When the Church Prays is seen in Acts 4:23-33. " The place was shaken where they were assembled together" (Acts 4:310. This symbolizes God's presence and activity. You find a similar phrase in Acts 16:26. While Paul and Silas were conducting a midnight prayer and praise service,"suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken". This is the manifestation of the presence of God, manifesting Himself , ;letting His people know that He is present and has the situation under control. Oh, for a shaken of the foundations today by the Holy Spirit.
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Ezekiel 22:30 says," So I sought for a man among them who would make up a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none." God has always sought intercessors, someone to stand in the gap before Him for the sake of the land, but He has a hard time finding them. In Ezekiel's day God looked for a man to stand in the breech of the wall that sin had made between God and Israel. He found no one. Isaiah tells us that God looked for a man, but found no and "wondered that there was no intercessor"( Isaiah 59:16).
God is still looking, and when Jesus returns He will still be looking for an intercessor. I have discovered that prayer is the secret weapon of the kingdom of God. It is like a missile that can be fired toward any spot on earth, travel undetected at the speed of thought , and hit its target every time. In His prayer in John 17, Jesus said," I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word( John 17:20). His prayer spans the centuries and embraces all who have believed, or who ever will believe. Every tine someone turns to Christ, the prayer of Jesus is answered again- two thousand years old and still being answered.
Its seriousness makes prayer one of the most intimidating words in the Christian vocabulary. We have been intimidated by the great prayer warriors of the past like Martin Luther, who said," I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer," and the stories of prayer warriors like Praying Hyde of India or David Brainerd who prayed in knee-deep snow so long and so vigorously the snow around him melted, and he caught pneumonia and died. And don't forget the old "Camel-Knees," James, the half-brother of Jesus, who according to tradition, spent some much time praying his knees resembled the calloused knees of a camel.
I have discovered that prayer is not a religious exercise - it is a human necessity. I am going to continue sharing about prayer. I have and am reading a book called," Don't Just Stand there, Pray Something" by Ronald Dunn. I must introduce Ron to you. He happens to have been a distant mentor of mine. He is with the Lord now but his messages continue to help me regularly in my Christian growth. Ron Dunn lived from 1936-2001. He was an international itinerate Bible teacher. When I met him he was pastoring MacArthur Baptist Church in Irving,TX. A mighty revival swept through that church in the 70's later Ron went on the road preaching and teaching all over the world. An interesting thing happen. I met Ron in 1969 , as I was living and serving in Irving. Then in 1994 Ron was doing a Bible conference in Santa Fe, TX next to Hitchcock ,TX where I was serving. I went to the noontime Bible studies held there. Afterwards I went up to introduce myself and Ron quickly said yes, I remember you , you served at Plymouth Park didn't you. I going to share from his book for awhile with you.
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What we Learned on Sunday? Insights, ideas and InspirationWritten by Pastor Chris Hudson Archives
May 2024
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