I'll make mention of these 3 reasons when I speak at Olivet Baptist in Lansing tomorrow, June 8.
#1 –
In the Old Testament people prayed
·
Abraham prayed.
o
Gen. 20:17 - Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed
Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again,
·
Isaac prayed.
o
Gen 25:21 - Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was
childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.
·
Jacob prayed.
o
Gen 32:8-10 - Then Jacob prayed, “O God of
my father Abraham, God of my
father Isaac, Lord, you
who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make
you prosper,’
·
Moses prayed.
o
In so many places!
o
Ex. 10:18 - Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord.
o
Num. 11:2 - When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down.
o
Num. 21:7 - The people came to Moses and said, “We
sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So
Moses prayed for the people.
·
Samson prayed
·
Hannah prayed
·
Samuel prayed
·
David prayed
o
Nathan hears from God… and after Nathan
shares this with David.
o
2 Sam. 7:18 - Then King David went in and sat before
the Lord, and he said: “Who am I,
Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that
you have brought me this far?
·
Elisha prayed
·
Hezekiah prayed
o
2 Chron. 32:34 - In those days Hezekiah
became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the Lord, who answered him and gave
him a miraculous sign.
§ Where prayer focuses, God’s power falls.
·
Solomon prayed
o Solomon…
as smart as he was… needed the Lord.
o 2
Chron. 7:1 - [ The Dedication of the Temple ] When
Solomon finished praying, fire
came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and
the glory of the Lord filled
the temple.
§ Sometimes where prayer focuses, fire falls down.
·
Ezra prayed
o
Ezra 8:23 - So we fasted and petitioned
our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
·
Nehemiah prayed
o
Neh. 1:4 - When I heard these things, I
sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
·
Job prayed
o
Job 42:10 - After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him
twice as much as he had before.
·
Psalms – the word “prayer” is used a
bazillion times in the Psalms.
o
Here we see that David was a prayer maniac.
·
Isaiah prayed
·
Jeremiah prayed
·
Ezekiel prayed
·
All the prophets prayed!
·
Jonah prayed
o
Jon. 2:1 - From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.
·
Daniel prayed
o
Dan. 6:11 -
Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for
help.
If all these people in the OT who were greatly used of
God prayed…
who are we not to have a
praying life?
·
#2 -
The early church prayed.
·
Acts 1:14 - They all joined together constantly
in prayer, along with the
women and Mary the mother of
Jesus, and with his brothers.
·
Acts 2:42;
46-47 - 42 They devoted themselves to the
apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many
wonders and signs performed by the apostles…
Every day they continued to meet together in the
temple courts… And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being
saved.
o They
didn’t have an “evangelism program.”
o Because
you don’t have to advertise a fire.
o In
prayer, God lights a fire in the hearts of praying people.
·
In times of crisis… they prayed. Acts 4:24 - 23 On their release, Peter and John went back
to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had
said to them. 24 When
they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.
o They all just
started… praying!
·
Acts 12:1-3 – When King Herod arrested some members of the
church, put James to death (with the sword)…, and then imprisoned Peter… the J-followers rallied to Peter’s cause by interceding
for Peter.
o
Acts
12:5 - Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly
praying to God for him.
o
The result
was that an angel was sent to Peter to free him.
o Acts 12:9 - Peter
followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was
doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision.
·
Peter’s custom was to stop for prayer at noon every day. About noon the following day as they were on
their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.
o
How long did Peter pray?
o
We know that while he was praying he became
hungry.
o
o
He saw heaven opened and
something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.
o
o
Then, two men show up… it’s off to the house of Cornelius
(Roman/Italian centurion)… and the evangelism of the Gentiles and the Roman
Empire has begun.
o
Cornelius, the first Gentile convert to Jesus,
heard the gospel because Peter was a man of prayer.
§
It happened during Peter’s regular, daily prayer
time.
o Wild and crazy
and amazing things happened when the early J-followers prayed!
·
In Acts 16, in the city of Philippi, Paul and Silas were
jailed, beaten, and put in stocks.
o In the midst of their suffering we read: About midnight Paul and
Silas were
praying and singing hymns to
God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly
there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were
shaken.
o While they were praying and singing hymns! You
rarely hear of this kind of God breakout in a church committee meeting.
·
When the early church prayed, they saw God
intervene.
o
Could this happen today… if the followers of
Jesus… actually prayed instead of saying they believe in prayer but complain
they just don’t have time to pray?
·
·
·
AND THEN THERE IS PAUL…
o
Paul had an actual prayer life.
o
Paul prayed.
o Rom.
1 - God, whom I serve in
my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how
constantly I remember you 10 in
my prayers at all times;
o
Rom.12:12
- Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful
in prayer.
o
1 Cor 7 –
“Devote yourselves to prayer.”
·
·
If all these people in the early church who were greatly
used of God prayed…
who are we not to
have a praying life?
#3 -
JESUS PRAYED, AND JESUS TAUGHT PRAYER
In Scripture we see
that...
a. Jesus
“was often found in prayer, not merely on formal and public occasions, i.e.
when attending the synagogue, but informally and in private contexts, sometimes
in lonely places.” (N. T. Wright, Jesus
and the Victory of God, 149)
b. Jesus
spent time in solitude. Jesus began his ministry by spending 40 days alone in
solitude and prayer (Mt.
4:1-11).
c. Before
choosing the 12 Jesus spent the entire night alone in the desert hills
praying (Lk.
6:12).
d. When
he heard of John the Baptist's death Jesus "withdrew from there in a
boat to a lonely place apart" (Mt.
14:13).
e. After
feeding the 5000 he dismissed the crowd and "went up into the hills by
himself" where he prayed (Mt.
14:23).
f. After
a long night of work, "in the morning, a great while before day, he rose
and went out to a lonely place" (Mk.
6:31).
h. Before
his time on the cross he went alone to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed
(Mt.
26:36-46).
i.
Lk 22:39 - Jesus went out as usual [as was his custom] to the Mount of Olives, to pray…
If
our Lord took times of solitary prayer
out of his own need to be in contact
with the Father,
should we do any less?
If I don't have time to pray,
who do I think I am, All-Knowing God Almighty?
The logic of prayer looks like this:
1. If I
am a follower of Jesus, then I will have a prayer life like Jesus did.
2. I am a follower of Jesus.
3. Therefore, I have a prayer life as Jesus did.
2. I am a follower of Jesus.
3. Therefore, I have a prayer life as Jesus did.
***
A
CALL TO PRAYER
2 Chronicles 7:14
13 “When I shut up
the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a
plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called
by my name, will humble themselves
and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will
be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may
be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
