Weekend happenings.

Wow what a week. From beginning to end it has been extremely packed. Sorry I have not had time to post as I usually do. Friday night to Broadway Lake and Laborers of the Field. What a meeting we had there. The meeting was moved to the Game Wardens lot above the spillway. Brother J.T. McDowell preached the evening message. Two young men gave the hearts to Jesus Christ. Many had prayer request and I believe the fires of revival may have been sparked there. If you miss Friday Nights on Broadway with Laborers of the Field then you are MISSING OUT.

Saturday was Grass Cutting day or should I say, time to re-arrange the dust and top off the weeds time. Then there was go to the Church and prepare the Sanctuary for

Saturday Afternoon Time, Work on a dis-abled Van time. All in the 90 degree heat. I went to see Indianna Jones and the Crystal Skull. It was a fair movie. But then again I like the Indianna Jones movies.

Sunday Morning: "To Pray like Jesus" Luke 11:1-13
10 Principles of Prayer
I. Learn The Basic Principles Of Prayer-Prayer 101
(Luke 11:1)
A. There must first be a desire to learn what you think you already know. (vs. 1)
1. The disciples had prayed previous to asking Jesus to teach them the power and serenity of prayer.
2. But as they circled around Jesus that day, they realized that there was something different about the way He prayed.
3. He would not give them that day a sacred formula to be repeated over and over but He would give them a consistent pattern for prayer.
B. I am convinced that most Christians learned to pray in one of these ways:
1. By some other person’s example.
2. By our own definition.
C. Now! Look at the principles Jesus laid out for powerful prayer.
1. "Our Father" I find it interesting here that Jesus would teach us this phrase because Jesus Himself never uses that form. He is heard referring to God as, "The Father", "My Father", or "Your Father" because He is the true Son of God but you and I are to refer to Him at least as "Father" and at best as "Our Father" since we are adopted into that royal family. It is a term likened to daddy or poppa.

Principle #1 We are instructed to approach Him with tenderness.

2. "In heaven" Jesus reminds us here that we are not approaching an earthly father that is limited in his capabilities or his presence. We are approaching the very Father of all creation. He is our heavenly Father and because of that we are created in His image (Gen 1:26).

Principle #2 We are instructed to approach Him with reverence.

3. "Hallowed be Your name" Not many could claim this title although it is given to us the task of being set apart (sanctification) for service to the glory of God. Jesus is certain to remind us that our Father is free from all impurities. He is totally separated from all evil.

Principle #3 We are instructed to approach Him with respect.

4. "Your kingdom come" It is a difficult thing to go to God in prayer knowing that you are at odds with the ministry of the kingdom. We are then simply laying before Him a monstrous hypocrisy if every day of our lives we are hindering and thwarting the advance of His kingdom.

Principle #4 We are instructed to approach Him with devotion.

5. "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" In one sense the will of God is done whether we like it or not. Yet in another real sense, all believers do not always carry out the will of God. The interesting fact is that we cannot see His will done without first letting Him rule in our day-to-day lives. He must be Lord and King and we must seek to enlarge His kingdom. The whole concept then, seems to be one that is quite foreign to us. It is an appeal for us to voluntarily give up our wills here on earth so that His heavenly will might be accomplished. Philippians 2:5 ¡§Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus¡¨

Principle #5 We are instructed to approach Him with humbleness.

Everything up to this point deals with the ATTITUDE of prayer

The following deals with the RELATION of prayer

6. "Give us today our daily bread" If we are in the right attitude for prayer then this next petition sets us in the right relation towards God¡¦s gifts. God is not a God that wants His followers to be in want but notice that our needs are only addressed after we have given our wills over To the Father.

Illustration:
God appeared to Solomon in II Chron. 1:7 and told he could ask for anything he wanted. Most of us, if put in that position, would have ask for things that would be beneficial to us but because Solomon was in the will of God, he ask for something that would help others. He ask for wisdom to lead God¡¦s people into His will.

You and I will find that our desires dwindle, as the Fathers will is exercised. It is then that we can ask God to provide for our needs and be totally assured that He will do so. After the wisdom of God was given to Solomon so were the added blessings of God.

Principle #6 We are instructed to approach Him with thankfulness.

7. "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" I’m afraid that this principle carries with it some baggage. Sin is a debt that causes a heavy burden. If not dealt with, it can totally weigh a person down until he /she is totally ineffective as a Christian. It seems that we are encouraged to pray for those that have sinned against us.
Luke 6:28 "pray for those who spitefully use you" It goes on to imply that if we are unwilling to relinquish our grudges and hatreds towards those that have wronged us, we might not ought to be so pious as to expect God to lighten the burden we carry.

Principle #7 We are instructed to approach Him with forgiveness.

8. "Lead us not into temptation" Is there a sense here that God would actually lead us into temptation? To understand this you have to understand that this word carries a dual meaning. I guess the R.V. has a more accurate rendering for it says, "bring us not into temptation" The first meaning is trial, sometimes we are given trials that are meant to test our faithfulness. The second meaning is actual incitement, inducement, seducement, and allurement in the direction of causing one to commit an actual sin. In the first case God does not tempt us He tries us.

James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
Understand this, that God will never lead you into anything that He does not plan to lead you out of.

Principle #8 We are instructed to approach Him with an Awareness.

9. "Deliver us from the evil one" It is interesting to me that many of the things we consider to be evil, are not. It has been said that poverty is not evil, Suffering is not evil. The only real evil is sin. It is the evil one who pushes us toward this sin. I’m reminded of this story I read.

Illustration:
Someone told of a church that believed in sinless perfection once you trusted Jesus Christ into your life and were baptized. A visitor to that church heard this teaching and asked to be baptized. He was tired of dealing with his habitual sin without any success. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of winter and the river was near frozen.

The man with much persistence got the Elders to baptize him in the river. After the man and two Elders came out of the freezing cold water, the man was so excited, he said, "I feel so good, I¡¦m not even cold." One Elder turned to the other and said, "He¡¦s lying, we have to do it again."

Until we recognize that God is our Father and we are His children we will never understand just how evil sin is. Without a proper prayer relationship with our Father we are doomed to fall prey to the evil one.

Principle #9 We are instructed to approach Him with helplessness.

10. "Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever" Isn’t it only appropriate that we, in finality, give God the credit He deserves? It is all about God, the master creator of the universe. It is His power that brings all good things to fruition in our lives. It is God and God alone that deserves the glory. For who else but God could actually bring us through prayer to a place of eternal peace and security.

Principle #10 We are instructed to approach Him with genuineness.

Application:

What do you seek God to do in your prayer? So many times we are guilty of saying, "God supply my needs", "God supply my wants", "God make things turn out the way I want them to". Have we forgotten that the great God of heaven and earth has needs also? He needs to know that you love Him. He not only wants you to tell Him this, He wants you to prove it by serving Him faithfully. He needs to know that you desire to fellowship with Him. This involves spending time with God. It’s more than just a passing comment. Sometimes it means spending time in prayer talking to Him and sometimes it means shutting up and listening to what He has to say. He needs to know that you are devoted to Him. That means choosing Him when you have a choice. It’s amazing just to think that God wants to answer your prayers but He desires for you and me to be in the proper attitude for prayer. In the coming months ahead you are going to be ask to pray for specific things. Do it with the right attitude do it with all expectancy and God will answer it.

The Empty Chair
A man’s daughter had asked the local pastor to come and pray with her father. When the pastor arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows and an empty chair beside his bed. The pastor assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit. "I guess you were expecting me," he said. "No, who are you?"

"I’m the new pastor at your local church," the pastor replied. "When I saw the empty chair, I figured you knew I was going to show up."

"Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man. "Would you mind closing the door?"

Puzzled, the pastor shut the door.

"I’ve never told anyone this, not even my daughter," said the man. "But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it always went right over my head.."

I abandoned any attempt at prayer," the old man continued, "until one day about four years ago my best friend said to me, "Joe, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here’s what I suggest. Sit down on a chair, place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It’s not spooky because he promised, "I’ll be with you always." Then just speak to him and listen in the same way you’re doing with me right now."

"So, I tried it and I’ve liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I’m careful, though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she’d either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm."

The pastor was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old guy to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with him, and returned to the church.

Two nights later the daughter called to tell the pastor that her daddy had died that afternoon.

"Did he seem to die in peace?" he asked.

"Yes, when I left the house around two o’clock, he called me over to his bedside, told me one of his corny jokes, and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something strange, In fact, beyond strange--kind of weird. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on a chair beside the bed."

PRAY WITH POWER!