Empower Our Activities With Prayer—Part 9
Dream Power
When considering the dreams or aspirations we hold, prayer becomes an important topic to be knowledgeable about. You see, dreams of any magnitude will burn you out if you substitute busyness for spiritual empowerment.
Obviously no one would knowingly make that mistake. But what happens is that the workload takes on a life of its own. The demands of the schedule gradually increase. The pressures become more and more immediate. God sometimes seems far away, so we take matters into our own hands.
After a while, prayer, which appears to have a slow payoff, seems to fight with the “more urgent matters,” important things that just have to get done. We think there’s really nothing I can do to change that. Deadlines are deadlines. Repeated days and weeks and months of pressure set us up in a pattern of racing around, and we think there’s no longer enough time left for prayer. When that happens, the impossible dream becomes a monster, and must be pulled back on course.
That’s what Jesus did in Mark 1:33-34: “The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases.” Very early the next morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He tried to get His schedule better organized.
That’s not the way the passage reads, is it? That’s what I would have done. But what Jesus did was to pray.
When Peter and his companions finally located Jesus they, I said, “Everyone is looking for You!” (v. 37) (In other words: “Oh, You’ve been praying. How nice! Now let’s get back to the crowd waiting for You. You won’t believe how big it is!”)
Somewhere along the line the apostles started to imitate their Lord. Acts 6 begins, “In those days when the number of disciples was increasing.” What the Twelve did was to give over some of their responsibilities, their busyness, in order to “give [their] attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” Apparently the example of their Lord had had an impact on their thinking.
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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?
Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?
David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.
We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.
For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.
