Soul Pleasing
John 16:33, Eph 6:18, 1 Th 5:17, Matthew 26:41, Matt 26:36-44, James 5:16, Mark 6:46
Luke 6:12, Mat 26:36, Matt 19:13, John 17:9, Luke 18:1, Matt 6:5, Luke 11:1, Matt 6:9-13
October 28, 2002
I. One of the things that we have to face about life is that it is not always easy, as a matter of fact it seems at times that it is never easy.
A. And, this shouldn’t surprise us because Jesus told us that there would be struggles.
(John 16:33 NIV) "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
B. The life of a Christian will have struggles. We are in a war with the influence of satan in the world.
C. Christians will face trials, and temptations, and many times the trials are the result of giving in to the temptations.
D. There is no doubt that we have spiritual opposition, and that is why it is important that we worship and go into the presence of God, because we need to be reminded that we serve a God who has the ability to raise us above our trials.
E. And there is another thing that we need to do to improve our relationship with God.
F. The Gulf war was our first televised war, if you were like I was you watched a lot of it.
G. I spent a lot of time watching to see what was going to happen.
H. What was one of the very first things that they went after? What were some of the most strategic targets?
I. The communications equipment. The Americans used guided bombs, and missiles to break down the communications ability of the Iraqi Army.
J. That has always been and will always be one of the most important factors of fighting a battle.
1. That is really the way the Americans won the war so easily.
2. There was no one to tell the Iraqi troops we are still in this!
3. There was no one to tell them to keep on going.
4. There were days and days of bombings, and no word about what the outcome was.
5. Many of the soldiers probably didn’t know if there still was a Baghdad, with no communication, they lost the will to fight.
6. Communication is the key to winning any war.
K. As Christians communication is just as important, we need someone to talk to who can assure us that we are still in this! We need someone to assure us that our efforts are making a difference. Day in and day out we are bombarded in life with struggles that make us want to give up, or at least follow the path of least resistence, and not take stand for what we believe. We need to be reminded that there is a Heaven and there is a God in heaven that loves us and prayer is one of the main things that will do that.
L. It is important that we communicate to God that we love, adore and appreciate him in worship, but it is also important that we maintain a constant contact with God on a daily basis.
(Eph 6:18 NIV) 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.
(1 Th 5:17 NIV) pray continually;
II. Prayer is our line of communication with God and it is vital to our ability to stay in the battle.
A. Prayer is crucial to staying firmly planted in life.
B. Jesus realized the importance of prayer and he tried to show the disciples how important prayer is.
Matthew 26:41 (NIV) "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
C. When Jesus was in the most trying time of his life in Earth, what did he do?
1. He went to the garden to pray!
2. As Jesus was faced with death on the Cross, as the struggle went on between his human and spiritual sides, He fell back on the one thing that stabilized his life, PRAYER.
3. He faced death on the cross, as the struggle went on between the human and the Spiritual nature. Jesus fell back on the thing that had stabilized his life since the beginning of his ministry. PRAYER!
4. He went to the Father and set up the lines of communication, and it gave Him the strength to face the most painful death known to man!
Matthew 26:36-44 (NIV) Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." {37} He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. {38} Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." {39} Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." {40} Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?" he asked Peter. {41} "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." {42} He went away a second time and prayed, "My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." {43} When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. {44} So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
5. The battle that Jesus was in was not against flesh and blood.
6. The Roman soldiers and the Israelite priest were not the real enemy.
7. The battle was with the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
8. The battle was with spiritual forces and the his own human nature, that wanted to turn Him against God’s will.
9. Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil and the ungodly part of human nature that rebels against God.
D. But prayer is our reminder that we are not alone in the battle.
1. Prayer gives us hope!
2. Prayer gives us power!
3. Prayer aligns us with God Will!
4. Prayer helps keep us moving in the right direction!
5. PRAYER IS THE WINNING COMMUNICATION THAT WILL ALLOW US TO STAY IN THE BATTLE AND WIN THE WAR.
E. The very act of praying reminds us that there is someone there for us!
1. Someone bigger than us!
2. Prayer reminds us that there is a holy God that we are to submit our lives to.
3. Prayer remind us that there is always someone that we can go to with our problems, someone who cares, someone who will always do what is right, and someone who has the power to do it.
F. With prayer as a constant reminder that God is there we can find the strength to win the spiritual battles we face!
III. Prayer is any form of communication with God by believers, in response to situations that arise in life. Prayer is talking to God not about Him.
A. Prayer is winning communication!
B. Our prayers show what we believe about God, and they have a direct effect on the condition of our relationship with God!
C. There is no relationship that can survive without communication.
D. There is no battle that can be won without communication.
E. If you want to have the kind of life that God created you to have, and you want to be able to win the spiritual battles that you are faced with every day, and really live life and not just exist, prayer is a must!
F. The bible says that the prayer of the righteous is effective and powerful.
LAKE MOSES WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1985. 1:OO AM
I rolled and tossed in bed, feeling uneasy about our son John and his family who are missionaries in South Africa. PRAY! the command I sensed was urgent.
Now I am wide awake sending passionate pleas to heaven. Please Lord, help John and Sandy and their girls, protect them if they are in danger.
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, FRIDAY MAY 24, 1985 10:00AM, THE SAME TIME THE PRAYERS ARE GOING UP IN WASHINGTON.
John and Sandy and their two daughters are in their car on a day off, driving through the bush looking for elephants. Look elephants, Sara saw them first. John climbs onto the window and looks over the car’s roof to get a better view. But even using a telephoto lens he is too far away to get good pictures. I’m going to walk down toward the river he says, well the girls and I are going to stay in the car Sandy says as she locks the doors.
Stepping on to the trail John watches for snakes as he heads for the river, John shoots photos of a huge old Bull with his tusks nearly touching the ground as he stands guard. John hears a low rumbling that sounds like thunder. He looks up and down the river but sees nothing unusual, but feeling uneasy he puts the cap on the cameras lens and turns back toward the car.
As he heads for the car he sees a terrifying sight at least 200 hundred huge, dry, thirsty, elephants! The rumbling that he had heard was their running for miles across the dry bush. Racing through Johns mind are the pictures that he has seen of uprooted trees and overturned cars in the path of angry elephants. He remembers a seasoned missionary telling him to never stand between thirsty elephants and their source of water, he remembers being told that they become violent if their access is threatened, but right in the middle of the path to their water are John and the car with his family in it. Dust swirls as the elephants stop for a minute on the crest of a hill, the herd and John are about an equal distance from the car, he hears his family screaming as they realize the danger. John runs as fast as he can through the grass no longer worried about the snakes, he is half way to the car when the elephants charge, as he reaches the door the first of the elephants is closing in a full speed. He jumps in and slams the door and immediately they are engulfed in dust as the elephant charge, but miraculously the elephants part and pass on either side of the car only scraping the bumpers and rocking it. When the last of the elephants pass and the dust settles the ground is still shaking as the herd runs toward the river.
Everything on the hillside is flattened except the car. John says someone must be praying for us, only a miracle kept us from being crushed.
LAKE MOSES WASHINGTON, FRIDAY MAY 24, 1985 2:00AM
The uneasiness ends, and the burden to pray lifts. Sensing that God is answering my prayers, I relax, Thank You Lord I know that John’s family is in your hands. I return to sleep.
G. This is a true story, we are told to put on the armor of God, but if we want to make it powerful and effective, we have to listen to what Paul says and, pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
James 5:16 (NIV) Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
H. Communication with God is the power source that makes us able to function in this world in the way that God intended us to.
I. We have to stay in contact with headquarters to be reminded that we have something to go on for.
J. Prayer is just as much a gift from God as salvation, because prayer, the ability to communicate with God when ever we want is only possible, because we are not seen by God as sinners separated from him anymore, but as His children, and because we are children we have direct access to God who makes it all possible.
K. Prayer is like the Internet. Your waiting to see how that works out aren’t you? The Internet gives us direct access to innumerable amounts of information and resources, but if we don’t understand it, know how to use, and put it to use then it is of no good to us.
L. So lets look at some things about prayer that will help us better understand it and benefit from what we have been given.
M. The first thing that we should understand about prayer is, prayer in the Bible involves dialogue between God and people.
1. The people who specialize in relationship improvement say that communication is the number one priority in making relationships good.
2. Without communication relationships get cold and distant, and never provide what the people in the relationships need from them.
3. Our relationship with God is no different, if we do not communicate with God through prayer there is no way that our relationship with God can ever be what it should be and we can never get from it what is available.
4. And, God can never get from it what he wants from it.
5. What would our lives be like if when we had children they never talked to us, they never showed us affection, they never said I love you, they never showed emotion concerning us, they never acknowledged our love for them, or said thank you for the what we do for them.
6. And then on top of that the only times that they did speak to us were when they wanted something, or to complain about something they didn’t have.
7. What kind of relationship would that be? It would be the kind that most Christians have with God.
8. If we are honest with ourselves that is the extent of a lot of our communication with God, and then we wonder why we don’t have a closer relationship with Him.
9. The bottom line is that in any relationship, if there is no communication the relationship can’t be close, and prayer is our communication line with God.
N. In the Old Testament all the great leaders of God, all the people we see God making sure we know about, prayed, and communicated with God.
1. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Elijah and Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Eziekel
2. There greatness was wrapped in their communication with God.
O. But our greatest example of prayer is Jesus.
1. Jesus put importance on His prayer life . And always took the time to get away and communicate with His Father.
(Mark 6:46 NIV) After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.
(Luke 6:12 NIV) One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
2. As I already said, at times when Jesus faced struggles He talked with God.
(Mat 26:36 NIV) Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."
3. Jesus prayed for others.
(Mat 19:13 NIV) Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them.
(John 17:9 NIV) I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
4. Jesus encouraged His disciples to pray.
(Luke 18:1 NIV) Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
P. Jesus also corrected some abuses and misunderstandings regarding prayer.
1. We are not to Pray to impress others. Disciples should rather seek a storage closet or a shed and pray in private.
(Mat 6:5 NIV) "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
2. Jesus did not reject praying in a group, but his warning might apply to a believer who prays only to impress a congregation.
3. When I ask someone to pray in a church service it is because I think they will take the needs and praise of us all to God, not because they are Eloquent in the way they speak
4. Jesus called for people to trust their Father and not their own eloquence or confidence.
5. The affects that Jesus’ prayers had undoubtedly created a desire in His disciples to tap into the power that they saw in prayer.
(Luke 11:1 NIV) One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
6. Jesus even took the time to give his disciples guideline for prayer.
(Mat 6:9 - 13 NIV) "This, then, is how you should pray: "’Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
Q. Jesus gave us a guideline for prayer, and we turned it into a ritual that we recite.
1. It was not Jesus’ intention to give us a ritual or lines to recite, what Jesus was trying to do was give us good model to follow so that we could communicate with God.
2. State who you are talking to, Our Father in Heaven.
3. Praise the one who gives you all things, hallowed be your name.
4. Acknowledge that you are a part of God’s plan, and show you willingness, and desire to be a part of seeing come to be, Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.
5. Makes your needs known, Give us today our daily bread.
6. Ask for forgiveness, but you might want to be careful with this one. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
7. Ouch! Man if only he hadn’t put that as we forgive our debtors in there. We’re scared to ask that one sometimes aren’t we?
8. That He forgive us the way we forgive others. That’s food for thought!
9. Pray for guidance and protection, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
R. What was Jesus trying to do in what He was saying there? He was trying to teach us how to communicate with God!
1. The fact that we have been adopted as God’s children,
a. that he planned before the creation of the world to make us His children,
b. the fact that He put us directly under the authority of His Son who loved us enough to die for us,
c. the fact that he sealed the agreement with a part of himself which is his Spirit,
d. Those things should lead us to be grateful enough, and awed enough that we like Paul should want to communicate with him.
2. Prayer is a gift, and a honor, and we should look at it that way and take advantage of it.
3. Prayer is a vital part of improving our relationship with God, and that relationship is all that we have that will last for eternity, so it would seem that we would make improving that relationship a priority, and prayer is a way of doing that.
4. Prayer is a way that we can express our praise to God for all that He has done for us, and considering all that He has done for us, I think it should be on the top of our to do list.
5. But most of all prayer is a link to God, and in the hectic, conflict ridden, problem filled world that we live in we need all the links to God that we can get.
6. Maybe the little boy in this story can say what the best thing about prayer is better than I can.
S. I have told this story before and will tell it again because it says a lot about how we should look at prayer.
Last week I took my children to a restaurant. My six-year-old son asked if he could say grace. As we bowed our heads he said, "God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty and justice for
all! Amen!"
Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby I heard a woman remark, "That’s what’s wrong with this country. Kids today don’t even know how to pray. Asking God for ice-cream! Why, I never!"
Hearing this, my son burst into tears and asked me, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?" As I held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at my son and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer." "Really?" my son asked. "Cross my heart."
Then in theatrical whisper he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."
Naturally, I bought my kid’s ice cream at the end of the meal. My son stared at his for a moment and then did something I will remember the rest of my life. He picked up his sundae and without a word walked over and placed in front of the woman.
With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes and my soul is good already."
T. How is your soul feeling? Prayer is even better for it than Ice Cream.
