You Can Have Your Cake And Eat It Too!
A young man went into a drugstore to buy 3 boxes of chocolate: small, medium, and large. When the pharmacist asked him about the three boxes, he said, “Well, I’m going over to a new girlfriend’s house for supper. Then we’re going out. If she only lets me hold her hand, then I’ll give her the small box. If she lets me kiss her on the cheek, then I’ll give her the medium box. But if she really lets me smooch her seriously, I’ll give her the big box.” He made his purchase and left.
That evening as he sat down at dinner with his girlfriend’s family, he asked if he could say the prayer before the meal. He began to pray, and he prayed an earnest, intense prayer that lasted for almost five minutes. When he finished his girlfriend said, “You never told me you were such a religious person.” He said, “And you never told me your dad was a pharmacist!”
Prayer, how much do you use it?
How much do you believe it works, a little or a lot?
Are you one who does it a meal time, because of tradition?
Or are you one, who has seen it actually move the hand of God on your behalf?
It's kind of sad, that in America today, how little people actually know about the power of what their prayers can do and the words they say in those prayers can accomplish! Amen?
Oh, I'll pray for you, it's the least I can do.
Tell me, if a friend has terminal cancer over most of their body, what else could you do?
Prayer, puts you in direct communication with God, who is able to do anything and everything in the spiritual and natural realm, the only one who can offer your friend any help,
The doctors don't know what to do, if they did there would be a cure by now!
Wait a minute you say, there's chemo and radiation and other things they can do.
Now I'm not saying they don't have things they can try, but unlike them really not knowing what to do, if your a believer you should know that you have an advantage over the doctor, you already know what to do!
Pray, the key is not only knowing what to do, but believing what it can accomplish in your own and someone else's life when you do it!! Amen???
The key to prayer is, do you believe it works?
Ya, but it's liver cancer...
Ya, but it's brain cancer...
Ya, but it's stage 4 and all through the body...
Ya, but they said 4 weeks is all I have....
Sometimes I think we have to ask ourselves, when we respond like that...
Are we the ones doing the healing or is God!!
TBS. All things (how many things) All things are possible, not with mans help,
But with Gods help!
The correct answer when asked if you believe in the power of prayer, should not be conjecture or an opinion, but one three letter word....YES!!
You don't know the complexity of the decease, but God does....and He doesn't need to be reminded how difficult the situation is....and thing is, that's not important anyways, because there's nothing to hard or difficult for Him to overcome!
The 39 stripes Jesus took on His back and what was finished at Calvary already provided for that healing!
The important part is only that you believe He can do it!
Amen?, well Amen??
Ill. There is a legend of a small town in which there were no liquor stores or nightclubs.
Eventually, however, a nightclub was built right on Main Street and one of the churches, in the area,
was so disturbed that they conducted several all-night prayer meetings, and asked the Lord to burn down the nightclub.
Lightning struck the nightclub a short time later, and it was completely destroyed by fire.
The owner, knowing how the Believers had prayed, sued the church for the damages.
His attorney claimed that their prayers had caused the lightning and fire.
The church people, on the other hand, hired a lawyer and contested the charges.
During the trial the judge declared, "It’s the opinion of this court that the owner of the nightclub is the one who really believes in the power of prayer while the church members do not!"
Imagine that, Church people having a hard time believing that their prayers were answered so quickly and even at all,
And then willingly throwing God under the bus, disclaiming their responsibility that there prayers had been answered.
And here someone of the world, is amazed beyond belief, by the power and sheer magnitude that prayer could have at all and sued for damages done by it.
The old saying is..."they want to have their cake and eat it to"
Thing is, they asked God for cake and then not only wouldn't touch it, but wouldn't eat it either!
If your going to ask for cake, when God makes a cake...Eat It!
Why ask if your not going to be willing to eat it!
Lately, their has been a lot of turmoil in the Middle East, especially in Syria over WMD's.
But I tell it's nothing like the frenzy the devil has been in, from the moment he realized what was accomplished on the cross and the power that went with it, for our healing and our needs being met!
Prayer works, even when you don’t know what to pray, you can pray in the Spirit, The Holy Spirit knows exactly what to pray for you and it works!
In fact it even works better, because when you pray in the Spirit, you don’t limit God’s amazing abilities to your own understanding,
You give Him free reign to do whatever it takes, to bring about not just your desired outcome, but His will in the situation, which works everything for your good!
Romans 8:26-27 NKJ
26. Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Sometimes its hard to believe that its just that easy, to pray in the Spirit, speak in tongues and the Holy Spirit does the rest.
I don’t mean to be simplistic , but it is, God made it that way.
Were the ones who make it hard.
If you study the gospel and exactly what Jesus accomplished for you on the cross,
when He introduced the Grace Message to the world, you will find out that He made it easy enough for a child to understand,
Believe in Jesus, receive what God sent His Son to deliver and trust in His ability to bring about what He has promised!
*Solomon prayed and God gave him wisdom, made him the wisest man on earth.
*Hezekiah prayed and God added 15 years to his life.
*Elijah prayed that it wouldn’t rain for 3 1/2 years, that’s 1,095 days and guess what?, it didn’t!
*Jabez prayed for more territory and what did God do? He said ok and He granted him what he asked for!
Notice anything they all had in common?
That's right, they didn't just say a prayer.....they prayed!
Luke 18:1-8 MSG
1-3 Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. He said, “There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him: ‘My rights are being violated. Protect me!’
4-5 “He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, ‘I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won’t quit badgering me, I’d better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I’m going to end up beaten black-and-blue by her pounding.’”
6-8 Then the Master said, “Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won’t step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won’t he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”
That's a good question isn't it?
"how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?”
We read in the faith chapter in Hebrews 11
By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word
By an act of faith, Abel brought a better sacrifice to God than Cain. It was what he believed, not what he brought, that made the difference.
By an act of faith, Enoch skipped death completely. “They looked all over and couldn’t find him because God had taken him.” We know on the basis of reliable testimony that before he was taken “he pleased God.” It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.
If we don't believe he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him in the first place, why even bother to pray at all?
How many know its one thing to see someone else pray and use their faith and watch a miracle happen for them,
I mean how many times have we heard someone else's story about there healing and how God healed them?
But that it’s a totally different story, when you’re the one, or your part of the group needing a miracle, doing the praying and expecting the results!
Either scenario, God is the one who delivers the results, so why not believe for Him to write a healing chapter in the story of your life as well?
Come on now! This is where it all starts to happen! Where you start to believe that it's all possible! Stay with me now!
Really? God writing a chapter in my life, you ask? Don't you think He can do a better job of writing a chapter, then the chapters you've written already?
I'd rather read a chapter He wrote any day, then to suffer through the ones I've written again! Amen?
I don't know about you, but I thought they were painful enough the first time!
The accuser would have you believe or feel like, that your prayers sometimes don’t make it past your lips,
That they just hit the ceiling and fall flat, or that God doesn’t hear them,
But that’s contrary to what TBS. He hears everyone’s prayers, saints and sinners alike,
“Really”?, Yes Really! He heard us, when we prayed the sinners prayer and forgave all our sins past, present and future, didn't He?
John 11:41-42 MSG.
41-42Then, to the others, "Go ahead, take away the stone."
They removed the stone. Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed, "Father, I'm grateful that you have listened to me. I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I've spoken so that they might believe that you sent me."
Jesus wanted them to know that nothing is to hard for God and that prayer changes things and God hears you, when you call out to Him expecting! Amen?
Matt. 21:21-22
21. So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. 22. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
James 5:15-16 NKJ
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.
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.
Well I don’t feel righteous, you can't go by what you feel,
Guess what? the accuser is never going to let you feel the right way, he's going to fight you, by using your feelings against you each and every time!
But listen up, "to him who has ears let him hear," if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have the righteousness of God, through your relationship with His Son Jesus,
Therefore you are a righteous man or woman, Jesus has made you righteous, so start acting like it,
Start expecting your prayers to avail much, not because of you, or what your capable of, when you do that, it only hinders your faith...
but because of what Jesus has done for you and what He is capable of, Praise God!
Prayer is not the least you can do, prayer is always, the most powerful thing you can do! Amen? It's your WMD against the principalities of darkness!
I read recently read about a pastor and he said when it comes to praying...
use the push method
Pray
Until
Something
Happens
That's great advice,
Because God is still on the throne,
still waiting and wanting to perform miracles, when we ask Him to!
Praise God, He’s Still changing lives all over the world today, TBS. “He changes not”
What He did for others throughout all of history and even greater things, He will gladly do for you,
In fact TBS. it gives Him great pleasure to give to us and to meet the needs of His Children.
He is not a respecter of persons, the prayers of every righteous man or woman avails much.
Make prayer and seeking Gods help in every situation, first place in your life,
Make it your first resort every time instead of your last resort.
Some may say, I don’t always know how to pray, or what to pray, who does?
Don’t feel bad, your not alone, your not the only one who has ever felt that way.
If that’s you, Pray that God would fill you with the Holy Spirit and the evidence of speaking in tongues,
for its in those times, when we don't know what to pray, that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us,
And knows exactly what to pray and petition God for on our behalf, to see our needs and the needs of those around us met.
Do you have to be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, no, but as Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:18 NKJ why wouldn't you want to be?
18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel
Paul said we should want to pray always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit!
The Holy Spirit is God with us, here on earth.... so my question is...Why wouldn't we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, with all that God has for us?
Ill. A heart-broken little girl began to kneel and pour out her heart to God in the altar at her local church. She did not know what to say. As she wept speechless, she began to remember what her Father had told her, "God knows your needs even before you pray, and he can answer when you don’t even know for what to ask." So she began to say her alphabet. A concerned adult from that church knelt beside her and heard her sobbing and saying her ABC’s and inquired what exactly she was trying to do. The little girl told this caring adult, "I’m praying to God from my heart." But the adult answered, "It sounds to me more like your are saying the alphabet!"
"Yes," she said, "But God knows more about what I need than I do, and he can take all these letters and arrange them in just the right way to hear and answer my prayers!"
that’s what the Holy Spirit does with our prayer language,
when we speak in tongues, we may not understand it, but God does and that’s all that matters.
You don’t have to figure it out, just approach it with the faith of a child and God will do the rest!
I encourage you if you haven’t been already, to be filled with Gods gift, the amazing, wonderful Holy Spirit,
Take your prayer life to the next level today, experience all that God meant and means for you to have in your life.
For when He said “Greater things shall you do, than I have done”, He meant it!
But He knew that it wouldn’t be possible through your own efforts,
But only possible through the Gift of the Holy Spirit, working in your life.
Accept the gift today, God wants to take you to new heights, God wants to do things in your life you can’t even imagine.
Lets all pray and expect God to do the miraculous in our lives and in our church and not be surprised when He does. Amen?
