The Pastor's Pocket

  Confidence is a major element in effective prayer.  Just like a lot of other things, confidence, or lack of confidence, makes a difference.  When a professional athlete goes into a “slump” (a pro golfer who can’t make a putt or a baseball player who suddenly can’t hit), it’s often just a matter of confidence.  It’s not technique or lack of skill. If that athlete wasn’t any good, he wouldn’t be a professional!  When the confidence returns, the putts start falling and the hits start coming! Confidence in prayer is connected with our relationship with God. Sometimes we forget that God is a person.  The closer we get to the Lord, the more confidence we have as we pray.  Relationships must be cultivated, worked, attention paid to it.  Any relationship is that way. I’ve been married to the same woman for 32 years.  I know Ms. Cindy very well.  I know how she thinks.  All this helps me to communicate with her effectively.  When she is ill with me – I can feel it!  She doesn’t have to say a

  When our prayers are not answered, something is obviously wrong.  We’ve been talking about taking our prayer life to the next level.  That involves purity – maintaining a pure heart before the Lord.  The scriptures are clear, if we regard iniquity in our heart, the Lord will not hear us (Psalm 66:18, Isaiah 59:2).  We must pursue righteousness, godliness and personal purity. We must pay attention to the “ifs” in the promises about prayer.  Some promises are conditional and if we ignore them, we can be ineligible to claim those promises from God. There is something else found in I Peter 3:7 we must consider; tension in the home can hinder God from answering our prayers.  This verse specifically speaks to the husband.  Our failure to understand our wife, to honor her and respect her, can mess-up our own prayer life.  Is there anything at home and in particular your relationship with your wife that may be affecting your prayer life? Why does it seem God answers some people’s prayers and

  A.W. Tozer once said, “prayer is still the greatest power on earth if it is practiced in the true fear of God and it is our solemn obligation to see that it is so practiced.” In our last lesson, we considered some of the “ifs” in the promises about answers to prayers.  We looked at John 15:7, “if ye abide in me”, and if “my words abide in you.” Then there is the promise, “ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.” Here are a few more “ifs”.  John 12:26b, “if any man serve me, him will my Father honor”.  Faithfully serving God and staying involved in the cause of Christ insures that God will honor us and our prayers.   John 14:13 & 14, “and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it”.  Asking God in Jesus’ name makes a difference!  Jesus said so.  Why is this a difference-maker in getting answers to our prayers?  Because we are tapping into that name of power, au

  Let’s discuss tonight the “ifs” of answered prayer.  Just before Jesus was arrested and crucified, He gave His disciples some of the most powerful promises about intercessory prayer ever given (John 15:7) In John 15, the Lord Jesus is stressing the value of relationship, “I am the vine, ye are the branches” (John 15:5a).  In verse 7, He gives us the two “ifs” that we need to seriously consider: 1) “If ye abide in me…” 2) “and (if) my words abide in you…”  What does it mean to abide? It has to do with “connection”.  Just as a branch is connected to a vine, we must be connected to the Lord.  This has to do with relationship.  If we don’t truly know the Lord, we cannot claim the promise, “ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” Relationship with Jesus implies that we get power, comfort, wisdom; everything we need from Him.  If we are not “in Him” we are ineligible for the answer to our prayer. “If my words abide in you”, means that Jesus’ Words must become a part of our daily

  We must consistently pursue the power of a pure heart out of which comes an effective prayer life ( 2 Timothy 2:22, Matthew 5:8). Let’s face reality; sinful attitudes and activities are way too abundant in today’s church.  Yet the Christian is called to resist temptation and to go further; we are to hate sin, to reject it, and to love righteousness. If the church of today is to experience revival and to witness an outpouring of God’s glory and power, we (men) must develop a heart for God.  We have to want to live for God and to shun evil and iniquity.  The Lord will hear our prayers when we shun evil and wage war on iniquity in our own lives. The key to spiritual power is maintaining a pure heart.  Remember; Jesus has a bride, He doesn’t want “girlfriends”.  Our heart cannot be divided.  We cannot love Jesus and love the things of this world too (Matthew 12:25, 15:8). I love the words to the song “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”.  “Turn you eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face

  It all comes down to the individual.  If we want a better country, better churches and better homes, then each of us as men, must take personal responsibility for the condition of our own heart before God. When you study Psalm 51, you see the conversation of a man who is focused on the issues relating to one man – himself. David is coming clean before God.  His is dealing with his own “stuff”.  He is not blaming his family,  his friends, or his environment.  He is just putting the sin, his own sin, out on the table, and claiming the cleansing and forgiveness that God Almighty freely offers to anyone who will be honest and humble with God. Hosea 10:12 issues an urgent call and a promise, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you”. God will heal.  God will forgive. God will restore and revive.  It’s up to us to do our part. We all know the need for a massive, soul-shakin

  Any of us can experience genuine victory over Satan, sin and self on a consistent basis.  As we grow closer to the Lord, we become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit and He will then teach us how to recognize Satan’s traps, how to die to self, and how to overcome temptation. We can even learn how to identify and conquer things that grip our mind, soul and body. We can do this on our own as we surrender to the process of sanctification in our life.  This results in a deeper walk with God, powerful and mountain-moving prayer, and a Spirit-filled Christian life. There is way too much apathy, complacency, worldliness and carnality in today’s church.  And yes, among the men of our churches.  I asked the question once while preaching about our inner-man:  If your inner-man was flashed up on a screen in picture form, would it look like a well-trained athlete or a starving refugee?  That’s a soul-searching question.  Can you honestly answer that question right now? What does your answer revea