(Isaiah 59:1-2)
(outline by Pastor George Ragsdale)
I. Asking amiss (with wrong motives)
A. James 4:3
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
B. 1 John 5:14-15
14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, he heareth us:
15 And if we know that HE hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.
II. Selfishness
A. James 4:3
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss (wrong motives), that ye may consume (spend) it upon your lusts (pleasures).
III. Unbelief
A. Mark 11:24
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
IV. Discord with spouse
A. 1 Peter 3:7
…that your prayers be not hindered.
V. Hypocrisy
A. Matthew 6:5
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
VI. Sin: living an unrighteous life
A. Psalm 34:15-17
15 The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.
17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
VII. Ingratitude
A. Philippians 4:6
Be careful for nothing (don’t be anxious about anything): but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Conclusions:
A. “Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” (Psalm 5:1-3)
B. “Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the day time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.” (Psalm 42:8)
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Monday, July 6, 2009
Famous quotes on prayer
“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.” (Samuel Chadwick)
"More things are wrought by prayer than this word dreams of."
(Alfred Lord Tennyson)
"God does nothing except in response to believing prayer." (John Wesley, famous evangelist who spent two hours daily in prayer)
"The greatest thing anyone can do for God or man is pray." (S.D. Gordon)
"You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed." (A.J. Gordon)
"If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer." (Martin Luther)
"Prayers are heard in heaven in proportion to our faith. Little faith gets very great mercies, but great faith still greater." (Spurgeon)
"The most important thing a born-again Christian can do is to pray." (Chuck Smith)
"Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers." (Sidlow Baxter)
"The little estimate we put on prayer is evidence from the little time we give to it." (E.M. Bounds)
“God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world, the better the world will be; the mightier the forces against evil.” (E.M. Bounds)
"Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still." (E.M. Bounds)
"The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day." (E.M. Bounds)
"God's cause is committed to men; God commits Himself to men. Praying men are the vice-regents of God; they do His work and carry out His plans." (E.M. Bounds)
"No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack." (E.M. Bounds)
“Prayer is where the action is." (John Wesley)
"Satan does not care how many people read about prayer if only he can keep them from praying." (Paul E. Billheimer)
"Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees." (William Cowper)
"0h brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper - and sleep too - than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest." (Andrew A. Bonar)
"Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees." (Corrie ten Boom)
"The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God's standing challenge, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!'" (J. Hudson Taylor)
I received the above photos in an e-mail along with this description:
"Our house was built in the deer's natural habitat in a remote rural area. Well worn deer trails cut through the property's abundant pine and sage. The oldest deer we've met (we call her Mama Rose) walked right up to us when we first arrived, sniffing and looking us over. Rose smelled some almonds in my pocket so I gave her a few. We gave some almonds to her family a few other times but stopped the practice when advised that feeding deer is illegal. Even so, that didn't stop them from regular visits. Rose and her kin obviously think the yard belongs to them as much as anyone else, and they are just taking advantage of the wealth of natural foods growing everywhere. They especially like clover flowers, but it's amazing to see the variety of tasty flowers, leaves, twigs, nuts and berries they'll eat. They stay away from herbs and herbal flowers, but on occasion we've seen young deer eating the sweet medicinal berries of the Juniper tree. Food is of course a major concern, but we also think they visit because they like our company. Often we see deer we don't know nibbling in the yard, but nearly everyday some or many of Rose's extended family come by. All of the deer are likely to lay down on the grass and hang out, whether we know them well or not. Many of them know us personally, and while often running into the yard to greet us with their quiet enthusiasm, they will also swiftly shy away from strangers. Although notoriously skittish, able to leap meters in the air in an instant when startled, a few deer we know, most notably Eva and her kids, will let us touch them as if we were family, letting us scratch them or pick something out of their fur. Eva even enjoys a hearty backrub! We've certainly learned a lot about how to act around them so as not to disturb them. We think they appreciate our efforts in fitting into their neighborhood."
With some quick research, I found the same photos and story, along with additional photos, on the following website:
http://www.pelorian.com/deer.html
"More things are wrought by prayer than this word dreams of."
(Alfred Lord Tennyson)
"God does nothing except in response to believing prayer." (John Wesley, famous evangelist who spent two hours daily in prayer)
"The greatest thing anyone can do for God or man is pray." (S.D. Gordon)
"You can do more than pray after you have prayed; but you can never do more than pray until you have prayed." (A.J. Gordon)
"If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer." (Martin Luther)
"Prayers are heard in heaven in proportion to our faith. Little faith gets very great mercies, but great faith still greater." (Spurgeon)
"The most important thing a born-again Christian can do is to pray." (Chuck Smith)
"Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers." (Sidlow Baxter)
"The little estimate we put on prayer is evidence from the little time we give to it." (E.M. Bounds)
“God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world, the better the world will be; the mightier the forces against evil.” (E.M. Bounds)
"Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still." (E.M. Bounds)
"The men who have done the most for God in this world have been early on their knees. He who fritters away the early morning, its opportunity and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place the remainder of the day." (E.M. Bounds)
"God's cause is committed to men; God commits Himself to men. Praying men are the vice-regents of God; they do His work and carry out His plans." (E.M. Bounds)
"No learning can make up for the failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no study, no gifts will supply its lack." (E.M. Bounds)
“Prayer is where the action is." (John Wesley)
"Satan does not care how many people read about prayer if only he can keep them from praying." (Paul E. Billheimer)
"Satan trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees." (William Cowper)
"0h brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper - and sleep too - than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest." (Andrew A. Bonar)
"Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees." (Corrie ten Boom)
"The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God's standing challenge, "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not!'" (J. Hudson Taylor)
I received the above photos in an e-mail along with this description:
"Our house was built in the deer's natural habitat in a remote rural area. Well worn deer trails cut through the property's abundant pine and sage. The oldest deer we've met (we call her Mama Rose) walked right up to us when we first arrived, sniffing and looking us over. Rose smelled some almonds in my pocket so I gave her a few. We gave some almonds to her family a few other times but stopped the practice when advised that feeding deer is illegal. Even so, that didn't stop them from regular visits. Rose and her kin obviously think the yard belongs to them as much as anyone else, and they are just taking advantage of the wealth of natural foods growing everywhere. They especially like clover flowers, but it's amazing to see the variety of tasty flowers, leaves, twigs, nuts and berries they'll eat. They stay away from herbs and herbal flowers, but on occasion we've seen young deer eating the sweet medicinal berries of the Juniper tree. Food is of course a major concern, but we also think they visit because they like our company. Often we see deer we don't know nibbling in the yard, but nearly everyday some or many of Rose's extended family come by. All of the deer are likely to lay down on the grass and hang out, whether we know them well or not. Many of them know us personally, and while often running into the yard to greet us with their quiet enthusiasm, they will also swiftly shy away from strangers. Although notoriously skittish, able to leap meters in the air in an instant when startled, a few deer we know, most notably Eva and her kids, will let us touch them as if we were family, letting us scratch them or pick something out of their fur. Eva even enjoys a hearty backrub! We've certainly learned a lot about how to act around them so as not to disturb them. We think they appreciate our efforts in fitting into their neighborhood."
With some quick research, I found the same photos and story, along with additional photos, on the following website:
http://www.pelorian.com/deer.html
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Prayer Is a wartime walkie-talkie, not a domestic intercom
By John Piper and Tom Steller
"In wartime, prayer takes on a different significance. It becomes a wartime walkie-talkie and no longer a domestic intercom. Jesus said to his disciples, "You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, in order that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give to you” (John 15:16).
Notice the amazing logic of this verse. He gave them a mission “in order that” the Father would have prayers to answer. This means that prayer is for mission. It is designed to advance the kingdom. That’s why the Lord’s Prayer begins by asking God to see to it that his name be hallowed and that his kingdom come.
James warned about the misuse of prayer as a domestic intercom to call the butler for another pillow. He said, “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:2-3).
Prayer is always kingdom oriented. Even when we pray for healing and for help, it is that that the kingdom purposes of God in the world may advance. Otherwise we have turned a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom.
Let us pray with the apostle Paul, “that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified” (2 Thessalonians 3:1)."
This article is from the Desiring God Resource Library, "Driving Convictions Behind Foreign Missions," January 1, 1996, By John Piper and Tom Steller
"In wartime, prayer takes on a different significance. It becomes a wartime walkie-talkie and no longer a domestic intercom. Jesus said to his disciples, "You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, in order that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give to you” (John 15:16).
Notice the amazing logic of this verse. He gave them a mission “in order that” the Father would have prayers to answer. This means that prayer is for mission. It is designed to advance the kingdom. That’s why the Lord’s Prayer begins by asking God to see to it that his name be hallowed and that his kingdom come.
James warned about the misuse of prayer as a domestic intercom to call the butler for another pillow. He said, “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:2-3).
Prayer is always kingdom oriented. Even when we pray for healing and for help, it is that that the kingdom purposes of God in the world may advance. Otherwise we have turned a wartime walkie-talkie into a domestic intercom.
Let us pray with the apostle Paul, “that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified” (2 Thessalonians 3:1)."
This article is from the Desiring God Resource Library, "Driving Convictions Behind Foreign Missions," January 1, 1996, By John Piper and Tom Steller
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