P.U.S.H. for Prayer
Acts 12:1-17
Introduction-
I want to look at prayer this morning.
Prayer seems like an easy thing. Everyone knows to pray.
My question to you.
Are you praying? Do you see results from praying? Is it building a relationship with the Lord?
Just recently a pastor from Gettsysburg, Pa., Rev. Gerry Stoltzfuz (Freedom Valley Worship Center) was asked to open the Pa. Senate. He had to submit his prayer, and when he did, they asked him to omit “In Jesus name” at the end. He says that he tried to make it generic enough that no one would be offended. He refused to eliminate In Jesus name and they said that he could not do the prayer. The news media got a hold of that and senate was pressured to let him do the prayer. Over 800 e-mails came in .
This was his opening line before the prayer.
“I am painfully aware that there are many here today who have embraced a belief system other than mine. I am not here to say that everyone ought to believe as I do, reading slowly from a prepared statement. “But I can only pray to my God. If you believe in some other power, I invite you to address yours as I address mine. He concluded after his prayer, “For those of us who are Christian, we pray in Jesus name.”
Touched by an Angel t.v. series in 2003 was taken off the air because they used the term God too much.
Doctors that pray are ridiculed by their colleague for swaying from science.
Prayer appears to be easy thing to do, but when you do it, someone wants to critique how you do it.
Prayer comes in a giant package:
From people who say for you to name it, claim it,
Have faith enough that God has to answer your prayer in your manner, because that is God’s character
All the way down to people who say prayer should never be public, and it must be private.
Does anyone care what God says about it?
After all He is the one were praying to, or talking to. Praying is talking to God, it is not about miracle formulas or buzz words that force God’s hand.
He does give us a model for prayer when his disciples asked him how to pray. Matt 6. Luke 11
“Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, your kingdom come, your will be done.
You know the prayer.
Jesus taught them a principal of prayer. We love to quote the verse for prayer.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Hallelujah. Where do I sign up Lord. Let me get my list.
(V11)- “which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
That’s right Lord Amen I know Lord you won’t give me anything bad.
( V13)- “If you then, though you are evil, known how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him.”
Jesus isn’t saying that everything you ask for will be given.
He isn’t saying that his hands are tied by some formula of manipulation.
He says here that if you are asking, seeking, knocking that our gracious and loving Father will give you His promised Holy Spirit. (That should be a big Amen .)
You cannot pray correctly without the Holy Spirit.
You cannot have direction, guidance, wisdom, and persistence, and you definitely can have no power without the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Now the text.
Peter is in jail. The church is praying for him, and God shows up
Acts 12:1-17 Read
You see what just happened here. The church is earnestly praying for Peter to be spared. God does a tremendous miracle on their behalf, and they stand at the door looking at Peter. They stand there in disbelief.
Locked in jail with 16 guards around him.
It is the power of God that provided Peter’s escape.
It is the power of God that sent that angel.
It is the power of God who loosed those chains.
It is the power of God that opened that gate.
By Peter’s own admission, he was not sure it wasn’t a dream. Until it was all over and he was standing outside the prison.
Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod’s clutches.
It was the power of God
It is the Holy Spirit active in our lives.
I look here and I see the church praying but not really believing Peter will avoid the sword.
If you don’t believe God will answer prayer, than why pray
Don’t be double minded, like the sea being tossed to and fro.
If you are praying that God’s will be done.
If you are a born again, Spirit filled believer, full of the Holy Ghost.
Why wouldn’t you come to Him in full faith.
Listen to me
There are some myths that are out there that are damaging believers from effective communication with the Lord.
1. The myth that God has to answer every prayer as soon as we give it to Him.
It is God’s time table,
It is God’s will we want done. You pray until God tells you to stop.
People praying for years to see loved ones to be saved, not getting answers from the Lord. One day God answers that prayer.
P.U.S.H. - pray until something happens or God tells you to stop.
2. There is this formula that forces God to respond to our prayer.
God is not boxed in by words of men, we don’t force God’s hand.
The name it , claim it crowd is wrong.
There is a difference between acting in faith and standing on God’s truth, then believing the ridiculous that God has to do what we say when we say it because we use certain words.
3. The belief that kneeling is better than standing; being loud is better than a bedside prayer.
We can talk to God in any position.
God hears my prayers when I am racing down a roller coaster and he hears my prayer when I have two feet planted safely on the ground.
He hears me when I am quietly at home , and he hears me when the whole church is praying -
He hears us Prayer touches the heart of God.
Whatever God is doing. He will use the Holy Spirit to do it.
We are the vessel he chooses to use and work through.
D.L. Moody
“It remains to be seen what God can do with one man (or women) who is completely committed to Him. “I want to be that man”
Commitment/ Communication= Successful Prayer Life.
Faith is the motivator.
Prayer is the strength.
The best position for prayer is right where you are when you have the need to communicate with God.
Prayer is so much
Personal prayer,
Corporate prayer,
Praying God’s will instead of your own.
Persistent- until God gives direction, or an answer, and be willing to accept the answer.
Boldly coming to God because you are a child of God, but, yet respecting as the child that the Father knows best.
It is realizing the power we have as a church praying that the will of God be done in our fellowship.
Where 2-3 are gathered, there I am in the midst of you. Gathered Holy Spirit filled believers wanting to see God’s will done in our lives, church, families.
Give us this day our daily Bread
Disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray.
Especially when they messed up,
Especially when they were sleeping on the job,
Especially when they couldn’t cast the demons out no matter how hard they tried.
Illustration-
Ted Turner, the cable millionaire was once a Christian. By his own words at a convention center with other cable giants, he said that he left the faith because God didn’t answer the prayer he had for his dying sister.
He didn’t understand that all prayers are not answered the way we want them.
They do not always have a happy ending for us.
Prayer is a communication with God. It is a intimate relationship with your savior. It is listening, talking, relying on, and trusting God.
The power of prayer is not found in our strength. It is the Holy Spirit working in us and through us.
Closing:
Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying a heavy burden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Yoke is a metaphor of the Torah (The law of Moses). Jesus is saying my interpretation of the law is light, not like or compared to the pharisees’s laws.
Ask, seek, knock for what you need. The Holy Spirit to lead and guide our lives.
We should come boldly- come boldly into the throne of God Heb 4:6.
We should pray passionately- seeking to discover God’s will in the matter.
We should pray expectantly. He will not give you a stone when you ask for a fish.
The purpose of prayer is to draw us close to the heart of God, so that our wills, our desires, our passion match up with his.
Hallowed be thy name
they locked the preacher Peter in, but they could not lock God out.
Altar Call.
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