AdamParker.org

2 Years Ago Today

Filed under: Blogging

What were you doing 2 years ago today?
I thought I’d do something a little different today with my post. As some of you know, before IHOP I was a youth pastor. We had a group of young people that were going after God as well as some that were just going… But it was a time that God used to teach me a lot. I learned more in my time as a youth pastor than I had ever learned before.

Well I wanted to get your involvement on this, and tell me what you were doing 2 years ago today on a Wednesday, and post something from that time (if you have something to from back then).

2 years ago today I was preparing for the youth service that night and we had just had our 16th Game Night the previous Friday where we probably saw anywhere from 5-10 people commit or recommit their lives to Jesus. We were also in the beginning stages of starting theFurnace (one word) for those that remember. I was also writing my notes that I used for announcements and the message. Below are the notes for that message, unchanged, in its raw form as well as the graphic we used for this message.

Announcements

March 5th, Saturday… next rock-a-thon fundraiser….
March 15th, MeWithoutYou at Big Daddy’s (9:00pm)
March 17th, Jars of Clay at FSU (Free Concert)
March 18th, Forever Changed at The Beta Bar
April 1-2, Rock-A-Thon
April 22-24, Atlanta Youth Trip (Dare2Share and Six Flags)

Pray Continually
2 Chronicles 7:14-15
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. ”

Jeremiah 33:3
“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know”

1 Thes 5:17
“pray without ceasing,”4 Keys to praying continually1. Praying with Humility

It takes humility to bend the knee and pray.

You can’t be proud.
Proud hearts are less inclined to pray because deep down they suspect that they can achieve the desired result independently and when they do pray, it can appear more like approaching God for his rubber-stamp upon their plans rather than seeking his face

Pride – overestimates self

Unbelief – underestimates God

These 2 things tempt us to think that time spent in prayer could be more useful if we actually did something. But when we come to God in brokenness, helplessness and dependency, we can be sure that he hears and acts.

lets look at what Paul said about this…
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
“9And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

A Powerful Christian is one who embraces weakness. Ironically Pride actually enforces weakness
And robs us of ultimate power in Christ, because it keeps us from our knees. When a newborn baby lies on its back and cries, It is crying out for food, for love, for its mom, and without those things it would die.

This is a picture of the dependency and humility that stirs God’s heart. We seek God’s face b/c we are helpless without him. But as we grow older it takes increasing humility to admit that we still need him just as much. This is just one reason why children are closer to the Kingdom of Heaven than adults; they know how to need.

Learning To Need
This guy whose wife was going through terrible pain said this, “I am more and more convinced that people only really pray when they need to”"What about those with disciplined daily prayer-lives?”"Surely they pray even when things are fine?”

But it might be that those people are just humble enough, or hurting enough, to have a consistent awareness of their need to pray. The fact is that those who are content also tend to be complacent in prayer, while those who suffer cry out to God. (Maybe why poor countries are seeing miracles)

Story of the lady with a non-Christian husband.

There are all types of prayer from listing things off to God from a prayer list, and just informal prayer where people just pour out their heart to God. But listen to someone praying with a profound sense of need…. and there is a raw pleading and a humble reverence springing from that heart-cry.

– A friend is dying and only God can heal;
– the money has run out and only God can provide;
– an unsaved parent is dead to Christ and only he can save them.

This is the prayer of the humble heart As long as we think we can achieve a particular result independently, we will pray shallow prayers, if we pray at all.

But God is attentive to, as Matthew 5:3-6 says, the prayers of “the poor in spirit; those who mourn; the meek; those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; for they will be filled.”

The prayer that triggers revival and an movement of God so powerful we can’t imagine will always be branded by humility and brokenness before God.

Announcement:
The Furnace and the 24-7 Challenge

24-7 Prayer is nothing new…
Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is this…

“To love God.”