Preparation for praying

Sermon notes from Sunday 25th February 2018

Psalm 2 and Acts 4 verses 23 - 31

In verse 23 we read the disciples came to their own company being let go.    They came to the prayer meeting.  They made sure they were in their own company, of kindred minds and spirits.  They all wanted to be there in prayer.  You and I cannot sit down to pray with those who use another mediator - not through a priest or angel.  We bring our prayers to God through our Lord Jesus Christ - he is the only avenue we have.  When the Lord came into this world he was God in flesh.  He had one purpose in mind, to die on the cross of Calvary for my sins.  We see the singleness of prayer in one accord today.  I want to think of preparing our hearts for the prayer meeting.

A recognition of God`s person.  "and when they heard that (the report) they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said Lord thou art God."  The fundamentals, basics of prayer.  A recognition of God`s person.  God was the one who spoke and the world and everything had come into being.  We are acnowledging God is very God.  We cannot do nothing without him.  Everything came into being with just one word from him.  These people shared what they had been told.  They trusted one another.  They began to call on the name of God.  One day the disciples had come to Jesus and asked him to teach them to pray.  We know not how to pray as we ought.  They had a great interest in prayer.  They felt they were not praying as they should be praying.  Jesus said "when you pray say Our Father."  Today the world is saying that God shouldn`t have a gender.  When you come into the presence of God you shouldn`t just say "Our Father" but "Our Mother" too.  We acknowledge he is God, the personal God.  Hebrews 11 verse 6 tells us "without faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."  There is no other God today.  The world tries to take that thought away from us in the times of prayer. Hezekiah the king was under attack from Assyrian forces.  He could see the army coming towards the city gates and he realised there was nothing he could do.  He is handed a letter, an open letter which meant that every person had read that letter before he received it.  The threats were there, that the King of Assyria would take this city and there was nothing Hezekiah could do to stop it.  Hezekiah goes into the place of prayer and takes the letter with him.  He spreads it before the Lord. Are we bringing our problems to God in prayer, knowing he alone can help us?  Hezekiah recognised he was coming to God.  2 Kings 19 verse 18.  David going down to face Goliath said "you have come to me with military power but I am coming to you in the name of God of Israel."  Moses was commissioned to go down to Egypt but Moses asked the Lord "when they ask me who has sent me what do I tell them?"  The Lord replied "tell them I am who I am, I am the father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  What I was to them I will be to you."  God gave his covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  He is the covenant keeping God.  Whenever we come to the time of prayer we need to recognise who God is.

A reality of God`s presence.  Notice as he spoke in verse 24 he declared "thou art God"  He was praying as if the Lord was sitting beside them.  He realises the presence of God in their midst.  We need to be conscious of that whenever we open the door on a Tuesday evening or get down to pray in our own bedrooms.  Remember the presence of God is there.  As we draw near to God he draws near to us.  James said the moment I set myself down on my knees and still my heart I recognise the God of heaven is the all seeing, all knowing and he is drawing near to where I am.  The reality of God`s presence.  We often say "it is thy presence that maketh the feast."  As I sit and come to God in prayer God is drawing near to me.  Remember when Jacob fled from his father`s presence, he had conned him, deceived his father, taken the blessing from his brother Esau, as he fled from his home he lay down one night and slipped into a dream.  There came to him a vision of a ladder reaching from heaven to earth.  He acknowledged God`s presence.  The next day he said "surely the presence of God is in this place and I knew it not."  Imagine making plans to come to the prayer meeting knowing every moment we are in God`s presence. 

There is a reaffirming of God`s purpose.  They began to lift up their voices in prayer.  We can be so conscious of everyone sitting around us that we cannot pray.  God is in our midst and we are talking to him.  "Thou hast made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that in them is."  Admitting God is sovereign.  Jesus said "I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  We feel God is out of control today.  God will come again one day.  How would we fare?  Are we going to meet him in the air?  Are you ready if Jesus comes today?  Can you look back to a day when you trusted Christ as Saviour?  That you can testify your sins are cleansed and forgiven?  That is why Jesus came into the world.  If we haven`t trusted Christ as Saviour we are not ready for him coming again.  We are not talking about being lost in sin for a day or a week but for all eternity.  Are you ready?  Martin Luther said to his enemy one time who had told him "the whole world is against you", "then it is God and Luther against the world."  That is the reality of the prayer meeting.  It is not something attached onto the church calendar or somewhere to go, it is a serious business.  Jesus said "men ought always to pray."  Notice he did not say to preach but to pray.  The Bible says "we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together."