Avail Much Through Prayer

Thank you Pastor David for your enduring friendship. Thank you Renovation Church for your love through prayer and for your financial generosity that allows us to execute ministry initiatives both here and around the world. We are especially excited for the opportunity to work together on this Twin Cities initiative, bringing the gospel to our entire city next June. We invite you to sign up using this QR code to be a part of this Kingdom initiative in our own backyard. If you have been a student of the bible for any length of time, you would have picked up on the theme of prayer as the medium of interaction between earth and heaven. Anyone in the bible worth their mettle, from Adam to Christ, and from Christ to the present moment, has been of necessity a praying man or woman. Prayer is the dialect of Kingdom movers and shakers. Prayer defines the lifestyles of those who want to see the Kingdom of God come on earth as it is in heaven. The journey to Kingdom impact begins with looking up. One 19th century preacher named Andrew Murray wrote a classic on prayer that is still one of the top selling books on the subject. He states, “In its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child can pray, yet it is at the same time the highest and the holiest work to which man can rise. It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One. The powers of the eternal world have been placed at it’s disposal. It is the very essence of true religion, the channel of all blessings. It is the secret of power and life not only for ourselves but for others, for the church, and for the world. It is to prayer that God has given the right to take hold of Him and His strength. It is on prayer that the promises wait for their fulfillment, the Kingdom [of God] for it’s coming, and the glory of God for its full revelation.” In our present reality in America, Prayer must become our way forward for us individually and corporately. We have to live by the conviction that every day and everywhere, the way forward starts with looking up. It begins by raising our eyes to Jesus who calls us to follow Him in depending on His Father. For us, prayer is not an optional exercise. It is as necessary as breathing. Through prayer, we provide permission for heaven to intervene in our earthly affairs and provide us help in aligning with heaven’s agenda. In the book of James 5:16 the Bible says, “ Therefore, confess your sins to one another, your false steps, your offenses, and pray for one another, that you may be healed and restored, made whole and regain the shalom of God. The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous person is able to accomplish much when put into action and made effective by God—it is dynamic and can have tremendous power.” Activation: The early disciples always prayed for each other. Paul in his letters goes to great lengths to let the followers of Jesus in his day know that He prayed for them every day. One of those examples is in Ephesians 1:17 19. Listen to how Paul prays for the Ephesian believers: “I always pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation, that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight into the true knowledge of Him, for we know the Father through the Son. And I pray that the eyes of your heart the very center and core of your being may be enlightened, flooded with light by the Holy Spirit, so that you will know and cherish the hope the divine guarantee, the confident expectation, to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints God’s people, and so that you will begin to know what the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His active, spiritual power is in us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength” (AMP). Sounds like a prayer that we could all use in this very moment. Look at the people next to you on the right and on the left. Give them a good smile. It is ok if this feels a little bit outside your comfort zone. Now, I want us to take a minute and make a verbal heart felt prayer for each other alongside Paul. Let’s say it out loud across the room. *I pray for you …that God may grant you …a spirit of wisdom and revelation …into the true knowledge of Jesus. *I pray for you …that the eyes of your heart…, the very center and core of your being…, may be flooded … with the light of the Holy Spirit. I notice that some of us would like to keep going in praying for/with your neighbor and that is ok. You can continue to pray quietly in your heart for them. Some of us are feeling like “I wish someone could pray with me some more right now.” You came with burdens. You feel lonely even though you are in a crowd. You came feeling overwhelmed with anxiety or depression. You feel like your life is falling apart and for a moment as we pray together you are sensing peace. Perhaps you are dealing with a situation, a relationship that is on the brink of collapse and you don’t know what to do… Perhaps a sickness in the family that is overwhelming you… You have emotional pain or physical pain that doctors can’t seem to do anything about… You feel alone in your situation and you are wondering if God sees you… You feel like life is hollow, empty, and you are questioning whether it is worth living…You walked in here this morning and all your life you’ve never known the love and the forgiveness of God. As we pray you can feel that for the first time… Someone here is wondering whether you need to change that career path. You are questioning your business decision. Hold it right there cause we will have more time to pray with you in just a moment. God wants to and God is here to meet you through this body of believers as we pray. At the end of this message, we will invite you to make your way to the front if you can, and we will pray with you. In Luke 18:1, Jesus gave the parable of the persistent widow. Luke tells us that the main point Jesus was making is that people always aught to pray and not to give up. Jesus makes the point that prayer should be our first response in all situations rather than the last resort. That it is not an emergency strategy to solve problems. It is not just for people in need or for those in trouble. It is a relational priority between human beings and God. It is for all people and for all times. Even Jesus, being true God from true God, as man, he prayed. It is instructive that for the disciples, the one important lesson they wanted Jesus to teach them was on how to pray. In Matthew 6:9 10 and Luke 11:2 4, the disciples pray, “Lord, teach us to pray!” It should be the first inclination of our heart when we wake up in the morning. Before we look at the phone or check our Facebook, snapchat, insta, X, or TikTok feeds. Prayer should be as natural as breathing. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul encourages us to “pray without ceasing.” Paul wasn’t instructing believers to give up their responsibilities and only pray. He was encouraging them to commit to prayer and make it a top priority in their lives. There is a way we can pray without ceasing; when we allow the Holy Spirit to pray through us and in us throughout our day even when we are in the middle of other busy activities and even while we sleep. The wonderful thing is that effective prayer is not something you undertake on your own. Effectual prayer is Holy Spirit breathed. If we are to truly pray as Jesus teaches us to pray “Your Kingdom Come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” then we must allow heaven to pray through us. How we do that is by partnering with the Holy Spirit in our lives. In the book of Romans 8:26 the Bible reminds us: “We do not know what prayer to offer or how to offer it as we should, but the Spirit Himself [knows our need and at the right time] intercedes on our behalf with sighs and groanings too deep for words.” Here are some quick pointers on effectual prayer in alignment with James 5:16 Must be to the glory of God Must be in full surrender to His will Must be in full assurance of faith Must be in the Name of Jesus Must be with a perseverance that if need be refuses to be denied What are some benefits of a lifestyle of individual and corporate prayer? •Prayer is a channel for fellowship with God toward our personal transformation – It is an avenue for cultivating friendship with God and restoration of relationship with others [Personal story of How the Holy Spirit has been teaching me fellowship prayer] Prayer is a platform to make petitions, supplications and obtain requests Prayer is a platform for spiritual warfare and intercession. Satan is not afraid of scripture. He is afraid of the believer who understands how to engage scripture for their profiting. Satan will kill anything he is allowed to kill, still anything he is allowed to steal, and destroy anything he is allowed to destroy. This is the assignment of warfare prayer. Having done all to stand, stand (Eph 6:10 18). Don’t assume that God loves your children so much that they will turn out to be nice, wonderful and disciplined people without you doing anything. When you see the evil cloud, when you see the formation of darkness, that is the time to put on your priestly garment. There is a day called the day of adversity and we must know how to engage warfare prayer. James again tells us, “Pray for one another that you may be healed and restored. The Greek root word translated with the Phrase “healed and restored” is the word Iaomai which means to cure, to heal, to make whole; to free from errors and sins; to bring about (ones) salvation. Friends, the Holy Spirit is among us and He is ready to lead us to the throne room of God as we pray with and for one another. He is here to meet our hearts’ desire to be healed and be made whole. He is here and ready to free you from every form of spiritual bondage and demonic oppression, to give you salvation so that you can experience the joy of the Lord. Perhaps you’ve never given over your life to Christ. Today is the day of your salvation. I would like to invite you to come and stand to my left. Perhaps you are living in habitual sin even though you are a believer. You are feeling so dirty inside and you have remained under constant condemnation. Like the Apostle Paul in Romans 7:24 you cry, “Wretched and miserable person that I am! Who will rescue me and set me free from this body of death, this corrupt and mortal existence?” Today is the day of your deliverance as you are freed from errors and sins. If this is you, I also want to invite you to come and stand on my left. Thirdly if you are here and you are dealing with a specific situation that you would like God’s intervention, I would like to invite you to come up as well and stand on my right side. It could be a sickness, a career issue that you are seeking God’s wisdom in; you are struggling with depression and anxiety…There is healing here today as we pray together. You can feel free to come forward this morning and stand on my right! Finally if you feel like you are in both camps, stand right in the center (middle) Prayer of salvation and recommitment Prayer of deliverance, healing, various breakthroughs