Our Rally Cry is to Pray First!

Prayer should should be first response not our last resort.

1 Thessalonians 5:17  (NLT)

17 Never stop praying.

I never pray more than 20 minutes, but I never go more than 20 minutes without praying.  Smith Wigglesworth. 

A Lifestyle of Prayer

John 15:4-5 New Living Translation (NLT)

4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

5 “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.

1. The priority of prayer.  Daniel had 3 daily appointments with God. 

Daniel 6:10 (NLT)

10 But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.

2. Have a place of prayer.  

Mark 1:35 New Living Translation (NLT)

Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.

3. Have a plan to pray. 

Luke 11:1-2 New Living Translation (NLT)

11 Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray:

“Father, may your name be kept holy.
    May your Kingdom come soon.

4.  Your view of God in prayer.  Your view of God determines your relationship with God.

  

2 Corinthians 13:14 The Message (MSG)

14 The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.

A.  Our Lord Jesus's grace is amazing.  Jesus is carrying your prayers to God the Father.  He understands what you are going through, and He cares. 

B.  Our Father God's love is extravagant.  

Ephesians 3:14 English Standard Version (ESV)

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

Psalm 103:8-13 English Standard Version (ESV)

8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
    nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

C. We had an intimate friendship with God the Father through the Holy Spirit inside of us. 

John 14:16-17 English Standard Version (ESV)

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 

Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands

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