Prayer and Grace are Related
Christians must pray, especially those in the local church. There are far too many challenges to live a prayer less life. In fact, a lot of issues in our lives would disappear is we spent more time in prayer. Tonight there were 40 people at prayer.
If you are a serious believer I implore you to spend more time in prayer. Prayer increases our grace for life. Daily prayer brings grace: ease, clarity, favor.
Dean Inge, “It is quite natural and inevitable that if we spend sixteen hours daily of our waking life thinking about the affairs of the world, and five minutes in thinking about God…this world will seem 200 times more real to us than God.”
Prayer less people cut themselves off from God’s prevailing power, and the frequent result is the familiar feeling of being overwhelmed, overrun, beaten down, pushed around and defeated. Surprising numbers of people are willing to settle for lives like that. Don’t be one of them. Nobody has to live like that. When issues arise, pray first and don’t give up on that prayer.
Have you ever started to pray but after 2 minutes, find your thoughts on something else?
WE NEED GRACE for prayer!!! Daily Prayer brings GRACE! The Word Builds Faith, but Prayer builds Grace…
Faith comes by the word of God:
Rom 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” NKJV
Grace comes through prayer:
Heb 4:16, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”NKJV
When we pray life becomes, “Not by might, nor by strength, but by My Spirit says the Lord.”
Prayer is hope in God, not optimism. There are many optimistic people without a prayer life. When we pray our hope intensifies and begins to impact our beliefs about God and what He is capable of in our life.
John 14:13-14, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” NIV
John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” NIV
The Prayer Boundary:
The only boundary for prayer is the Word. If it is in the word (the will), God will answer it.
From the beginning, God desired for us, His people, to have authority over everything…
Authority was given to Adam and Eve, but through sin was turned over to Satan. Jesus came to claim that authority AND GIVE IT BACK TO EVERY BELIEVER.
Eph 6:10, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” NIV
Luke 9:1, “When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases,” NIV
Luke 10:19, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” NIV
Ps. 115:16, “The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord’s but the earth He has given (assigned) to the children of men.”NKJ
Heb 2 and Ps 8:4-7, “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels (Elohim: the Lord himself), And You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.”
When God gives dominion, He does not take it back! We have to release God to have His way. Only through prayer.
God does nothing unless His people pray. It is not difficult. It is not complicated. It is simply talking to God. It is expressing ourselves continually to the Lord and making our requests known to Him. Prayer is the key to drawing on God’s grace in your life. God has no limits. He is limitless. There is no limit to God’s power, except the limit we put on God. Our prayer is unlimited in what we can do. We cannot limit the power of prayer. We cannot estimate the power of prayer, because prayer is as vast as God Himself. All things are possible.
Even those who do not know Christ can pray. Anyone can pray.
A note to TRC: Saturday night prayer is the February 17. Be there! Midweek prayer is Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings as well as before services in the HUB!!!
