The Pastor's Pocket

  “Praying in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20). “Praying…in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18). What does that mean? We know the Holy Spirit helps us pray through our weakness (Romans 8:26), but prayer in the Holy Ghost is prevailing prayer because it is under His direction, according to His divine purpose and therefore certain of an answer.  It is cooperating with the will of God and therefore always victorious. E.M. Bounds has stated that our prayers must be such “…that hell feels the pounderous stroke of our tongue, until the gates of difficulty are opened, and until the mountain of obstacle removed…” Our praying today needs Pentecostal power. Nothing to do with the denomination, but I mean the power of Pentecost in the book of Acts.  These first century Christians had power with God and it was reflected in their praying.  What was the key?  They were filled with the Holy Ghost?  We too must seek to be filled.  We must empty of self (self-will) and be led by God as we pray.  Praying in the Holy

  Prayer and a holy life are inter-connected.  They act and react with another.  Neither can thrive alone.  Obviously, Jesus taught us to use our personal prayer “closet” (chamber or specific place) to pray.  But a holy life must not, it cannot, be lived in the closet. Monks hidden away in a monastery never touch the outside world.  How can our light shine if it is hidden? The danger for us, for the modern-day church, is ceaseless activity and tons of ministries, minus effective prayer.  Surely we can find a way to balance the two. My burden is to see us “come out of the closet” with vocal, corporate prayer and learn to lead our church members into gathering for prayer and then hitting the streets with ministry, backed by the power of God.  This is the pattern we see merge in the book of Acts.  In Acts 4:31-33 they prayed together corporately, then God endued them with His power.  They then went out, they witnessed, they won souls and the church expanded. As we learn to cry out to God,

  The incredible potential or scope that is possible through prayer is beyond what most of us can imagine. In Matthew 7:7, Jesus said, “Ask and ye shall receive…” and in Matthew 21:22 he said, “All things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” “All things” is all-inclusive and all-comprehensive, and can only be granted by God Himself.  I could ask something from you that you simply could not provide.  You have neither the means nor maybe even the will to provide.  But with God “all things” are possible (Matthew 19:26)! Consider another promise given to us in Matthew 18:19, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.”  Only God could put Himself in a covenant so binding, for only God could fulfill such a promise that might include any and all possible requests. As we gather together as men – as praying men – may we boldly approach the throne of grace and “ask”, remember

  Prayer puts God to work.  At the same time God puts prayer to work.  God has ordained prayer as the one force which moves Him to act in our earthly affairs. Consider how Jesus committed Himself to the power of prayer in Mark 11:24, John 14:13, 15:16 and 16:23. Is it not an incredible thing that God moves in our situations, but only as we pray and cry out to Him!  Look at Psalm 116:1-2, Psalm 130:1-2, Psalm 138:3, Psalm 144:1-2 and Psalm 142.  Is it not obvious that prayer that is vocal makes the difference? Remember Daniel and his crisis moment in Daniel chapter 6?  A royal statute declared if any man be found praying to any other god besides King Darius they would be thrown into a den of hungry lions.  What did Daniel do in verse 10?  He prayed 3 times a day just as was his habit and gave thanks to the true and living God.  God was moved to protect him.  The lions strangely lost their appetite.  Why? Prayer! Prayer made the difference. What crisis may you be facing today?  What situ

For the child of God, prayer has to be a priority.  It cannot, it must not, be a secondary force.  If prayer is considered a last resort, it makes God a last resort. In Acts 6, the apostles were confronted with the challenge of multiple ministry needs.  Lots of people had realized they could not do it all.  God’s solution?  Delegate.  The business of caring for the widows and other church related affairs would be delegated to other believers (other men) while the apostles would give themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.  The result?  The church continued to grow (verse 7). Above all else, prayer had to be the major thing.  To “give themselves to prayer…” What does that mean? It means these men devoted themselves, they remained steadfast at the business of praying.  The same principle is found in Colossians 4:12 and Romans 12:12.  Prayer is a necessity!  It must be priority #1 for effective ministry. We are all busy with work, family, church, civic responsibilities, but

  The scriptures teach us in Psalm 9:12 that God doesn’t forget the “cry of the humble.”  Humility is an attitude that God has promised to honor.  James 4:6 says that “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” God will honor the cry of the humble man because it demonstrates our utter dependence upon the Lord in our time of need.  Let’s face it, we want people to think we’ve “got it all together.” We don’t like to admit we might have problems we can’t solve ourselves.  Remember this: any move toward self-sufficiency is a move away from God.  God won’t intervene in our affairs, our problems, our crisis, unless we cry out to Him with a humble and sincere heart. A sincere cry to the Lord is an open declaration that we are unable to “fix” the situation we are in without God’s intervention.  It says, “Lord, I don’t have the wisdom, ability or strength to solve this.  I need your help.”  At that moment, God delights to reveal His power, His wisdom. When Peter began to sink a

  Perhaps we’ve all felt our prayer life was inadequate or ineffective at times, yet as we have been learning, crying out to God with fervency, with an audible voice  makes a difference.  Somehow God responds to our desperation. When Peter was about to sink, as he attempted to walk on the water, he cried out in desperation, “Lord, save me” (Matthew 14:30). In verse 31 we read, “And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him…” before Peter went under. Elijah experienced the awesome power of God as he prayed. In James 5:17 it says, “…and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain:” And guess what? It didn’t rain for 3 ½ years! In verse 18 we read where Elijah prayed again, “and the heaven gave rain”. The word earnestly sticks out doesn’t it?  The phrase “effectual fervent prayer” in James 5:16 comes from the Greek word “energo” from which we get our English word “energy”.  Praying with energy and fervency is powerful prayer that gets results and isn’t that what we all wan