The Pulpit and Prayer

Sometime ago I went through a dark time in my life. And on my search for a word or a message from God I visited many churches. And what I found was much of the same ol' rhetoric. Preachers regurgitating the same ol' stuff. Often times I went away feeling like it was a waste of my time even getting up and going to church. I did it more out of religion than expectation.
I have recently gone back and I still feeling the same way. The church is just having church. While families within the church are falling apart, people are loosing homes and businesses. All the while the preachers seemed to be concerned with one thing. How do we keep our profession going? How do we get people to give more in these tough economic times. How do we keep people from leaving the church?
The answer lies within the prayer closet preacher! Not gimmicks and crafty sermons. Prayer brings God into the pulpit and then He saturates the sanctuary. It is the priestly duty! To minister to God first! Our churches are dying because the pulpits are withering. Our pUlpits are withering cause many preachers have stopped chasing God and have become professional in what they do.
The result is rather than getting a healing word or a word of hope, people have been subjected to crafty sales pitches and brow beating sermons that make them feel guilty for not giving.
Prayer needs to be brought back to the pulpit. We need God in our services! We need men and women who are on fire first in the prayer closet then they transfer that to the church. God is looking for such a human being to carry that life changing fire into the church.

Prayer The Avenue of Change

It was interesting to watch the campaign of Barack Obama. He ran a campaign based on two words "Change" and "Hope" The turn out at the polls was remarkable. Individuals who had never voted their entire lives showed up to participate in election. The participation of these people themselves demonstrated both words. People showed up with change on their mind and hope in their hearts.

In 15 yrs of being a Christian having experienced both great success and terrible failure, it has been prayer that has been the avenue of change in my life. Greatness begins with adversity and prayer is the thing that brings you through it into your greatness.

Moses was in the wilderness and standing next to a bush God begins to communicate with him. He is transformed through the fellowship of prayer. Elijah was in the cave and his time alone God changes his life for his next season. You will never move any further in life than your ability to pray.

PRayer is the avenue of change! Walk down it for you will never be the same!

Prayer vs. Methods

Prayer will always be the vehicle that God moves about in the earth. It is through prayer that methods are conceived,developed and given by God. It was prayer that gave Noah the Ark, and Prayer that has given us some of the methods that have changed the world today. Great men and women were in prayer when they received their assignments. Choosing to be God's methods in earth. Man has always been a great thinker being that he has been created in the likeness and image of God. The ability to think and create. It is a gift!

We loose sight of God and prayer when we try too many methods and they work. We stop praying because we figure that we can do it all on our own. Methods will never be able to outdo prayer. Prayer is progressive. It Brings answers from eternity and unlocks a potential the world has never seen.

Next time you are in a situation that seems impossible...PRAY!

Compromise

Satan does not want you to believe that you can have a good life in the will of God.
In the garden of Eden he planted a seed of doubt against God's word into the mind of Eve. Causing her to question her God and the provisions that God had made for her. Making her believe that she was actually missing out on something better than what she already had.
His tactic is one of confusion that starts out with the question "Did God say?" If he can get you to question the will of God, then he can get you to fight with the purpose of God. Which then brings the doubt of God's judgment. Table of compromise is the table of devil's. No human ever wins at that table. Once you are there you obviously mean to do business with him. Anything he gives you is nothing in comparison to what you will have to give up for a temporary pleasure in exchange for an eternal life in Hell. Prayer exposes the enemy for what he is and gives us the power to resist him through the Holy Spirit. Pray and pray some more. When you are done doing that. Pray again.

Prayer and the Possibilities

Prayer makes the impossible turn to possible. In fact it was God Himself who said "With man this is impossible but with God all things are possible" MT 19:26 We see in scripture where on two occasions the impossible was made possible with a prayer.
The first is found in Mark 6 Five Thousand Fed
" He took the five loaves and two fish and looking up toward Heaven He blessed the food"

The second is found in Mark 8 Where He does the same thing instead of five thousand it four.

When we take it to God He is always able. But as long as we continue to hold on to it and try it ourselves and within our own strength we delay the miracle. It is not until we put it into the hands of God and follow His instructions that the miracle takes place.
God is always able to make the impossible very possible. So long as it is in His hands.

Private Prayer

The man or woman of God fervent in prayer and full of the word are the ones that make a difference in the world. It is in private not public that they take the greatest stance against sin and hyprocrisy. The mightiest men of God were forged privately in prayer. Moses went to the mountain. David was left alone to tend sheep and there discovered the Lord.
"The way to the palace is by way of the cave."
Elijah was a man of solitude and prayer. Abraham constantly had fellowship with God. These are the people the bible is written of. Men and women who loved God privately before the were ever confirmed publicly. People who left and indelible mark on the face of the earth.

Prayer Always Produces What Men Can't

Prayer will always produce a result or a miracles that men cannot. God gave us prayer as a means of tapping into His resources and bringing into fruition miracles and dreams that He has placed in our spirit. Perhaps you have a loved one who has gone astray, and you have called in ministers hoping that they can get through to them. But to no avail. Because with man this is impossible and with God all things are possible!

Are you working on a project and it seems fruitless? A ministry with no results and limited resources? Stop relying on your own ability and start relying on God's. Watch what happens! Prayer has always produced what men can't. In fact the bible shares with us that Elijah prayed and the drought was over. He prayed again and it didnt rain for three years.

When Jesus fed the five thousand He took the bread and prayed over it providing enough for everybody in the crowd. What seemed to be limited in the hands of men, now became an abundance in the hand of God.
Prayer always produces what men cannot!