1. Priority Describes My Praying v. 8a
A. Recognizes Our Weakness
1. Someone - “The secret of all failure is prayerlessness”
2. Matthew 7:7-11
B. Reveals Our Dependence
1. Jeremiah 10-23-24
3I know, GOD, that mere mortals can’t run their own lives,
That men and women don’t have what it takes to take charge of life.24So correct us, GOD, as you see best. Don’t lose your temper. That would be the end of us.
C. Releases God’s Power
1. Jeremiah 33:3
Call unto me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not.
Jeremiah 29:12
Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
Deut. 4:7
For what nation is there so great, who has God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
Deut. 4:29
But if from thence you shall seek the Lord thy God, you shall find him, if you seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Psalm 50:15
And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
Psalm 50:15
And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
Ephes. 3:20
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
Isaiah 45:3
And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Lord, which call you by thy name, am the God of Israel.
2. Thankful Describes My Focus “I am thankful for your all” v. 8b
A. Criticism is not a spiritual gift!
1. Easy to see the bad – hard work to find the good.
2. Some one once told D. L. Moody -did not like his methods
a. “I don’t really like them either. What methods do you use?”
b. ‘None – Moody “Well I like mine much better than yours
B. “There are some people whose tongues are tuned to praise, and others whose tongues are tuned to criticize. There some people whose eyes are focused to find faults, and others whose eyes are focused to discover virtues.”
Luke 11:34-36
The light of the body is the eye: therefore when your eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when your eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. [35] Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. [36] If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
3. Personal Describes My Relationship with God v. 8c
A. “my God” anyone can say God only Christians can say my God!
1. Romans 8:15
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Galatians 4:6
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
2. “stated that slaves were forbidden to address the head of the family by this title …. abba Is the word framed by the lips of infants, and betokens unreasoning trust; "father" expresses an intelligent apprehension of the relationship. The two together express the love and intelligent confidence of the child.”—Vine’s Expository Dictionary
B. “through Jesus Christ”
1. No other way to have a relationship with God
2. W/O Jesus – God is our judge & executioner
4. Practical Describes My Faith v. 8d
A. Personally Experienced “your”
1. No such thing as 2nd hand Christian
2. There when it happened & it changed your life!
B. Precisely Expressed “faith”
1. If you can’t give testimony of your salvation – must be none
C. Publicly Exposed “through out the whole world”
1. Christians have always been different – until this century
2. Now look and act and smell and howl just like the world
5. Genuine Describes My Life v. 9
A. Witness I have “For God is My Witness”
1. Can’t Fool God! He knows our hearts
2. Can’t Deceive God – he was there when it happened
B. Work I am doing.
1. “whom I serve” – what I do I do for him & Him alone!!!!!
6. Precise Describes My Prayer v. 10
A. Steadfast “w/o ceasing”
B. Specific
1. Provision – “by any means”
2 Prosperous
a. longing to see souls saved & matured in Christ
C. Submissive - “by the will of God”
7. Passionate Describes My Fellowship
A. Rather Be with Christians than anyone else
1. “long” – homesick; no sickness like homesickness!!
2. That I might give and help in maturing others
B. Expect to be blessed by the presence of other believers
