{"id":710,"date":"2016-08-03T21:15:09","date_gmt":"2016-08-04T04:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ez3728.com\/?p=710"},"modified":"2016-08-03T21:24:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-04T04:24:00","slug":"prayer-in-these-times-week-five-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ez3728.com\/?p=710","title":{"rendered":"Prayer In These Times – Week Five Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"

I want to look at EFFECTUAL PRAYER this evening, because I believe our READINESS is as important as our WILLINGNESS and our KNOWLEDGE as to HOW TO pray.<\/p>\n

Praying effectively is more than praying \u201cACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD\u201d<\/strong> is more than simply praying STUFF THAT GOD LIKES and is inline w His word. That is good, of course. But there\u2019s more. There is something to be said about THE FOUNTAIN as much as what comes out of it.<\/p>\n

One of the great things about scripture is that, because it is alive and not dead, our looking into it and discussing it activates the process itself, so we can believe God that He will be doing in us what we are discussing this evening. We\u2019re YEARNING along w the LEARNING.<\/p>\n

THIS, IN FACT, confirms that statement and also describes the CUTTING WORK we will be looking into this evening:<\/p>\n

Hebrews 4:11-12<\/em><\/strong>
\n11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest (that SHABBAT of covenant obedience), lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. <\/em><\/p>\n

THE ACTIVE HOPE<\/em>
\n12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.<\/em><\/p>\n

WE READ THIS earlier but once again, w a stronger lens: <\/strong>
\nJames 5:16-17 <\/strong>
\n16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.<\/strong> <\/em>
\n17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.<\/em><\/p>\n

RIGHTEOUS MAN <\/strong>\u2013 his prayers accomplish much.<\/p>\n

James is speaking about a lifestyle of cleanliness<\/strong> here \u2013 not an accumulation of sin or a failure to \u201cTAKE THE GARBAGE OUT\u201d of our own lives.
\nWE WON\u2019T READ IT ALL \u2013 but it has that anointing of truth:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout \u2013 would not take the garbage out. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
\nWould not take the garbage out!
\nShe\u2019d scour the pots and scrape the pans, Candy the yams and spice the hams,
\n5 And though her daddy would scream and shout, She simply would not take the garbage out. And so it piled up to the ceiling:
\nCoffee grounds, potato peelings,<\/p>\n

Brown bananas, rotten peas, 10 Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
\nIt filled the can, it covered the floor,
\nIt cracked the window and blocked the door With bacon rinds and chicken bones, Drippy ends of ice cream cones,<\/p>\n

15 Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel, Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal, Pizza crusts and withered greens, Soggy beans and tangerines,
\nCrusts of black burned buttered toast,<\/p>\n

20 Gristly bits of beefy roasts…
\nThe garbage rolled on down the hall, It raised the roof, it broke the wall… Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs, Globs of gooey bubblegum,<\/p>\n

25 Cellophane from green baloney, Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
\nPeanut butter, caked and dry, Curdled milk and crusts of pie, Moldy melons, dried up mustard,<\/p>\n

30 Eggshells mixed with lemon custard, Cold french fries and rancid meat, Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat. At last the garbage reached so high That finally it touched the sky.<\/p>\n

35 And all the neighbors moved away,
\nAnd none of her friends would come to play. And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,
\n\u201cOK, I\u2019ll take the garbage out!\u201d
\nBut then, of course, it was too late<\/p>\n

40 The garbage reached across the state, From New York to the Golden Gate And there, in the garbage she did hate, Poor Sarah met an awful fate,<\/p>\n

That I cannot right now relate
\n45 Because the hour is much too late.<\/p>\n

But children, remember Sarah Stout And always take the garbage out!
\n\u201cSarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank you, Shel Silverstein!<\/p>\n

There is something we need to learn and press into, in the way of our lives always being His, and that place will keep us anointed and ready for prayer-purpose.<\/p>\n

PREPARATION. <\/strong>
\nI typically recite this favorite psalm, concentrating on the front end of the refinement process of God towards His saints. THAT PROCESS, btw, is PREPARATION.
\nLet\u2019s look at the back end of Ps 66 \u2013 spoken by a man who has been through the front end of the Psalm and understands:<\/p>\n

Psalms 66:16-20 <\/em><\/strong>
\n16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,<\/em>
\nAnd I will declare what He has done for my soul.<\/em>
\n17 I cried to Him with my mouth,<\/em>
\nAnd He was extolled with my tongue.<\/em>
\n18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe Lord will not hear.<\/em><\/strong>
\n19 But certainly God has heard me;<\/em><\/strong>
\nHe has attended to the voice of my prayer.<\/em><\/strong>
\n20 Blessed be God,<\/em>
\nWho has not turned away my prayer,<\/em>
\nNor His mercy from me!<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the things we want to do, in preparing to pray, is to be PREPARED, as vessels of the Lord, to pray.
\nSounds like word play, but it is not.<\/p>\n

The scriptures call us to be PREPARED PEOPLE.<\/p>\n

ONCE AGAIN \u2013 THE PERSONAL DISCLAIMER \u2013 this is something I am working at. It has by no means been mastered (this past weekend\u2026.)
\nPRE-PARING<\/u><\/strong>
\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The word \u201cprepare\u201d shows up many times in scripture, and it is English for several different Hebrew words, three of which are: <\/strong>
\nASA<\/strong> \u00a0H6213 – to do or make, to accomplish
\nand KUN \u2013 to make ready, to make, \u00a0to prepare,<\/p>\n

AZAR<\/strong> \u2013 gird up,
\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

KUN<\/strong> \u2013 prepare, fix, ordain, render sure<\/strong>, to be proper or erect = as in PREPARE TO MEET YOUR GOD.<\/p>\n

Interestingly ( I mentioned this briefly on FB) \u2013 the English word PREPARE has some amazing roots of origin. I often chuckle when I see etymology take us back to Greek or Latin, simply because it appears evident that many of their words have roots going back to Hebrew, which may well have been THE original language.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, here\u2019s PREPARE traced back to Latin and Greek:
\npare<\/strong> \\\u02c8per\\<\/p>\n