PRAYER & PRAISE SERVICE
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22 | 7PM
SUBMIT PRAYER REQUEST circledownarrow
Section Title
RENEW YOUR HOPE AND STRENGTH
DURING OUR PRAYER AND PRAISE SERVICE
Join us for a time of powerful worship and prayer at our Prayer and Praise Service. This will be a time for us to unite together, earnestly seek God in prayer and rejoice in all He has done and will continue to do in our lives.
Don’t miss this opportunity as we continue to Know Jesus as Lord and cry out for renewed hope and strength for this year. This will be a time for us to unite together, earnestly seek God in prayer, and rejoice in all He has done and will continue to do in our lives.
Due to the Prayer and Praise Service, there will be no Small Groups Sunday, February 19 - Friday, February 24. Childcare will be provided.
prayer requestS
THE POWER OF PRAYER
BY TONY EVANS
Have you ever gotten a key in the mail attached to a letter or on the outside of an envelope? Sometimes car dealerships will mailout thousands of keys to thousands of people in order to try and lure them into their dealership.What they say in the letter is that the key you are holding might actually start a car – and if it does – you get to keep it.You win! If you drive up to their dealership, sit in the prize car, put your key in and turn the ignition – making it start – your key has just gotten you a brand new car!
If it doesn’t start, your key isn’t even worth the price of the postage it took to mail it to you.You might as well just throw it away.
Prayer is like a key.When it is the right key in the right car – amazing things can happen. After all, you are praying to the God who made and owns everything. But too many people don’t know how to use this key. And so they don’t feel like prayer “works” for them – so they throw it away. Maybe they stuck it in the wrong car. Or they tried to open a door with it or a locker at school. And since nothing happened, they assumed it was like one of those keys at the car dealership that wasn’t worth much anyhow.
But God has given us the secret to the power of prayer. And He’s made it plain.The secret to having this key working is Jesus Christ. He is the ignition that this key must fit in for it to work. Listen to what He says:
“If you make yourselves at home with Me and My words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.” John 15:7
And in case you didn’t understand what He meant in that verse, read this one:
“From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it.That’s how the Father will be seen for who He is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.” John 14:13 He means it. Whatever you ask for along the lines of who Jesus
is and what He is doing – He’ll do it. So the secret of accessing the power of this kingdom key is not in the number of minutes you spend praying each day. It’s not even if you pray with your eyes open or shut. It’s not how many times you toss in spiritually- sounding words like “Father, in heaven,” or “Oh great God.”The secret to accessing the power of prayer is in hanging out (abiding) with Jesus – letting what He says hang out in your heart – and asking for things He wants you to do, have, be and become.
The secret is in where you put this kingdom key – put it in the ignition of Jesus Christ and what He’s doing, where He’s going and what He wants you to do ... and you win. He will open the door (Matthew 7:7). He will send the rain (Elijah.) He will part the sea (Moses.) He will show you your way.
UNCOMPLICATING YOUR PRAYER LIFE
By Laura Bailey
We’re told, “Prayer is just talking to God.” Well, if that’s all there is to it, then why do I, a natural talker, find it so difficult? For years, I believed my prayers weren’t good enough for God’s ears or to take up His time. They lack structure and are far from a spontaneous flow of eloquent phrases sprinkled with Bible verses. So, consoled by God’s sovereignty in my circumstances — He’s in control; He’s got this — I eventually convinced myself it really didn’t matter if I prayed at all.
That is, until I came upon our key verse, Luke 11:1: “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him,‘ Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’'' Jesus had just finished praying, apparently in the presence of His disciples. Eager to be like Jesus, they asked that He teach them to pray.
Notice two things about their request: First, they, too, desired to communicate with God through prayer, and second, they knew they needed guidance.
Although prayer may be as simple as just talking to God, it is also a learned skill; it takes time, work and practice. The disciples were with Jesus day in and day out. Of all the things they could have asked Him to teach them — how to heal, teach or perform extraordinary miracles — they asked how to pray.
To teach them, Jesus gave the disciples (and us!) the Lord’s Prayer. We find the Lord’s Prayer twice in the New Testament, not only in Luke 11 but also in Matthew 6, nestled among the rich passages of the Sermon on the Mount. There, Jesus breaks down the essence of Christian living, including a very clear example of how to pray.
By comparing the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 to Luke 11, we see that the words are similar but not exactly the same. This slight difference indicates that our heart’s posture toward the Lord is more important than our actual words. Here are some ideas on how to draw nearer to the Lord through prayer:
1. Acknowledge God’s splendor and glory, and bow before Him in humble adoration, for He alone is worthy of worship and praise.
2. Thank God for His generous provision, including the grace by which He has saved us and sustains us every day. All we have comes from Him.
3. Confess and repent of sins we have committed against a holy and righteous God, believing He fully forgives and remembers our sins no more, thus enabling us to forgive others.
4. Invoke God’s power to fight Satan and resist temptation, standing firm in the face of spiritual attack.
5. Ask God to help us to be Christ-like examples in all we say and do, extending grace, mercy and love to others throughout our day.
Prayer is personal, just like our relationship with the Almighty through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Prayer is also a privilege, allowing us 24/7 access to our heavenly Father, made possible only by the sacrifice of His Son on the cross for our sins. Remember, the Lord is much more concerned with the attitude of our hearts than the actual words from our lips. Life is complicated, but our prayer lives need not be.