Hello Everyone,

The third thing that makes prayer powerful is...A REALIZATION OF HELPLESSNESS.

Luke 11:6 "I have nothing to set before him."

The man has NOTHING (zero, zilch, nil, nix) to offer his needy friend.
I can hear him saying, "If I knew you were coming I would have bought extra, straightened the house, had clean sheets in the guest bedroom, picked up, bought diet coke, and cooked your favorite dish."
I HAVE NOTHING!!

*Before the man could go to his friend (who had plenty), he had to realize he had NOTHING. He was helpless.

The moment we realize we have nothing, our prayers go to a whole other level!!!

(Until we realize we have nothing, we’ll never know the power available to us through prayer)
> We are finite, helpless, and impotent.

> God is eternal, has access to every resource of eternity, omnipotent
> Prayer is what bridges the gap! Prayer allows us to tap into HIS resources!

When we realize we are:

Helpless.....we can get help.
Powerless......we can get power

Empty............we can get filled.
Nothing.........we can get something.

We know the one who has the power to create the universe with a single word.

And He tells us:

Luke 11:9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

*Ask for the power!!
*Before you can, you’ve got to admit what the man did, "I have nothing!"
Jesus taught His followers how to pray with power.

Prayer opens the door for God himself to do his work in us.

Listen: "The power of prayer is not in the one who prays but in the one who hears it." -Max Lucado

Two Choices
*Squeak by in your prayer life. Pray over your hamburger, and your cereal. Pray really hard when times get really hard.
OR you can decide to get serious about praying more powerfully all the time.

Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

The number two thing that makes prayer powerful is...A WILLING LOVE. Luke 11:5

Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, `Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,

The man was willing to leave the comfort of his warm bed to show love to his late night guest.
Lights were out, kids were in bed, dogs were settled, resting well...and his old buddy shows up.
Without thinking the guy gets out of bed, turns on the lights and leaves his comfortable home to help his buddy.
I Cor 13:5 "..it (love) is not self-seeking"

Prayer is full of a willing love. (We’ve already established that there are people all around us with need.)

Prayer is more than words. It’s a willingness to leave what’s comfortable in order to meet someone else’s need.

During the pioneer days, a family lost all of their possessions to a fire. In response, the church called for a special prayer meeting in their behalf. As the people came together for prayer, a young man rode up with a wagon full of supplies. He had canned goods, staples, building materials, tools, and other things. The young man said, "My father couldn’t make it today, but he sent his prayers."

Prayer involves much more than words!

I read this somewhere, "To pray without action is hypocrisy. To act without prayer is pagan."

Effective prayer involves the balance between total dependence on God and responsible action by the one who prays.

Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

The 120 spent 10 days in prayer, 10 minutes preaching and 3,000 people got saved on the day of Pentecost.
We spend 10 minutes in prayer, 10 days preaching and we haven’t seen 3,000 people saved in 50 years.
There is power in prayer!

Jesus disciples didn’t ask "How" to raise the dead, heal the sick, make the blind to see, make five loaves & 2 fish feed 5,000.

They said, "Lord, teach us how to pray."
Jesus taught His followers how to pray with power.

Prayer opens the door for God Himself to do His work in us.

Number one thing that makes prayer powerful is..... URGENT NEED Read with me Luke 11:5-6

5. Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, `Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, [6] because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’

The guest arriving at midnight was mighty hungry.

It was 12 midnight, not 12 in the afternoon. (Not a perfect time)

The friend had an immediate need (hunger) and it was dark. The need was food.

We are surrounded by people who are living with a need in the darkness.

We are surrounded by hungry people.
(They are Hungry for a job,...a marriage to work,...peace of mind ,...a friend,...for somebody to show they care.

God has sent them to our house!!!!
It’s dark out there!

It’s not a convenient time for many of us!

God’s not waiting for your prayers to be perfect for you to pray.

People don’t want to be preached to but prayed for.

A little boy stayed with his grandparents every Saturday night and went to church with them on Sunday morning.
He stayed awake until 12 o’clock and counted the chimes of the old ’grandfather clock.
This Saturday night it rang 13 times. The little boy came running into his grandparent’s room and said, It’s later than it’s ever been."

Church, it’s later than it’s ever been and God has sent people who are hungry to us.
There is an urgent need for prayer!!!

And the One that we are praying to loves Us.

Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

The best prayers are the ones that God hears. And He has promised that He doesn’t hear the prayers of those who willfully aren’t right with him.
Psalm 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

Nehemiah knew it was sin that led to the destruction of Jerusalem and her walls. And it would do no good to weep over the ruins if he was not willing to repent of the sin which led to those ruins.

Is your life lying in ruins? Is sin to blame? Don’t just cry over your mess. Make it right!

It has been my personal experience that many times God will give you back more for your repentance than you lost thru your sin!

"I’ve blown it, and I’ve lost so much, and it can never be regained!"
No! We serve a great God, and He’s not finished with you.

There’s a difference between being sorry for your sin and just being sorry you were caught. Some people only weep over their sin once they are experiencing painful consequences.

Nehemiah did weep over the consequences, but above all he wept over the sin that put them there.

Nehemiah included himself in the prayer of repentance? He wasn’t even alive for those sins. He was born and raised a thousand miles away from it all.

He is identifying with the sins of his people.
Ezra 9:5-6 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God,
6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
Things we used to blush over in America we are now proud of and flaunt!

Ezra 9:7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.

Nehemiah recognized the true fact that when a nation turns against God there is a sense in which we ALL bear some responsibility.

Even if it is not our personal sin it is our apathy and indifference that has allowed it right under our noses. It’s not just your vote, it’s your influence, your stand, your testimony!

If you have something that looks IMPOSSIBLE in your life it is time to pray. Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

Pray For The Impossible!

Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

Nehemiah didn’t pray just because it was time to pray. He was praying a real prayer of concern.

There’s 2 times to pray: when you feel like it and when you don’t. And we especially need to pray when we feel like it the least.

When is the last time you prayed because you were broken and hurting? When is the last time you were burdened about someone’s soul so much that you wept and prayed for them?

When is the last time you carried the weight of your brother or sister and took their need on your back so much that you helped carry that burden...and you carried it to God in prayer, believing you could ’pray it thru’ for them?

It has been said: "We pray without crying, we give without sacrificing, we live without fasting...is it any wonder that we sow without reaping?!"

Some one else has said: “We are a dry eyed church in a hell bent world”.
"Our eyes are dry, our faith is old, our heart is hard, our prayers are cold."

Nehemiah never could have rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem until he wept over the ruins. The burden led to the prayer that led to the miracle! You cannot heal what you do not feel.

Psalm 126:5-6 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

It is time for the church to be concerned again concerned about the lost, concerned about our country, concerned about the world, and concerned about the church itself.

Believe God for the impossible.

Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

Nehemiah understands he’s kneeling before the great God of heaven.
Chapter 1 verse 5: Then I said: "O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands,

He isn’t coming to God flippantly. Yes, prayer is conversation with God, but always with reverence for who He is. Jesus prayed this way in His example of the Lord’s Prayer. "Hallowed be Thy Name."

Nehemiah didn’t rush into the presence of God asking for his problem to be fixed.

2 Corinthians 5:11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;

America has lost her fear for the God who gave us this land! And the church is getting forgetful too.

The church today is saying to the world, "Since you aren’t willing to go to the One who said, ’Come unto Me,’ we’ll bring a more tolerable version of Him down to where you like to live!"

Nehemiah said in verse 10 chapter 1 about the Israelites: They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.

Learn from Nehemiah how to move the hand of God and get prayers answered.

When you have real problems and impossible situations you don’t need a God you can walk up to and ’high five.’ You need a God that is so great, mighty, and powerful, that coming into His presence causes you to kneel in humble repentance.

And Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

God does His best work, in impossible circumstances!

Nehemiah was just an ordinary guy...and he heard about the rebuilding of the temple, and of the need to do the same with the walls that at one time surrounded the city, which now in piles.

The gates were burned with fire. The people there were discouraged and devastated in poverty. It broke Nehemiah’s heart. He began to weep and pray and fast over it.

He said in Nehemiah 1 verse 4: When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

One of the major themes in the book of Nehemiah is prayer. The book opens and closes with prayer. There are 12 prayers recorded in the book of Nehemiah.

Nehemiah realized there are many things you can do AFTER you pray, but there is nothing you can do UNTIL you pray!

The book of Nehemiah is about building a work for God, and behind every great work of God there is somewhere a people praying.

All of heaven’s power becomes focused on the work of God when the people of God are willing to weep, pray, and fast for that which is truly important in this life.

God’s people are not helpless in the face of problems. We do not have to sit idly by and just accept whatever life deals our way. Problems are opportunities for God to show Himself strong.

God’s people have a powerful tool at our disposal. It is the mighty weapon of prayer.
2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;
Prayer moves the hand that moves the world!

Pray for the impossible that is what God’s specialty is.

Oh How He Love Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

His name is not some magical formula; His name is not something that we repeat over and over again to bring victory.

The Word of God declares it clearly that it is the righteous who run into the strong tower of His name and find safety (Proverbs 18:10).

And when we do, we find there a refuge so strong and so mighty it blows your mind, it boggles the imagination.

In this refuge “we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam” (Psalms 46:2-3).

Why is that? Why shouldn’t we be afraid in the middle of such turmoil?

Ask David that Giant slaying shepherd boy. He says in Psalms 46:7:

“The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

We can take David’s word on that.

Matter of fact we can take Goliath’s, too, for “though he is dead, he stills speaks.”

The LORD Of Host is our God and Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

It is the Name David called on as he stood all alone against Goliath in 1 Samuel 17.

David finds himself standing basically unarmed in the shadow of a nine foot giant who was armed to the teeth.

Look at verse 42-44 of 1 Samuel 17:

Listen to what David’s reply was in verse 45-47.

David is saying “I come to you with something more powerful then sword or spear or javelin. I come to you in the name of Jehovah-sabaoth, God of the numberless armies of Heaven. The battle is not mine, it is HIS! It is not David the shepherd boy that you will contend with, it is the LORD OF HOSTS!”

The battle is His! He’s the One who is in charge, and you can trust Him.

He is Jehovah-sabaoth, LORD OF HOSTS; He is El Elyon, the Sovereign, Most High God; and He is Jehovah-nissi, your banner of victory.

You do not face the enemy alone.

You do not have to fight the enemy with carnal weapons.

For the weapons of our war fare are not carnal but they are mighty through God, for the pulling down of strong holds

The battle is His, and no one in Heaven or earth, angels, demons, or satan himself can stand against Him.

And it is “The LORD of Host” that loves us so.

Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

When there seemed to be no other way out, when their strength was gone the children of Israel came to know God as Jehovah-sabaoth.

In 1 Samuel 1 we read the story of Hanna she was barren.

Life to her was bitter, look at verse 6-7, and then 10 with me.

6. And because the LORD closed up her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her.

7. This went on year after year, Whenever Hanna went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.

10. In bitterness of soul Hanna wept much and prayed to the LORD.

Life to Hanna was so tasteless so bitter she did not see how she could go on.

She seemed so out of control in her life that Eli the priest thought she was drunk in the sanctuary.

But she turns to THE LORD OF HOSTS.

She calls on the name of Jehovah-sabaoth. Look at verse 11 KJV.

And she made a vow and said, “Oh LORD of hosts, if Thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of Thy maidservant and remember me, and not forget Thy maidservant, but wilt give Thy maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.”

This is a name for those who are at the end of their rope; all of their natural resources have run out.

This is our name that we run to when, from our perspective, there is no other help.

This name of God is a name that is yours to use in the time of conflict and warfare.

Listen! Our warfare is going to get more and more demanding in these last days.

The name sabaoth means a “mass”. In this case, it refers to a mass of heavenly beings, a mass of angels, or an army of heavenly hosts.

Jehovah-sabaoth rules over all the angelic hosts.

He rules over all the armies of Heaven.

He is LORD over all powers, principalities, and rulers in high places.

And He is the LORD that loves us so.

Oh HOW He Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

Amos 4:13 (NIV) He who forms the mountains, creates the wind,
and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth—the LORD God Almighty is his name.

Amos 4:13 (New King James Version) For behold, He who forms mountains, And creates the wind, Who declares to man what his thought is, And makes the morning darkness, Who treads the high places of the earth—The LORD God of hosts is His name.

There are times when you look around and your first thought is hopelessness. The odds against you seem overwhelming.

The situation that you find yourself in seems unbearable.

The forces that have come against you seem overpowering.

You are overmatched and you know it.

You are at the end of your strength and you feel it.

You are in deep trouble, and you sense defeat and darkness closing in on you from all sides.

Listen! There is a name that the righteous can run into and be safe.

There is a name that you can call on in times of conflict and trouble.

It is a name that makes the universe tremble.

Jehovah-sabaoth! THE LORD OF HOSTS!

This week we are going to look at this title and see how we can run into the strong tower of Jehovah-sabaoth (The Lord of Host!).

Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

Read with me Judges 6:12-14: When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."

¹³ "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian."

¹⁴ The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"

Gideon questioned the angel of the LORD and complained about his circumstances. But when Gideon realized that the angel spoke as God Himself he was terrified.

Judges 6:22-24 When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!"

²³ But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die."

²⁴ So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

When do we first encounter the name Jehovah-shalom?

Where does God first reveal His name as The Lord of Peace?

In the presence of a man who was desperately afraid.

In the presence of a man who was completely surrounded by his circumstances.

In the presence of a man who was worried and discouraged and had no peace in his heart.

When Gideon came to the realization that the LORD had taken a personal interest in his situation, when he realized that God was with him in the middle of all the fear and darkness, he worshipped the LORD by a new name.

Jehovah-shalom. The LORD is Peace.

In the days to come Gideon would be facing some of the greatest challenges of his life.

Becoming a warrior would not be easy facing an enemy that was many times greater than he, would bring some restless nights.

But no matter what happen from that point on, Gideon could look back on an altar.

He could look back at a moment in time when Jehovah-shalom said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear.”

May the God of Peace give you the peace that passes’ understanding.

Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

Where do you turn when you are in distress?

Where do you run when you are in trouble?

Who do you talk to when you are worried?

Jehovah-shalom is the name of the Lord that is our strong tower that we as the righteous can run into and be safe.

The Lord is Peace.

God revealed Himself to Gideon as Jehovah-shalom.

Gideon was the first one to call on the Lord by this name.

Judges 6:6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help.

One translation says “Israel was brought very low because of Midian”.

Why were they so low?

Judges 6:1-2 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. ² Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.

When the hour is dark, when the situation is desperate, when we are humbled and brought very low, we finally begin looking and praying for God’s peace.

When the angel of the LORD came to Gideon, he was crouching in the darkness of a winepress, threshing wheat in secret to protect it from the enemy.

Now when you thresh wheat you want to be in the open air so that the wind can separate grain from the chaff.

But Israel was desperate and you know as well as I do you do desperate things in desperate times.

Jehovah-shalom is the name of the Lord that is our strong tower that we as the righteous can run into and be safe in desperate times.

The Lord is Peace.

Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

When we understand God’s heart for us we can see that God is generous in His giving (Matt. 7.11):

¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

If human fathers can give appropriate gifts to their children, then how much greater can our heavenly father do?
He is able to bless us with more than we can ever imagine.
Remember Solomon who prayed for wisdom and was given wisdom but also riches and honor (cf. 1 Kings 3.13).
Why are we not given what we ask for then, at times?
First of all did we ask in faith (James 1.6-7)?

⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;

Mark tells us to believe that we will receive what we pray for (11.24).

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

We are to “pray as if the desired blessing has already been received”.

Did we ask with sin in our lives (1 Pet. 3.12)?

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Did we ask with wrong motives to satisfy our lusts (James 4.3)?
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Did we ask according to the WILL of God (1 John 5.14)?

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Remember the country song Unanswered Prayers?
Our prayers are answered but sometimes that answer is NO, NOT NOW BUT LATER, etc.

Remember Jesus who prayed for the cup to be removed but that the Father’s will be done and the cup was not removed (Luke 22).
Remember Paul who prayed for his thorn in the flesh to be removed but it was not (2 Cor. 12).
As one writer wrote, “True prayer is asking God for what He wants.”

Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil

Hello Everyone,

God does not put us down; His heart is for us, read with me (Matt. 7.9-10):

⁹"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

Have you ever asked a dumb question?
Teachers say that no question is a dumb question.
Not everyone sees it that way, those who do not ask questions are usually the first to make fun.

Sometimes you can get someone angry by asking certain things.
God does not act that way; rather, He is glad to have us ask of Him.
Also, God will not answer our prayers in an inappropriate, unloving way.
He will not cause bad things to happen to us because we ask.
He will not give us something we do not need.
He will not give us something that will harm us.

God always has the right answer at the right time.

Oh How HE Loves Us!

Pastor Phil