Transcription
Thank you Heavenly Father. Every time we call upon you, you always hear us, Lord. As we receive your word this morning, we pray that you will minister to everyone in Jesus' name. Amen.
Please be seated in the presence of the Lord. This morning, we are sharing on the benefits of attending prayer meetings. Take our texts from Second Chronicles chapter 7:15-16. Second Chronicles chapter 7:15-16. I'll read first from the easy-to-read fashion. He says, "Now my eyes are open, and my ears will pay attention to the prayers prayed in this place. In this place, I have chosen this temple and I have made it a holy place, so I will be honored there forever. I will watch over it and think of it always."
Then Isaiah chapter 6 to 7. Isaiah chapter 6:7. Sorry, Isaiah chapter 56:7. Isaiah chapter 56, verse 7, easy-to-read fashion. He says, "So I will bring them to my Holy Mountain and make them happy in my house of prayer. The offerings and sacrifices they give will please me, because my temple will be called a place of prayer."
Do we really have to go to church to pray? Is it really necessary? Can't we offer the prayers anywhere and still achieve the same results? No. We have to be very sincere about this question, and the answer we have identified at least 20 distinct keys to optimum results in prayer, and five of them are very significant in rest in connection with the subject of this art.
One of those keys to optimum results in prayer says your prayer should be offered with faith. With faith. James chapter 5:15. James chapter 5:15. He says, "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick." Now, there are different descriptions of what you can call a prayer of faith, and one of those attributes of a prayer of faith is that it is a prayer offered together with a step of faith. James chapter 2:26 says, "Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works." Faith without action is dead.
So whenever you offer prayers unto the Lord together with a step of faith, and one of those steps of faith could be fasting, and another step of faith that will really show that you believe in the power of prayer and you are expecting something to happen through the act of prayer is when you leave the comfort of your house to go to a specific place just to pray, just to pray. So every time you leave the comfort of your residence and you go to a prayer meeting for the purpose of prayer, then already your presence in that prayer meeting is an expression of faith. And faith in your heart is one of the things God is watching out for to activate his anointing, to activate his power, to activate his grace for answered prayer. So attending a prayer meeting is a demonstration of faith in the power of prayer. It's a demonstration of faith in the power of prayer. Of course, everyone can say, "I believe in the power of prayer," but if you would not go to a prayer meeting to pray, even when you have some very urgent issues to bring before the Lord, then it's not some reflecting how serious you are about getting an answer or a solution to whatever are those issues, needs, or goals.
Another, the second key to optimum results in prayer that is relevant also to our subject of today is that you should join, join other believers in united prayers. That's another key to optimum results in prayer that you will need to join other believers in united prayers. In Acts chapter 12:5, Acts chapter 12:5, easy-to-read version, it says, "So Peter was kept in jail, but the church." Can you see that? The church, not the building, the members of the church, we are doing what? Constantly praying to God for him. And the only way this could be confirmed is because they were not doing it from home individually and giving assurances. No, it was proven, it was confirmed through their physical presence in the prayer meetings. And in those prayer meetings, the prayer points that were being raised were on behalf of Peter for God's intervention to release Peter. So in addition to your private time of prayer, you must regularly join other believers in united prayers. And opportunities for these include prayer meetings, which ideally should hold on a weekly basis, prayer videos, prayer retreats. This may not be so frequent, but at certain intervals or when certain situations demand, prayer retreats also come into picture into the picture.
In that chapter one, like we just read, the disciples [Music] and pray for the Holy Spirit to come down. Jesus taught them, "Wait for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is going to come down." From then, you begin to preach, take the gospel out. And when they were going to do this, they didn't go their own way and individually pray at home for the Holy Spirit to come down. They all joined together in prayer. They joined together. In Acts chapter 2, we read, as we've read, that they met daily in their homes and were devoted to prayer. In Acts chapter 3:1, we understand, we see that they gathered at the temple and later in the synagogues at the regular times of prayer. Those were times of prayer, times of prayer, times of prayer.
Number three, the third key to prayer, the third key to prayer to optimum results in prayer that is relevant to our subject of discussion today is that your prayers should be fathered and intense. Your prayers should be fervent and intense. In James chapter 5:16, it says, "the fervent, effectual, fervent, effectual prayer." Jeremiah 29:12-13, he says, "In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me." Wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly. Your prayers should be fathered. Your prayers should be intense. And one of the wonders, their signs and attributes of fervent prayer, a man or woman praying fervently cannot pick up the phone. You, you [Music] and let's please take note of that. That is very rude and offensive to this Holy Spirit unto God. You can't try that with someone you respect. You are having an important discourse, and a call comes in. So what do you do? You immediately, if you had not done so, you immediately put your phone on silence or you switch off the phone. You don't take the call. You don't take the call. Talk less of when you are communing with your Almighty God wholeheartedly. When you are at home praying, this can easily happen. It can easily happen. But of course, when you are in church, in many churches, at the prayer, as you are coming in, there are signs reminding you to please switch off your phone. And at the beginning of the service, there's an announcement, "Please switch off your phone or put it on silent if you haven't done so," so it doesn't happen at all. And you can't hear your phone ring and walk out of a prayer meeting. That is grievous. Please note this. So anytime you observe someone do it somewhere, correct them, but do it politely. Correct them politely. A fervent prayer is a type of fat intensively with all your heart, with all your heart. Sometimes the baby at home, sometimes it's even your husband that may interrupt your prayer because James 5:16B says, Amplified Bible, it says, "the earnest, continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available, dynamic." Now, make the earnest heart fact, earnest heart fact, earnest heart fact. For instance, Hannah's prayer in First Samuel chapter 1:15. Hannah's prayer in First Samuel chapter 1:15. You know, to the extent that the man of God, the man of God, noticed something was going on with this woman. He noticed something was going on because she was praying perfectly. And it will interest you to note that Hannah's prayer, because she was praying about this thing, if possibly every day to God, it was a hard cry for a baby, for the fruit of the womb. It was a hard question. So she was evidently praying almost every day, but you would notice that the record of her praying so fervently happened in the temple, happened in the temple, to the extent that the servant of God there noticed the, you know, certain unusual movement about her that was different from usual times.
And the fourth key to optimum results in prayer, as relevant to our topic today, is that you should use the most appropriate location. [Music]