Prayer - My Personal Journey

Prayer: My Personal Journey
Various Passages
Feb 10, 2019

Introduction:
A. My guess that in a room this size there are very few people who feel fully
satisfied with their prayer life. On one end of the spectrum you have people who
pray very well but feel like they really should pray more and on the other end of
the spectrum there are people who know they should pray but know very little
about prayer and not sure how to do it.
B. Today we start a series on prayer. I want to start by sharing with you some of my
journey with prayer with the hope that something at some point of my journey
may be helpful to you.
C. I know that Satan hates prayer and will do everything he can to stop us from
doing it, to stop you from coming to hear this series, and if you do come, to
distract you as we talk about it.
D. So let me start by praying for us regarding this series!
• Before I knew Jesus my prayer life was one of
I. Recited Prayers
A. I knew only two prayers – the Hail Mary and the Lord’s Prayer “Our Father”.
B. Never once did I pray from my heart with my own words. Whenever I would
pray, I would repeat over and over again these two prayers thinking God was
pleased with me for doing this and would therefore give me good things in my
life!
• That practice continued until the day that …
II. I called upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
A. It was a time of desperation after I had destroyed my life with drugs and I was so
desperate that I went to a chaplain’s office for help.
B. After he told me how Jesus had helped others in the same situation as mine and
that He could help me as well, he then shared the gospel with me. I remember
saying, “Could I get just a few minutes to think about this?”
1. So I went in another room and for the first time I talked to God as I said
“God, I do not know if this is some weird religion or not but all I know is I
need you”
2. And for the first time in my life I heard that still small voice whisper in my
heart “this is the way, walk in it”
C. Then I went back into the room with the chaplain and in a prayer he led I through
I called upon the Lord to save me. Instantly, deeply, and forever my life was
changed. Prayer is powerful and can change the whole direction of your life!
• As a
III. New Believer
A. My prayers were very short but much like the time in the chaplain’s office –
sharing my heart in my words with God regarding the need of the moment.
B. But the more I was around other believers and impressed by their prayers the
more I wanted to pray like them because they sounded so spiritual. And the more
I did that the drier it became. Primarily my prayer time was at meals and a few
minutes in the morning. That lasted about three years.
• As a
IV. Growing Believer
A. God placed in me, from early on, a deep love for His Word. So this is what my
prayer life looked like for many years – Spend an hour in the Word and then
spend two minutes in prayer at the end of it. And of course, I prayed at meals.
B. Then I ran into a spiritual crisis in my heart. The question in my heart was
“where is the power?” I had this two-sided dilemma in my life.
1. On the one hand, I knew that the Holy Spirit of God lived in me, that I have
already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, and
that the exact same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead was mine,
the resurrection power of Christ.
2. But on the other hand while I felt that I had experienced a touch of all of
these it was not like rivers of living water flowing from my heart it was more
like a hose trickling out just enough water to keep me going.
3. I saw in the Bible that the power I was supposed to have but radical honesty
would have to say I did not see it in my life.
• From that point there have been numerous things God has taught me to address this
powerlessness in my life. First …
V. Praying In Faith
A. Read Hebrews 11:6
1. Rewarder
2. I believed that God is, and that God is able, but I did not believe that He
would do it for me. Another way to say it is that I had a deep dependency
upon God without any expectancy. Need both.
3. I had built my prayer life off what I call the exception rather than the rule. I
always used the great escape clause that would let God and me off the hook if
he did not answer my prayers. That little phrase “If it be your will”
a) I prayed like an extreme sovereigntist - God is God and He is going to do
what He wants to do and what He has planned to do.
b) So when I prayed I would pour out my heart to God but when I with
closed with “If it be your will” I really did not expect God to answer my
request but to do His will.
B. God taught me at this time what I believe to be one of the “great wonders” of the
prayer life - “a sovereign God answers prayer.”
1. I had allowed my theology of God’s sovereignty to wash away my faith in
prayer.
• As I began to pray in faith then God led me to another foundational truth. This truth
is …
VI. Asking as the means to receiving!
A. Turn to and read Matthew 7:7-8
1. The other side of the coin is found in James 4:2, “you have not because you
ask not!
2. God has established asking as the means to receiving in His kingdom!
3. J.I. Packer says it this way “God has purposed to give us blessings through
prayer”
B. If I want to see God’s power in my daily life, I need to ask Him for it and not just
say my prayers and go through the prayer list!
• Then another key truth turned my prayer life upside down
IV. John 14:13
A. Please turn to this.
B. Before I read this let me tell you what my basic disposition was in prayer – “God
please bless my doings and efforts!” In other words “God, take out your salt
shaker of blessings and shake your blessings upon what I do.”
C. Read John 14:13-14
1. I prayed – God bless what I do – Here Jesus is saying “I will do it” – Jesus
will do what we ask!
D. Prayer is not about God blessing my efforts and doing but rather about God doing
a miracle – Jesus Himself doing for me, what I ask.
E. God began to open my eyes to the fact that I do not have the power in my life not
only because I am not asking God to do that in my life. But also because I am just
asking him to add a little blessing to my doings rather than the miracle of Jesus
Himself in all His power - doing things in and through my life!
• Next God used a book in my life called
V. Praying Hyde
A. John Hyde was a missionary to India who felt God’s call on his life to pray for the
lost and those in the ministry!
1. He would spend close to eight hours a day in prayer.
2. The stories that God did through him in reaching the lost and impacting
others who ministered are numerous and impressive
B. What I learned from him is that I need the Spirit of God to enable me for prayer as
much as I need him to preach or evangelize! He said his secret to prayer was Gal
2:20 “not I but Christ” He depended upon the Spirit of Jesus in him to pray
through him!
C. From that I have begun a practice of the very first thing I do in prayer is declare
my need and dependence upon the spirit of Christ to lead me and equip me in
prayer so that Jesus is praying through me!
D. And from that book, I began a practice of setting my alarm at one hour and
praying during that time. To be honest with you, that lasted about a year to a year
and a half then it faded away
• Then God used the verse to resolve a major tension I was feeling about the power in
the Bible but not in my life! It was …
VII. Hebrews 4:16
A. Read Hebrews 4:16
B. “May find grace to help”
C. I thought, “Why do I need to find grace when I already have it and every spiritual
blessing I could ever get? Why do I need to find grace when I already have the
powerful Holy Spirit living in me who raised Jesus Christ from the dead?
D. Then the lights went on in my life: prayer is the means by which we experience
the grace and power of God in our everyday life and ministry, whatever the need
might be.
E. Prayer is grace’s withdrawal slip. All the free gifts, all the power of the Holy
Spirit and the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that God has deposited
into our lives can be withdrawn and used in our daily lives through believing
prayer.
• As I was doing my own personal study about the Holy Spirit I noted that repeatedly
…
VIII. Prayer and ministry of the Holy Spirit are closely associated to one another!
A. Turn and Read Luke 11:11-13
B. God gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. I already have the Holy Spirit
but to experience His power in my life, all the power of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ I need to ask God.
C. I do not assume the filling, leading, anointing, sanctifying, convicting or
converting work of the Spirit. I come to God and ask Him for those believing He
will do it based on this verse and others that connect the ministry of the Holy
Spirit to prayer.
• Next God used a meeting we had as leaders with
IX. Al Toledo
A. Al is the pastor at the Chicago Tabernacle and the son in law of Jim Cymbla
whose ministry and church is known for and built off of prayer
B. Through that meeting with Al, God pointed out to me something so profound and
foundational about prayer and it was not through any point that Al was trying to
make.
1. All night long Al did not use the word “prayer” but instead said “talking to
God”
2. It knocked me off my seat – this thing prayer is not about saying my prayers
but about talking to God just as I would talk to Kim in the morning over
coffee or in times of deep stress.
3. That has totally changed the way I approach God and even as I pray the sense
of what I am doing as I pray – I am not saying prayers but I am talking to
God.
• The last thing God has done has spoken to me through another book …
X. A W Tozer -Prayer: Communicating with God in Everything
A. His point at the start of the book is very clear – The goal of God in our prayer life
is not a daily prayer time but a life of prayer – an all-day awareness of God being
with you and a conversation with God as you walk through the day
B. I have felt bad for years that I was not able to sustain an hour of day in prayer and
I felt that I was moving backwards in prayer rather than forward! But the reality
is I would pray for an hour, 30 minutes, 10 minutes whatever then I would move
on with the day and not talk to God because I did my time in the morning.
C. Tozer was saying that prayer should be a conversation that you have with God all
day long, as you walk through life. Guess what? – That is where I have been and
God encouraged me that He would rather I talk to Him all day long as I confront
situations rather than in the morning and not take a thought of Him again.
D. We can know God’s power all day long as we walk and talk with Him all day
long not just a prayer time or prayer meeting.
XI. Conclusion
A. I believe that God wants to build into MVC a life of prayer and a movement of
prayer and not just time of prayer or a prayer meeting!
B. I have asked Josh to tell you about our first step we want to put in place to move
us in that direction - 21 Days of Prayer - Josh