April 2020
Praying
with
Passion
- Apart
From Me
You Can
Do
Nothing
Some
people
think I
have a
passion
for
prayer.
To be
honest,
that’s
really
not it.
The
better
answer
is that
I am
painfully
aware of
my own
inability
to
accomplish
anything
for God
of
eternal
value
with my
own
strength,
wisdom
and
abilities.
Jesus
said,
“apart
from Me
you can
do
nothing.”
(John
15:5) I
like to
think He
said
this for
a
reason.
The
truth
is, it
may even
be a bit
counter-cultural
to have
this
kind of
heavy
reliance
on
prayer.
So, I
choose
to be a
rebel.
Jesus
also
said,
“My
house
will be
a house
of
prayer…”
(Luke
19:46)
I’d also
like to
think He
said
this for
a reason
as well.
So, it
only
makes
sense
that a
ministry
or
church
that is
going to
be
serious
about
prayer
should
be
planted
and
founded
on
prayer.
My
prayers.
Your
prayers.
Our
prayers.
“Lord,
teach us
to
pray…”
was the
request
made to
Jesus.
(Luke
11:1)
Not
“teach
us how
to give
a
sermon”,
“prepare
a good
Bible
Study”
or
“worship
with a
sincere
heart.”
Even the
disciples
(who
were
sometimes
somewhat
confused
and
maybe
even at
times a
little
clueless)
saw the
value in
prayer.
Prayer
can be a
forgotten
basic of
the
faith.
Prayer
is
foundational.
Without
a strong
foundation,
a
building
will
have
issues.
The
problem
is
foundations
are
hidden,
out of
sight,
taken
for
granted
and not
given
much
attention.
Not the
foundation
of Holy
Ground
International!
Prayer
is the
currency
of the
supernatural.
If we
want to
see God
do
amazing,
life
changing
things
we need
to deal
in God’s
currency
– not
ours.
“Prayer
in and
of
itself
possesses
no
power.
Prayer
is
powerful
because
God is
powerful,
and
prayer
is the
means
through
which
Divine
Power is
released
and
channeled
into our
lives.
In other
words,
all the
power in
prayer
is
really
God’s
power
activated
in
prayer.”
– Sam
Storms
This
is why I
am so
very
serious
about
prayer.
Charles
Spurgeon
knew he
was
nothing
apart
from
Christ.
For
nearly
30 years
God
filled
the
Metropolitan
Tabernacle
with
souls
hungry
for the
bread of
life as
Spurgeon,
the
“Prince
of
Preachers,”
preached
the
truth of
God.
Countless
souls
were
ushered
into
God’s
Kingdom
through
his life
and
ministry.
Spurgeon
was
always
quick to
say that
prayer
was the
secret
to the
success
of his
ministry.
He not
only
believed
that
corporate
prayer
unleashed
God’s
power,
but
Spurgeon
knew he
personally
had to
be a man
of
prayer
in order
to be
God’s
instrument.
He often
commented,
“Nothing
can so
gloriously
fit you
to
preach
as
descending
fresh
from the
mount of
communion
with God
to speak
with
men.”
Without
the
power of
Christ
in our
lives we
can do
nothing.
It is
not that
we can
do some
things,
but we
can do
nothing.
Do we
dare
pray
that God
would
surprise
us by
His
presence
and
power in
our
lives?
Can we
really
accept
that our
efforts
are
futile
without
Him?
James
4:2-3
You do
not have
because
you do
not ask.
You ask
and do
not
receive,
because
you ask
amiss,
that you
may
spend it
on your
pleasures.
Have
you ever
wondered
why some
prayers
go
unanswered?
Sometimes
the
timing
of our
prayers
is not
right.
At other
times
our
prayers
may be
focused
on wrong
issues,
or our
motives
or
intent
in
asking
may be
off
track.
And, as
hard as
it is to
admit,
there
may be
those
times
when we
do not
see
answered
prayer
because
we
simply
have not
prayed
about a
matter.
Andrew
Murray,
South
African
pastor
and
theologian,
once
said,
“God
must
give, we
must
ask.”
His
statement
reminds
us that
as
followers
of
Christ
our role
in
prayer
is not
to tell
God how
to
answer
our
prayers,
or when
to
answer
our
prayers.
We are
to be
faithful
in our
task of
asking.
James
challenges
us, as
believers
to
evaluate
our
faithfulness
in
asking
and to
be sure
we pray
with
proper
motives.
Paul
reminds
us in
Ephesians
3:20
when God
answers
prayer
it is
usually,
“exceedingly
abundantly
above
all that
we ask
or
think.”
Will we
ask?
We
will
keep
praying
for
others
and
ourselves
to walk
in the
will God
has for
us. We
will
keep
believing
God’s
Spirit
will
lead and
guide
and we
will
keep
trusting
our
prayers
will be
answered
and the
doors of
our
destiny
will be
opened!
To
participate
in the
ongoing
ministry
of HGI
through
your
financial
support
you can
donate
by
mailing
your
contribution
to: Holy
Ground
International,
924
Switzerland
Ave.,
Yukon,
OK
73099-9624
or by
Paypal
Link:
https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/send-money-online
using
the
email
address
billiebboat@cs.com
and then
select
'Send to
friends
or
family'.
All
donations
are tax
deductible
Your
faith
will not
grow
into
great
faith
out of
great
effort;
your
faith
will
grow to
be great
out of
your
great
surrender.
Allow
your
faith to
deny the
influence
of the
problems
you
face.
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