Brenda and I have the honor of co-teaching at a marriage retreat this weekend. In one of the the sessions, Brenda will bring an important message about prayer as it relates to worship, faith and obedience. I want to share her message in advance as I feel its content is vital to our success as Christ-followers. As you will see, Brenda is an incredible thinker, writer—and to top it off—she’s incredibly beautiful!
I. WORSHIP A GREAT GOD
In order to worship God, we need to understand how big a God He is (Deuteronomy 10:17). “God is infinitely bigger than your biggest problem or your biggest dream. His grace is infinitely bigger than your biggest sin.” There is no limit to God’s power. Let that sink in. There’s nothing he can’t do. He has good things in store for us and wants us to ask Him for them. BUT He also wants us to worship Him, recognizing what a good and faithful father He is.
We all seek to give good gifts to our children, and keep them from harm. God feels the same way about us. He has the advantage of anticipating what’s ahead (Jeremiah 29:11)—and its good! because He already knows all about it. The enemy’s job is to make us doubt that God would WANT to do those things for us. The enemy seeks to deflate our enthusiasm. The enemy seeks to diminish our sense of anticipation for the future. God wants to lift us up, encourage us and take us to new heights. He has so much good in store for us; it is literally beyond our imagination (Ephesians 3:20).
Never say “Will He?” (this deflates our prayers)
II. GOD RESPONDS TO OUR WORSHIP
Part of our worship is prayer. When you consider worship, it really is a type of prayer. God always responds to our prayers. ALWAYS. He will never forget us, forsake us, or leave us hanging. He’s in the room when we’re praying. He’s particularly interested when we are praying and worshiping with others (Acts 1:14). Spouses especially!!
The enemy will do everything in his power, and with the entities at his fingertips, to thwart our prayers and worship (1 Peter 5:8). He will distract, sidetrack, push back, fiddle with, trip you up; name it – he will do whatever it takes to stop you from praying and worshiping. Make it your mission daily, and even multiple times a day to pray and worship.
Be specific – write it down and circle it
III. PERSISTENCE IS KEY
Praying and worshiping God with persistence are essential. Faithfulness to your spouse, to your church, to your commitments adds power that is unseen. The widow wore out the judge with her persistence (Luke 18:1-5). Jericho was brought down with persistence (Joshua 6:1-20). Moses got Pharaoh to release the Israelites with persistence (Exodus 11:1). Illness is cured with persistent treatment and meds. Weight loss is accomplished with persistent exercise and diet. Skill is achieved with persistent practice. DON’T GIVE UP. Today is the only day you have to worry about, so just win today’s battle. You CAN do it. And remember, people are watching (Hebrews 12:1). Your victory may be the very thing that changes the direction of someone else’s life. That’s reason enough to keep praying and worshiping. Honor God publicly by sharing your victory (2 Timothy 2:2).
Success is a derivative of persistence