even though He already knows

What you need before you ask

What it is that you will ask

Prayer is pleasing to God

It enables you to connect to the active work of God all that is happening in your life

2.Prayer is Practical

Prayers were tended to by “another angel”

Another

V.3

ἄλλος

“another of the same kind”

Activities of this angel

Golden censer

Given much incense

In order to offer it with the prayers of the saints

Offers the prayers

V.4

Along with the incense

Tends to the altar

Vv.3, 5

Point

When we pray, those prayers are not glossed over with inactivity

Example here indicates that our prayers initiate activity in heaven

Just because you don’t see an obvious answer to your prayer right after you pray does not mean that there is no activity going on

Sometimes nothing is done

Why?

To bring you into a position where you will allow the Holy Spirit to “work you over”

Pointing out the sin you have not confessed to the Father

Getting you to the point where you will allow the Spirit to

Sand off your rough spots

Clean you up from the mess the sin has made of you

This “spiritual makeover” gets you into a better position to see the Lord at work

When you see the Lord at work

You might discover that you need to make adjustments to your prayers

3.Prayer is Powerful

The angel took fire from the altar, put it in the censer, threw it to the earth

V.5

Promotes

Noises

Thunder

Lightning

Earthquake

Same censer that contained

Incense

Prayers of the saints

Action promoted the next set of angels to prepare to announce and execute the next set of judgments

The Seven Trumpet Judgments

More severe than the first seven Seal judgments

How powerful is prayer?

It has the power to bring indescribable peace to your life

Php 4:6-7 “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

It has the power to set apart people for use by God

1 Ti 4:4-5 “4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

It has the power to bring people to hearing the life-saving, life-changing Best News Ever of Jesus

Jas 5:15 “15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

Save/heal the sick

It is mountain-moving

Jas 5:16 “16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

When the prayer is

Energized

Present active participle

ἐνεργέω

Brought with a level of urgency when you realize that you are in the presence of the Creator

δεήσις

Now What?

Praying is going to play a major role in the end times

Prayer will be used to activate an entire series of judgments upon the world

Prayer plays a major role in world events today

Not just personal prayer

Corporate prayer especially

The great spiritual awakenings since the Reformation found their beginnings in prayer meetings

Prayer has two legs

Personal prayer

Corporate prayer

Determining which one is more important

Like deciding which leg is more important

Right

Left

How would you rate your prayer life?

Your personal prayer life?

Does your prayer life include time for the Holy Spirit to search you out?

Or does it consist of you ticking through your “prayer list?”

Or would you describe it more like a “holy pause” Your corporate prayer life?

Are you in a prayer group that meets primarily for that purpose?

If not, you are not as healthy a follower of Jesus Christ as you could be or need to be

As pastor, one of my main responsibilities is to provide leadership in the area of the corporate prayer ministry of the church

Ac 6:4 “4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.””

That means that it is my responsibility to provide whatever is necessary for each of you to have a regular corporate prayer experience