Partnering With God In Prayer

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Phil spoke about the importance of partnering with God in prayer. Introduction • We are encouraged in scripture to o Pray Scripturally o Pray Strategically o Pray Systematically • Sometimes it’s hard • Sometimes there are barriers, distractions and our minds wonder, our praying on detours • God has told us he wants us to strengthen our prayer muscle, to be stronger and more effective in our praying, He said we could have this building but we would have to fight for it in prayer • Prayer is a key factor in any advancement of the Gospel and the church • Prayer should precede any kingdom activity • God wants our future / your future to be better than our / your past God wants us to have influence in every sphere of our life, workplace, where we live in our community, Prayer has been the Key to our Past History right back from the beginning in Genesis Old Testament Right back in our history we find prayer in the Old Testament is in Genesis 15 - God reveals his plan and purpose to Abram After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” Gen 25:21 Isaac praying because Rebekah was barren and so she had Jacob and Esau. The promise made to Abraham his Father would be fulfilled because of this prayer, and continues to be fulfilled New Testament Jesus obviously prayed – Obviously!  On the day of Pentecost what were they doing?  When the early church were being persecuted what did they do?  When Peter was imprisoned how did they respond? Prayer was the key in the Old Testament and the New Testament church The point is Prayer was the key to our past, our heritage. As a nation we once prayed and it was prayer that once made this nation great Prayer: CitP We are where we are We are who we are …..Because of prayer Over the years there has been much prayer in the church for the church to bring us to this point Prayer was important, it still is important, even of greater importance maybe; it always will be until Jesus comes again, and it’s the key to our future – to yours and mine 3 points about Prayer • Prayer expresses our trust in God and the means whereby our trust him can increase as well as a way of expressing our love to him and fellowship with him • Prayer changes the way God acts James 4:2 you do not have because you do not ask Prayer not only does us good but also affects God and the world When we ask, God responds Luke 11: 9-10 for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks the door will be opened. There is a clear connection between seeking things form God and receiving them When we ask, God responds • Pray in accordance with Gods will 1 John 5:14-15 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. Wayne Grudem:- It’s appropriate that we should have great confidence that God will answer our prayer when we ask him for something that is in accord with a specific promise or command of scripture What’s your prayer life like – occasional, when we remember? when its convenient? , when we’re in need? Is it passive? Does it go something like this -? Good morning God please help me today or Good night Bless me and mine Look after my house and family Just maybe what he means for us to strengthen our Payer muscle maybe we need to adopt a lifestyle of praying Continuous, Effective, Hell destroying, Bondage breaking, Stronghold crushing, Life generating, Soul saving and power releasing spiritual intersession Conclusion & Application There is much God has planned for you and us to do, God’s not done with you or us yet, his purpose for the Peak District and this church has yet to be fully fulfilled Prayer is the key to seeing it all happen Maybe if you don’t already set aside just some time say 15minutes every day to pray with and in the spirit like that and see what change God will bring about. Chris Spear – Prayer Room We have opportunities in church life to pray together, I want to encourage you to strengthen your own prayer life and that we continue to strengthen the Prayer life of the church. Questions for Groups • What’s your prayer life like? What obstacles hinder prayer? • How can you strengthen your payer muscle? • What do you think hinders people from getting together for prayer? • What would church life be like if we prayed more and prayed like this - Continuous, Effective, Hell destroying, Bondage breaking, Stronghold crushing, Life generating, Soul saving and power releasing spiritual intercessory prayer