What Does It Mean To Pray In Jesus' Name? And Why Is It A Powerful Prayer?
/"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it." John 14:13-24
Powerful Missional Living Requires Confidence In Our Personal Prayer Life
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If you are going to have a powerful missional life that brightly shines the Light of Christ in your part of this dark world then you will need to have confidence in your prayer life! You will need to have confidence that God hears and will answer your prayers!
In this video I am going to share with you one Biblical way you can have that confidence.
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How A Stop At The Waffle House Turned Into A Missional Living Experience!
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Here's a true story from my friend Clint Harrill about an experience he had while in Nashville visiting some friends and intentionally living a missional life that shares Jesus with others. Clint is just an ordinary Christian like you and me but God is using him powerfully to share the Gospel and make more disciples for Christ. Clint is a wonderful example of what God can and will do through anyone who is willing to join Him on his mission. This is a story of what God can do through you if you would allow him to! READ HIS STORY AND BE ENCOURAGED!
"Got back home to good ole small town friendly today and haven't stopped!!! A day in the life...lol....so thankful for my time in Nashville with some dear bros in Christ!! God blessed in so many ways and even in the spiritual warfare we faced, I felt excitement and learned so much. My #1 takeaway was that, the great commission is the Holy Spirit's work, and He's just asking us to join Him where He's already working. If we do that, it will bear much fruit. Secondly, when God is up to something big, spiritual warfare will raise it's ugly head, but praise God because God is bigger....we win....Greater is HE that is in us than he that is in the world.....we can claim that and have faith and just persevere through the trials. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers when you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
So rejoice and just lift up the name of Jesus when these trials come, and He will see you through.
So my last night in Nashville, we just had a bro night around a fire pit with some stogies and just rejoicing in the Lord....my bros, David Kaufmann, James Harvey, Samuel, Paul Kirk, Josh and Tracie Lansford, Alvin Jackson and Todd Greer, prayed blessings over me and it was just a great time in the Lord. Afterwards james, samuel, paul and myself headed to the waffle house. Our waitress was Hannah....we asked if she knew what her name meant, she said no, so we explained that it meant God's favor.....she thought that was really cool and said I hope so. We ordered, and Hannah was super friendly. She brought our food and I told her....Hannah, we're gonna bless our food so I'd love to ask u, if God could do a miracle in ur life today, something only God could do, what would that be and we'd just love to pray that for u as we bless our food. She said, I don't know....I said, anything. ....she began to get teary eyed and said I want to get my son back....I said ok, can I pray that now....and she said sure.....we prayed and she was super thankful. We continued chatting with her during our time there and she told us her story and how it was her first night back working at the waffle house and she didn't really want to but she has said, ok if this is what I have to do, there must be some reason....how she'd been struggling, her story was very sad....she's been hurt by "Christians", but was really trying to get her life on track....she was so amazed that we prayed for her, and said, yall don't even know me....but we just told her we cared about her because we love Jesus and that's what we do....we promised to pray for her and her son Camden....told her the story of Hannah from the bible, which she was familiar with...she told us what a blessing we were to her, told us when she worked and said, yall please come back every week.....WOW.....divine appointment? Uh, yea, I think so....James asked me to pray as he plans to ask the manager of the waffle house, if he can start a waffle "house church".....want u join us in prayer....a lot of hurting people at the waffle house and elsewhere....it's our God given purpose just to show them Jesus...."
So what do you say? Are you ready to join Christ on His mission? Are you willing to allow God to use you to bring salvation to others? Are you ready to start getting training that will equip you to do so? If the answer is "YES" then leave a comment that says:
I'M READY!
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Powerful Missional Living Requires A Powerful Missional Prayer Life
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If it is your desire to live a powerful missional life that shines the Light of Christ brightly in your part of this dark world you will need to develop a powerful prayer life. Watch this video and learn what I mean!
If you haven't already take a few moment and sign up to receive my free missional living devotional/newsletter and in addition get a free training report on transitioning any conversation into one that talks about Jesus. From this you will receive some powerful content that will help you live a powerful missional life. YOU CAN SIGN UP TO THE RIGHT OF THIS POST.
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5 Ways To Replace Worry With Peace!
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"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:4-9
How To Replace Your Worry With God's Peace
#1: By Rejoicing More
This verse starts off my telling us who are worried to start rejoicing or praising God. To ignore this is to ignore a command from God.
Instead of worry about the stressful situations of life we should look at the more humorous side of things. My mom was great at doing this. I can remember sharing with my mom some very frustrating things only to see my mom start chuckling about them. When I'd ask why she was laughing at my worries she would just say,
"I know this situation is very sad and hard on you and if I'd let it I could easily start crying. But I don't want to cry so I choose to smile and giggle instead."
What my mom had learned was that worrying about something or being at peace about something was a choice we make. So, instead of worry let's decide to:
- Laugh more
- Sing more
- Dance more
- Celebrate more
In other words let's decide to REJOICE more!
#2: By Relaxing More
Did you notice what the verse in Philippians said?,
"Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near."
That word "Gentleness" can mean "Easy" or we could say "Taking it easy"!
The instruction of scripture is instead of stressing out about a situation take it easy and relax. Why? Because you know that God is in control.
#3: By Praying More
"Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."
- It Says Not To Worry About Anything: What God is saying is that there is nothing in this world that should cause us to be worried, so stop it!
- Instead, Pray About Every Situation That Might Cause Worry. Pray about everything. Share with God about your every need. And thank Him for how he has and will continue to meet your needs and look out after you.
#4: By Feeding More
" ... whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (v.8)
You get rid of worry when you are constantly feeding your mind positive, uplifting and God thoughts!
When you are going through a tough time force yourself to take your attention away from the troubles you are experiencing and place it on all the blessings that God has given to you. There are always positive things going on around us but many times we have to force ourselves to look for them.
#5: By Following More
" ... Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."
Paul was telling the Christians in Philippi to follow his example of how to live a life of peace that was free from worry. How could Paul say that? Because he also shared with them that he had discovered the secret of being content in any and every situation. To be content means you are no longer worrying and Paul had learned how to experience that state of mind on a moment-by-moment and day-by-day basis.
We too should follow the example of others Christians who also have learned how to live that life of freedom from fear. These kinds of saints have a lot they can teach us and we listen and follow their example.
I hope this blog post has encouraged you, empowered you and equipped you for a more faithful life on mission for Christ!
What Happens When A Church Begins To Pray?
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So what does happen when churches pray? They begin to experience a revival of the Holy Spirit working through them to be his witnesses with power and boldness! In Acts 1:4-2:4 Jesus commands his disciples and apostles to go wait in Jerusalem until the Promise of the Father, which is the Holy Spirit, comes upon them. Then when it comes they will receive power.
The disciples were obedient to Jesus and there in Jerusalem they waited and prayed for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. Ten days later that promise was fulfilled and God's power came through the Holy Spirit.
A church body that wishes to be obedient to the mission that Christ gave us must understand that we are totally unable to to accomplish it threw our own power and strength. The mission is to big and to difficult for us to do on our own. This is a mission that only God can accomplish. It is a mission that requires power that only comes from Heaven.
When a church becomes desperate for God's empowerment that church will begin to pray. As that church prays to God, in his timing, God answers their prayer and provides the Filling of the Holy that provides the Divine power to be his witnesses.
We can learn some things from the disciples about how to pray for this empowerment that the Holy Spirit provides.
First, they were PERSISTENT in their prayers.
The Bible says in Acts 1:14 that they all joined together CONSTANTLY in prayer. Their prayers were constant! They didn't just pray for a little while and then went home. They were persistent in crying out to God to provide the Holy Spirit and his power just as Christ had promised. Their persistence showed that they were desperate for this empowerment. They truly wanted it and they were not going to stop praying until God provided it.
- How desperate are we for God's empowerment?
- How long will be wait and continue to pray for this empowerment?
- Are we putting time limits on God to provide this power?
- And if God does not provide it when we think it should be provided are we going to quit and stop our prayers for it?
God wants us to be so desperate and resolved in waiting on God for this empower from the Holy Spirit that we are determined to not quit or stop in our prayers for it until God provides it. Our prayers need to be desperate and constant for God to empower us.
Second, This was not just persistent prayer but it was a UNITED prayers.
All of the disciples were together praying for it. None of them were willing to leave. They join together in unity, as a body of believers to cry out to God for his empowerment.
Churches that experience God's empowerment are churches that are united together in their prayers to God for it. It requires more than just a hand full of church members crying out to God for it. It requires that whole church, in one accord, asking God for it. How committed as a whole church family are we in seeking God's power through the Holy Spirit.
In order for this kind of commitment and unity to happen churches, as a whole body, need to be broken and humbled before the living God. They need to put away their own agenda's, their own goals and seek only what God is doing. When a church is broken and humbled then they are ready to be melted and formed into the usable vessel that God desires.
Third, These disciples offered their supplications before the Lord.
In other words they were begging God to provide what he had promised. They were truly desperate for his empowerment.
- Do we beg God?
- Are we crying out to God?
Here is an interesting thought! These followers didn't just talk about prayer, they actually prayed! Church we need to do more praying and less talking about prayer. We need to actually come before the thrown of God's grace and stop just talking about doing it. The power comes not when we talk about it but when we actually pray for it.
THE RESULTS:
And when God answered their prayer it came with POWER from HEAVEN. Not earthly power. Not man made power. But it came with Heavenly power.
The power effected everyone who was there. It wasn't just a few that got touched. Everyone present was affected by it. This is a good reason why Christians should make it a priority to constantly participate in the prayer vigils of their church. Because when the power comes you don't want to miss it.
The power came through the Filling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Living God didn't just come to live in them but to also live through them. The power of God is the presence of God, through the Holy Spirit, living his life through us. God's power is God himself! To receive the power of God is to have an experience with God himself.
All who were there and who were filled with the Holy Spirit began to witness about Christ and 3,000 people were saved and baptized. Now that is something that only God can do! But it is also something that God can still do through us if we are willing to be a church that prays for God's empowerment.
