The Thief Of Prayer

 

Satan has stolen the most important thing in a Christian life and that is his daily communion with God; we call it Prayer.

Each day there is something that hinders a person from time with God. You need to find what yours is.

If we don’t pray, we can’t expect to see anything spiritual happen in our lives and neither will we ever convince the sinner they need God.

A prayer less life is a life led by Satan. He doesn’t care for you being faithful to church or to any other activity the church may have. It’s prayer that he desires to control.

He knows that prayer and the word of God are the very things that keep him bound.

Listen to this story I’m about to tell and you will see where many are today;

There’s a story of a ship that was sinking in the middle of a storm and the captain called out to the crew and said, “Does anyone here know how to pray?”

One man stepped forward and said, “Yes sir, I know how to pray.”

The captain said, “Wonderful, you pray while the rest of us put on life jackets we’re one short.”

If you are a reader you know that the Bible is full of stories of people who changed worlds and people through the Power of Prayer.

There are countless stories since then of the miraculous taking place and the protecting hand of God delivering people from desperate situations.

Have you read of mothers who were prayer warriors interceding on behalf of some loved one and seeing God move so quickly?

Stories of Angels intervening and saving lives.

The book of Daniel is a book of men in captivity that not only prayed but found favor in the house of their captors.

· Men of prayer who had Angels battling Satan to bring answers to a prayer.

· Men who because of prayer stopped the moths of Lions.

· Men of Prayer who were Delivered from fiery furnaces men who refused to bow to the peer pressure and worship a creature instead of a creator.

Hebrews 11 is a book of faith but faith doesn’t just happen it is created by prayer. A prayer that is answered builds faith, so if you don’t pray you have no faith or little faith and few answers.

Story:

In Jamestown, VA. It is one of the earliest English-speaking settlements in the new world and it has been carefully restored so that you can see what life was like 350 years ago.

At Jamestown, you’ll discover many interesting things about our country.

1. You’ll learn that when this settlement was first established, most of the people built rather humble huts for their families.

2. But right in the middle of Jamestown they erected an imposing church building as a testimony to all who came, that the people of Jamestown put God first.

3. They had 2-hour worship services every day of the week and attendance was mandatory.

If you didn’t show up for the daily service, your day’s ration of food would not be given you.

Their reasoning was if you were too sick to go to church, you were too sick to eat.

They had a 5-hour service on Sunday and you were expected to be there all 5 hours.

If you missed church for 3 weeks, they would put you in stocks for 6 weeks out on the church lawn. The stocks are still there for all to see.

Maybe they went a bit too far. But it seems to me the lesson which comes through loud and clear is—

In this settlement, the people wanted to communicate clearly, that God came first.

 

Another Story

The year was 1857. America was at both an economic and spiritual low. Attendance in churches had dwindled and there was a cynicism among many concerning religion. It was in the midst of this spiritual crisis that God gave a man a vision. His name was Jeremiah Lanphier.

Lanphier had a vision of starting a noontime prayer meeting at a mission in Fulton Street in New York City.

He went to great lengths to advertise this prayer meeting. His first meeting was held on September 23, 1857. When the doors opened at noon, no one seemed to come.

At half past twelve, however, the steps of one man could be heard coming up the stairs. Soon another came and then another so that finally there was a total of six people there.

Soon the numbers of those attending the meetings increased. By October 14th (Less than one month) over a hundred people were coming to the prayer meetings. Other buildings were needed to accommodate the large numbers of people coming.

Churches began to open their doors, but they were not large enough as thousands began to come to these prayer meetings.

By March of 1858, (Less than a year) Burton’s Theatre which could hold up to 3,000 people was filled to overflowing. Soon firehouses, police stations and other buildings were requested to house the prayer meetings that had spread like a wildfire in New York City.

But the prayer meetings did not stop in New York City. They spread throughout New York State, New England, and eventually across the entire nation.

(Prayer is like a fire and the more wind it gets the hotter it burns and spreads!)

The Results of this Prayer meeting.

Many thousands were saved during the revival of 1858. It is interesting that this revival took place three years before the Civil War—the bloodiest war in American history.

God in His sovereignty knew that thousands of American lives would be lost and that these people needed to come to a saving knowledge of Himself.

· Have we lost our burden and our commitment to Christ?

· Do we understand that if we don’t pray he can’t hear from heaven and heal our lands?

Here are some men of prayer that struck fear in the hearts of the wicked.

John Knox’s Prayer: It is said that Mary, Queen of Scots trembled when John Knox went to his knees in prayer. One time she even exclaimed that she feared Knox’s prayers “more than any army in Europe.”

Why was she so shaken? It was because Knox believed that God worked through prayer. This was no simple assent to a truth.

Knox acted on his belief. He would boldly come before the throne of grace like no other, throwing his petitions at the Father’s feet.

“[Knox] prayed with such power that all Scotland was awakened. ‘Lord, give me Scotland or I’ll die!’ he cried. And he prayed with such intensity that the Lord answered.”

Ps 3:4 I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill.

1. We are not desperate enough for God.

2. Will God have to take away our blessing to get our attention?

3. Will God have to send a storm into our lives to get us to call on him?

Moses pleaded with God to change His mind and not destroy rebellious, carnal-minded Israel (Num. 14:11-19).

Hannah, who was barren, she ask God to give her a child of her own (I Sam. 1:5-11).

David beseeched God to forgive him for committing horrendous sins (Psa. 51).

And before He was taken to be crucified, Jesus asked God to protect His disciples (John 17:6-11).

We are to Ask in faith: we must believe and have faith. The apostle Paul wrote, “But without faith it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11-6

Christ said, “And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive” (Matt. 21:22).

The apostle James added, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord” (James. 1:6-7).

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints (Ephesians 6:18)

Withal praying for us also that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am in bonds: that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak (Colossians 4:3).

· Without prayer the schools will not be affected

· Our city will not be affected nor or children, or anyone else.

· We must stop putting off prayer.

The Muslims and other religions are more faithful to their prayer life than we that called ourselves Apostolic.

Muslims will pray in the street, at airports, when it’s time to pray they pray.

Every day millions of Muslims turn toward Mecca and pray. They are required to pray five times a day – at daybreak, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and evening.

The Quran is sacred to them; today they are murdering troops in Afghanistan over their holy book.

We take no action we sit back with three or four bibles and they are no more than dust collectors in our home.

The bible is used less in the American home than any other part of the world.

What do you have in your home that keeps you from prayer? What do you spend the most time doing?

· We should never wonder why God doesn’t answer our prayers.

· I can tell you why, he very seldom hears them.

· How often should we pray? “…Men ought always to pray.”

The modern-day Church desperately needs men and women who are dedicated to the ministry of prayer.

I am convinced that there will never be another significant move of God in our generation, unless Christians get back to the business of prayer!

I pray that God would once again raise up some mighty prayer-warriors among us.

Relatively little is being accomplished for God in our day. We have simply ignored the necessity of prevailing in prayer.

May God awaken our hearts to the great need of the hour—the need for powerful, passionate, prevailing supplication before God.

When Robert Louis Stevenson was a boy he once remarked to his mother, “Momma, you can’t be good without praying.”

“How do you know, Robert?” she asked. “Because I’ve tried!”

· Have you found yourself deeper in battle than in praise?

· Has Satan kept the heat on you because you have neglected prayer?

· Are you finding it a battle to continue in Holiness?

· Are you starting to question your convictions?

There is relief form the onslaught of Satan but it is in the presence of the Lord and you have to pray and worship to get there.

Without prayer all you can think in is flesh and the flesh is an enemy of Holiness.

· Prayer will separate you from your fleshly desires.

· If you pray you will stay more focused on God than the world and its pleasures.

James 5: 13 “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray…

14 “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”