Dr. Rick Mandl - November 30, 2020
Devoted To Prayer
Devotional Manuscript: Devoted To Prayer
Message by Dr. Rick Mandl, November 30, 2020, Eagle Rock Baptist Church
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.
Hey church family, don’t you love it when you’re praying for something and you see God answer? Charles Spurgeon said, "Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of omnipotence." So why is it then, that more often than not we turn to prayer as a last resort, only after nothing else works and we're at the end of our rope?
One of the early church's priorities was prayer, according to Acts 2:42: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” They devoted themselves to prayer . . it was their regular, instinctive response to life. In Acts chapter 4, after the first Christians were arrested and commanded to stop teaching in the name of Jesus, we’re told that . . . “When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.” And in the prayer that they prayed, they left a pattern for you and me.
Their prayer began with
- A proclamation of who God was.
“Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them" (Acts 4:24). The word they used their - sovereign Lord - is the Greek word despotés, or despot. They realized they were talking to the Lord who, as the absolute ruler of the universe, the one who has everything in His hands. And that's the best place for you and me to start in prayer: by reminding ourselves of who it is we’re praying to. If God made the universe, it’s a safe bet that he can handle our problems.
The second thing we see in their prayer is that . . .
- It had balance.
Their prayer wasn't just a request; it was also filled with the recognition and praise of God. Take a look at verses 25-28, there we read that . . . "You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.'” These early believers acknowledged who God is, as well as what God had done, and what the Scripture says, about how awesome God is.
Their prayer also had . . .
- Direction:
These early Christians were not afraid to ask God for what they needed. In their prayer they said, “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 29-30). Their prayer was specific and directed, not wimpy and vague. It's not that God needed informing; It's just that when we're specific, we can look back when a prayer is answered and say, "I prayed for that specifically," and our faith is bolstered for the next go-round.
The last thing we see is that their prayer . . .
- Had results:
"After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 31). This time in the life of the early church was a time of crisis, and what it produced was a praying people. Maybe that’s part of God’s purpose in all that we’re going through right now – that we would learn to lean on Him and pray regularly and instinctively, bringing everything to the one who truly is in charge of it all.
Reecorded in Los Angeles, CA.
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