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Sermon of the Week 
Tuesday, November 21 2017

In 1952, Albert Einstein was delivering a lecture on the campus of Princeton University. A doctoral student asked the famous scientist “With all that has been discovered, are there still any areas left in the world for original research and exploration.?" With considerate thought and profundity Einstein replied, "I would suggest that you explore and research the untapped realms of prayer. Somebody needs to uncover and unveil the power of prayer."

The dictionary defines prayer as, “Addressing God with adoration, confession, supplication, and thanksgiving”…

In Mark chapter 9, Jesus is transfigured and Peter, James and John get in on the experience.  In this amazing instance where Jesus was shining with the glory of God and Moses and Elijah appeared talking with Him, the following scripture is presented..                                                             Mark 9:4 “And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus”. 

Please notice this….they were not asking, pleading, talking about, or just talking to Jesus but they were talking with Jesus. (we need to get that) We are reading about a conversation back and forth, give and take… They were dialoguing.  They were exchanging words and thoughts.  There was an interaction.  Speaking and listening. 

In the midst of this, (Foot in your mouth) Peter, spoke up and butts into the conversation that is taking place, and gets a gentle correction from heaven.  Mark gives us the details in Mark 9:5-7:

“And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here, let us make three tabernacles; one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. 6 For he did not know what to say; for they were overwhelmed and afraid. 7 for there was a glory cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, listen to him” (or let him speak).GREAT IDEA…LET JESUS SPEAK!!! 

In prayer, there is a time to speak and a time to listen.  This is the balance of prayer.  We talk and God responds.  God talks and we have a discussion and we dialogue back and forth. 

Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 7 says it well, “There is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak”.

Prayer is not a glass case on the wall that says “To get help, break glass in case of emergency”….

A man was encountering a bit of trouble while flying his little airplane. He called the control tower and said, "Pilot to tower, I'm 300 miles from the airport, six hundred feet above the ground, and I'm out of fuel. I am descending rapidly. Please advise. Over." The dispatcher immediately responded and said to the pilot, ""Tower to pilot, please repeat after me: "Our Father Who art in heaven...” That pilot could have started his day by having a dialogue with the Lord, sharing his plans and then listened for the Lord to have a say in his day. If he had, he might have been prompted by the Holy Spirit to top off his gas tank!

That’s how Jesus ended each day and began each day, by having dialogue with the Father and listening to what the Father had planned for His day. We know this because of what Jesus himself told us….                   John 8:28 “Then said Jesus unto them….I do nothing of myself; but as My Father tells me, I speak these things. v29 And He that sent Me is with Me. The Father will never leave me alone, for I do always those things that please Him”. 

You’re headed for big time marriage trouble if you never talk with your wife or husband…..and you’re headed full throttle into trouble with a capital “T” if you never communicate with the Lord in a genuine conversation, of speaking and listening.

If anyone knew about dealing with trouble, it was Jesus. But He knew that without constant communication with the Father in Heaven, His own humanity would be easily overwhelmed….

When He was unsure and needed guidance, He prayed. When He was weary in soul and body, and pressed by the task at hand, he found comfort and assurance in prayer. When He was lonely and felt abandoned, He found His best friend in prayer. He chose his disciples and received his messages for the people, upon his knees. If tempted, he prayed. If criticized, he prayed. If troubled and stretched in spirit, He always resorted to prayer. 

Prayer brought him immeasurable power, and kept that divine flow unbroken and undiminished to the end. There was no emergency, no difficulty, no necessity, no temptation that could not be overcome through time spent in prayer.

While Jesus was praying the heaven was opened. So we see that passionate prayer opens up Heaven….While He was praying, His countenance was changed, and His clothing became white and gleaming. So we see that passionate prayer enables us to experience the glory of God….As Jesus prayed, the result was that many lives were forever changed. So we see that passionate prayer changes the lives of others….As Jesus prayed, He told the Father things He could speak to no one else. So we see that when you can’t tell anyone else, prayer unburdens the soul, and sets the spirit free…..When Jesus was on the cross, He was praying for others. The habit of prayer will take you above your own needs and allow you to meet the need of others.

A pastor was having trouble finding a director for a junior highyouth. The list of prospects had only one name -- and when they told him who it was, his response was, "You've got to be kidding." But he couldn't have been more wrong about that young man. He took the group, brought it to life and revolutionized it.

The pastor was so impressed that he invited him to his home for lunch and asked him the secret of his success. He pulled out a little black book. On each page he had a small picture of one of the young people, and under their names were comments like "having trouble in arithmetic," or "comes to church against the parents' wishes," or "would like to be a missionary some day, but doesn't think she has what it takes."

"He said, pastor, I pray over those pages every day, and I can hardly wait to come to church each week to see what God has been doing as He works in their lives."

Jesus said, "without Me, you can do nothing." Our prayer life demonstrates if we really, truly, believe it or not!

Samuel was one of the greatest prophets in Israel and we are given a glimpse into the prayer which touched God’s heart and caused God to answer his mother who was barren, and open her womb….                         1 Samuel 1:10  And Hannah was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. v11 And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, look on the affliction of Your handmaid, and remember me, and do not forget Yourhandmaid, but give unto Your handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. v12  And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth. v13 For Hannah, spoke in her heart, but only her lips moved, for her voice was not heard, therefore Eli thought she was drunk”.

Eli the priest understood that God doesn’t hear words, He hears our heart!

We speak many things that are not from the heart, because it’s proper, or what people want to hear, but when we pray, we need to speak from the heart. And scripture tells us we must pray with understanding….. Paul prays this prayer for the church in Colossi….

Colossians1:9  For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

A young boy was noticed by the pastor because he was praying very fervently; but much to the preacher's surprise, he heard the boy say from time to time: ''Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo.'' So preacher approached the boy after he had apparently finished his prayer and said, ''Son, I was very pleased to see you praying so devoutly, do you feel a missionary calling on your life? The boy said, no sir I want to be an accountant…Then tell me, why did you keep saying 'Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo?'' The boy said, ''Well, you see, I just finished taking my geography test in school, and it will count towards 1/3 of my final grade, and I know how I answered the questions, and I need for the Lord to make Tokyo the Capital of France.''

God responds to those who pray with deep reverence to Him…prayers that are prayed in faith…In humility…In repentance… With compassion… With a heart cleansed of sin…With unselfishness… With a forgiving spirit….With trust in His nature….With determination… With submission to God’s will…. With an obedient heart, to do what He says to do….And we must pray with understanding…..I believe this is the menu to the kinds of prayers that are irresistible to God….

A little boy was trying one day to pull a large weed out of the ground. He was trying with all of his might and his face was red, and covered with sweat. His father was watching through a window, opened it up and said to him, "Son, are you using all of your strength? And the little boy said, "Yes, Daddy, I'm using all of my strength. And his dad said, "No you're not. You haven't asked me to help you yet!

We haven’t done our best effort until we have prayed, we haven’t given it every try until we have prayed. And we haven’t seen the best results, until we have invited the Lord into the situation to do it on His terms.

How would you feel if you got a phone call today and President Trump was calling to invite you to the Oval office, to have a personal conversation with you! To see if there was anything He could do for you. That would probably be hard to get your head around!.. But the King of Kings, and the authority that is above the president.. The creator of all things invites you to come every day, all day, and have a personal meeting with Him, and He has promised to never turn you away…..          So, why don’t we take more advantage of this amazing opportunity, to get personal instruction and advice from the one who knows everything about everything!....It’s called PRAYER!

I believe it's going to amaze us when we get to heaven and Jesus isgoing to call us over and He will open a door to a huge storehouse, that will be packed full, with our name on the door, and He will say, "Look in there. Those are all things that are unclaimed, that I wanted you to have. Those are things that I wanted to load you down with but I couldn't give them to you. You went your own way struggling and planning and worrying and figuring, and you have not because you ask not. When you don't pray, you're doing without the things that God wants you to have….

But let’s also look at those prayers God won’t answer…..What about the folks that leave God out of their lives, in their daily choices, and they leave Him behind whenever they go anywhere…. Lord, You just stay out of this, because You’re just a party pooper, when I want to have fun…..

Just suppose there was a man living here in Key West, and he marries a young lady and she stands at the marriage altar and says—"I take you, John, to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward in sickness as in health, in poverty and in wealth, till death do us part. I will keep myself to you alone so long as we both shall live, so help me God. 

And then suppose shortly after she makes that commitment to John, she falls in love with a fellow named Bill and she and Bill begin to live in an adulterous relationship, and John knows about it. Then suppose she comes to John and she says, "John, I have some things I need. John, would you, please, give me some money? And, John, would you please let me have the keys to the car. Bill and I are going to New Orleans for a weekend. Does any sane person think that John is going to subsidize that adultery? Do you think that John is going to give her what she requests? Do you think that John is going to say, "Here, I'm going to underwrite your unfaithfulness to me? Of course not.

But why is it, that folks curse God’s name, refuse to be faithful to their Christian vows, live only for themselves, and run with the Devil,….then wonder why God doesn’t underwrite their unfaithfulness…. And they can’t figure out why their prayers aren’t answered when they are in trouble….

Job 35:12 “For they cry, but there is no answer, because of the pride of evil men. v13 Surely God will not hear their vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it”. 

James 4:3 “You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss (for the wrong reasons), that you may consume it upon your lusts”. In other words too often, we are more interested in our glory than we are on the glory of God. God will not stand in line and take a number, then wait till we call His number. He wants to have first place in our lives.                                                                  So much of our praying is “God bless us, anyhow”. I'm not going to repent of my sin. I'm not going to let go of the things of this world. I’m not going to serve you Lord, and I’m not going to put you first. But, God, please bless me anyhow. Please answer my prayers, anyway.

If you want to really be effective and get God’s attention ….start saying in your heart and in your life…. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord…. And then let Him be Lord….Too often, we pray, “Not Thy will but my will be done”, but Jesus said, pray “Not my will but Thine be done” 

When we love what God loves, then we’ll have what God has!

To pray in the Spirit, means to allow the Holy Spirit to think through our mind. To allow the Holy Spirit to guide the feelings of our heart. The Holy Spirit wants to speak through our lips. The Holy Spirit wants to weep through our eyes. The Holy Spirit wants to groan through our spirits in prayer and He wants to show Himself through our emotions and compassion. Scripture says in Ephesians 6:18 We're to be praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.

I like the quote that says…. “Pray to God, but don’t stop rowing the boat”

Let me share another important motivation for prayer….                                                     Jay Kesler, the former President of Youth for Christ and the current President of Taylor University, was on one of his frequent flights. When lunch was served the young man next to him declined a lunch tray. During the whole lunchtime this man sat in prayer. Kesler was impressed (and maybe a little humbled) by the man's devotion. When the man had finished his prayer, Jayasked him if he was a Christian because it appeared that he was fasting. The man replied with words that shook Kelser to the core of his being. He said "I am a Satan worshiper and all the members of my church have agreed to fast every Friday at noon. During that time we pray that the leaders of the Christian world will fall. We pray that they will be caught up into sexual sin, and that their family life would crumble that people would get to busy to attend their churches and they would have to close down."

That should motivate all of us to pray because we are in a fierce battle. Constantly we are warned of the Devil's intention to neutralize and demoralize us. We are told in Ephesians 6:10 that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."                                                                                We are in a battle and we need the help of God. The enemy has gathered his armies . . . and when we neglect prayer, we go into battle unarmed. Do you find it at all interesting, that Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, found it necessary to pray? If He did not feel He could face the battle in His own strength . . neither should we.

Colossians 2:15  And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Prayer in the name of Jesus, our great Captain of Spiritual warfare, is a declaration that we are participating in the victory over Satan and the demon forces which operate in a prayerless vacuum. If we don’t fill the vacuum with prayers of faith and declarations of God’s truth, then Satan will fill it with His evil works….

We pray because we believe that prayer makes all the difference. If it’s symptomatic or if it’s systematic, prayer makes the difference.

In Acts 12:1 it says that “Prayer was made without ceasing by the church”… because Herod had arrested Peter and he was sitting on death row, waiting his execution… In the original Greek, the words without ceasing, are…..“ek-ti'-no”, which means “to stretch forth”… it is the medical term for stretching muscles and tendons as in therapy… It means “to go beyond former boundaries”…. And that’s what they were facing….they needed something which exceeded normal boundaries and went beyond normal solutions….

When “ek-ti-nos” was made before God in behalf of Peter…chains fell off, prison doors were blown off their hinges and he walked out a free man!!! 

When the church comes into the “ek-ti-nos” kind of prayer, we will see bondages broken, prisoners who are bound by the Devil, set free, and the jail house he uses, will crumble and fall!

A time of great problems, becomes a time of great power!

Hebrews 11:6 “He that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,”                                                  Prayer is not God hearing us, but it is about us finally hearing God!

“Until we have prayed we can do nothing, but once we have prayed we can accomplish anything”.

Prayer is an expression of dependence upon God…Prayer is an expression of a relationship with God…Prayer communicates gratitude to God….

Prayer demonstrates humility before God….And prayer shows a desire for the will of God….

You will never rule over anything until you rise above it….. In prayer, we change our position, and there is a shift of power. The Lord tells us that we become the head and not the tail, above and not beneath. As you immerse yourself in prayer, you are lifted to a new place and a new level. 

Ephesians 2:6 ‘He has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Prayer lifts us and elevates us above the situation, and the problem…

Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”.

Let me close with this story….   

A very poor family who lived in the country had their situation made even worse, when the father was injured and couldn’t work. Someone thought it would be a good idea to hold a prayer meeting at the church to pray for the family. When the prayer meeting began, one by one, the people asked God to help the family, to send them food and otherwise care for their needs. As they were in prayer, there was a loud knock on the door. When it was opened, there at the door stood a young farm boy. He said, “My dad couldn’t attend tonight, so he has sent his prayers in a wagon.” And sure enough, there was the wagon, loaded down with canned goods and fruit and vegetables from the farm….

When you get up above the circumstances in prayer, then you can have power over it….Prayer is the great equalizer….

I know that Hebrews 11 is known as the “faith” chapter… but I believe it is also the “Prayers of faith” chapter… and in Hebrews 11:32, *…..we read, “And what more shall I say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephtha, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, v33 Who through (prayers of faith) subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 

v34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. v35 And women received their dead raised to life again”……..DO IT AGAIN LORD!!!

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