Prayer Windows 95

So, Pastor Jay had something somewhat bump in his schedule that he had to do and he couldn't reschedule and guess what time it was for, seven o'clock, and not only that, he's sort of re-enfolded this week back into a normal 16-hour day and he's, he tried to re-enter too fast. Can you imagine that? Especially him. He's just not that kind of guy. That was a joke. And so he's also extremely tired, so we kind of exhorted him to do the thing he needed to do and then maybe take it easy, but my guess is he'll be here if at all possible. So you're stuck with me. Yeah, right. Right, okay. I'll pay that five dollars later, Chris. And actually I'm just going to teach his notes, which is kind of a bittersweet thing because I didn't have to do any work, which is kind of nice, but something that we'll own together as we go through it. Turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings, and this isn't going to be a long thing because tonight our main emphasis is going to be praying, and we just want to set a context, not a very long one, but a context for that time of prayer tonight so that we have a foundation by which to pray. 2 Kings chapter 6. 2 Kings chapter 6. I was talking to Jay about this today, and he mentioned to me that Windows 95 just came out. Now, I am certainly not an expert in computers by any means, but I do understand enough to know that that program, Windows, is what sort of supports the rest of what your computer does. Can anyone verify that? Say yes, no. Okay, it does. It's kind of the foundation of what all the other applications that your computer can do. You've got to have this Windows program to do it. Without it, it won't run all these other things. So that's why you see, you know, on the box, you know, needs Microsoft Windows, a particular version, because without that, your software is no good. Well, you could think of all the spiritual gifts and all the things that God has given us as a body, as software. I mean, you know, some of us are teachers, some of us can give great mercy to other people. We're all gifted in some way. We have tremendous resources as a body here at North Way, and those are all kinds of software that we can use in our program. But if we don't have the basic system, like Windows 95, then all our software, as good as it looks, as good as it might appear from up here or somewhere else, without this foundational system, it's not going to work. It's not going to run those pieces of software. And if Microsoft Windows is the basic foundational application for running your computer, what is the foundation of the Christian life? Prayer. We say that, you know, we're quick to say that, but we're also quick, if we were really honest, to not really embrace that. That, as Oswald Chambers said, that the greatest work is prayer. It's not a prelude to the work of God, it is the work of God. And we kind of do believe that, but in many senses, in the way we live out our Christian life, prayer becomes another kind of tag that we, you know, try to fit into our schedules, even our spiritual life. And tonight, what we want to do is see that prayer is not a software or a piece of application that helps us run the Christian life, it's really the foundation, that intimacy with Christ. When He said, come unto me all who are weary, and I will give you rest, the idea of that word rest in Matthew is, I will give you a firm place to stand. I will give you something solid to stand on. And that, that solid stance comes from prayer. It comes from being in the presence of Christ, and then that presence pervading my life, and that sensitivity to God's Spirit then pervading my life, and even running the applications of my life. And it's not that prayer is something we use to make something happen, it is the source by which we gain that intimate relationship with Christ, where we can hear His purposes and move in them. And that's what we want to talk about tonight, and more than just talk about it, we want to move into a time where we actually practice that foundational application of prayer. And to kind of set the tone, I want to look just very briefly at two scriptures, the first one in 2nd Kings. Does everybody have an outline? We'll just walk through this together, but let's read this story, starting in verse 8 of 2nd Kings chapter 6. Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, I will set up my camp in such-and-such a place. The man of God sent word to the king of Israel, beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there. So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again, Elisha warned the king so that he was on guard in such places. This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, will you not tell me which one of us is on the side of the king of Israel? So you see what's happening is, every time he tries to set his camp up somewhere, the Israelites already know where it's going to be, and they avoid it, because someone's giving the information to the king of Israel. So the king of Aram says, hey, how are they knowing this? Certainly there must be a traitor, is what he's saying, and I want to know who it is. Verse 12, all of his officials say, none of us, my lord, the king, but Elisha the prophet, who is one in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom. Can you imagine that? It's like, gonna be careful what I say in my bedroom from now on. Go find out where he is, the king ordered, so I can send men and capture him. The report came back, he is in Dothan. Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. Oh my lord, what shall we do, the servant asked. Don't be afraid, the prophet answered, those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elisha prayed, verse 17, oh lord, open his eyes so that he may see. Then the lord opened the servant's eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. The enemy came down and of course then it goes on to talk about how Elisha prayed and they were all struck dead. What, you know, it's hard for us in our western way of thinking and just in our century to think about the impact of what that must have been like to see that. That here he walked out in the morning, saw the thousands of men about to descend on two people, Elisha and his servant, and he starts to panic. What are we going to do? Things are overwhelming, we're not going to make it. Have you ever had that scenario in your own life, where you look out the window and you see the thousands of situations and circumstances that are against you? And basically you say, god, how in the world are we ever going to get out of this? And there are four kinds of people in this story when it comes to how they view the circumstances that face them. Number one on the outline is people who only see in the natural. People who only see in the natural. That for them there is nothing beyond what they can see. If they can't see it, it really must not be there. The other day I was playing basketball with my son Drew, who's four, and I mean we have one of these little, you know, Fisher-Price things. I like it because I can slam dunk it, which is something I've never been able to do before. And he's up there, you know, and I'm standing behind him, and he's got the ball, you know, and he's like this, and to him it's like, you know, 10 feet out. And he's up there and he throws the ball, and I mean it just, you know, barely gets over his head, and it comes back to me. And I catch it and put it in real quick before he can look, and he goes, yes! You know, like he had done it. And the only thing he could see was what happened when he did his thing. So apparently I did this, and the ball went in. He had no idea I was behind him putting the ball in. And a lot of times that's how people live. They see only the immediate physical. And whatever I can see must be the answer. And that's exactly what happened in verse 11. Look back at verse 11. The gatekeepers, or actually I'm on the wrong page. Second Kings 11, or 611. This enraged the king of Aaron. He summoned his officers and demanded them, will you not tell me which one of us is on the side of the king of Israel? See, to the king, this must be something I can see. The person who's doing this must be someone that I can see, because that's the only realm there is. There is no other realm. So the first person in the story, and many times the way we live our lives, is that it's only what we can see in the natural. If we can't explain it in the natural, then it must not, you know, really be happening. Or if we'll just wait long enough, we'll be able to explain it. The second kind of person is in verse 12 and 13. That's the person who sees both realms. They understand there's something beyond the physical, but they resort to natural means for securing the solution. Look at the officials, what they say in verse 12. None of us, my lord, none of us told it, but Elisha, the prophet who's in Israel, tells the king everything, even the things that you speak in your bedroom. Go find him so we can take care of him. See, the answer to something that I can't explain is still something that I can't. And many times that's how we live, that even if I can't explain it, even if it's something beyond my understanding, I'll still try to carve out an explanation by what I can come up with in my mind, by what I can settle in my mind. See, that software program of trying to manipulate and orchestrate the circumstances so that they'll work out a certain way won't run, because the foundational program of prayer isn't there. It's what fires or ignites the other things in our life, what gives us the impetus to move. The third kind of person is the person who sees or hopes there is a spiritual answer. That was the servant, the servant who said, I sure hope that you realize, Elisha, what is taking place out there. We're about to be demolished. What are we going to do? But he couldn't, he didn't have the faith to see into the realm where they could understand that God, God wasn't surprised by all the guys coming down in the chariots. He was right there, ready to wipe them out, actually, because Elijah saw what the servant couldn't do. And then number four, people who see the invisible, know God's power is available, and take action through faith and prayer. See, that's very important. It's taking action through faith and prayer. Is that the first place, I ask all of us tonight, is that the first place we think about taking action? You know, when something happens in your life, a circumstance that hits you or your family, is it thought of in your mind that to really take action is to pray? That's really where the action is. Because, you notice later on in the story, Elijah activated, really, the demolish of these people by doing what? He prayed. He showed them to the servant. He said, I want you, God, open his eyes. I want you to see what's there. And then he prayed, God, smash them. That's really what he did. He said, destroy them. And it was in that, it was in that that activated that faith, and it became action. It wasn't, you know, Elijah marching out there and saying this. He activated God's power through prayer. And many times we try to activate God's power through trying harder or doing this or being this or, you know, going to this place. But instead of doing that, what did Elijah do? He activated God's power through prayer. That was the greater work for Elijah, was to pray. And again, think of your own life. You know, is your life kind of like my son, where I try my hardest, I try to get the ball up there, and then something happens, and I kind of clap. You know, I kind of, it looks pretty good. It looks, it looks like something's happening there. Instead of realizing that the means to accomplishing something that God has set before us lies primarily in prayer. That is the greater work. That's hard for us to grasp, especially in a kind of a world that we live in, which is very action-oriented. Take charge, grab a hold of this thing, control it, orchestrate it, make it happen. And God says, I'm the one that will do that. I'm the one that will lead you into those steps. But what I want you to do is seek me. I want you to seek me. And in the seeking of me, I'll reveal what I want you to do. So many times we get it backwards. We want Him to reveal what it is we're going to do, and hope that somehow intimacy comes out of that. Instead of really seeing that the power that God uses in my life to activate His purposes for my life, comes as I seek Him in intimacy, as I come before Him to seek Him. He then makes His purposes known to me. What Jay is really saying here is that we can do a lot of things, and we can try even as a body to accomplish a lot of software this fall and coming up in the next year. But really, if we miss or overlook the foundational application of prayer, then it's really nothing more than flesh. It's really trying to live the Christian life and minister to each other in our own power, which eventually is going to fall willfully short. We can do it for a while, but eventually we're going to get this bad taste in our mouth, and we're going to burn out, and we're not going to last, because we've not sought that intimacy. Come to me, and I will be that solid place that you can stand. I will be that solid place you can stand. Turn to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. Here's a passage that we all know. In fact, we looked somewhat at it on Sunday when Mark was here. But it's a passage that talks a lot about prayer, specifically on how prayer, again, activates the intimacy with God that I need to then see His purposes accomplished in my life. Verse 10. Again, very familiar words of Ephesians chapter 6. Finally. Now, that's an important finally. All the stuff that Paul's talked about in Ephesians. And he's talked about a lot of stuff. He's talked about our blessings in Christ, what we possess because of Christ. He's talked about the way we should treat each other and our families, the way we should treat each other in the body of Christ, the way we should be controlled by the Spirit. After all of that, he says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, authorities, powers, and this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to what? Stand your ground. And after you've done everything to what? What's the next word? Stand. What do you think he's saying? Stand. After you've done everything you can do, stand. Stand. There's something about standing and spiritual warfare that, if we look at it on the surface, doesn't look like it goes together. Because we think about warfare as, you know, a big commotion, that we need to do something. But the word there, stand, is actually passage. In other words, Paul is delineating out that the power to overcome all these principalities and all these things that we do fight against isn't going to come in your own strength. Therefore, in one sense, you're passive. Not that you're not intentional about prayer, but you're passive in that you realize your place in this. Your place isn't to defeat the enemy. Your place is to stand where God can use you. See? There's a big difference. It's not me who accomplishes this. It's Christ in me who accomplishes this. And many times when I'm standing, I'm in the way. Do you understand what I'm saying? Just give me a nod or not. Many times when I'm not standing, I'm in the way. It's interesting he uses that over and over and over again in this passage. Stand firm. Stand firm. And it has a couple connotations to it that Jay put down here on the outline. B means to stand or to remain standing after a battle. See, the battle is won by who? The Lord. We are his servants in the battle, and we are part of the battle. Don't misunderstand me. But the power isn't what lies within me. It's what lies within the Lord. See, not by might, not by power, but by the Spirit, says the Lord. And so Paul is referring to this when he says, stand. Something after a battle about us needs to find our resources still in Christ. We can't win this battle that Mark was talking about on Sunday if we don't stand in this relationship with Christ. When we looked at the book of Colossians, we realized that everything is in Christ. Everything. All that we have. All the resources of heaven are wrapped up in Christ. And Paul is saying, stand in that. The second thing is that you take your stand, see, for the next battle. In other words, you're always ready for what Christ is going to bring into your life. And how does this happen? This happens through prayer. This happens through prayer. It doesn't just happen through praying a list. See, that's not it. Prayer isn't just praying a list of things. Prayer is a life that I live. See, it's understanding God's presence in life. And it may include praying for specific things like we're going to do tonight. But all that, see, if we're praying for worship ministries, or we're praying for student ministries, or we're praying for Jay, or we're praying for whoever, it doesn't matter. That all is birthed out of this life of experiencing God's presence. See, that's what Paul means when he says, stand. Stand in that life. Come unto me, all who are weary, and I will give you a place to stand. I will give you a solid place from which you can live this life. Stand. And then number three, how do we stand in this? Just to highlight what we've already really said. A, we stand in this in Christ. This is all in Christ. The resources of what we're going to do tonight, and the resources of prayer in general, don't happen because I try really hard. See, they happen because Christ accomplished what he did on the cross. That's why my prayers are effective. Oswald Chambers said, it's not hard for us to pray. We always get the idea that, man, it's such a labor, and it's really hard for us to pray. I can hardly do it, and I always fall asleep. He said, the problem is that when we think it's hard for us, we miss the point. The person it was hard for, for us to enjoy the benefit of prayer, was Christ. See, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame. The person who endured the hardship so that we could boldly come to the throne wasn't us. It was Christ. See, that's why we stand in him for those resources, and that's letter B. It's through the cross. It's through the cross. It's through what Christ accomplished on the cross that we can stand. It is not because we're neat people. It is not because we're sharp people. It is not because of anything in and of ourselves. It is because of what Christ accomplished on the cross that we can stand before God, and we can stand because of his blood, letter C. And then number four, by his Spirit. By his Spirit. We looked a couple weeks ago in John 14, where Jesus says to his disciples, and then in a larger context to us, I will send another Comforter, and he will continue to lead you in all the things that I have taught you. And what the Spirit does is embody what Christ taught when he was here. That's why the life of the Spirit is so vital to our relationship with Christ, because he, as Colossians says that Christ is the exact representation of God, you could say that the Spirit is the exact representation of Christ. See, the Spirit reflects perfectly what Christ did and taught and was when he was here, and now he does that in our hearts. Isn't that great? See, through the Spirit, we experience that same life that Christ lived when he was here. So, you see, when we pray, it's not just a momentary act. Let's come together tonight and pray. But it's something that's born out of a life that we lead. And as we lead that life, as we find ourselves on that solid place of Christ, that's when our prayers become fervent, because basically what we're praying is then in sensitivity to that place that we're standing. It really makes prayer a lot more than we tend to think of it, which is the momentary act of words. Really what it makes prayer is the way I live my life. Prayer is life, and prayer sparks life because of the Spirit. And tonight we're going to pray, and we're going to pray about several things, and there's a list of things that perhaps will strike a chord in you, because as the Spirit of God moves in our lives, he does impress upon us how to move, where to go, when to pray, what to say, how to live. And so, as we pray tonight, I want you to consider these things as potential impressions that God might lead you to pray, even beyond tonight, that these might be things that you embrace at a deeper level, even through this entire fall season, or maybe for this entire year coming up in 96. These 10 things, why don't you go ahead and let's talk about them very quickly. First of all, the preaching of the Word here at North Way. Now listen, that's not just what we're doing right now, okay? It includes that, but the preaching of the Word is the proclamation of the Gospel. You preach. You are all preachers when you proclaim the Gospel of Christ. That's the essence of preaching. That's the essence of what Rhema is, is revelation of God in our midst. And every time that you come together in a group, every time that something happens in the hallway where you see yourself moving from just how's the weather to a more important issue in your life in Christ, you become, in essence, a messenger or a preacher of the Word of God. And so, what we're really saying here is, not just for what happens in these 30 minutes, but how does that revelation shape our lives together as a body? Number two, healing. The Holy Spirit, we know, is the healer. Not just physically, but physically as well as emotionally and relationally. Perhaps God is impressing on you specifically to entreat him in the area of healing. Number three, evangelism. The people that surround your area of influence, the people that you come in contact with, the people that you know that don't know Christ, that need to know Christ, that need to understand the great gift that he gave on the cross. Perhaps God not only is going to move you to pray for them, but he's going to, as you live in that place, as you stand in that place, and you stand in that sensitivity, perhaps he will share with you what to say to them. That will be timely and will help them move closer, being drawn closer to the Holy Spirit. Number four, new life. New life. Our body needs new life because it's reproducing itself. Number four, commitment and discipleship. Jesus said, if you want to be my disciple, you have to come after me. Come after me with your whole heart. And where are we in our own lives and as a corporate body in following hard after God? What is God calling you to? What is the next step in your discipleship? What is the next step in our discipleship as a body? The next one, student ministries at North Way. You know the critical spot that that's in right now as far as being built and starting with Paul and all the things that are moving towards what he's starting actually this week in September with the kids. Perhaps God will really burden you for that tonight, not only, but in the weeks to come to pray specifically for him as he begins his ministry here. Children's ministry. Jeff is doing something really new this year in breaking kids into smaller groups where they can really understand with a person, maybe one on seven or eight, what the life of Christ is like and experience that, not just in a teaching setting, but in a small group setting. So we need to pray for those people and pray for the coaches who will oversee that ministry. Number seven, relational commitment to each other. Perhaps it will be in a group that you're in, but we cannot live this life alone. It has to be in the context of community. The next one, unity in the body. Is that right? Yes, a lot to bring disunity to the body. And Paul says make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit. And it is an effort. It's an effort that only, again, we find as we come into that place and stand. But it will so readily sap our desire to follow Christ when there's disunity. We need to pray about that. Prophetic function in our community is the next one. And again, what are we talking about when we say prophetic function in our body? What we're really saying, really in essence, prophecy is something that spurs you to holiness. That's what prophecy is. It's something that spurs you either at an individual level or at a corporate level to holiness, to move into that place of relationship with God. And so either as people, as again, as a body, how do we pray for these things? Here's what I'd like to do. God very clearly says two very important things about prayer. Number one, in second Corinthians, he says that we have the mind of Christ. That we know what God desires in something, not because of ourselves, but because of Christ living in us. And a little further in that passage, he says, even when we don't know what to pray, the Holy Spirit takes our inadequacies and prays for us before the Father. And tonight, I really exhort you as you pray with others in your group to realize that Christ's presence is here in this place. That through prayer, we can experience together Christ's presence and his purposes. And then the second thing is that the Holy Spirit will take the inadequacy of our petitions and shape them before the Father in a way that will bring clarity and action, as we saw in the Old Testament, to what we pray. And so as we pray in groups, keep those two things in mind. That when you feel inadequate, perhaps to even say, God, my words are inadequate at this point. And what we're entreating your Holy Spirit to do is to shape this before the Father in such a way that it's effective. And then to wait on the mind of Christ as you pray in groups. And we'll break it up a couple different times and pray with a couple different groups. But I want to encourage you in the first group to pray through in sentence prayers. And if God impresses your group to stop on one of these things, great. But try to pray through some of these issues that we've talked about in this last section and stand together for what God's purposes are in this place. And let's not leave anybody out in groups of, why don't we say four or five, and then I'll call us back in a little bit. Yes, Jean. Why don't you stand up, Jean, so everybody can.