Pray – Move from the practice of prayer to pleasure
Messy Prayer: Pray your Feelings, Desires, Trust
Power of praying together
Anticipate the voice of God
Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, we pray. – Max Lucado
Ps. 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.
When we pray, we invite God to act
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
Psalm 115:16 The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given (assigned) to humans.
Though God is sovereign and all-powerful yet He limited Himself, concerning the affairs of this earth, to working THROUGH human beings! Including our prayers.
Matt. 7:9-11 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.
Elijah’s prayers
James 5:13, 17-18 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray… Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
Kings 18:1 “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.”
1 King 18:42 So Ahab went to eat and drink. But Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees.
God acts through the prayers of his people
1 Kings 18:43 Then he said to his servant, “Go and look out toward the sea.” The servant went and looked, then returned to Elijah and said, “I didn’t see anything.”
Seven times Elijah told him to go and look.
1 King 18:44 Finally the seventh time, his servant told him, “I saw a little cloud about the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea.” Then Elijah shouted, “Hurry to Ahab and tell him, ‘Climb into your chariot and go back home. If you don’t hurry, the rain will stop you!’”
James 4:2 you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it
With God, we are advancing the Kingdom of God on earth one person at a time
Isaiah 59:15-16 Truth is lacking, and the one who departs from evil makes themselves a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, and wondered that there was no one to intercede
She (my mother) became a warrior far superior to any epic hero. She became a giant on her knees. T.D. Jakes
PRAY