Hooked Up to the Power

We’ve been talking about prayer in our Wednesday Services a lot lately as well as having some really good prayer times. We also want to spend extra time each day of lent beginning next Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) by fasting a meal… Hour or so of TV or Internet…

Have you ever noticed how many of our prayers are for us… focused on something for us… a healing, a breakthrough, blessing… ? Think about how many o four prayers deal with outward circumstances… Most of our requests are for these things. There is nothing wrong with that, but prayer can be and needs to be much more than that.

Prayer needs to be for more than the External Needs We Want God to Meet

Now, if I get sick or something, I am going to ask for prayers… and if you are sick today or any day, we will pray for you.

But the Bible teaches that when we pray, we need to pray for more than just the externals.

We Need to Pray for More than the Externals

We need to pray for the internal issues too.

Apostle Paul spend a lot of time praying for the inner being of the people he wrote to… He teaches us what to pray for as we read his prayers.

Today, we want to learn what to pray for. I want us to learn to pray with Maturity/Power.

1. Powerful Prayer Begins with THANKSGIVING.

Ephesians 1:15–16 NLT

Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly,

Paul begins his prayer with THANKSGIVING. Out of 13 letters Paul wrote in the NT, 6 of them have a prayer of thanksgiving in the first chapter. Paul doesn’t just pray a general prayer of thanksgiving, but he gets specific in his thanksgiving for the people he is praying for.

Pray for The People iN Your Life that Have Meant the Most to You.

One way to pray powerfully is to pray for those people in our lives that have have touched us the greatest. Call them out by name… person who discipled you… parent… spouse… friend… anyone… Pray for those people who have meant the most to you in your life.

Then you can let them know you are praying for them. It will mean a lot to them.

Paul articulated specific things he was thankful for in the prayers he prayed. He is thankful for the people he is writing this letter to.

Paul was thankful, but he wasn’t thankful because everything was going right… He was in prison. He was awaiting Trial. It was a Bad time for him.

Some of you have wondered how much worse can life get?

What’s so bad in your life that you can’t be thankful?

For mist of us it’s easy to look at our circumstances and become depressed or frustrated. Sometimes we get so frustrated, we blame God when our circumstances are not going well. I like it when my circumstances are perfect… But it just never happens.

Paul is in prison and he is giving thanks to God and praising him. I don’t know about you, but I need to remember Paul’s example and never pray without giving thankfulness to the Lord.

So here is Paul, he is in prison and he is giving praises to the Lord. We have to pray with thankfulness. (do it)

I need to look at Paul and say to myself, if Paul can be thankful and have a great attitude while he was locked up in prison, I can sure be grateful as i go through the things I am facing.

Compared to what Paul went through, we have it easy.

I’m not saying that some of the situations that some of you are in don’t need some serious prayer. But we need to have a heart of thankfulness when we are praying.

Serving Jesus is all about serving Him on the Mountain top, and serving Him in the Valley.

It’s our relationship with Him and a heart of thankfulness that enables us to get through those valleys.

One thing for sure - - - The Ephesian Church was not perfect. They had a lot of room for growth in the people’s lives. They had problems between Husband and wives; Parents and children; employers and employees.

However, before dealing with any of these problems, Paul let’s us know that we are to begin with thanksgiving in our hearts. If you try to correct people without Thanksgiving you will do so with a wrong attitude and you will not produce any fruit.

Why aren’t we Thankful?

Often we are not thankful, not because we decided to be unthankful, but because we forgot, or became distracted...

We Don’t Say Thank You Because We are Distracted

Often we become like the wife in an old couple. The wife was complaining that her husband never saying that he loved her. “I told you I loved you 30 years ago at the ceremony and if I change my mind, I’ll let you know.

If we used those communication skills when we were dating, there would be a lot more single men… We forget to say things like, “I love you” or “Thank you” because we become complacent…

We Don’t Say Thank You Because We are Complacent

Maybe we don’t say thank you because of some type of sin in our lives and we really want to avoid God because the HS is convicting us of that sin.

We Don’t Say Thank You Because We have Sin In Our Lives

Or maybe we just don’t thank God because of some type of issue… addiction… anger… frustration… lack of obedience… These issues even keep us from praying.

We Don’t Say Thank You Because We have ISSUES

Exodus 20:18–21 NLT

When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear. And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!” “Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!” As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.

We are just like these Israelites… Their sinfulness caused them to not want a direct encounter with God… and we do the same thing. Rather than allowing sin to keep us from prayer and encountering the Lord, it should drive us to prayer… to the Lord.

God has His Arms Open Wide to RECEIVE US

Listen to me. God has His Arms Open Wide to receive us… to forgive us… to restore us… to Bless us. But we have to come to Him in Prayer.

Too many times Broken Fellowship with the Lord keeps us from Him… from being thankful to Him.

Married Couples - there probably have been times that you came to church barely on speaking terms. You were so mad that murder was an option. But you came to church. How hard was it to offer thanks for your spouse? Probably impossible! But that moment is when you need to thank God for your spouse more than ever. By giving thanks for them, you open the door for God to begin the healing process.

Whenever we become angry with someone, we can’t allow ourselves to become bitter. Bitterness keeps us from being thankful to the Lord. It will make you act like a wild animal.

The Lord says to put aside all Bitterness… even when you fell like you have a right to be bitter and angry. It doesn’t matter what the reason, God wants to remove the bitterness because He knows it will destroy you.

The Lord Washes Bitterness Away With THANKSGIVING!

Thats the secret…

So if you want to pray with power… with maturity, you have to begin with thanksgiving.

Secondly, Powerful Prayer is more concerned with what is going on Inside instead of what’s going on Around us.

2. Powerful Prayer is Concerned with What’s Going On Inside You

Most of the time when we have a prayer request about us or when we go to the Lord in prayer for a need, we are concerned about something going on in our circumstances… the Outer Us… heal our body, give me a raise, save my family...

RARELY do we pray for our relationship with the Lord… I want to know you more… purify me from any and all sinfulness...

Think about this, of all the aspects of your life, what one thing would you like to change?

What One Thing In Your Life Would You Like to Change?

I’m not going to have you share it, but think about it… Do you have something? More than likely, you came up with something concerning your OUTER YOU… health, looks, kids, job situation, friends, situation in life, school, classes, circumstances...

A lot of times, our prayers are us coming to God asking Him to change our Circumstances.

Powerful, Mature Prayers have to do with the Inside of us… the REAL us. We begin to ask God to change us… to change our attitudes, our thoughts, our desires...

That can also be seen in Jesus prayer in Matthew.

Matthew 6:9–13 NIV84

“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

Five out of six petitions here do not have anything to do with outward change, but about inward change. Verse 11 ask about outward change… “give today our daily bread.”

Jesus is modeling mature, powerful prayer for us.

In this prayer for the Ephesians, Paul prays for things that have to do with INWARD CHANGE.

Paul Prays for Inward Change in the Ephesians

The First thing he prays for is that they might know Christ more.

Ephesians 1:17 NIV84

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Paul wasn’t praying they would know more about God, he was praying they would know him better. We have to develop a consistent prayer life because that develops our daily and personal walk with the Lord.

Paul wants you and I to know God more.

Paul wants the Ephesians and us to know God… to know the character and nature of God… Better because the more we know god, the more we allow Him to influence our lives. We begin to put on the Mind of Christ.

Ephesians 1:18 NLT

I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

Paul wants us to understand the Hope that God has given us… it’ sour inheritance in Christ Jesus. Hope represents our future.

Remember, this world is not our Home… we are just passing through. Your house might be paid off, but it’s not your home. We have a home laid up for us … one that’s fixed and for sure. It doesn’t need painting or repairs… nothing ever breaks down.

Paul’s prayer is that in the middle of all our temporal day to day problems, we will be focusing on the Hope of the glorious riches in Christ.

3. Mature Praying leads us to know the Power God has for us.

Ephesians 1:19–23 NLT

I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

The resurrection of Jesus is the indication of how powerful God is and Paul says that same power is at work in Christ is at work in you and I.

The Same Power that is at work in Christ is also at work in us.

The same power that raised God’s Son from the dead is the power that is also at work in you and I… for the glorification of our bodies.

Paul instructs us to pray so that we will be changed on the inside.

Paul teaches us to pray with thanksgiving, and that we might pray that our inward attitudes expand, so that we have no small view of Christ, no small view of ourselves… but rather we come to know GOD… and that we understand that we have a glorious Home in the future… that we have the greatness of God’s Power with us now.

Conclusion

It is important that we apply Paul’s message to us today… and the needs that are represented in this room. Maybe you are here an you have incredible bitterness. You need to let the Spirit if thanksgiving come upon you.

And for those of you here today who have spent a great deal of time praying for the changing of your circumstances…..more important than the change of circumstances is the INWARD change that God wants to do in you

Galatians 2:20 NLT

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is not Outward… but Inward. We are not going to be OUTWARDLY hung on the cross like Jesus did. This verse is about what happens on the inside.

When life brings you the worst circumstances, remember that this world is NOT your final home. Our Hope is in the Lord.

We need to trust in the Lord’s Power. We also need to remember that we have power over everything the Devil throws your way. We are the Body of Christ.

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