Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Productive Praying

We went to Bro. Joe Arthur's church this past Sunday evening in hopes to get to hear him preach. Our pm service is at 3:00 in the afternoon and his service is at 6:00 so we took the opportunity to go. Upon arriving there his wife informed us that Bro. Arthur was in North Carolina starting a meeting for this week there. Filling in for Bro. Arthur at his church was an evangelist by the name of Bro. Mark Agan. We knew of this preacher from another church in the area. This post is going to be my notes from the message he preached. The message helped me and I thought it might help some of you as well. I pray you receive a blessing from what I got from it.

James 4:2-3 "Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."

There's a lot of praying going on but not all of it is productive.

I John 5:14 "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:" There needs to be a confidence in God. The prayer that is productive is a confident prayer. If we are confident in God then we'll go to God about everything.

Romans 5:2 "By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We can be confident that we have access to God. Hebrews 4:16 "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." This confidence is restricted to a certain group.I John 1:12 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" t is only reserved for those who know God. The person who prays productively must be a child of God.

Our faith is not to be in our prayer. Our faith is to be placed in the One Who hears our prayers and the only One Who can answer those prayers.

When our prayer life gets boring and mundane we need to stop praying and get out focus back on Him. We have the tendency to focus too much on our prayer and not on the One we're praying to.

We need a commitment to the purpose of God. We should not pray for anything that is against God's will. We must desire the will of God above all. Our purpose to pray is not to see our will done but to see God's will done. We need to discern what the will of God is. Colossians 1:9 "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;" God wants us to know His will. It is not meant to be a secret or a mystery. We can know His will according to the Scriptures. If it goes against God's Word then it is not His will.

There must be conviction concerning the promises of God. We must know and believe He will answer our prayers. Isaiah 65:24 "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Sometimes God will answer immediately. Sometimes He answers directly. Sometimes His answer is delayed. And sometimes His response is denied. Sometimes He says "no". When He says "no" it is best for us. He knows what is best for us. He will reward our prayer. God does answer prayer!!

Answered prayer should not be the exception. It should be the rule. Many are just not praying believing. Matthew 21:22 "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." They don't have the confidence in God that He will answer. Always remember...God answers every one of our prayers. He will answer "yes"..."no" or "not yet".

Do you have the confidence in God that you need. Are you praying productively. If you're not seeing answer to prayer in your life...you're not praying productively. Have confidence in Him and believe His promises.

16 comments:

Baptist Girl said...

Dear Julie,
Thank you for your kind words you left at my blog. I want to let you know I think you have a very God honoring blog. You encourage others to walk as Christ would want us to walk. You are a dear sister and I want to know I appreciate all you do here in the name of our Lord and Savior. God bless you Julie.

Cristina

Sis. Julie said...

cristina....Praise the Lord!! That has always been what I felt God wanted me to do with this blog. Many times I have felt like just quitting it but then God will use someone to encourage me and remind me of why I felt led to start it in the first place. I appreciate each and every one that comes by to visit...even those that don't leave comments. Thank you for your faithfulness to the Lord and to coming by.

Jodi said...

...We should not pray for anything that is against God's will . . .We can know His will according to the Scriptures. If it goes against God's Word then it is not His will.

AMEN! I believe that scripture reading and prayer must be intertwined; they go hand in hand. We must not step out with actions based upon a "feeling" when the actions themselves run contrary to God's Word.

Our faith is not to be in our prayer. Our faith is to be placed in the One Who hears our prayers and the only One Who can answer those prayers.

AMEN again! :o) The Lord is our confidence, strength and supplier of all our needs!

Great post, Julie, thank you for sharing this.

Sis. Julie said...

sis. jodi...I'm so glad it blessed you as it did me when I heard it.

Anonymous said...

Julie, I really needed to read this today! What a blessing!!!

Kate

Sis. Julie said...

maranatha....Praise the Lord!!

Susannah said...

What great message! I especially like this statement: Our faith is not to be in our prayer. Our faith is to be placed in the One Who hears our prayers and the only One Who can answer those prayers. How absolulely true. I needed to hear that today Sis Julie. {{{Hugs}}}

Sis. Julie said...

e-mom...Praise the Lord!!

Unknown said...

Hey there!
I have lots of catching up to do and now that we have started school I am so short on time. But I just had to come over and visit with my dear Instant Messaging buddy!

Its so good to be back and I hope soon, back to normal, What ever that is!

I climbed to the top of the LightHouse on Hunting Island and thought of you!!

Sis. Julie said...

sis. pam...Aaaawwwww!! You are so sweet to think of me. I miss you and our late night chats. I look forward to our next opportunity. I'm glad you were able to climb to the top of the lighthouse. I bet you were wore out afterwards weren't you? I hear they have lots of stairs in them. I'm glad you are back!!

Jessica said...

Hey Sis Julie,
Kristina told me that yall had a good time Sunday night. I am so glad that all of yall were able to go! Thanks for posting your notes from the sermon. That was a blessing to me! I certainly know what it is like for God to answer prayers with "Not yet". Thanks for the post, what an encouragement!
Love you,
Jessica

Sis. Julie said...

jessica...I'm so glad it blessed your heart too.

Mimi said...

Julie,
I love to come to your blog because I know that I will always receive a blessing.. I see the Lord's answers to my prayers and so many times I can see that he is telling me no because I am asking for something selfishly.
This was a great sermon!
thank you for sharing it

Sis. Julie said...

sis. mimi...I'm glad you received a blessing from this post. Thank you again for your encouraging comment.

~~Deby said...

Great Post Julie....Thanks for the great notes that you take and pass on to all of us.
Deby

Sis. Julie said...

sis. deby...you're welcome.

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