[The following is a nice sample of a superb book about effective
prayer and prayer-partnering written by John C. Maxwell. There is
so much more vital information included in this book than I have
given you here. Consider this as just an appetizer. So be sure to
order "Partners in Prayer" online at: http://www.christianbooks.com.
You may also want to check out EQUIP'S site http://www.pastorsnet.org where
pastors and their families are linked with prayer partners and caregivers.
Applying the principles found in the complete book will enliven
and bring growth to your congregation spiritually, which will then
lead to numeric growth as well.]
"FORWARD
By Max Lucado
Some months ago I enjoyed a four-week summer sabbatical. I
set three goals during the month. First, I wanted to plan an autumn
series of lessons on grace (which I did). Second, I aspired to break
ninety on the golf course (I did that too--once). And third, I wanted
to learn more about leadership skills. It was through this third
goal that I came to know John Maxwell.
A coworker recommended I seek his advice, so I gave him a call.
He invited me to come and speak to the Skyline congregation in San
Diego. I did. I gathered some ideas on leadership, but much more,
I gained a passion for Prayer Partners.
My Sunday at Skyline was bathed in prayer. The Prayer Partners met
me as I walked in the door and met me as I walked off the platform.
They were praying for me as I flew, as I spoke, even as I rested.
I was so convicted about the importance of Prayer Partners that
I asked God to grant me 120 members who would covenant to pray for
me daily and pray with me fervently.
Upon returning to the pulpit I announced my dream to the congregation.
Within a month exactly 120 people had volunteered to form the team.
We divided the volunteers into four groups and assigned each group
one Sunday per month on which they would arrive early and pray for
the congregation.
That was six months ago. Has God honored the prayers of his people?
Here is a sample of what God has done since we organized Prayer
Partners:
We have broken our Sunday attendance record twice.
We finished the year with our highest ever average Sunday attendance
We finished the year--hang on to your hat--over budget.
We witnessed several significant healings.
Our entire staff attended a part of the inaugural Promise Keepers
Pastors Conference
Our church antagonism is down, and church unity is high.
And most significantly, we called the church to forty days
of prayer and fasting, inviting God to shine his face upon us. God
has honored the prayers of his people. More than ever I'm convinced: When
we work, we work; but when we pray, God works. (emphasis mine
throughout)
Thank you, John Maxwell, for your example. Thank you for going to
the effort of putting into print what you have put into practice.
I speak for thousands who will benefit from this book when I say:
You're a friend to all who dream of a growing kingdom.
UNLEASHING THE POTENTIAL OF PRAYER
Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide
me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
Psalm 25:4-5
I grew up in a Christian household where prayer was important.
And as a pastor, I spent time in prayer every day. But it wasn't
until God brought me a prayer partner that my life and ministry
exploded with power, and the results began to multiply in an incredible
way.
It all started in 1981 when I became the senior pastor at Skyline
Wesleyan Church in San Diego, California. My wife, Margaret, and
I moved to San Diego with our children, Elizabeth and Joel Porter,
after I spent two years as the executive director of evangelism
at Wesleyan World Headquarters in Indiana. Before that I spent eleven
years as the pastor to two churches in Indiana and Ohio.
I was excited about being a pastor again, and especially about coming
to Skyline. I was eager to get to know the staff, evaluate the church's
ministries, assess the leadership, and identify the key leaders
who were going to help me accomplish the church's mission. I was
trying to accomplish as much as I could as quickly as I could, which
was making me maintain a very heavy schedule.
On a Tuesday morning after I'd been at Skyline for about six weeks,
I was reviewing the day's schedule when I saw an appointment scheduled
for a person whose name I didn't recognize.
"Who's Bill Klassen?" I asked.
"He's your ten o'clock appointment," replied Barbara, my assistant.
"I see that, but who is he? Is he in leadership?" I asked. I had
spent the last few weeks focusing much of my attention on getting
to know the leaders in the congregation.
"No, he's not in leadership," said Barbara. "As a matter of fact,
he doesn't even go to church at Skyline."
Barbara could see that I wasn't happy. "He said he had to see you.
He was very persistent," she added emphatically.
"Well," I said, "give me about fifteen minutes with him, and if
we're not done, interrupt us." My plan was to figure out what his
agenda was, fix whatever problem he had, kindly but quickly, and
get on with the work I had to get done that day.
ONE LAYPERSON CALLED TO PRAY
Bill turned out to be a gentleman of about sixty with hair white
as snow. His face was gentle, almost radiant...He began telling
me about himself, how he had worked in construction in Canada and
sold sailboats in Washington and southern California, and how he
had worked for the Navigators ministry as a discipler.
"John," Bill said. "I believe God has called me--a layman--to disciple,
encourage, and pray for pastors. And the reason I came here today
was so that I could pray for you."
He wanted to pray for me? I thought. In all my years as
a pastor, I've never had a layman pray for me. My own agenda
began to melt away. I felt the spirit of God crushing me, saying, "John,
My agenda is more important than yours. Your life is not like a
one-way street where you just minister to other people. There are
people who want to minister to you. I am sending this layman to
pray for you."...
THE POWER OF PARTNERING IN PRAYER
Neither of our lives has ever been the same since that meeting.
Bill became my personal prayer and accountability partner after
that, and he went on to help me organize a prayer partner ministry
at Skyline, a group of people who prayed for me every day during
my fourteen years there and who met in small groups in a tiny room
at church every Sunday to cover the services with prayer. It started
with thirty-one laymen and eventually expanded to include 120. During
those fourteen years, the congregation tripled in size from a little
over 1,000 to nearly 3,500. The church's annual income jumped from
$750,000 to more than $5,000,000. Ministry at Skyline flourished,
with lay involvement increasing from 112 to over 1,800.
But the really awesome power of those prayers has been in individual
lives: Thousands of people received Christ during those years. My
prayer partners grew in their walk with God and became active participants
in the miraculous power of prayer in their daily lives. Bill and
Marianne Klassen started their own ministry to teach other churches
how to start their own prayer partners. And during those years,
God led me down an incredible road. In addition to all the wonderful
things happening in the church, I began working more and more with
other pastors, teaching them leadership and church growth. I formed
INJOY, a nondenominational Christian organization dedicated to helping
leaders reach their potential, in the church, business, and family.
I've even had the privilege of speaking at several Promise Keepers
conferences around the country.
Without prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, I believe none
of these things would have happened. The glory and the honor belong
to God. But the credit for releasing that power and keeping me protected
day after day belongs to those prayer partners.
PRAYER PARTNERS IN HISTORY
Laypeople partnering in prayer with godly leaders is not a
new concept. It goes all the way back to the Old Testament in the
book of Exodus when Moses prayed on a hilltop for Joshua to defeat
the Amalekites...It continued in the New Testament, particularly
in the first days of the developing first-century church, as recounted
in the book of Acts. You probably remember how the 120 disciples
prayed during the days between Jesus' ascension and the day of Pentecost
(Acts 1:14). On the day when the Holy Spirit arrived, a simple fisherman
named Peter gave his testimony, and 3,000 were converted.
Over the centuries, there have undoubtedly been innumerable instances
of people partnering in prayer with preachers. Though no records
exist outside of heaven for most of them, we do know the story of
fairly recent ones:
The Preacher: Charles Finney
The Year: 1830
The Place: Rochester, New York
The Results: In one year 1,000 of the city's 10,000 inhabitants
came to Christ.
The Partner: Finney's
"prayer partner" was Abel Clary. Finney wrote, "Mr. Clary continued
as long as I did and did not leave until after I had left. He never
appeared in public, but gave himself wholly to prayer. [Check out
the story of Finney's other prayer partner in pastor Cymbala's "Fresh
Wind, Fresh Fire"--a Daniel Nash. His prayer labors were as great
as Abel Clary's.]
The Preacher: D.L. Moody,
An Obscure YMCA Worker
The Year: 1872
The Place: London, England
The Results: In ten days 400 new converts came into the church where
he was preaching.
The Partner: In London, a bedridden girl, Marianne Adlord, had read
a clipping about Moody's ministry in Chicago and prayed that God
would send him to her church.
The Preacher: Canadian Missionary
Jonathan Goforth
The Year: 1909
The Place: Manchuria, China
The Results: A great revival throughout Manchuria
The Partner: While in London later that year, Goforth was taken
to see an invalid lady. As they talked about the revival in Machuria,
she asked him to look at her notebook. She had recorded three days
when special power came upon her for his meetings in Manchuria.
A feeling of awe gripped Goforth as he realized those were the very
days he witnessed the greatest power in Manchuria.
The Preacher: Southern Revivalist
Mordecai Ham
The Year: 1934
The Place: Charlotte, North Carolina
The Results: Many people in Charlotte were deeply moved, including
a farmer's son named Billy Graham who was converted.
The Partners: Several businessmen, along with Billy Graham's father,
had spent a day at the Graham farm praying that God would touch
their city, their state, and their world.
The Preacher: Billy Graham
The Year: 1949
The Place: Los Angeles, California
The Results: An extended campaign that resulted in a change of approach
in reaching people for Christ--leading to a new era of mass evangelism.
The Partners: Graham had conducted many similar events with much
smaller results. He later realized that the only difference between
the L.A. crusade and all the others before it had been the amount
of prayer he and his people had given it.
These instances attest to the tremendous power of prayer partnerships.
It doesn't matter whether the leader is a pastor or layman, and
the person praying can be a man, woman, or child--when someone behind
the scenes partners in prayer with one of God's frontline servants,
awesome things happen.
PRAYER CHANGES THE WORLD
God's hand moves when people and pastors pray together. Through
prayer, God makes the impossible, possible.
Through prayer, God greatly multiplies our efforts. C.H. Spurgeon
said, "Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets
His people to pray." In a moment of revelation, Spurgeon had discovered
that neither his sermons nor his good works accounted for the spiritual
impact of his ministry. Instead, it was, as one writer put it, "The
prayers of an illiterate lay brother who sat on the pulpit steps
pleading for the success of the sermons." It was his partnership
with people of prayer that made him effective.
I can personally attest to the benefits that others' prayers have
given me. There have been times when I've gotten ready to do a service
or conference, and I've been physically exhausted. But when my prayer
partners lay hands on me, and I see them praying over the auditorium,
I receive a new strength--physically, mentally, spiritually, and
emotionally. I feel prepared to receive the power of God. And that
has allowed my ministry to have great impact on people's lives.
My prayer partners have also told me, "Pastor, during the service
we are going to cover the people around us in prayer. When you see
us in the service, we'll give you a thumbs up. That way you'll know
we're praying for you, and we have our area covered."
When we've had a particularly good service, I know my prayer partners
and their prayers were the reason...
PRAYER CHANGES ME
Jesus told His disciples, "I tell you the truth, my Father
will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not
asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your
joy will be complete" (John 16:23-24). If prayer did nothing other
than what Jesus promised, it would be one of the greatest gifts
God has given us. But prayer does even more. It changes the ordinary
man or woman and makes them extraordinary.
Prayer changes us by drawing us closer to God, changing and molding
us into His likeness in the process. David understood prayer's power
as a personal change agent. His prayer in Psalm 25:4-5 describes
the process that prayer takes a person through: "Show me your
ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your
truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in
you all day long" (emphasis added).
This passage contains three key phrases: show me, teach me, and guide
me. When God shows us His standards and His will for
our lives, it isn't always easy on us. It almost always requires
us to grow and change. But once we accept what God would show us,
He is able to teach us. And when we're teachable and growing,
He is finally able to guide us, to lead us into His plan
and purpose. When God shows me, He has my heart. When God teaches
me, He has my mind. When God guides me, He has my hand.
DON'T LIVE BENEATH YOUR POTENTIAL
Despite God's promise of the power to change us and our world,
many Christians never tap into it. They come to Christ, but then
they live beneath their privileges [much like D.L. Moody said--look
up the short article by D.L. Moody in the link/section on the book
of Ephesians. Mr. Moody explains this subject more thoroughly.]
It's as though God has prepared an incredible banquet for them,
and they're sitting in the corner with a bologna sandwich. The problem
is that they don't want to risk giving up the familiar sandwich
for the promise of the banquet. It's almost like they're saying, "Okay,
I'm saved and I'm going to heaven, but I'm going to stay right where
I am until then."
I must ask you: Are you one of those living beneath your privileges
and missing out on your potential by not praying? The table has
been laid. The sumptuous banquet has been set out. You have already
received your invitation. Now what are you going to do? Are you
going to bring along a few friends and come to the table? Or are
you going to eat your bologna sandwich alone in a corner? The choice
is yours. You can become a person of prayer who receives
and shares the blessings God has to give.
Most pastors and their churches across the country are currently
starving in the area of prayer. One evangelical pastor, speaking
about his own denomination, said, "In Acts chapter two, they prayed
for ten days. Peter preached for ten minutes and 3,000 were saved.
Today, churches pray for ten minutes, preach for ten days and three
get saved."
But it doesn't have to be that way. Every pastor at every church
in this country can tap into the awesome power and protection that
only prayer provides. I believe that you may be one of the people
in your church who can help make that happen.
You may be saying to yourself, "Me? I'm no prayer warrior. I could
never lead or organize others to pray. I'm not even comfortable
with the idea of praying for my pastor. I don't even know if I can
do it."
My answer is, "Yes you can!"
Anyone can become a strong man or woman of prayer. It doesn't take
a miracle, and you don't have to be a Holy Roller. You only need
to be a Christian. If you meet that qualification, you have the
potential to become a great pray-er. And that's the reason you can
pray for your church leaders. You are on the same level as them
in the eyes of God. A pastor is simply a brother in Christ,
not some spiritual giant. He struggles with the same problems you
do.
Get ready to go on an exciting journey, one that will help you,
your pastors, and your church reach their potential. We'll start
out slow, first talking about some fundamentals of prayer and how
you can improve your personal prayer life. Then we'll broaden our
focus to include how you can pray for others, including your pastors
(or elders and other leaders) and church, showing how you can become
a partner in prayer. And finally, we'll talk about the hope that
we all have for our churches and our country--revival.
2
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR FATHER
Come near to God and he will come near to you.
James 4:8
One night in 1968, the pilot of an airliner bound for New York
realized that the landing gear of his jet would not engage. Traveling
ever closer to his destination, he continued to work the controls,
trying to get the wheels to lock into place, but he had no success.
Circling over the airport, he asked the control tower for instructions.
The ground crew, responding to the impending crisis, sprayed the
runway with foam, and emergency vehicles moved into position. The
pilot was instructed to land the plane as best he could.
The passengers were asked to prepare themselves for the worst and
to put themselves into crash position. Moments before landing, the
pilot announced over the intercom: "We are beginning our final descent.
In accordance with International Aviation Codes established at Geneva,
it is my obligation to inform you that if you believe in God, you
should commence praying." The plane then performed a belly landing,
and miraculously, came to a stop with no injury to the passengers.
If that pilot hadn't found himself in a crisis that day, his passengers
would never have known about the airline's hidden provision for
prayer. But isn't that the way it is for most people? As long as
everything's going smoothly, they rarely think about talking to
God. But as soon as a situation becomes life or death, they turn
to Him for help.
That kind of thinking is almost to be expected among nonbelievers.
Many of them have a "flat-tire mentality." As long as they're cruising
down the highway of life and the car is handling the road well,
then everything's great. But when there's a blowout, they turn to
God.
WHY BELIEVERS DON'T PRAY
The remarkable thing is that many Christians spend as little
time communicating with God as nonbelievers. Why is that? Have many
lost their belief in the power of prayer? William A. Ward said, "God
is never more than a prayer away from you...We address and stamp
a letter and send it on its way, confident that it will reach its
destination, but we doubtfully wonder if our prayer will be heard
by an ever-present God."
I think the main reason people don't spend much time praying is
that they have the wrong attitude toward prayer. Some people think
of prayer as something only their grandmother does. Or they think
of the simple prayers of their childhood: "God is great. God is
good. Let us thank Him for our food. Amen," or "Now I lay me down
to sleep...."
But even people who have a genuine desire to pray and have tried
to develop a prayer life sometimes have the wrong idea about it.
They think that in order to pray they have to go off by themselves,
get on their knees, close their eyes, fold their hands, etc. They
take with them a list of things to pray about, and then they go
through the list methodically. None of those things is bad or wrong,
but that kind of mechanical prayer life can become very tedious.
For most people, after about five minutes they run out of things
to say, become frustrated, and then feel guilty for not having a
better prayer life. No wonder so many Christians are reluctant to
pray. They've made prayer a formal, stiff, lifeless thing that it
was never meant to be. Any time the mechanics of prayer get in the
way of loving God, they're a hindrance, not a help.
TALKING TO A FRIEND
Prayer should be the most natural thing in the world, like
speaking your mind with a friend you trust. C. Neil Strait said, "Prayer
is...talking with God and telling him you love Him...conversing
with God about all the things that are important in life, both large
and small, and being assured that He is listening."
First and foremost, prayer is talking to your Father in heaven and
getting to know Him. It's the process of developing a relationship.
How do you develop and grow in your relationship with God? The same
way you do with anyone else. You spend time together. Armand Nicholi
of Harvard University Medical School said, "Time is like oxygen;
there's the minimum amount that's necessary for survival. And it
takes quantity, as well as quality, to develop warm and caring relationships."
IT'S A LITTLE LIKE A MARRIAGE
Think of your relationship with God as being similar to a
marriage. The main difference is that God, unlike your spouse, is
perfect. He loves you unconditionally, is absolutely trustworthy,
and forgives you for anything and everything you do wrong--past,
present, and future--if only you ask. The good news is that God
has already done the hard work in the relationship. All we have
to do is be willing to communicate with Him, and we can learn to
do that.
Look at some of the married couples you know. You can see that
in a good marriage the partners talk about everything. Their
conversation is spontaneous, transparent, and open. They don't hold
anything back, and they don't try to manipulate each other. But
when communication becomes stiff, formal, or nonexistent, marriages
deteriorate. Studies indicate that half of all divorces result from
bad communication. [If you find yourself in this boat order pastor
David T. Moore's "Love For A Lifetime", available online at: http://www.mooreonlife.com . It is $38.95,
an 8 cassette series on marriage. If applied soon enough, this study
can save your marriage.]
Marriage expert Gary Smalley has said that a healthy marriage
relationship requires one hour of communication a day. This ensures
the continual development and deepening of the relationship. And
I try to spend that amount of time with my wife, Margaret, every
day. How do you think she would feel if the only time I communicated
with her was in an emergency?
The same is true with God. A deep relationship with Him takes time
and effort. It cannot be formed in just a few fleeting mechanical
moments. And it can't be built on an emergency basis either. E.M.
Bounds once wrote,
"God's acquaintance is not made hurriedly. He does not bestow His
gifts on the casual or hasty comer and goer. To be much alone with
God is the secret of knowing Him and of influence with Him."
If we can change our attitudes toward prayer--thinking of it as
a process that builds our relationship with God--and cultivate a
daily prayer time, we can become strong people of prayer. And the
prayer life we develop has the potential to completely transform
our lives.
Before we get into some of the specifics of how to pray, let me
give you five guidelines that will help you have the right attitude
toward prayer:
1. Be Spontaneous
Try to put out of your mind once and for all that prayer has
to be tedious or repetitive. Instead it should be spontaneous and
exciting. That doesn't mean that prayer time will always be happy
and fun. There will be times when you hurt and cry to God for consolation,
other times when you shout at Him in anger. But you will also laugh
and have a good time. The main thing is for you to be yourself.
What does it mean to maintain a spontaneous spirit? Let's say, for
example, that you pray in the morning when you get up. On a particular
morning as you look at your prayer list, you may feel agitated and
distracted. Rather than trying to fight with that agitation and
suppress it, talk to God about it first. And if you can't figure
out what's bothering you, ask God to reveal it to you. Clearing
the air as you begin to pray may be just what you need to do in
order to better communicate with God. Or it may be something that
God wants you to spend all your time praying about on that particular
day.
Willingness to share yourself with God is a matter of the heart
and the attitude. We can close ourselves off, refusing to grow in
our relationship, or we can be willing to tell God everything on
our minds and hearts. [And I might add here, that a spouse that
closes himself or herself off from their mate, refusing to grow
in the relationship, being unwilling to share everything on their
minds and hearts--it is these people that will eventually starve
and kill their marriages. I know from personally experiencing this
happening to me. It is the same with God. That is the vital point
pastor Maxwell is making here. If you can kill a marriage relationship
by doing this, you can also do it with your relationship with God.
That's scary.]
Francois Fenelon expressed this idea well with the following words:
Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one's heart,
its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles,
that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them;
tell Him you longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes,
that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations,
that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart
that He may heal them...Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust
to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises
you to yourself and others.
In other words, tell God everything--both good and bad--with an
attitude of openness and spontaneity.
Spontaneity in prayer requires a willingness to abandon your own
agenda and adopt God's. It means being flexible, looking for good
opportunities no matter what comes your way. Some of the best times
I've ever experienced in and out of prayer have come when I was
willing to do something spontaneous in a situation that might otherwise
have been boring or negative...
Spontaneity and creativity in prayer go hand in hand. Sometimes
creativity helps in planning special prayer times, such as a day
alone with God where you travel to a favorite place, like the outdoors
or a hotel, to spend the day in prayer and praise. Other times creativity
can help you with your day-to-day prayer arrangements. Fred Rowe
is a prayer-partner and friend with a busy schedule. He is a psychiatrist
and has a family with three small boys. He has used his creativity
to make sure that he can have a prayer time every morning. He generally
gets up at 4:30 in the morning and goes for a drive. His hour in
the car is his quiet time. As he drives, he praises and prays, allowing
God to dictate the agenda.
I've experienced a lot of blessings from God because of a willingness
to be spontaneous. Probably the greatest have been my early morning
prayer times. Since 1972, rarely has a week gone by when I haven't
awakened at least once between two and three o'clock in the morning.
Each time, if I can't fall back to sleep within fifteen minutes,
I assume God wants to speak to me, and I get out of bed and go to
my office downstairs. I get out a pen, legal pad, Bible, and I spend
the remaining hours of the night with Him. Sometimes when I sit
and pray, I hear very little. Other times He speaks to me so fast
through ideas that I can hardly get them written down fast enough.
Being awakened in the wee hours of the morning is not very convenient.
And the setting isn't always the greatest. But some of the best
things I've experienced in life and the greatest ideas I've ever
had come out of those spontaneous times alone with God in the middle
of the night.
Be Specific
The second attitude to adopt toward prayer is the desire to be direct
and specific with God. Jesus warns us in Matthew 6:7, "And when
you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they
will be heard because of their many words." It's not the number
of words you say or how eloquent you are that counts with God. As
we speak, it is the sincerity of our words that matters with God. What
is in our hearts gives our voices credibility...
The most effective forms of communication are brief and to the point.
For example, just look at some of the great works from our history
as a nation. The Gettysburg Address, for example, is only 297 words
long, and it's considered one of the greatest speeches ever delivered
in the English language. The Declaration of Independence, the document
the newly born United States used to sever its ties with powerful
Great Britain, is only 300 words. Contrast this with one government
order setting the price of cabbage, which reportedly contained 26,911
words!
Besides being direct with God, we should also be as specific as
we can. How many times have you prayed something like, "God bless
America, bless our church, bless our missionaries..." or simply "God
be with us"?
Specific prayer has power. Remember, Jesus says that you will be
given whatever you ask Him for in His name (John 16:23-24). So take
a look at some examples of how you can pray more effectively:
Instead of praying... Pray this...
God, save this country. Save my neighbor, Bobby, by bringing him
to Christ. God, help me to do well in school. Help me study well
and make an A on this test. God, bless my pastor. Anoint my pastor
to preach salvation this Sunday. God, teach people to love each
other. Help me to love my wife and make her feel loved. God, be
with us. Teach me Your will in this area and help me obey You.
Being specific in prayer has another benefit. When God gives us
an answer, we know it. [And this helps build experiencing answers
to our prayers into our personal faith.] We can know it when our
neighbor gets saved. We can see people come to Christ during the
Sunday sermon. We can ask our spouses if our actions make them feel
loved. And not only that--when we ask God to be involved in our
lives in specific ways, it gives Him the chance to tell us how we
need to change ourselves. The more specific we are in our requests,
the more alert we will be to answers when they come--and the more
specific we can be with our thanks and praises to God later on.
[And this is so true!!!]
ASK the Right Way
Part of any good relationship is a sensitivity to the other person
and their needs. In our relationship with God, it's obvious that
He already knows our needs. As Jesus said in Matthew 6:8, "Your
Father knows what you need before you ask him." But how well do
we know what God wants for us? Ironically, we know ourselves less
well than God does. Ford Philpot said, "Too many of us want what
we don't need and need what we don't want."
We have to learn to put ourselves at the disposal of God's agenda.
Too often we plug away at ours, blind to what God has for us. Many
times God mercifully withholds His answers to our prayers until
we come to Him with the right request. Ruth Graham, wife of evangelist
Billy Graham, once said, "God has not always answered my prayers.
If He had, I would have married the wrong man--several times."
God has many incredible, wonderful things for us, if only we ask
for them. But if we don't ask for them, how can God give them to
us (James 4:2)? Someone once said, "Heaven is filled with a room
that will surprise all of us when we see it. It has within it large
boxes, neatly packed with lovely ribbons and our name on top. They
are things never delivered to earth because they were never requested."
How do we learn to ask right questions? Jesus said, "Ask and it
will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door
will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks
finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened" (Matthew
7:7-8).
I've found that the acronym "ASK" (ask, seek, and knock) helps to
remind me how to make requests of God in a way that pleases Him.
I believe it may help you too:
ASK: When we approach God and ask Him for something, it implies
that we have a need that we want met. So if we want to ask Him the
right questions, we should first examine our needs. If they are
genuine and in accordance with God's will, then we can ask with
pure motives, and that's crucial to having our prayers answered
(James 4:3).
As you prepare to approach God to ask Him for something, answer
the following questions. They will help you examine your needs and
better direct your requests:
Is my request fair and helpful to everyone concerned?
Is my request in harmony with the Word of God?
Will it blend with my gifts?
Will it draw me closer to God?
What is my part in answering this prayer?
If you are able to examine yourself and your requests honestly,
this frees God to work in you when your requests aren't pure and
to answer them when they are.
SEEK: When people seek, as Jesus directs us to do, they are
asking with effort. This implies that He expects us to do our part,
even as we ask Him to do His. So when Jesus teaches us to pray, "Give
us our daily bread," He doesn't mean that we are to sit back and
expect God to rain down manna from heaven on us. After all, Scripture
says that a person who will not work shall not eat (2 Thess. 3:10).
What Jesus means is, "Give us the opportunity to earn our bread." God
does not give added resources to those who are lazy.
Prayer without action is presumption. When we pray, we are to invest
ourselves, just as Jesus taught us in the parable of the talents.
As a result, there is a return on our investment, and God agrees
to give us even more. As it says in Matthew 25:29, "Everyone who
has will be given more, and he will have abundance. Whoever does
not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
There is a saying that you've probably heard: "He who prays and
prays, but acts not on what he knows, is like the man who plans
and plans but never sows." I've found that to be true. God will
not do what only He can do, until we do all that we can do. So when
we pray, we need to be ready to do our part.
KNOCK: When Jesus directs us to knock, He's asking us to
be persistent. The Amplified version of the Matthew 7:7-8 passage
makes this very clear: "Keep on asking and it will be given you;
keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently]
and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking
receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps
on knocking, the door will be opened."
I was once visited by a lady in my congregation. She had been asking
God to bring her unsaved brother to Christ for a couple of months,
and she was getting impatient because he still hadn't made a commitment
to follow Jesus.
"Pastor," she asked, "how long must I keep on praying?" "Until the
answer comes," I answered.
That is what God wants from us. Whenever our prayers are
unanswered, God wants us to continue praying until the answer comes
or He changes our request. And that is what always happens.
An answer comes or God changes our heart and prayer. For example,
look at the case of Abraham and Sarah in the Old Testament. They
prayed for a child, and God answered it. And in the case of Paul,
do you remember how he prayed over and over for God to remove his "thorn
in the flesh?" After Paul prayed the third time, God said,
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). It was then that Paul realized that the
thorn was there for a reason, and he changed his prayer. He aligned
his own will with that of God, and he learned to be content.
One of the most frustrating things for many people is having to
wait for an answer from God. I know that because I have a choleric
temperament. I evaluate situations very quickly and make decisions
even faster, so I especially dislike waiting. But God doesn't ask
us to be persistent to tease us or to withhold things from us. He
does it because He wants us to grow in our relationship with Him.
He wants us to be completely yielded to Him.
In the first few years I was a senior pastor at Skyline Wesleyan
Church in San Diego, California, the church began to grow substantially.
It quickly became obvious to me that it wouldn't be long before
we would need a larger facility. And since enlarging on the current
property wasn't an option, that meant we would need to relocate.
When I was a pastor in Indiana and we had a similar problem, I got
together with my board, developed a strategy, and we were off. Within
a couple of days we got someone to donate the land, another person
to contribute materials, and we were ready to build. But it's a
whole different ball game in southern California. Land is very expensive,
and it isn't easy to find. So I got together with my board, we formed
a relocation committee, and they began searching for some land.
After many months of searching, they found a parcel of land that
looked perfect for us: thirty acres for $2 million--a pretty good
price for San Diego (we could have bought half the county back in
Indiana for that price). And we were happy with the location, too.
But before we were able to make a decision about it, I took my prayer
partners there on a Saturday to walk and pray over the land. It
didn't take long in prayer before we had a unanimous sense that
this was not the land God wanted for our church. So we let the opportunity
to purchase it go by, and we continued to pray, knowing that there
must be some reason why God said no.
A few months later, God opened the doors for another plot of land.
It was eighty acres right on the freeway near a new subdivision
with hundreds of young, unchurched families. We ended up purchasing
that land for $1.8 million--less than we would have paid for the
thirty-acre parcel. And on top of that, through a series of miracles,
Skyline ended up with 120 acres of land instead of eighty for that
price.
God honored our persistence and greatly blessed our obedience. And
He will do the same for you. When you pray, don't give up. Maintain
a positive attitude and continue to ask, seek, and knock.
1. Pray with All Your Heart
Have you ever tried to maintain a conversation with a toddler?
While you're in the middle of a sentence, they figure it's a good
time to play with one of their toys, chase after the dog, or look
for that piece of cheese they stuck between the cushions of the
sofa the night before. It's really hard to keep their attention
for more than a couple of minutes.
That's probably how God feels when He's trying to communicate with
us. Many people pray for a minute here or there during their busy
days, giving God their attention for only a moment. Praying throughout
the day is good, but we also need to give Him our full attention.
The problem is that even then we have a hard time focusing. It's
the war of wandering thoughts. As we pray, we think about the
grocery list; the dog or the kids distract us; or we realize the
bedroom needs cleaning. It turns out we're as bad as toddlers when
it comes to paying attention to God.
In all honesty, most people battle with this problem. Ours is a
world of distractions, many of which try to divide our attention.
But it's a battle we need to continue fighting. When we approach
God, we must strive to give Him of our heart, not just a part of
it. God doesn't answer the prayer of the double-minded person (James
1:8).
Part of the solution is to come to prayer with the right attitude
with the desire to give Him all of our attention, just as Jesus
suggests in Matthew 6:6. But there are also tools and techniques
that can help us to keep focused:
PRAY ALOUD: Probably the simplest way to help you focus is
to pray aloud. It actually makes it difficult for your mind to wander.
Try it. You may at first feel a little self-conscious, but you'll
soon get used to it.
WRITE DOWN THE DISTRACTIONS: For some people, the biggest
distraction to prayer comes as they think about all the things they
need to do that day. To solve that problem, as you pray, keep paper
and a pen close by and write down each task as it comes to you and
then forget about it until later. And if you still can't help thinking
about it, then take it to God in prayer. Distractions are things
you need either to take out of God's way or need to take directly
to God.
KEEP A PRAYER JOURNAL: Journalizing is also a good tool because
it keeps the mind focused on the task at hand. There are dozens
of ways to use one to help you: You can write out prayers, outline
them, or jot down key thoughts or Scripture verses. Use whatever
works best for you.
The additional value of journaling is that it provides a record
of your growing relationship with God, gives insight into your growth,
clarifies your requests, provides a record of answered prayers,
and indicates recurring issues in your life. As Douglas J. Rumford
said in his recent book Soul Shaping, "As we learn to
trust our insights, a creative power builds momentum: ideas begin
to propel themselves into our consciousness. Frequently, the seeds
of sermons or particular actions are planted when we break ground
with a journal."
I once read a quote that describes well the condition of many Christians'
prayer lives. Francois Fenelon said in his book, Christian Perfection, "Too
many people pray like little boys who knock at doors, then run away." Being
unable to give your whole heart to God is a serious obstacle to
building a strong relationship with Him. Just as the moon cannot
be reflected by a restless sea, God cannot be experienced by an
unquiet mind. But having a regular time where you give God your
full attention in prayer grows your relationship with Him in a powerful
way. It's the difference between running after knocking on the door,
and going in and getting to know God. The latter changes your life.
Pray Continually
When you've begun learning to pray with all your heart, prayer
begins to overflow into more of your life. [This is so true!!!] In
1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul tells believers to "pray continually." And
by that he means that we should maintain an almost continuous conversation
with God throughout the day--like breathing, constant and life giving.
Once your relationship with God begins to deepen, that becomes easier
to do.
Growing up, I learned about praying continually (or as we called
it, praying without ceasing) from my father, who has always been
a great role model. For him, praying was as natural as breathing
or talking to my mom. He always seemed to be talking as he walked
through the house--but he wasn't talking to himself. Sometimes
when we were riding in the car, he'd just start a conversation with
God. Dad taught me to praise Him when something good happened; ask
Him questions when I was confused; cry to Him when I was hurt; and
thank Him when I was blessed. And any time we had to make a decision,
Dad's first words were always, "Let's just stop right now and pray
about it." Dad and Mom taught me that the most effective and
contented Christians made prayer a part of their lifestyles.
Developing a strong relationship with God through prayer is not
something that happens overnight. But it can happen if a person
approaches it with the right attitude and is willing to give it
the time and energy it requires. Aristotle said, "Wishing to be
friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow-ripening fruit."
But what in this life--and for eternity--could be better than developing
a relationship with a Father who loves us perfectly and who wants
to know us and grow us into the people He created us to be? I can't
think of anything that compares with that. And the way to make it
happen is through prayer.
4
AVOIDING PERSONAL PRAYER KILLERS
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective
James 5:16
When my wife, Margaret, and I were first married, we owned
an old Volkswagen Beetle. One cold morning not too long after we
bought it, I went outside and got in the car to go to work and it
wouldn't start. I turned the key and nothing happened. All I could
hear was a faint clicking sound.
Now, I didn't have a clue about cars back then--and I still don't.
But fortunately we had a friend who did. He turned the key one time,
heard the clicking, and immediately started climbing into the backseat
of the car.
"What are you doing?" I asked. "The engine's back here. Even I know
that."
"I want to take a look at your battery," he said as he began yanking
out the backseat. "In a Bug it's here, under the seat."
He pulled the seat out. And sure enough, there was the battery.
"Here's your problem," he said. "You see those cables? They connect
the battery to the engine and its starter. But where the cables
connect to the battery it's all corroded." I could see heavy white
junk covering the places where he was pointing. "That corrosion
is blocking the electricity. Your engine's not going to start as
long as that stuff's blocking the power."
"Can you fix it?"
I asked.
"Sure," he said. "We can get rid of this stuff--no problem."
I watched in amazement as he took a bottle of Coke and poured a
little on the battery terminals. The corrosion bubbled away. Then
he fooled around with the cables a little bit and said, "Try it
now." The car started perfectly, as though nothing had been wrong
with it.
Our relationship with God and our prayer life function in a way
very similar to how my car did back then. As long as there isn't
anything in the way blocking our "connection"
to God, we have unlimited power. But when we allow junk to come
between us and God, we're dead in the water. And no matter how hard
or how often we "turn the key" in prayer, we have no power.
10 COMMON PRAYER KILLERS
The best way to keep from having spiritual junk hinder your
prayer life is to avoid it. But when you haven't, the best thing
to do is clean it up as soon as possible. I've found that there
are ten very common blocks to effective prayer. I call them prayer
killers because they take away all power from our prayers and hinder
our relationship with God. If you find that one or more of these
blocks apply to you, confess them to God and ask for His forgiveness
to reestablish your connection with Him.
Prayer Killer # 1: Unconfessed Sin
Unconfessed sin is probably the most common prayer killer. Psalm
66:18 says, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not
hear" (NASB). When the Scripture talks about regarding wickedness,
it's referring to unconfessed sin. God is perfect and can't abide
sin in us. If we knowingly tolerate sin in our lives, it pushes
God away from us. As a result, it makes our prayers powerless.
The good news is that when we confess sin, God forgives it, and
it's gone. The slate is clean and we are no longer held accountable.
Jeremiah 31:34 says, "For I will forgive their wickedness and will
remember their sin no more." Not only are we forgiven, but God chooses
to truly forget our sins of the past. At that point our relationship
is restored, and our prayers regain their power. Our past actions
may still have consequences, but the sin itself is forgiven.
If you have confessed and surrendered a sin to God and continue
to sense accusation toward yourself for that sin, it is not God's
voice you are hearing. It is Satan, the accuser, attacking you.
Always remember, God's forgiveness is complete. First John 1:9 says, "If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us
our sins." Don't let Satan accuse you when Christ has set you free.
Unforgiven sin also has other consequences. We could turn around
the Scripture from Psalms to say, "If I regard wickedness in my
heart, I will not hear God," and it would also be true. Sin dulls
our senses and isolates us from God. Look at the case of Adam and
Eve: When they sinned, they didn't want to walk with God; they hid
from Him.
Besides making us want to run from God, sin also makes us want to
isolate ourselves from other believers. In Life Together, Dietrich
Bonhoeffer wrote:
Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from
the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive
will be the power of sin over him, and the more disastrous is
this isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light.
In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being
of a person.
Sin pushes the person out of the community of believers, and
being away from other Christians prevents us from receiving the
benefit of accountability. It's a vicious cycle. As the saying goes,
prayer prevents us from sin, and sin prevents us from prayer. If
you're harboring sin in your life, confess it now and receive God's
forgiveness. Clear away what's preventing you from connecting with
God.
Prayer Killer #2: Lack of Faith
Lack of faith has an incredibly negative impact on a Christian's
life. Without faith, prayer has no power. Even Jesus was powerless
to perform any miracles in Nazareth because of the people's lack
of faith (Mark 6:1-6).
Jesus' brother James gives some insight into the effect that faithlessness
has on prayer. James 1:5-8 says:
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives
generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given
him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because
he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed
by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything
from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all
he does.
What incredible insight this is into the mind of the unfaithful
person. The word double-minded speaks of a condition where
a person is emotionally divided, almost as if he had two souls.
That condition makes a person unstable and incapable of hearing
from God or receiving His gifts.
Faith is really an issue of trust. Jesus said, "If you believe,
you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" (Matt. 21:22).
People are often reluctant to put their trust in God. Yet every
day they trust people without question, displaying a faith that
God would love to receive from them...[Be sure to turn to the link
on "George Muller: Man of Faith and Miracles" to learn what real
believing faith is all about in this section "What Is Prayer?"]
Prayer Killer #3: Disobedience
I remember one afternoon when I was seventeen lying on my bed at
home studying my Bible. About a month before, I had rededicated
my life to Christ and accepted the call to preach. This day I was
working on memorizing 1 John and came across this verse:
"Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence
before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey
his commands and do what pleases him" (1 John 3:21-23)...I realized
that we receive from God because we obey Him. That's a condition
that we must meet in order to approach Him in prayer.
If we are to grow in our relationship with God and become strong
people of prayer, we must learn to obey. Keeping free from sin is
not enough. Neither is faith. If our mouths says that we believe,
but our actions don't back up that belief with a strong display
of obedience, it shows the weakness of our belief. Obedience should
be a natural outgrowth of faith in God. He that obeys God, trusts
Him; he that trusts Him, obeys Him. [read James 2:1-14.]
Norman Vincent Peale told a story from his boyhood that gives insight
into the way disobedience hinders our prayers. As a boy, he once
got ahold of a big black cigar. He headed into a back alley where
he figured no one would see him, and he lit it.
As he smoked it, he discovered that it didn't taste good, but it
sure made him feel grown up. As he puffed away, he noticed that
a man was walking down the alley in his direction. As the man got
closer, Norman realized--to his horror--that it was his father.
It was too late to try to throw away the cigar, so he put it behind
his back and tried to act as casual as possible.
They greeted each other, and to young Norman's dismay, his father
began to chat with him. Desperate to divert his father's attention,
the boy spotted a nearby billboard advertising the circus.
"Can I go to the circus, Dad?" he pleaded. "Can I go when it comes
to town? Please, Dad?"
"Son," his father answered quietly but firmly, "never make a petition
while at the same time trying to hide smoldering disobedience behind
your back."
Peale never forgot his father's response. And it taught him a valuable
lesson about God. He cannot ignore our disobedience even when we
try to distract Him. Only our obedience restores our relationship
with Him and gives our prayers power.
Prayer Killer #4: Lack of Transparency with God and with Others
On June 1994, I had the privilege of speaking to 65,000 men at Promise
Keepers in Indianapolis, Indiana. I spoke on the value of moral
integrity, valuing our wives, and keeping ourselves sexually pure.
During the weeks leading up to the event, I never in my life felt
so much sexual temptation and pressure. I told my wife, Margaret, "Don't
let me out of your sight for the next few weeks." I knew I was under
serious attack.
I also made a decision at that time to share my struggles with my
prayer partners. It wasn't easy, but I reasoned that if I was honest
with them, they would be able to pray more effectively for me. My
transparency made it possible for them to pray for me very specifically,
and I was able to stand against temptation. I believe it was their
prayers that helped me endure this incredibly difficult time and
remain faithful to God.
James 5:16 says, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and
pray for one another, so that you may be healed"
(NASB). James is sharing a truth about God: When we confess our
sins to one another, which requires us to be absolutely transparent,
God is able to heal and cleanse us. We experience a spiritual, physical,
and emotional restoration. In addition, our transparency helps others,
because it shows them that they are not alone in their difficulties.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer has written about the importance of sharing
openly with other Christians. In Life Together, he says:
In confession the light of the Gospel breaks into the darkness
and seclusion of the heart. The sin must be brought into the
light. The unexpressed must be openly spoken and acknowledged.
All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a hard
struggle until the sin is openly admitted. But God breaks the
gates of brass and bars of iron. Our brother breaks the circle
of self-deception. A man who confesses his sin in the presence
of a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself.
He experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other
person.
The most difficult part in being honest is confessing. Ego
becomes a stumbling block, as does fear of hurting our image. It's
something that our entire society struggles with. Everyone wants
to blame others for their shortcomings and problems...
Transparency is a difficult thing for a lot of people. Many pastors
I know have an especially hard time with it. But openness with others
can have a profound effect on you. Transparency with God when you
pray puts you on His agenda instead of your own. And it also releases
other believers to pray for you strategically and specifically.
Prayer Killer #5: Unforgiveness
You may remember the Scripture passage in which Peter asked Jesus
about forgiveness. He asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive
my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" (Matt. 18:21).
Hebrew law required a person to forgive a person three times for
an offense. Peter, by suggesting seven, thought he was being very
lenient and forgiving. He was probably shocked when he heard Jesus'
answer: "Not seven times, but seventy-seven times" (Matt. 18:22).
Jesus was trying to teach Peter that forgiveness is not a matter
of mathematics. Nor is it a choice of words. It is an attitude of
the heart, and it is the Holy Spirit who empowers us to forgive. [i.e.
Good yardstick whether God's Holy Spirit resides within you, can
you forgive someone who has really hurt you? Can your reconcile
with that person?] Why is forgiveness so important? The answer is
found in Matthew 6:14-15, "For if you forgive men when they sin
against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if
you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive
your sins."
Forgiving and being forgiven are inseparable twins. When a person
refuses to forgive another, he is hurting himself, because his lack
of forgiveness can take hold of him and make him bitter. And a person
cannot enter prayer with bitterness and come out with blessings.
Forgiveness allows your heart to be made not only right, but light.
Prayer Killer #6: Wrong Motives
...God makes no mistakes about our motives. When they're not right,
our prayers have no power. James 4:3 says, "When you ask, you do
not receive, because you ask with wrong motives."
Sometimes even knowing our own motives can be difficult. In my experience,
I've observed two things that quickly expose wrong motives:
A PROJECT GREATER THAN OURSELVES: Big projects--ones
that put us in way over our heads--force us to examine why we
are doing them. And that process exposes our motives...
Prayer: When we pray, God speaks to us and shows us our
motives. If we are acting out of pride, fear, possessiveness,
self-satisfaction, convenience, etc., God will show it to us,
if only we are willing to listen. And if we are willing, He will
change those motives.
Because I always want to try to keep my motives pure, I ask
Bill Klassen, my personal prayer partner, to keep me accountable.
One of the questions he always asked me when I was still the senior
pastor at Skyline was,
"Are you abusing the power you have in the church?" That kept me
honest. And knowing I'd have to face Bill each month and answer
that question helped me to check my motives continually so that
they would be pure and in line with God's desires for me.
Prayer Killer #7: Idols in our Lives
When most people think of idols, they think of statues that are
worshipped as gods. But an idol can be anything in our life that
comes between us and God. Idols come in many forms: money, career,
children, pleasure. Once again, it's an issue of the heart.
Ezekiel 14:3 clearly shows the negative effect of anything that
comes between a person and God. It says, "Son of man, these men
have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks
before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me at all?" The
distaste that God has for idols should be clear from this passage.
He doesn't even want an idol worshipper to talk to Him. On the other
hand, when we remove idols from our lives, we become ripe for a
personal revival.
Take a look at your own life. Is there anything that you're putting
ahead of God? Sometimes it's hard to tell. One of the ways to know
that something in your life is an idol is to ask yourself, "Would
I be willing to give this thing up if God asked me to?"
Look honestly at your attitude toward your career, possessions,
and family. If there are things you wouldn't release to God, then
they're blocking your access to Him.
Prayer Killer #8: Disregard for Others
Psalm 33:13 says, "From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all
mankind." God's perspective is expansive. He loves everyone, and
His desire is that we care for others in the same way. When we disregard
others, it grieves Him.
Scripture is full of verses supporting God's desire for unity among
believers--between Christians brothers and sisters, husbands and
wives, laypeople and pastors. For example, in John 13:34, Jesus
said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved
you, so you must love one another." First Peter 3:7 exhorts husbands
and wives to be considerate to one another. Otherwise, it says,
their prayers will be hindered. And 1 Peter 2:13 says, "Submit yourselves
for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men."
One of the added benefits of prayer is that it helps you learn to
love others. It's impossible for a person to hate or criticize someone
they're praying for. Prayer breeds compassion, not competition.
For example, Bill Klassen often tells people about how he was as
a young Christian. He said that after church on most Sundays he'd
have "roast pastor" for lunch. He criticized his pastor pretty severely.
But as he grew in his prayer life, God began to break his heart
for pastors. His spirit of criticism melted into a spirit of compassion.
And it ultimately directed him to start his own "Prayer Partner" ministry,
devoted to motivating layman to pray for their pastors. That was
quite a turnaround.
Prayer Killer #9: Disregard for God's Sovereignty
I believe very strongly in the sovereignty of God. I think that's
one of the things that has helped me remain positive during difficult
times over the years. I know that God knows me completely and knows
what's best for me. Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the
womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart."
When Jesus showed the disciples how to pray, the first thing He
did was teach them to honor God for who He is, "Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth
as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:9-10). That is a clear acknowledgment
that God is in charge, that He is sovereign. And it establishes
our relationship to Him: that of a child under the authority of
his Father. Any time we disregard the divine order of things, we're
out-of-bounds, and we hinder our relationship with our heavenly
Father.
Prayer Killer #10: Unsurrendered Will
There once was a Scottish woman who earned a modest living by peddling
her wares along the roads of her country. Each day she would travel
about, and when she came to an intersection, she would toss a stick
into the air. Whichever way the stick pointed was the way she went.
On one occasion an old man stood across the road from her as she
tossed the stick into the air once, twice, three times. Finally
the old man asked, "Why are you throwing that stick like that?"
"I'm letting God show me which way to go by using this stick," she
said.
"Then why did you throw it three times?"
the old man asked.
"Because the first two times, He was pointing me in the wrong direction," was
her reply.
The ultimate purpose of prayer is not to get what we want, but
to learn to want what God gives. But that will never happen
if we don't surrender our will and put ourselves on God's agenda
instead of our own.
A person whose will is surrendered to God has a relationship with
Him similar to the one described in the parable of the vine and
the branches. It says, "If you remain in me and my words remain
in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you" (John 15:7).
The branch depends on the vine and lives in one accord with it.
In return, the vine provides it with everything it needs, and the
result is great fruitfulness.
There are great benefits to surrendering your will to God. One is
that God promises to answer your prayers and grant your requests.
Another is that we get to receive the power of Christ through the
Holy Spirit. Just as with the vine and the branches, He flows through
us, gives us power, and produces fruit.
Developing an effective prayer life depends on keeping your relationship
with God strong and uncluttered by sin and disobedience. 1 Peter
3:12 says, "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears
are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against
those who do evil." If we strive for righteousness and confess our
errors, we can remain close to God. But maintaining our relationship
with Him is an ongoing process. A Christian can't simply pray once
through a list like these ten prayer killers and expect to be done
with it. Every day we need to go to God and ask Him to reveal anything
that may be hindering our progress.
Look at Psalm 139:23-24. It contains the words of David, a man after
God's own heart, who had one of the best relationships with God
in all the Bible:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Test me and know
my anxious thoughts, See if there is any offensive way in
me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
David overcame some horrible sins in his life to be close to
God. He was a murderer and adulterer, yet he humbled himself before
God and confessed his sins. And that allowed him to come closer
to God and keep growing and building in his relationship with Him.
David is a great model for us to follow. If God was able to forgive
him and build a special relationship with him, then He can do the
same with us. If we are faithful, God will draw us close to Him.
And He will answer our prayers.
[That is the end of these excerpts. These excerpts were taken from
pages 1-28, and 51-63 of "PARTNERS IN PRAYER" by John C. Maxwell.
These have been given as an appetizer. For the main course, which
I guarantee will make the prayer life of both you and your congregation
healthy, but sure to buy PARTNERS IN PRAYER online at http://www.christianbooks.com ,
then click on "authors list" and then on "John Maxwell" and then
on "Partners In Prayer."
Partners in Prayer, the first book in the John Maxwell Church Resources
series, shows church leaders and laypeople how to unleash the potential of
prayer on behalf of themselves, one another, and the church. If your church--or
private devotional life--is starving in the area of prayer and you want to
tap into the power and protection prayer provides, Maxwell gives practical
insight into
the fundamentals of prayer
improving personal prayer life
praying for others, including church leaders
building a prayer partners ministry in the local church
encouraging prayer revival nationwide
Are you missing out on God's gift and blessing of prayer? Is
there someone you know who would benefit from your committed prayers
on their behalf? Despite God's promise of the power of prayer to
change our world, many of us never experience it. John Maxwell shows
you how to strengthen your prayer life and reap the benefits awaiting
those who become Partners in Prayer.
Christian Living/Pastoral Helps
ISBN 0-7852-7439-1
THOMAS NELSON PUBLISHERS
Nashville
$10.99 U.S.
[Just for a tiny peak into what the rest of this book is about--learning
how to pray for your pastor--here are excerpts from the next
short chapter]