THE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
D.J. Little 05-01-14
As disciples of Christ we have two choices in prayer. We can reduce
our expectations to the level of our experience, or we can raise our
expectations to the level of God’s promises.
The Holy Spirit through Jude says to us, Jude 3 … I found it
necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that
was once for all delivered to the saints. ESV
The Lord wants us to “earnestly contend”KJV for the faith once
delivered, — a faith that says; “Christ is risen, grace abounds, and with
God nothing is impossible.”
If we do not contend for the faith once delivered our faith fades to the
level of our experience and we become trapped in familiarity,
discouragement and disappointment. If, on the other hand, we pray
from our seat in heavenly places (see Eph 2:6), and pray from and in the
promises of God, we enter into and become partakers of Divine nature.
2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that
pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who
called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has
granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that
through them you may become partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because
of sinful desire. ESV
We rise up in the living, lifting, limitless promises of God to pray from
our heavenly position in Christ rather than praying from the earthbound
position of experience.
The Holy Spirit through Paul speaks about all kinds of prayer. The kind
I am trying to layout before you this morning is the kind that proclaims,
that says forth, that prophesies the Word and will of God. Ephesians
6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of
prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep
on praying for all the saints. NIV At a very minimum praying in the
Spirit means praying way out in front of our limited wisdom and
experience. It means contending for the faith by laying hold of and
praying from inside the promises of God.
Praying the promises of God causes a shift. This shift moves us from
praying out of our own carnal nature, from praying out of our own
wounds and frustrationa, to where we pray as participants in our new
nature, our divine nature, the nature that is ours by right of inheritance
from Jesus.
Proclaiming God’s own Word is what makes it possible for God to
come behind and confirm our proclamations in such ways that
unbelievers are awestruck and come to faith in the resurrected Jesus
by the millions. This is what is happening after Pentecost and it is what
is still happening all over the world. Mark 16:20 And they went out
and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and
confirmed the message by accompanying signs. ESV
Jude 20 says … build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray
in the Holy Spirit; ESV
This word build (g2026 epoikodomeō) as it occurs in Jude 20 means
to build by adding layer after layer upon a foundation. If we applied the
phrase build yourself up to a human body we would call it “bulking
up.” As we pray the God’s promises we move from our own puny
wisdom and pitiful experiences to where we begin to bulk up to such
an extent that the inner barriers of limitation are destroyed from the
inside out. They walls just burst outward from the inner pressure of
growing and expanding faith in our spirits.
This is the very picture of a verse in Isaiah where the King James
says; Isaiah 10:27 … the yoke shall be destroyed because of the
anointing KJV
The word anointing here means because you are so built up in faith,
literally “so fat” from our feeding upon the gracious promises of God
that the yoke of limitations and controls will be destroyed as it simply
burst asunder.
Did you ever see the Hulk TV show when Dr.
David Banner (Bill Bixby) transforms into the Hulk
(Lou Forrigno)? His shirt buttons begin to pop, the
fabric begins to split, his pants take on the look of
tattered shorts. The limitations of his old clothes
just can’t contain the Hulk. Oh yes, and he turns
green as something like a whole new creature
emerges. (see 2 Cor. 5:17)
When we “pray in the Spirit”— pray and proclaim the promises of
God we quickly find ourselves partaking of divine nature. We begin to
feed and nurture our 2 Corinthian 5:17 New-Creature-Selves. We
become larger than we are, and by means of shear size and bulk we
burst through the limitations of human wisdom and experience.
Here, then, is a more accurate translation of Isaiah 10:27 “In that
day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke
from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have
grown so fat.” NIV
The Holy Spirit through Paul says to us 2 Corinthians 10:4 For the
weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine
power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and
every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and
take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to
punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
ESV The strongholds Paul speak of here are the low expectation
arguments, opinions and thoughts we have developed over time
based upon our own experiences and wisdom. These must be
destroyed. And they will be destroyed as we ….build ourselves up
in our most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; build ourselves up
to such a place where these stronghold yokes of limitations, are
shatter by a living and growing faith within..
Praying in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers
and requests — What I have just described is the kind of prayer
that sets us free to contend for and move in the faith once delivered.
We declare, proclaim, prophecy and say forth the promises of God
and in so doing we provide Him opportunity to work with us and
confirm our prayers and our message with signs that confirm and
point to the authority of Jesus to forgive and save as per Mark 16:20.
We were born for such a time as this. We know this to be true for the
simple reason that these are the days in which we live; this is our
generation, the generation in which we are called to pray and serve
with courage and boldness.
xxx