Prayer, Fellowship and Love!

SUMMARY:

Our theme for April and May is Prayer and Fellowship. Fellowship with the Father is the foundation of prayer! God wants to have a personal relationship with you. God wants you to hear and to listen to His voice. The title of last week’s message was: “HEARING GOD’S VOICE!” I said to you that relationship with God is our highest priority, our highest pursuit and our highest passion. There must be a higher level of urgency spending time in God’s presence, spending time in prayer, praying in tongues, fasting and spending more time in the Word, fellowshipping with God. We need to move closer to God!

 

SCRIPTURE READING:

Ephesians 6:11-18 MSG

(11)  So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. (12)  This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. (13)  Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. (14)  Truth, righteousness, (15)  peace, (16)  faith, (17)  and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. (18)  In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare.

Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

 

TEXT VERSE:

Ephesians 6:18 NIV
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Efesiërs 6:18 AOV
terwyl julle met alle gebed en smeking by elke geleentheid bid in die Gees, en juis daartoe waak met alle volharding en smeking vir al die heiliges

 

INTRODUCTION:

John Wesley said: “It seems God is limited by our prayer life – that He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him.” People say that God has everything under control!
Even ministers say. ‘God has everything under control, He is running everything.’
Well, when I was a young Police officer, I was not born again and I had a problem with God! I saw on a daily basis how people were murdered, how children were assaulted and abused, women raped how people died in car accidents and a lot of other horrific stuff! I stopped praying to God and I stopped going to church! I knew that God was there but I couldn’t understand why God allowed all of this on this earth if He is a good God!

 

WHY PRAYER:

When I was born again – it was one of the first things I asked God and He answered me! God created everything on this earth (see Genesis) and God said that it was good.

 

Genesis 1:26 AB
God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority …

God did not say: “I am going to take complete authority…”

God gave complete authority to mankind on this earth!

So Adam was in a sense ‘god of this world’.

Adam then committed high treason and gave his authority to the devil!

Satan then became ‘god of this world’!

 

2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT
Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.

So the devil will stay the ‘god of this world’ until Adam’s lease runs out!

God will never go against His own Word. He cannot legally and justly move in and take away that dominion from the devil. That is why God sent His Son Jesus Christ!

Jesus took the authority from the devil and He gave it to us as believers!

We must exercise this God given authority, this dominion that God gave us!

This is exercised when we ask God in prayer to intervene!

So, right now God’s will is not being carried out on the earth, except for those who surrender to Him! I asked God many years ago why it is going the way that it is in this world. He said to me because His children are not praying! He then added that the reason it is not going worse, is that there are believers who are praying!

 

DIFFERENT KINDS OF PRAYER:

So prayer is of the utmost importance for us as believers! Who of you know that there is different kind of prayers that we read about in the Bible?

 

Ephesians 6:18 NIV

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

The Amplified Bible: ‘…all manner of prayer…’

New King James Version: ‘…all prayer…’

Good speed’s Translation: ‘…every kind of prayer and entreaty…’

So, the Bible teaches several kinds of prayer and the different laws governing them.

Many prayers are not working because people are using the wrong rules and laws.

You may say: “Pastor, this is confusing!”

Don’t be confused – go to the Rulebook, the Bible and learn how to pray!

Some of the prayers you will find in the Bible:

• the Prayer of Faith
• the Prayer of Petition
• the Prayer of Consecration
• the Prayer of Commitment
• the Prayer of Worship
• the Prayer of Agreement
• the Prayer of Supplication
• Intercessory Prayer
• Prayer in the Spirit
• United Prayer

“Well Pastor this makes it very difficult to pray you know!”

That is not true – Let us first take a look at what makes every kind of prayer successful!

 

LOVE – MAKES PRAYER SUCCESSFUL:

Romans 5:5 KJV
And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

The nature of God is in you and me and the nature of God is love!

We are part of the Family of God, the Family of Love and Faith!

Love brings us into a relationship with God and with one-another!

Love is the basis for all the activity of the Body of Christ in this earth!

God loved us while we were sinners and He sent Christ to die for us!

Jesus said in John 15:13; Greater love has no man than this:

that a man lay down his life for his friends.

We are to love the same way! We give our lives for mankind!

One of the ways to give our lives to mankind is by giving ourselves to prayer!

 

RELATIONSHIP:

Fellowship with the Father is the foundation of prayer.

We must remember that there must be communication in any relationship!

When there is not sufficient communication, the relationship deteriorates.

When there is no communication, there is no living relationship anymore!

The most important part of communication in any relationship is listening!

In order to listen, really listen, we need to concentrate and we need to tap in to the other person that you are related to. Your attention must absolutely be with the other party.

Put away your cell phone; get away from the Television and the Computer!

Especially when you are listening to the voice of God!

Before you get out in the morning – be quit in prayer – listen.

Think of the day ahead – listen to the soft voice of the Holy Spirit!

We always want to think about yesterday, the past!

Be a visionary, start with Prophetic thinking – every day!

Think about yourself, your marriage, family, job, how you can influence people!

Listen to the voice of God. Now you can move to the next step of creative listening!

You heard what God said; you experienced His dreams and His thoughts for you!

Now, start with the art of doing! Become a doer of what God told you to do!

This starts with planning. Failing to plan is planning to fail!

Ask God for wisdom and once again – listen carefully to what He says!

Proverbs 29:18 AB
Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish;…

Now you can move on to the ‘doing part’! This must also be done in constant prayer!

Listen carefully to what God says – remember creative listening!

God knows your voice! Do you know God’s voice?

Luke 18:1 AB
ALSO [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up).

 

1Thessalonians 5:17 AB
Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly];

Colossians 4:2 NKJV
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;