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Living Hope SDA Church

The Power of Prayer

Christian Martin

01 The Power of Prayer: Making a Difference in the Gap

My message today is entitled, The Power of Prayer.

This is going to be part 1 of a two-part series.

We're coming right out of our 1 agenda meeting this last Wednesday and we're putting into practice what we agreed to do next weekend during our 24-hour prayer and fast celebration, our feast of prayer.

And as we focus on prayer, let's be reminded that the same teacher that walked with the disciples, the same teacher that was asked, Lord, teach us to pray, that same teacher is with us here right now.

And as we ask him the same question, he's sure, he is sure to teach us and speak to us.

So as we prepare to hear a word from God, Let's bow our heads once more.

Father, great teacher, how good it is to be in your presence.

We're worshiping you, Lord, because you are great.

You are the God who wants to fill us with who you are.

You want to be an intimate God who walks with us and talks with us.

And now Lord, we long to know something more about the power of prayer, teach us to pray, Lord.

And we pray that the Holy Spirit would now come into our hearts and speak to us, Lord, through your word.

A prophet has to do what a prophet has to do.

And in this instance the prophets name is Ezekiel, which means strengthened by God.

And you would have to be, when you're called by God, as was Ezekiel, to bring awareness to the sins of the people.

You're going to need all the strength you can have from God when you're called to do such thing.

And to be a watchman requires self-control, it requires focus, it requires commitment, and it requires a strong spiritual foundation and a reliance on prayer.

And Ezekiel therefore knew something about prayer.

He accepted the call to be a prophet, a watchman.

He understood that he must know how to pray.

And after all, he was among the Jews who were in exile in Babylon.

And so as a priest as well, Ezekiel was expected to be a man of prayer.

After all, a priest was 1 who interceded for the people.

Ezekiel, a priest, knew something about intercessory prayer and the need for it.

And I invite you this day to come with me to the book of Ezekiel.

Would you open your Bibles with me to Ezekiel?

And Ezekiel, we're going to go to chapter 22.

Just how bad was the need for intercessory prayer during Ezekiel's life?

In fact, he records it all in chapter 22.

Ezekiel chapter 22, Just notice the need for prayer.

Verse 25, the princesses conspire together to devour people, mercy, Take treasures and precious things and make many of the women widows.

Verse 26, the priest violate God's law and profane His holy things.

Verse 27, the officials are like wolves tearing their prey.

They shed blood and kill people to get dishonest gain.

Verse 28, the prophets have false visions saying, Thus saith the Lord, when the Lord had not spoken.

And verse 29, The people have used oppressions, committed robbery, mistreated the poor and the needy, and have wrongly oppressed the stranger.

And that is the context of darkness that Ezekiel finds himself in.

And listen to what God says next in verse 30.

I searched, is God speaking, I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, so that I would not destroy it.

You know that expression, stand in the gap.

And did you know that it originates from this very ancient text?

And in this particular use, it has a double meaning.

You see, in ancient times, in ancient civilizations, massive walls were built around the cities.

Well, you can, you can logically understand why.

Because it was the best means to protect the inhabitants of the city from unwanted intruders.

It's going to keep unwanted robbers away.

The size of the walls were mind boggling.

Such as the ones that surrounded Jerusalem.

And the length, the thick of the wall was no less than 8 feet or more.

And it's interestingly enough, a friend of mine recently returned from China.

And while in China, he went to an ancient, the ancient ruins of ancient civilizations.

And what's interesting, he showed me some pictures, is that the old ruins that he went to see dated back to 600 BC, around the same time as Ezekiel.

And so evidently, evidently this was the standard to protect the people, the residents of the city.

So any breach in the wall could have allowed the enemy to enter.

Devastation would occur if there was any breach or gap in the wall that would get access to the enemy.

If a breach or gap was left unattended or unprepared, the results would be disastrous.

And The only way to secure it was for people to risk their lives.

To not love their lives unto death by literally standing in the gap.

In the gap of the wall and fighting the enemy.

But now in the book of Ezekiel, the word picture of a gap on the wall speaks of a breach, you got it, in the spiritual sense.

There's a gap in the spiritual wall that surrounds Our world, our country, our families, our church, our marriages, and our children.

There's a spiritual wall by the grace of God.

And there is an enemy that is relentless.

02 The Power of Prayer: When Jesus Prays Me Through

And something I've discovered is that prayer is what connects my nothingness to my all.

Prayer is what brings us into the very presence of a God.

You know, we learned last week that God, God himself searches for a man and a woman among us who will stand in the gap before Him.

And it was beautiful to see how many of us chose to make prayer a prioritized commitment.

And here at Living Hope, it is our intentional effort to become and to be a house of prayer.

And by the grace of God, we are a house of prayer.

And Elder Restrepo was correct when he said, you're going to hear a lot of prayer during our service.

And rightly so, because we are a house of prayer.

Our children prayed some beautiful prayers, didn't they?

They literally took us all into the throne room of God.

Our children will lead us to the throne room of God.

And that's why today has been designated as a day of prayer and fasting.

That's going to happen right after the service in our fellowship hall.

And today we continue our focus on prayer.

And we're told by the Apostle Paul to pray without...

And, in that same verse, and to give thanks in everything.

For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for us.

And my message today is part 2 entitled The Power of Prayer When Jesus prays me through.

Let's bow our heads together as we acknowledge him.

But today we acknowledge you even more so as a teacher, asking that you would teach us to pray.

May we leave this place, Lord, knowing that we've had an encounter with you.

It has been said that God always brings good, always brings good, even out of bad.

Do you believe that God always brings good out of bad?

And I'll tell you why, because the Bible tells me so.

Romans chapter 8, verse 28, it says that God works all things.

And what things are included in all things?

Therefore God works all things together for the good, for the good of those who love him.

Now Let me be quick to say, and I know that somebody is thinking this, the fact that God works all things for our good does not mean that you won't face difficult circumstances.

And in case you missed it, bad circumstances are also included in the all things.

The all things includes the good things, yes, and the bad things.

What it does mean is that God is always able to bring good out of them.

And I know that there's a witness here today and I'll be the first 1 to declare that there is need for the good in this life here on earth.

There's the need for the good when the doctor diagnoses us with a serious illness.

When we suffer the loss of a loved 1, when our relationships break down, there's need for the good.

When financial hardship comes our way, when we get ourselves into legal trouble, when there's family conflicts, when there's political unrest, when you're betrayed by someone else, there is need for the good, for the good.

And in these moments and many others, we lift up our voices towards heaven and we say, God, fulfill your promise right now that all things work together for good.

You know, in fact, God is so committed to the good of all things That he was even committed to the good of all things, even after Adam and Eve disobediently rebelled.

Resulting in fear and shame, God still caused it to work together for the good of Adam and Eve, who loved God and were created according to his purpose.

The good promise is found in Genesis chapter 3.

We're going to go to the book of beginnings.

And explore this concept that God is good.

God is so committed to the good of all things that even after Adam and Eve sinned, God intervened so that all things, even their rebellion that brought sin into the world would work out together for good.

The good promise there is in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15.

And I will, the promise, I will put enmity between you and the woman.

And between your seed, devil, and her seed, you, he, shall bruise your head.

You, he, shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

We take in what's going on in this very moment.

The very moment when we as the human race needed divine intervention, Jesus was actively and prayerfully looking for them in the cool of the day.

I'd like to propose to you that the mere fact that Jesus is looking for them indicates that he's already interceding.

He's already interceding for he knows what has happened.

He's looking for them because he's going to do a work of intercession.

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Series

The Power of Prayer

02 The Power of Prayer: When Jesus Prays Me Through

Transcript

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Parts

01 The Power of Prayer: Making a Difference in the Gap

41m

02 The Power of Prayer: When Jesus Prays Me Through

56m

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