Power Principle in Prayer - Sermon Notes

January 17 - Power Principle - Matthew 12:22-37

We want our prayers to be powerful and effective!  No one wants to waste time - God doesn’t want you to waste time - so we have seen that prayer requires us to be connected/abiding in Christ.  In Christ and praying in the name of Jesus is a must!  We have talked about the reality of being also guided in our prayers - ask the Holy Spirit of God to lead you in your prayers - Let God set your agenda for prayer!  

Today we want to look at the reality of the power principle in prayer and how to make sure we are praying in power!

We want to look at two accounts from Jesus life when He cast out demons from people’s lives.  

Matthew 12  Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

29 “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

Demon possession - or healing of mute/blindness - powerful obstacles

Jesus cast out demon and restored man - Jesus has power to heal

Argument comes about of where power comes from - Beelzebul or God

Jesus teaches:

1. the Spirit of God that drives out demons
2. the Spirit of God that is strong enough to bind the enemy
3. Kingdoms divided can't stand

One more story of Jesus casting out a demon in Mark 9 - Jesus and some of the disciples had been up on the mountain and had an encounter with God - some of the disciples stayed back with the crowd of people wanting to see Jesus.  There was a boy that the disciples couldn’t heal.  Jesus comes down from the mountain and heals the boy.  The disciples meeting with Jesus that every evening ask?   

Mark 9:28-29

28 Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”

29 Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”

Prayer on the offensive more than defensive

• hedge of protection
• safety
• guide me (we mean keep me out of trouble)
  - Martin Luther King Jr - non-violent activism & prayer for change

When we are busy doubting ourselves we can’t pray with power

• Hear this : I don’t think God wants you at war with yourself.

He sent the Prince of Peace to soothe those tumultuous waters already. Self‐depreciation is a cruel response to Jesus, who died and made us righteous.   Jen Hatmaker

Guided Prayer

Here are some notes from Sunday - 1/10/2016 theme at Living Faith on Guided Prayer. We often come to God with our own agenda and our own ideas of what to pray about. But maybe God not only wants us to pray but wants to lead us and guide us into what we should pray for and about. Jesus said these words:

Matthew 7:7-12

7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

Abiding prayer are only answered when we ask - don’t ask - God can’t answer your prayer - KEEP on Asking!

Abiding prayers are only answered when we seek - God loves to be pursued - not because it is good for God, but because the God who created you and knows you and loves you, knows it is good for us to pursue Him.  Everything that comes too easy is not usually valued - Teen in Texas who was arrested in Mexico - killed four people in DUI wreck and got parole because he was wealthy… given too much and too easy and he didn’t value anything he had.  God knows if prayer was just a simple - say a pray and pop - immediate answer just as we ordered, prayer would be taken for granted, it would not be something we sought to know God it would be simply used for our own enjoyment - why did the healing miracles of the New Testament seem to diminish over the years… lack of faith could be part, but Christianity was taking over the world and flourishing.  Maybe part of it is that not many people can handle the honor or the power of healing hands.   

Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you - when something is hidden behind a barrier like a door and you want to get to the other side - knock - keep on knocking until the door is open to you.

Are you a good parent or a good person?

• good parents don’t give their kids rocks instead of bread
• kid rock (what type of parents let their kids listen to Kid Rock- a joke that totally flopped - but I still think it is funny!)
• good parent don’t give their kids snakes instead of fish

Parent questions tell us we need to be guided in prayer

• we are children in the spiritual world and have no idea what we really need
• we have a God who knows exactly what we need
• we children must trust the Father that he will answer prayer appropriately
• we as parents know not to give our kids rocks and snakes - how much better does God know what we need in answered prayers.

Allow God’s Spirit to guide us in prayer and He will lead us into rich areas of involvement -

• God will guide us to pray for movements of His Spirit - God is moving and we need to seek those ways and pray that the power of God would continue to move and work in those movements
• God will guide us from prayer to involvement - if we are praying about a movements - God will lead us to be involved in that movement and we will be a part of God transforming the world
• Mentoring - Dale -I have been praying about a movement of God in mentoring the fatherless of our culture - Donald Miller has started a mentoring program in Portland and OK City. 80-85% of men in prisons today did not have a father in the home -
• What movement of God are you passionate about? Are you praying? How will God want you to be involved?

Powerful Prayer for Others - Part 1

A friend asked if I would put some sermon notes on my blog from Sunday and so I said I would. So this is not very detailed, but it hits the main points. Hope you find it helpful

January 3, 2016 - Abiding - John 15:5-8

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

1. "But if you remain in me" We are the branches - branches are conduit of the vine to the fruit - nothing on our own but yet God chooses to use us as part of the process of bearing fruit. So how do we stay connected/abiding in the vine? Res Howell said for him he had to go through a process of surrendering areas of his life to God. Things like:

• Love of Money
• Where I make my home; marriage & family
• Holding grudges/ not willing to forgive
• Ambition
• Reputation

- remember whatever we hold onto God can't bless!

- when we hold on to things and refuse to surrender them to God then God allows us to be in control of those areas of our lives.

2. "And my words remain in you" the truth from the vines words must remain in us - our prayers are actually words from the vine.

3. "You may ask" - prayer is asking for the right things

4. "Anything that you desire" desire - wish - what is the desires of your surrendered heart? A surrendered heart that prays God's words and desires the things of God prays for different things than the unsurrendered heart.

5. "It will be granted" - God will answer your prayer - What types of things should we be praying about when we pray for others?

• prayers about Fruitfulness
• prayers about discipleship
• prayers about God receiving the glory