Book eleven here.
Book ten here.
Book nine here.
Book eight here.
Book seven here.
Book six here.
Book five here.
Book four here.
Book three here.
Book two here.
Book one here.
This is a continuation of my practice to take notes on what I prayed.
-----------------------
Chapter One
1. Real breakthrough when we find contentment in you.
2. I can be content and hungry at the same time.
3. Intimate fellowship is always followed by revelation.
4. Here's some interesting stuff from Hebrews...
Those leaders recognized two things of highest importance: prayer and the things Jesus said.
Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer."
Book ten here.
Book nine here.
Book eight here.
Book seven here.
Book six here.
Book five here.
Book four here.
Book three here.
Book two here.
Book one here.
This is a continuation of my practice to take notes on what I prayed.
-----------------------
Chapter One
1. Real breakthrough when we find contentment in you.
2. I can be content and hungry at the same time.
3. Intimate fellowship is always followed by revelation.
4. Here's some interesting stuff from Hebrews...
Heb 3:19 ...it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter...
Heb 4:3 Now we who have believed enter that rest...
Heb 4:10 For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His.
Israel's rest was the land flowing with milk and honey. But they wandered in the desert because the still thought like slaves. They were unable to enter into the promise.
This is typology for salvation. The rest is salvation by faith. This is the place of a soul at peace. We rest from works that attempt to obtain (or retain) righteousness.
5. Heb 11:6 ... Without faith it is impossible to please God...
Or, without the rest it is impossible to please God.
6. If we don't embrace God's change we are like slaves in Egypt and will wander in the desert.
7. Heb 4:12 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.
The word is not an "it." This is Jesus. Jesus pierces, not the Bible. Jesus knows hearts, not the Bible. Jesus sees everything, not the Bible.
We have got to stop believing falseness.
8. Heb 5:12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food!
1 Cor. 4:15 Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers...
"Guardians " is paidagógos, a guardian or tutor responsible for the care and instruction of a child.
A babysitter.
Father, are we on milk or solid food? Do we have babysitters or fathers?
This concerns me greatly.
9. The church should be training up warriors, not making followers.
10. Heb 11:6 ...without faith it is impossible to please God...
Father, increase our faith! We want to believe, we want to know you, we want to honor you and please you. We are so weak, but you are strong. We depend on you for everything, help us. Help us!
11. I'm not inclined to have attachment to things like a church, but you've planted in me a deep affection for C3.
It would be like a caretaker. A caretaker doesn't own the garden, he simply tends to it. He doesn't direct its affairs, he serves it. He doesn't have a public position, he's anonymous. It's not his possession, but it is his passion.
12. The gospel establishes our relationship with God, prayer is what maintains it.
13. We have the kindest, wisest, most generous being in the whole universe available to help and connect with us—24/7. Given this, our prayerlessness is surely us not understanding our incredible situation.
14. "For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?"
"Sir," the man replied, "leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down." Luke 13:8-9
So I plead for this tree you've planted called C3. Cause us to bear fruit for many seasons. I vow to to keep digging around the roots and fertilizing it with my prayers.
15. Thinking about the rapture. It won't be like the Left Behind books and movies. When he comes for us it will not be a secret:
1 Thess 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
The rapture is on the Last Day, the Day of the Lord, the same day he judges the nations:
16. Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
It will be a great day for the saved, but a terrible one for the lost.
"Terrible" is yare', conveys the idea of fear. This is the fate of my unsaved friends and family. This is the outcome many, too many, will experience. O, father! Give us a passion for those who are perishing.
Chapter Two
1. The Bible records Jesus praying 25 times. But the number one topic Jesus talked about was the kingdom.
"Jesus taught more about finances than anything else" is false.
2. It's so easy to get entrenched into traditions and habits. Father, how do we separate what we think church should be from what you want it to be?
3. We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think it will make things easier.
We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think things will not change.
We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think there will not be upheaval.
4. Chaos is an inevitable part of change. The coming of your order requires there to have been disorder as an antecedent.
Pentecost was chaotic change. Then Peter rose to speak and your order was established. After this the book of Acts describes chaotic change as your new order came into being.
I wonder if you might actually bring disorder to establish your order here.
Sometimes you remodel the house, and other times you tear it down to build a new one. But there's always sawdust.
5. Revival is always on your terms.
6. Breakthrough does not happen without warfare. No warriors, no breakthrough.
7. "Hearts are set on pilgrimage." Psalm 84:5. The psalmist longed to go. This is the longing for God's presence.
Psalm 122:1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
Father, we now have the blessing of being able to come to you right here where we're at. We don’t need a temple, we are your temple. Would you fill the temple with your Spirit? Would you move in us? Help us, father!
8. I am so glad that I have the blessing of being a part of this church! Every time, I look forward to worshipping with this family. My leaders are consumed with knowing you. My friends bless me. My heart is moved in this place.
9. Desperation is a key ingredient of prayer.
10. We can always tell what a leadership values by what we see in their church.
11. Acts 6:4 "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
This is typology for salvation. The rest is salvation by faith. This is the place of a soul at peace. We rest from works that attempt to obtain (or retain) righteousness.
5. Heb 11:6 ... Without faith it is impossible to please God...
Or, without the rest it is impossible to please God.
6. If we don't embrace God's change we are like slaves in Egypt and will wander in the desert.
7. Heb 4:12 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.
The word is not an "it." This is Jesus. Jesus pierces, not the Bible. Jesus knows hearts, not the Bible. Jesus sees everything, not the Bible.
We have got to stop believing falseness.
8. Heb 5:12 Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food!
1 Cor. 4:15 Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers...
"Guardians " is paidagógos, a guardian or tutor responsible for the care and instruction of a child.
A babysitter.
Father, are we on milk or solid food? Do we have babysitters or fathers?
This concerns me greatly.
9. The church should be training up warriors, not making followers.
10. Heb 11:6 ...without faith it is impossible to please God...
Father, increase our faith! We want to believe, we want to know you, we want to honor you and please you. We are so weak, but you are strong. We depend on you for everything, help us. Help us!
11. I'm not inclined to have attachment to things like a church, but you've planted in me a deep affection for C3.
It would be like a caretaker. A caretaker doesn't own the garden, he simply tends to it. He doesn't direct its affairs, he serves it. He doesn't have a public position, he's anonymous. It's not his possession, but it is his passion.
12. The gospel establishes our relationship with God, prayer is what maintains it.
13. We have the kindest, wisest, most generous being in the whole universe available to help and connect with us—24/7. Given this, our prayerlessness is surely us not understanding our incredible situation.
14. "For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?"
"Sir," the man replied, "leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down." Luke 13:8-9
So I plead for this tree you've planted called C3. Cause us to bear fruit for many seasons. I vow to to keep digging around the roots and fertilizing it with my prayers.
15. Thinking about the rapture. It won't be like the Left Behind books and movies. When he comes for us it will not be a secret:
1 Thess 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
The rapture is on the Last Day, the Day of the Lord, the same day he judges the nations:
16. Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
It will be a great day for the saved, but a terrible one for the lost.
"Terrible" is yare', conveys the idea of fear. This is the fate of my unsaved friends and family. This is the outcome many, too many, will experience. O, father! Give us a passion for those who are perishing.
Chapter Two
1. The Bible records Jesus praying 25 times. But the number one topic Jesus talked about was the kingdom.
"Jesus taught more about finances than anything else" is false.
2. It's so easy to get entrenched into traditions and habits. Father, how do we separate what we think church should be from what you want it to be?
3. We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think it will make things easier.
We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think things will not change.
We shouldn't expect you to move in our church and think there will not be upheaval.
4. Chaos is an inevitable part of change. The coming of your order requires there to have been disorder as an antecedent.
Pentecost was chaotic change. Then Peter rose to speak and your order was established. After this the book of Acts describes chaotic change as your new order came into being.
I wonder if you might actually bring disorder to establish your order here.
Sometimes you remodel the house, and other times you tear it down to build a new one. But there's always sawdust.
5. Revival is always on your terms.
6. Breakthrough does not happen without warfare. No warriors, no breakthrough.
7. "Hearts are set on pilgrimage." Psalm 84:5. The psalmist longed to go. This is the longing for God's presence.
Psalm 122:1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
Father, we now have the blessing of being able to come to you right here where we're at. We don’t need a temple, we are your temple. Would you fill the temple with your Spirit? Would you move in us? Help us, father!
8. I am so glad that I have the blessing of being a part of this church! Every time, I look forward to worshipping with this family. My leaders are consumed with knowing you. My friends bless me. My heart is moved in this place.
9. Desperation is a key ingredient of prayer.
10. We can always tell what a leadership values by what we see in their church.
11. Acts 6:4 "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."
Those leaders recognized two things of highest importance: prayer and the things Jesus said.
Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer."
The people recognized two things of highest importance: the things the apostles said about Jesus, and togetherness in fellowship and prayer.
12. We could do without a worship band and still be fine as a church. We don’t necessarily need a children’s ministry. We could survive without a sermon. But a church that doesn’t pray doesn’t stand a chance.
13. A Christian's commitment to prayer is typically agnostic: We approach prayer as if if God might not exist.
14. I often feel like we're missing our chance, that the door won't be open forever. Have we really chosen to be a pleasant, nice little church? We could be so much more. It's your heart for us to be so much more.
I plead for this church. With all the strength I can muster I plead for this church. I plead that you would intervene in our comfort, our lukewarmness. Reveal our hidden sins. Tear down our false understandings.
Help us, father.
Create in us a fixation on pleasing you. This church is for you and your glory, not for ours. It's about time that your church was given over to you, for it belongs to you.
Help us, father.
Chapter Three
1. Colossians 1: 10 ...walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God...
I need for my walk to be better. It's so easy to get a little off track. Guard my steps, Holy Spirit.
2. I see faith starting to arise in many of our younger men (20-40), and it gladdens my heart. Father, let the young men gain the integrity and wisdom to take their places of influence, leadership, and kingdom work.
Isaiah 40:30-31 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. 31 But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength...
I pray these young men would never stumble, but rather they would learn to wait upon you.
3. Waiting on you is so hard, but so worth it.
4. Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people...
Grace, father's desire to lean towards His creation with favor. "For the grace of God has appeared..." Father's objective was to draw near via your death and resurrection, Jesus. You are grace itself.
5. Too often we talk about gifts and power when we should be talking about fruit and character.
6. Matt 21:42, 44 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes... 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.
Real life, filled with the Spirit, means deciding if we want to be broken or crushed. We should choose to fall on the cornerstone and let him break us.
7. The cornerstone is the first stone laid, plumb, level, and square. Everything else is built from this reference point. Its excellence determines the excellence of what is built upon it.
Ephesians 2:19-20 ...citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
8. We don't need more programs, clever strategies, or edgy sermon topics, we need a kingdom mindset where everything revolves around pleasing the King of this kingdom.
9. We will never see the fullness of the kingdom until we embrace our kingdom citizenship. This includes not making our sin an idol.
10. Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
But Jesus wasn't forsaken:
Psalm 22:24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
The father never turned his face away. We need to stop believing falseness.
11. Heb 7:24-25 But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
"Completely" is "pantelés," is used to describe a state of totality or wholeness, often in the context of spiritual or moral perfection.
This high priest has accomplished the one perfect final intercession, founded on the fact of his resurrection. "It is finished."
12. It's so to important to understand that there's a difference between the current church and the church father has in mind.
We do Sunday services, connect groups, and Tuesday night Pursuit. A few do some counseling or pray for people.
That's about it. Is this really what our church is supposed to be?
13. I keep asking you for this church to take hold of its promise. I admit I get frustrated. But who else would I go to? Who else has the power to bring us into righteousness?
It is utterly reasonable to pray to you. It is the most sensible, logical thing a person can do. There's nothing mystical or crazy about praying to my creator and savior.
So I keep asking for revival because you are the only being in the universe who can actually do it.
14. Some posit a god who is disconnected from his creation. Deists think that you set everything in motion and then left the scene. But that's impossible because the universe is sustained. If you leave the scene, the scene falls apart.
Acts 17:28 For in Him we live and move and have our being.
15. Fear of the Lord is fear, not awe or reverence. When Ananias and Sapphira were killed it didn’t result in awe:
Acts 5:11 And great fear came over the whole church and all who heard about these events.
Fear, phóbos, terror, to run away as in flight.
16. 2 Cor. 7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
This is how we know we are not the church we need to be. Not that people need to die, but rather, the real fear of the Lord needs to be present among us.
12. We could do without a worship band and still be fine as a church. We don’t necessarily need a children’s ministry. We could survive without a sermon. But a church that doesn’t pray doesn’t stand a chance.
13. A Christian's commitment to prayer is typically agnostic: We approach prayer as if if God might not exist.
14. I often feel like we're missing our chance, that the door won't be open forever. Have we really chosen to be a pleasant, nice little church? We could be so much more. It's your heart for us to be so much more.
I plead for this church. With all the strength I can muster I plead for this church. I plead that you would intervene in our comfort, our lukewarmness. Reveal our hidden sins. Tear down our false understandings.
Help us, father.
Create in us a fixation on pleasing you. This church is for you and your glory, not for ours. It's about time that your church was given over to you, for it belongs to you.
Help us, father.
Chapter Three
1. Colossians 1: 10 ...walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God...
I need for my walk to be better. It's so easy to get a little off track. Guard my steps, Holy Spirit.
2. I see faith starting to arise in many of our younger men (20-40), and it gladdens my heart. Father, let the young men gain the integrity and wisdom to take their places of influence, leadership, and kingdom work.
Isaiah 40:30-31 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. 31 But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength...
I pray these young men would never stumble, but rather they would learn to wait upon you.
3. Waiting on you is so hard, but so worth it.
4. Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people...
Grace, father's desire to lean towards His creation with favor. "For the grace of God has appeared..." Father's objective was to draw near via your death and resurrection, Jesus. You are grace itself.
5. Too often we talk about gifts and power when we should be talking about fruit and character.
6. Matt 21:42, 44 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes... 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.
Real life, filled with the Spirit, means deciding if we want to be broken or crushed. We should choose to fall on the cornerstone and let him break us.
7. The cornerstone is the first stone laid, plumb, level, and square. Everything else is built from this reference point. Its excellence determines the excellence of what is built upon it.
Ephesians 2:19-20 ...citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
8. We don't need more programs, clever strategies, or edgy sermon topics, we need a kingdom mindset where everything revolves around pleasing the King of this kingdom.
9. We will never see the fullness of the kingdom until we embrace our kingdom citizenship. This includes not making our sin an idol.
10. Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
But Jesus wasn't forsaken:
Psalm 22:24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
The father never turned his face away. We need to stop believing falseness.
11. Heb 7:24-25 But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
"Completely" is "pantelés," is used to describe a state of totality or wholeness, often in the context of spiritual or moral perfection.
This high priest has accomplished the one perfect final intercession, founded on the fact of his resurrection. "It is finished."
12. It's so to important to understand that there's a difference between the current church and the church father has in mind.
We do Sunday services, connect groups, and Tuesday night Pursuit. A few do some counseling or pray for people.
That's about it. Is this really what our church is supposed to be?
13. I keep asking you for this church to take hold of its promise. I admit I get frustrated. But who else would I go to? Who else has the power to bring us into righteousness?
It is utterly reasonable to pray to you. It is the most sensible, logical thing a person can do. There's nothing mystical or crazy about praying to my creator and savior.
So I keep asking for revival because you are the only being in the universe who can actually do it.
14. Some posit a god who is disconnected from his creation. Deists think that you set everything in motion and then left the scene. But that's impossible because the universe is sustained. If you leave the scene, the scene falls apart.
Acts 17:28 For in Him we live and move and have our being.
15. Fear of the Lord is fear, not awe or reverence. When Ananias and Sapphira were killed it didn’t result in awe:
Acts 5:11 And great fear came over the whole church and all who heard about these events.
Fear, phóbos, terror, to run away as in flight.
16. 2 Cor. 7:1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
This is how we know we are not the church we need to be. Not that people need to die, but rather, the real fear of the Lord needs to be present among us.
No comments:
Post a Comment