THE BELIEVERS PRAYER
Purpose: To learn about the believers prayer. What was it about their prayer that moved God.
When a doctoral student at Princeton asked, “What is there left in the world for original dissertation research?” Albert Einstein replied, “Find out about prayer. Somebody must find out about prayer.”
Acts 4: 23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. Sovereign Lord, they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
PT 1: THEY ACKNOWLEDGED HIM AS SOVEREIGN LORD
Sovereign means to have supreme rank or power. Complete independence or self government. 303 times the word sovereign is used in scripture.
Psa 71:16 I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.
Terrible things happen to those who do not acknowledge the sovereignty of The Almighty God as was the case of King Nebuchadnezzar. In Daniel 4:5 Daniel had been called by the King to interpret a dream he had because none of the “wise” men in his kingdom could interpret the dream. Daniels interprets it by the power of God Almighty saying:
This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree the Most High has issued against my lord the king: You will be driven away from people and will live away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. The command to leave the stump of the tree with the roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules. Therefore, O king be pleased to accept my advice: Renounce your sins by doing what is right, and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue.
O that the King would have listened to Daniels advice! What does the bible say? Proverbs 12: 15 The way of a fool seems right to him but a wise man listens to advice.
The King was acting like a fool and he was about to pay for it. Let’s look at the very words that came out of his mouth.
Dan 4: 28 All this happened to King Nebuchadnezzar. Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”
The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taking from you. You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wished. Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird. At the end of that time, I Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever.
His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as noting. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”
Our God is an awesome God! He is sovereign over all the land! He’s also very evangelistic and is able to convert anyone at any time in any way that he chooses. Let us acknowledge His greatness.
PT 2: THEY SPECIFIED HIS GREATNESS
The people prayed “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.”
The Big Bang Theory is the dominant scientific theory about the origin of the universe. According to the big bang, the universe was created sometime between 10 billion and 20 billion years ago from a cosmic explosion that hurled matter and in all directions. Ironically in 1927 it was a Belgian priest named Georges Lemaître who was the first to propose that the universe began with the explosion of a primeval atom.
Regardless of what scientists may say concerning the big bang theory we believe that God made the heavens and the earth. Gen 1:1 tells us: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said “Let there be light,” and there was light. The people were specific. It was you God who did this. You are the great and awesome God. We do not bow down to kings, idols or any other authority; we bow to you The Almighty God.
In your prayers be specific and communicate the greatness of God in your own way.
PT 3: THEY PROCLAIMED THE SPEECH OF GOD
You spoke by the Holy Spirit and through the mouth of his servant David. We have a God who speaks. Who sees what is happening in the land and will speak out against unrighteousness! Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? How does he speak? He speaks by the Holy Spirit and through his servants. If you are a servant of God today you are blessed. For at times God will speak through you words of truth to call people to repent and be unified with His will. What an honor and a privilege to be used by God in this way. God will speak through you?!! His words from heavens throne will be spoken through you? Amazing.
PT 4: SCRIPTURE QUOTATION THEY QUOTED IT (PSALM 2:1-2)
“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Let us break their chains, they say, and throw off their fetters. The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies themin his wrath, saying I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill. I will proclaim the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my Son today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your ppossession. You will rule them with an iron secpter you will dash them to pieces like pottery. Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned you rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry andyou be destroyed in oyr way, for his wrath an flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refure inhim.
God asks the question of why? Why do the nations and rulers do this. Their plotting is in vain. They will not win. What Herod and pontious pilate had done only looked like they were in charge. They thought they were in charge but they were not. Notice what the text says:
They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
By Gods power and His will he decided how all of this was going to happen before it happened. God is in control and is totally in charge. He is the supreme authority and power.
PT 5: TRUST GOD WHEN SINNERS UNITE
Vs 27 says that Herod, Pontius Pilate, Gentiles and the people of Israel conspired against Jesus. Sinners united in Jesus day to try and stop Him and failed and all over the world people are still uniting together to try and stop Jesus. Learn a lesson from history! You will fail! You will not succeed. In 2 Chronicles 13 it was Jeroboam who conspired with Israel and 800,000 thousands troops to fight against King Abijah and Judah who only had 400,000 men.
2 Chr 13:12 God is with us; he is our leader. His priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. Men of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed." As long as God is with us and he is our leader and we are set to honor him it doesn’t matter what sinners unite against us.
PT 6: CALL ON GOD TO STRETCH OUT HIS HAND
As they encountered difficulty they called on their God to respond. They looked to God to do something about. God is the leader. Let us take it to Him.
When the Moabites and the Ammonites came to make war against Jehoshaphat he was told these words: 2 Chr 20:2 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, "A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Sea. It is already in Hazazon Tamar" (that is, En Gedi).
2 Chr 20:3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.
2 Chr 20:4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
2 Chr 20:5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD in the front of the new courtyard
2 Chr 20:6 and said: "O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.
2 Chr 20:7 O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?
2 Chr 20:8 They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying,
2 Chr 20:9 ’If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’
2 Chr 20:10 "But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them.
2 Chr 20:11 See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance.
2 Chr 20:12 O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."
2 Chr 20:13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD.
What did God say? 2 Chr 20:14 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.
2 Chr 20:15 He said: "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: ’Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.
2 Chr 20:16 Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel.
2 Chr 20:17 You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.’"
What did God do? Destroyed them.
PT 7: TRUST GOD TO SHAKES THINGS UP
We serve a God who will shake things up for us. When Pharoah came after Moses God shook things up and destroyed Pharoah. When Goliath came against Israel He shook things up and destroyed Goliath. When Satan came against Jesus God shook things up and crushed the evil one. No one can stand against the Sovereign Lord! And no one can stand against a people who learn to pray like this.
Oh I pray that we might pray like this that we might see the mighty power of our God shake things up. Our God is not through shaking things up. The Hebrew writer tells us:
Heb 12:25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? Heb 12:26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."
Heb 12:27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
Heb 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
Heb 12:29 for our "God is a consuming fire."
PT 8: GOD WILL ENABLE US TO SPEAKING BOLDLY HIS WORD
What did he enable them to do? Preach the word! What the world needs is Jesus. What Muslims need is Jesus. What we need is to learn to pray like this that our Sovereign God will enable us to preach the word boldly.
In our prayers let us acknowledge His Soverignty, let us specify His greatness, let us proclaim the speech of God, let us quote scripture, let us trust God when sinners unite, may we call upon God to stretch out His hand and trust him to shake things up and may God enable us to speak the word of God boldly in our generation.
