Prayer Is The Greatest Power on the Planet!!!
"On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them, You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
"'Why do the nations rage
and the people plot in vain?
The kings of the earth take their stand
and the rulers gather together
against the Lord
and against his Anointed One.'
Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Acts 4: 23-31
5 Things to Have in Prayer
- A Trench Prayer (v.23): You have to be involved in the work of the Lord if you want your prayers to be Mighty! It isn't enough to quit the bad things, you have to do good. YOU HAVE TO EXPECT GOD TO DO GREATNESS!
- They Had United Prayer (v.24): Division always robs the church of Spiritual power; we are giving up the spiritual power so our own agenda will break through. Do I want to see God's will to be done in the church? I need to set aside myself and pray for the Glory of the Kingdom!
- Prayed According to the Word of God (v.25-26): God will never do anything that is contrary to His Word. We as Christian's need to know what God has to say about it by digging into His word. If we want a powerful prayer life we need to remind Him of what He said!
- Offered Prayer to a Soveriegn God (v.27-28): Soveriegn = all powerful in every area and is in control of all things! Everything that happens is accordance to God's will! God is NOT limited!
- Prayed that the GLORY WOULD BE HIS! (v. 29-31): When I pray and ask God for what I need, who is it for, me or Him? I want God to get the glory! Often times when we pray we want our circumstances to be revealed rather than the power of God to be released!
Some other truths of the sermon were:
* Prayer is getting God's will done on Earth, not getting man's will done in Heaven!
* Prayer is your response to God's ability!
* We often focus on the problem not the purpose!
*Psalm 37 (He will meet our needs and desires!)
*Sometimes we have a God that we are just to comfortable with and sometimes it's hard for us to let go and let Him have His way!
*How powerfully do I want the Spirit of God exhibited in my life?
The key to an effective prayer life is the satisfaction in knowing that God is high and lifted up through our services.
The questions I ask myself are would my prayers make the building shake and would that change me?
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Christ is either Lord of all or not Lord at all! You can't have God and...
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Now, my pastor also asked us at church to keep tabs on What Christ has done for us in the last 7 days...because sometimes we can remember those things that have happened a long time ago, but lose our focus on what He has done for us at the present because we aren't even looking at it...it is then when we can lose heart.
So, I ask all of you...WHAT HAS CHRIST DONE FOR YOU IN THE LAST 7 DAYS?
Either email me or comment to this post and I'll post what Christ has done for us next Sunday! I think this will be truly amazing and I'm looking forward to hearing what Christ is doing for you! He truly deserves all the honor and glory, He truly deserves to be high and lifted up!
God bless you all!
Comments
He gave me grace to keep my mouth shut.
He reminded me not to judge.
He held me in the dark night when I was afraid.
Thanks Tina...will post them next Sunday!!!
He has taught me to make His priorities be mine.
He has shut my mouth/stilled my fingers on a couple of key occasions.
He has given me the grace I need so I could turn around and give it to others.
He has answered my prayer for a specific type of friend.
He has led me to some important truths.
He's just so good!
Have you heard of the Prayer Carnival? There's a link to it on my blog, if anyone's interested.