WILL HE FIND YOU? PART ONE

MEMORY VERSE: And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Ezekiel 22:30

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Job 11-20

What is prayer? According to Noah Webster’s dictionary 1828 edition, it is a solemn address to the Supreme Being, consisting of adoration, or an expression of our sense of God's glorious perfections, confession of our sins, supplication for mercy and forgiveness, intercession for blessings on others, and thanksgiving, or an expression of gratitude to God for his mercies and benefits. There are several types of prayer. There is the prayer of praise and thanksgiving. Praise is offered to God for who He is and what He does in general. A popular form of praise is a eulogy. “You are the Biggest… You are the Greatest….. You are the Wisest….. You are the Strongest….. You are the Best….”, are forms of eulogies. God loves it when we eulogise Him. Unfortunately, many don’t eulogise Him and some of us who do spend a little time doing it. Going through the Scriptures, I discovered that whenever people eulogise God, He does wonders. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is offered to God for what He has done for us in particular. You thank Him specifically for what He did. You slept last night and He woke you up this morning, thank Him for that. Why? Not everyone who slept last night woke up this morning. Thank Him for your vision. Why? Many lost their vision last week. Now, granted, if you are having an emergency – you are about to slide into another car ahead of you – you do not have time to do a lot of talking. But apart from that, it is a good principle to start prayers with praise and thanksgiving. Thanksgiving gives you access into His court and praise gives you access into His presence. Psalm 100:4 says: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

Another type of prayer is worship. Worship is not singing hymns or choruses or slow songs; worship is not a declaration of God’s attributes. Vocal expression has to do with praise and thanksgiving; worship has to do with attitude. What’s your attitude in prayer? Different attitudes are represented by different words. One means to bend the head low. Another means to bend the upper part of the body forward and stretch out the hands. A third means to prostrate oneself face downward in the presence of the One whom one is worshipping. NOTE: Thanksgiving and praise are vocal, meaning they come out of our mouths; worship is the attitude or (of position of the body) in which we come. There is the prayer of petition which means asking for physical and material needs to be met. Might I remind you that praying is not just thinking of anything we want and asking for it. Praying is discovering God’s revealed purpose in Scripture, and then praying for the outworking of that purpose. Also, there is the prayer of intercession. The intercessor is one who comes between God and those for whom he is praying. There are several other types of prayers and we have treated them in the past. God willing, sometimes this year, if God delays His second coming, we will repost them. Prayer is one powerful tool believers, all round the world, have to turn things around. Another one is speaking in tongues. John Wesley wrote this in his journal: “ I am persuaded that God does everything by prayer and nothing without it”. Paul, the apostle, said in Phillipians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” You can achieve a lot through prayers. You can destroy the plans of the enemy in advance. Through the power of prayer, Jesus destroyed the plans of the enemy over Peter’s life. Luke 22:31- 32 says: “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” Peradventure you have been set up to fail like Jabez, if you will cry to God He will turn that around. Prayer changes things –events, people, situations ,etc. Prayer also fixes things. It fixes a bad marriage. Prayer also corrects things.

NOTE: God is only committed to answering the prayers of His children. Before you go to Him, you need to ask yourself this personal question, am I lamb or a goat. Am I His child? If you have not given your life to Christ you are not His child, period!

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Bro Samuel | Reaching the world.