Stop Making Excuses – Let’s Just Pray # 3

In this new series we are looking at some of the excuses we make for not praying

Hopefully these messages will motivate us to become more devoted to prayer

1/ “Pastor David – I’m too busy to pray”

2/ “Pastor David – I don’t feel like praying”

3/ “Pastor David – I don’t need to pray”

I say: “Why don’t you need to pray?”

Reply: “I don’t need to pray because everything is going really good for me right now”

I say: “Oh, so you only pray when you need God’s help?”

When we say “I don’t need to pray”, that excuse reveals pride in our heart

Pride says “I don’t need God – I’m doing a pretty good job of running my life”

One of the most commonly misquoted verses in the Bible is in Proverbs 16: 18

Most people say this: “Pride goes before a fall” – No – that is not true!

Proverbs 16: 18 ‘A haughty spirit goes before a fall, but pride goes before destruction”

If you are too proud to pray – the Bible says you are headed for destruction

Example: God’s people’s failure to pray because they didn’t think they needed to pray

Joshua 9 and 10

God gave the Holy Land to His people Israel and told them to conquer their enemies in the Land and occupy it

Joshua 9: 3 Israel had early success defeating the cities of Jericho and Ai

Joshua 9: 4-13 the people of Gibeon tricked the People of God into allowing them to stay in the Holy Land

Joshua 9: 14 the People of God were deceived by their enemies because their early success in battle filled them with pride and they thought “we don’t need to pray because everything is going good for us right now”

Now, let’s look at the consequences of their prayerlessness:

Joshua 9: 15

They allowed their enemies to remain in their land

They made a peace treaty with their enemies

They guaranteed the protection of their enemies

Joshua 9: 18b the leaders of Israel lost the confidence of their people

Joshua 9: 22 they were deceived by their enemy

Joshua 9: 22-24 they disobeyed God’s command to conquer the Holy Land

Joshua 10: 2a a large population of enemies now lived in their Land under their guaranteed protection

Joshua 10: 2b their enemies within their borders were ‘strong warriors’

Joshua 10: 6-7 Joshua’s resources were used up protecting the enemies of God!

ALL THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THEY DIDN’T NEED TO PRAY!

What happens when we think we don’t need to pray?

We leave ourselves open to deception!

Dear Friends, we have no idea how powerfully and mightily God will answer our prayers – that is, if we will humble our pride, stop making excuses and just pray

Joshua 10: 12-14

Stop Making Excuses – Let’s Just Pray # 2

Over the last few months we have been learning about prayer

– The prayer Life of Jesus

– The Lord’s Prayer given to the Disciples

– The prayer Life of the Apostle Paul

In this new series we are looking at some of the excuses we make for not praying

Hopefully these messages will motivate us to become more devoted to prayer

1/ “Pastor David – I’m too busy to pray”

2/ “Pastor David – I don’t feel like praying”

I say: “Why don’t you feel like praying?”

A/ Reply: “I don’t you feel like praying because I’m tired”

I say: “Why are you tired?”

Reply: “I’m too busy”

I say: STOP BEING BUSY!

Romans 12: 12 ‘pray all the time’

How can you pray ‘all the time’ if you are always busy and tired?!

Luke 18: 1-8

Verse 1 ‘One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up’

Verse 3 The woman represents us: she came to the judge repeatedly appealing to him for justice

Do you think she got tired out coming to the judge repeatedly?

Yes, of course, but she never gave up!

Verse 5 The judge gave her justice

Verse 8b Jesus concluded the story by saying that it takes faith (like the woman in the story) to keep on praying and not give up!

When Jesus returns to the Earth, will He find us praying or sleeping?

“Pastor David – I don’t feel like praying”

I say: “Why don’t you feel like praying?”

B/ Reply: “I don’t you feel like praying because I’m angry with God”

I say: “Why are you angry with God?”

Reply: “Something went wrong in my life and God didn’t fix it”

Please turn to Job 1 & 2

Something went wrong in Job’s life – God allowed the devil to hurt Job

Job’s wife got angry with God Job 2: 9b ‘Curse God and die’

This is terrible advice: ‘Don’t humble yourself and pray for God’s mercy, instead, get angry, curse God and die’!

Job 2: 10

If something goes wrong in our life you can be sure that God has allowed it to happen/it’s not an accident

Dear friends, God allows things to go wrong in our lives so that in our suffering we will humble ourselves and turn to Him in prayer

Job 42: 1-6

Stop Making Excuses – Let’s Just Pray # 1

Over the last few months we have been learning about prayer

– The prayer Life of Jesus

– The Lord’s Prayer given to the Disciples

– The prayer Life of the Apostle Paul

Over the next few weeks we are going to look at some of the excuses we make for not praying – Hopefully these messages will motivate us to become more devoted to prayer

1/ “Pastor David – I’m too busy to pray”

Have you ever heard the saying: ‘If you are too busy to pray, you are too busy’

Example Luke 10: 38-42

Martha was too busy to devote herself to the Lord and Jesus firmly, but gently, instructed her to follow the example of her sister Mary who was sitting at the feet of Jesus

Example ‘Millionaire Listing San Francisco’

One of the very busy Real Estate agents on the TV show is a Muslim, Roh Habibi, he is originally from Afghanistan

He owns a successful Real Estate Business called the ‘Habibi Group’

He lives in San Francisco with his wife and new baby

He works out every day with running, boxing and cycling

And 5 times every day he prays to ‘Allah’, even when he is doing ‘Open Homes’

What a challenge to us Christians!

Here is a successful, busy man, making time to pray 5 times a day, every day, to a false god/ a non-existent god who cannot answer prayer

Jesus made an amazing promise to us – Christians – when He said…

John 14: 13 ‘You can ask for anything in My name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father’

Example Acts 19: 8-10

Our great hero in the Faith the Apostle Paul is the greatest Christian who ever lived, and, he was the busiest – yet he sets the standard for prayer

Romans 1: 9 ‘God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God’

The Apostle Paul was based in Ephesus for 2 years

During those 2 years

Every morning, 6 days a week, Paul would work at his trade of tent making to support himself and other people Acts 20: 34 (Refer only)

Every day, 6 days a week, from 11 am – 4 pm Paul taught the Word of God to the Ephesian Church Acts 19: 9-10 (Refer only)

Over a 2 year period that is 3, 000 hours of Bible teaching

In the early evenings Paul would go and visit the Church Leaders in their homes
Acts 20: 20 (Refer only)

Later in the evening Paul would return to his home to write letters to the Churches

1 & 2 Corinthians (Refer only)

Whilst in Ephesus Paul also trained leaders who helped ‘plant’ 8 new Churches in the surrounding area

Paul was far busier than you and I will ever be – yet, prayer was his priority

Paul writes about the stress he suffered whilst in Ephesus for those 2 years

2 Corinthians 1: 8-9 ‘we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God’

Finally

‘Pastor David – I’m too busy to pray’

Give me a break!

Stop making excuses – Let’s just pray

Praying with Paul # 5

In this third Series about PRAYER called – ‘Praying with Paul’ we learn that the Apostle Paul’s focus in prayer/his priority in prayer is praying for other people

So far we have learned…

Paul’s Christian Life was dominated by prayer

Paul prayed often

Paul prayed for the maturity of God’s people

Today we learn from the Apostle Paul how to ask others to pray for us

Romans 15: 30-32 Paul is writing to the Church in Rome

When you ask someone to pray for you – ‘Please pray for me’

Give them two requests…

1/ How to pray for you

Romans 15: 30 ‘join in my struggle by praying to God for me’

Prayer is a struggle because it requires a daily commitment of time and effort

Ephesians 6:18 ‘Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.

Then, Paul says, ‘Do this because of your love for me’

When you ask people that love you to, ‘please pray for me’, you know that they will – don’t ask people that don’t love you to pray for you, because you know that they won’t

2/ What to pray for you

In Paul’s case he requested 3 things:

Romans 15: 31a Paul was travelling to Jerusalem and needed the Lord to protect him from the Jewish Religious Leaders there that hated him and wanted him dead!

Acts 21: 20-22

The Roman believers did pray and their prayers for Paul were answered because we know that when Paul arrived in Jerusalem the Jewish Religious Leaders did attack Paul, and planned to kill him, but he was taken into protective custody by the Roman Army

Acts 23: 11

Romans 15: 31b Paul was taking a large donation of money from the Gentile (non-Jewish) Churches in Europe to the Church in Jerusalem. The Jewish Church in Jerusalem didn’t like Paul’s ministry to the Gentile Churches, Paul was using this donation of money to ‘soften’ the Jewish attitude towards the Gentile Churches

2 Corinthians 9: 12

The Roman believers did pray and their prayers for Paul were answered because we know that when Paul did arrive in Jerusalem he did successfully deliver the donation

Acts 24: 17

Romans 15: 32 Paul wanted to continue his journey from Jerusalem to visit with the Church in Rome

Acts 19: 21

The Roman believers did pray and their prayers for Paul were answered because we know that under the protective custody of the Roman Army Paul was taken to Rome to stand trial before the Roman Emperor

Acts 25: 11-12, 21, 25 Acts 27: 1

Finally, in Rome, The Great Apostle Paul completes the last Assignment of God’s will for his life – Paul testifies of Christ to the Roman Emperor

Acts 9: 15 Acts 23: 11-12 Acts 28: 30 Philippians 4: 22

Like Paul, when you ask other people to pray for you, request two things from them

“If you love me please make a daily commitment to pray for me, that God would keep me safe throughout my life so that I can complete God’s assignments for my life”

Acts 20:24 ‘My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God’.