8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Ephesians 2:8,9 NLT
Tuesday reading:
Acts
key verse (s): Acts - verses on prayer and observations.
observations & questions:
Acts 1:14
They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.
- Prayer was happening consistently
Acts 2:42
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper ), and to prayer.
- Believers were devoted to prayer
Acts 3:1
Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service.
- There were set times for prayer.
Acts 4:24
When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them—
- They lifted their voices in unison in prayer.
Acts 4:31
After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.
- A result of prayer is being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 6:4
Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
- Prayer was a a primary item in the apostles agenda.
Acts 10:4,5
Cornelius stared at him in terror. “What is it, sir?” he asked the angel. And the angel replied, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have been received by God as an offering! Now send some men to Joppa, and summon a man named Simon Peter.
- The angel let Cornelius know that God has received his prayers and his gifts to the poor were a valid offering to God.
Acts 10:31
He told me, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God!
- God notices it when we bless the poor.
Acts 12:12
When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer.
- Again many were gathered in prayer. I think they realized something, this prayer thing brings the supernatural presence of God into our life situations.
Acts 13:3
So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.
- Fasting is a prayer catalyst.
Acts 14:23
Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
- On large decisions of importance fasting was added to prayer.
Acts 16:13
On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there.
- Again these men were on the look out for a prayer gathering. It was like a gas station. A place for refueling to be sent again.
Acts 16:16
One day as we were going down to the place of prayer, we met a demon-possessed slave girl. She was a fortune-teller who earned a lot of money for her masters.
- They were headed to the place of prayer when they encountered the demon-possessed girl.
application or concept:
Prayer was central in the process of the early Christianity of Acts. It connected the reality of God and His power and purposes with the humanity of His followers.
prayer:
Lord, continue to teach us how to connect with you through prayer that you can add your supernatural life to our lives for you.
Learning Agenda:
Pray Magazine - What every pray-er needs to understand: God may be different than you think.
1.God is a distant presence
God is way above the earth operating like a satellite relay. This misconception
puts us in a place where we don't want to pester God with our minute concerns.
The truth is Jesus refers to God as Abba. An affectionate term that is kin to our
word Dad. The Bible teaches us about a God who delights in us. He looks forward
to spending time with us and hearing from us.
2. God is a celestial buddy
God is not a heavenly Santa Claus called upon to take care of our Christmas list.
God is holy. We should have a healthy reverence for who God is in His holiness.
God does hate sin and we need to have repentant hearts over sinning against God.
3. God is a Vindictive God
This leads us to believe God can not be trusted to be kind. If you have had a harsh earthly father you may struggle with seeing God as a punishing God and not really wanting you around. God is not an angry scorekeeper that you are constantly having to prove you worth to.
God is not mostly a mad or mostly a sad God, He is mostly a glad God and glad to see us and spend time with us.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you that you are a God who looks foward to meeting with your people. Thank you that you look forward to meeting with me today. God I ask that your kingdom would come in my life today and your will would be done. let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you today.
Father, would you give favor to me in all of the business transactions i am involved with. Would you continue to show Experience Life how to grow in prayer. I pray our Monday night prayer gathering would continue growing in effectiveness in communing with you and fascilitating your people to connect with you.
Lord I pray for wisdom in the next month for our singles lifehouses as we look to multiply. Would you show us who, when, where and how to accomplish this to reach new people.
I pray for the men in our ltg. God draw them to your word, speak to their lives, bring life from you into all their situations that they might serve you well.
Bless our staff today and this week as they pursue doing your stuff.
