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All Access 2010 ... Brian Houston

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All Access 2010

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

 

Prayer … Brian Houston

 

THANK GOD …. God does extra ordinary things with ordinary people.  When God's people pray, He does extra ordinary things.

 

James 5:16-18 NLT

16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

 

·      Prayer is a God encounter.

·      Recognize and never under estimate what God can do.

·      Spice up your prayer life and the prayer life of your church.

·      Prayer is multi dimensional. 

·      The extra ordinary happens when we don't forget to pray.

·      "I will enter His gates with thanksgiving…"

·      There is power in praise.  Don't take it for granted.  Praise is great dimension of prayer.

·      There is power in being still.  People lean in when you do that.  "Be still and know that I am God."

·      One place is not rude it come boldly before God.

 

1 John 5:14-15 NLT

 

And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

 

·      Come boldly before God.  We have confidence in Him.  He hears.  He answers.

·      Believe and come to God with no sense of limitation.  We never graduate from the need to come before God in prayer.

·      There are times when there is a need to CRY OUT to God.  There is power in that.  Get low enough to cry out to God.

·      Never lose our desperation in trusting God.

·      The power of meditation is good.  Let God bring it up again (speaking about Scripture).

·      There is nothing boring about prayer.

·      The capacity to focus on who Jesus is worship and extra ordinary things happen.

·      Praying in the Spirit.  Jude 20

·      Be people who know the power of prayer.

 

1.  Prayer is most effective when we are transparent.

 

·      Prayer is most effective when it is transparent, when it is real (see James 5:16) and authentic.

·      I am big on being real.  Don't be make believe.  Be people saved by the grace of God.  We are fighting our own battles. 

·      An authentic, real atmosphere will draw people and show people that we love God and love them (Proverbs 14:4).

·      Dirty churches are authentic churches.

·      Pharisee says "thank God I am not like the other man" (see Luke).  The other guy saw himself sinful and desperate.  Nothing has changed about the heart that touches God.

·      Don't pretend.  That's the kind of atmosphere where God answers prayer.

·      Just be who you are.  Get better at reaching people.

·      When we recognize we are flawed ordinary people, God does extra ordinary things.

 

2.  Prayer is most effective when it is unselfish.

 

·      When I focus on being happy, I get more unhappy.  When I focus on others, I get more happy.  Pray for others.

·      People who are generous and include others are used by and blessed by God.

·      Keep our focus broad and big because we want to see the blessed of one another. 

·      2 Chronicles 1:7 Solomon asked for wisdom do he could lead people.

·      Blessings come when our prayers are not about us.  Pray for one another.

 

3.  Prayer is most effective when we remember its authority.

 

·      Nothing has changed.  Authority is still in the name of Jesus.  He is the best we know at building great churches.

·      We change the world when we pray ……………………………………….

·      Our prayers must not feel benign

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