Sutton Conversation with God

The Power of Prevailing Prayer
1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4245-5555-0
Verlag: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 144 Seiten

A vibrant prayer life is possible for everyone. Conversation is a natural part of life, but most people think communication with God through a vibrant life of prayer isn't possible or is only for 'Super Christians.' Conversation with God shares spiritual insights and provides a clear path for all people to experience a deeper relationship with God through prayer. Conversation with God will help you to: - Know the voice of God through constant conversation. - Participate with God in his love and work for humanity. - Recognize God's daily presence in your life and commune with him. - Surrender your needs to God. - Pray for the hurting, addicted, lonely, broken, hopeless, and lost. God wants to converse with you, much like speaking with a friend. Prayer is not the vehicle that takes us where we're going; it's the place we want to be-in genuine, engaging, daily give-and-take conversation with God.

BRIAN SUTTON is the Executive Director of Discipleship and Leadership Development for a leading Christian denomination serving in 135 nations. Serving as a lead pastor for 25 years, he holds graduate degrees from Gordon- Conwell Theological Seminary and Pentecostal Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Renee, have been married for 27 years and have a son (Will) a daughter (Tayler) and son-in- law (Chris). They reside in Cleveland, Tennessee.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sutton, Brian

Leseproben

Prayer Is Conversation with God

My grandfather, Paul Sutton, was not a preacher; he was a farmer, but he taught me much about God. He wore denim overalls practically every day, other than on Sundays when he went to church. I learned much about prayer as conversation with God from listening to my grandfather pray.

I was one of many grandchildren in the Sutton family, sixteen, to be exact. At one time, many of us attended the same church in rural Lawrence County, Alabama. It was wonderful to be raised in that small church with a big family.

All the grandkids loved to spend the night at Granddaddy and Grandmother’s house. It was a small, white house situated on a farm, but it miraculously swelled to accommodate all the grandchildren whenever we wanted to spend the night.

My grandmother, Beatrice, was a fantastic cook. We were often awakened in the morning by the smell of her biscuits, thick chocolate gravy (a Southern breakfast dish), and various meats being fried from the livestock Granddaddy raised. For me, those times spent with cousins at my grandparents’ house were precious. They were grand for many reasons, but perhaps the grandest of reasons was the opportunity I had to listen to Granddaddy pray.

Every night at bedtime, Granddaddy would turn off the television, stop all activity, and gather all of us into the living room. He would then ask us to find a place to pray, and we would all kneel. Granddaddy’s small living room would be filled with tiny Sutton kids on our knees beside Granddaddy and Grandmother. All ages were represented. We all said our dutiful prayers for our parents, siblings, Sunday school teachers, pets, football teams, “Bear” Bryant, or whatever else was on our young hearts. Eventually the room would grow still as our little voices faded off and got quiet. We’d slowly stop praying, one by one, and wander off to our beds. But whenever our prayers ceased, Granddaddy’s didn’t. He always continued to pray even after we were all finished.

He would talk to God like he was talking to his friend. And I distinctly remember one specific line from Granddaddy—I’ve never heard anyone say it quite like him—“Lord, bless all those that it is our duty to pray for.” When we heard him pray, we knew Granddaddy was listening to God. But perhaps even more so, when we heard him pray, we knew God was listening to Granddaddy. It was a conversation between heaven and earth. Hearing Granddaddy’s prayers helped me realize early on that prayer is simply a conversation with God. We speak and we listen. We talk and we hear. God wants us to converse with him, much like speaking with a friend.

Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” These are powerful words indeed—a promise from God. Why then would we pray? The truth is that we have many reasons. And even when we pray, prayer can become just another option for us, something to pick up and put down for our own purposes. But it can and should be so much more than that.

The truth is that prayer is a mighty vehicle for us. It is something we use to carry out the purposes of God in our lives. We know prayer can increase the effectiveness of our ministry; we know prayer will boost our ability to reach the harvest. We pray so we can lead; we pray so we can work; and we pray so we can preach. We pray so we can accomplish what God wants us to accomplish. We pray so we can talk to God. And we pray so we can hear from God.

Prayer and the life of prayer are spiritual practices. I cannot explain them to you; rather, they must be experienced. I’ve seen a myriad of T-shirts and bumper stickers that say, “Prayer changes things.” But prayer does not change things. Prayer has no power whatsoever in and of itself. If simply being enthusiastic about prayer as a powerful vehicle were enough, I could pray to anything and receive an answer. No, prayer doesn’t change things; it is God who changes things! I’ll say it again: It is not prayer or even a life of prayer that brings us power; it is the God to whom we pray who has all power.

Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” The church has been called to pray continually. You and I have been called to pray continually, pray without stopping. It is a vital part of the life of a Christian. Whatever has gone on in the past, you can decide today that you’re going to be a person who prays—a person who maintains a lifestyle of prayer. I’ve made the decision—I will pray.

MAKE THE DECISION: AN EXPERIENCE OF SCRIPTURE

Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37)

Make the decision to pray by first learning to love God and making him your priority. Since the greatest of all the commandments is to love God, let’s pause to consider the question: “How is it that we really love God?” Often our response indicates that we believe that loving God is equal to doing things God. All the while, he is simply longing for us to to him.

If God needed something done, then he could enlist the angels for perfect execution and without complaint. We, as his created image bearers, have the privilege of intimacy with him. Our journey with God in prayer provides this unique opportunity.

As we approach him in prayer, where do we begin? The psalmist declares:

Worship the LORD with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

(Psalm 100:2–4)

Imagine that you’re a parent and one of your teenagers initiates this conversation: “Mom/Dad, I’d like to take this time to share the gratefulness I feel for all the ways you have loved me so well!” What an absolute miracle that would be, right? But wouldn’t you agree that kind of heartfelt expression of gratitude communicates love? Likewise, you and I express our love to the Lord in many relational ways, and one of the most important is through our gratitude.

is a into deepened love with the Lord. “Re-joice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18). Pause now to pray a prayer of thanksgiving and God with a glad heart:

__________, __________.

L1.

In 1 John 5:14, we read, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” Prayer is a conversation with the one who is always there. It allows us access through Jesus Christ into a conversation with God. The Father is always seeking a conversation with us; he greatly desires to communicate with us.

My wife, Renee, and I recently did some redecorating in our upstairs bathroom. We took down some wallpaper, spackled a few holes, and repainted the walls. She purchased some new decorations and pictures. Of course, she wanted me to hang these pictures on the walls.

So I went into my garage, reached into my black tool bag, pulled out my hammer, and grabbed some nails from my old plastic ice-cream bucket. I took my hammer and used it to drive in every one of those nails in the exact location where Renee wanted the pictures hung.

When I finished, I hung the pictures and headed back into my garage. I opened my black tool bag once again, placed my hammer back inside, and zipped up the bag. Finished! Right now, as I’m writing this, my hammer is put away. I know where it will be the next time I need to drive in a few nails or hang up more pictures. That’s using my hammer as the tool for which it was intended.

We might as well admit it: We often use prayer in our lives and in the church as a tool from a tool bag. When we need God to do something for us, when we need something in ministry, when we desire to have something accomplished, we go to the spiritual tool bag because we know that prayer is what we should use. We pick up prayer, we pray the prayer, and then we put prayer back in the bag until we need it again. But prayer is intended to be so much more than this!

What if prayer was not simply a vehicle to take us somewhere? What if prayer was not just a tool to get God to move when we wanted him to? What if we could participate in prayer in a completely different—and much more valuable—manner?

So often we use prayer as a vehicle to get us to a desired destination. We need provision, so...