“be honest with God.”

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I am convinced that if you want to see God doing something in your life, in your neighbour’s life, in your business, church or family, prayer has to be the number one item on the agenda.

There are four ways in which your prayer life could be improved. This is not all there is to it, of course, you can go to prayer seminars, conferences, etc. But the basic and best way to learn about prayer is to begin doing it, and I’d like to give you four pointers over the next few weeks that may be helpful to you.

“… seek only one face, and that’s the face of God.”

Pray Regularly – Let there be a stated time when you meet with God. If you only prayed when you felt like it, it would not be often. The devil would see to it that your feelings didn’t prompt you; so we need to have a consistent, stated time.

I don’t know of any great sports person who practiced only when they felt like it. A great musician doesn’t achieve success by practicing only when they feel like it. Neither does a Christian become a prayer warrior if they only pray when they feel like it.

There are many reasons that we don’t pray regularly. Maybe because we don’t think it makes much difference or unbelief keeps us from praying. Maybe we just wait until an emergency comes, then reach out and try to grab God or we wait until we get a bad report from the doctor, a family crisis, or we’re out of a job, it could be a multitude of things

Sometimes it’s because we have other priorities and prayer is not one of them. Prayer is work, and basically our human nature is lazy.
Robert Murray McShane, the great Scottish preacher said, “When a person wakes up in the morning he should seek only one face, and that’s the face of God. His soul should only be stretched towards God and before he convenes or communes with another human being, he should seek to commune with God.” SO…

1. Make prayer your prime goal every day.
2. Make your appointment with God more important than anything else.
3. Reject every interruption that’s in your human power to reject.

Memory Verse:

Psalm 55:16,17 I called to God and the Lord saved me. Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress and He hears my voice.

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‘Sara trembled. This time she had done it. Drunk driving. DIC would be forever pinned to her chest like a scarlet letter. And her dad, she couldn’t think about him. The most respected judge in the city now had a daughter who wore DIC. Sara was scared. After a horrid night spent in jail, today she would appear in court. Sara tells of the worst day in her life.

As I walked into the courtroom, memories of sitting on my father’s knee and playing judge flooded my mind. But today was no game. I felt humiliated and ashamed. The smart-alec Sara was replaced by a more sober version. I realised I could have killed someone. “O God I’m so sorry. God, if you are there, Please listen. Please, Please, Don’t let me go before my dad, any judge but him.

“… now you and I can go free.”

As the robed figure walked to the bench, his pain filled eyes locked with mine. My Father. As the proceedings began, I had an outlandish thought. Dad is hugely disappointed with me, but he is still my dad, maybe he will give me a break and let me off. This was not to happen. The hammer banged twice, and I heard the dreaded words, Guilty as charged. Then my father levied the maximum fine the law allowed. 1000 dollars. I couldn’t look at him, I wanted to disappear.

But then the strangest thing happened. My father stood up, took off his judge’s robe and came to where I stood; never will I forget his words. “Sara, you have transgressed against the law and as a righteous judge, I had to declare you guilty. But, Sara, You are my beloved daughter, because I love you, I will pay your penalty for you”. With those words, he pulled out his cheque book and wrote a cheque for 1000 dollars. Handing it to me, he said, “You are free to go”.

We have broken God’s laws. Because He is righteous, His justice demands a price to be paid for our sin. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to pay the penalty. That’s why Jesus cried, “It is finished” on the cross. He had just paid the price in full, now you and I can go free.

Memory Verse:

Titus 2:14 Who gave His life for us that He that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people.

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“’set your face steadfastly towards it.’

Memory Verse

Philippians 3:14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

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“… I came from the womb a selfish man.”

Only the gospel can give us genuine intrigue and enjoyment of other people so different from us.  Indeed, there are no ordinary people or unnecessary people in the body of Christ.
There are no big people or little people in your family. We’re all the right size. Not one of us is more justified than the other or more precious in your sight. We’ll all be equally glorified when Jesus comes back; each one of us will be just as lovely and loving as our Saviour.
Forgive us when our attitudes and actions contradict these grand affirmations. Forgive us when our small group fellowships become more like ingrown exclusive clubs. Forgive us when we no longer have a heart for outsiders. Forgive us when evangelism is a past memory rather than a present delight.  Forgive us for all the ways we make the gospel about ‘me,’ rather than about ‘us.’ Father, one day we will gather in the New Jerusalem as your completed family – as sons and daughters, brothers and sisters from every race, tribe, language, and people group – eternally diverse and perfectly united.  As we will love then, enable us to love now, in small yet observable ways… One family, many children, all to your glory.

Memory Verse

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“… Pray without ceasing.”

I needed to register my little mid-life crisis MG, so I headed to our local DVLA. When they called my number, I took my stack of documents to the counter. When I told the lovely lady that I needed to change the ownership of my new eleven year old car she looked like I had just slapped her favorite child. “You can’t do that today,” she explained. “You’ll have to wait 10 days.” Challenged and ashamed of my ignorance, I stared blankly through the louver window feeling like I was about to be swallowed up. “So what do you want to do?” she barked. We were at a crossroads, she knew how to do that special magic that makes my car legal to drive in our country, but I didn’t know the correct way to ask her to make it happen.

“… You can’t not know what you already know.”

The Curse of Knowledge, I knew too little and she knew too much. All day every day she registers cars and doles out tax discs (after a 10-day wait apparently), but she cannot relate to someone who doesn’t understand the process. She doesn’t remember what it’s like not to know.

Imagine walking into emmanuel for the first time. Maybe you have never been in a church before, or maybe this is the first time in many, many years. Imagine listening to the music, hearing the sermon. Imagine feeling a tug on your heart and knowing you need to do something to be connected with God, but you have no idea what you should do or how you should do it. Imagine hearing about ‘small groups,’ ‘fellowship’ and ‘baptism.’ Imagine having someone say, “you need to ask Jesus into your heart so you can be saved,” and wondering what in the world this is all about.

Many of us have been in the church so long we have completely lost touch with what it’s like not to know. Things like communion, corporate prayer and lifting the offering seem very normal to us, but they can be quite intimidating to the uninitiated. If we want to improve our ability to connect with “outsiders,” we have to find a way to see Sunday through their eyes, to get past the Curse of Knowledge.

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