{"id":87,"date":"2018-11-06T16:32:55","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T00:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrate.bettersermons.org\/?p=87"},"modified":"2020-06-01T11:41:03","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:41:03","slug":"the-primacy-of-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/the-primacy-of-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"The Primacy of Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Primacy of Prayer<\/span><\/div>\n

\".\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Key Passage:<\/strong>\u00a0 “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone.”Key Thought:<\/strong>\u00a0 The most successful people in life and ministry make prayer a priority each day.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Scripture:<\/strong>\u00a01 Timothy 2:1-8<\/p>\n

Idea:<\/strong>\u00a0 If you are a parent, a Christian engineer, a computer programmer, or nurse; if you are a Sabbath School teacher, Deacon, or Elder; if you are on the front lines of personal evangelism\u2014prayer is to be the number one thing on your job description.\u00a0Prayer is the launching pad for effective life and service for Christ, for it is in communion with Him that we not only find the energy to blast off, but to reach our destiny as well.<\/p>\n

Story:<\/strong>\u00a0 When Pastor Paul describes for us the spirit of prayer in 1 Timothy 2:1, he uses four power-packed words.\u00a0The first word he uses is requests.\u00a0At the heart of this word is a profound sense of need, and that is where all true prayer begins.\u00a0The second word is prayers, and the focus here is not so much on our needs, but on God Himself. Our purpose is to connect with Him.\u00a0To know His heart.\u00a0To linger in His presence.\u00a0To worship Him in spirit and truth. The third word is intercession, and the thrust of this word is not that of presenting to God our list of needs, but our coming to Him with an attitude of absolute confidence in His ability to help us in our time of need. The fourth word is thanksgiving.\u00a0A spirit of praise and thanksgiving sets the whole tone for our intimate moments with God.<\/p>\n

The objects of prayer are outlined for us in verses 1 and 2 where we are told, first of all, to pray for all kinds of people.\u00a0The gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone, and so we need to pray for the kids next door, the Baptist preacher down the street, the guy in the office across from us, the woman who does our hair, etc.\u00a0Then we are called upon to pray for those in positions of government leadership\u2014the President, congressional leaders, judges, police officers, and all the rest.\u00a0These men and women bear the burdens of leadership.\u00a0They must make decisions that will impact the destiny of our nation and the world.<\/p>\n

The basis for prayer is conveyed in verses 5 and 6 where we are reminded that there is one God. When Red and Yellow, Black and White\u2014all who are precious in His sight go to their knees in prayer, they pray to the same God. Our prayer life is also based in the mediatorial ministry of Jesus Christ.\u00a0When we pray in His name, all Heaven sits up and pays attention.\u00a0The substitutional death of Jesus also puts velcro into our prayers, because it is His death in our place that connects us once again with Heaven.\u00a0Last of all, prayer rises up out of the advancing gospel that seeks to win the world for Christ.<\/p>\n

Pastor Paul ends on a practical note as he addresses the manner of prayer in verse 8.\u00a0There are many prayer postures given us in Scripture, and one of them has to do with the lifting of hands. When we lift our hands in prayer it gives expression to our inner longing to touch God and to be touched by Him.\u00a0Beyond the posture, there is the heart.\u00a0That is why Pastor Paul talks about lifting holy hands.\u00a0Effective prayer raises out of hearts that are holy and free of duplicity.<\/p>\n

The time has come for us to tighten our connection with God.\u00a0In our busy lives and ministries we need an action list, and right at the top of that list we need to put communion with God.\u00a0We need to make prayer a priority.
\n______________________________<\/p>\n

Submitted by Dan Martella.\u00a0Better Sermons \u00a9 2005-2007. Click here for\u00a0usage guidelines<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Primacy of Prayer Key Passage:\u00a0 “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone.”Key Thought:\u00a0 The most successful people in life and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions\/88"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}