Sustaining Prevailing Prayer: A look at prayer and the key to sustaining longevity in prayer

First Assembly of God, Lufkin, TX, 8/23/06

I. IHOP Missions Base, Kansas City, MO

A. The International House of Prayer Missions Base began 24/7 prayer in September 19, 1999. Since that time prayer and worship has not stopped.

B. There are over 800 people in our family including our Bible School and internships giving themselves to prayer, serving, and going deep in the Lord.

C. I pray on the Night Watch, the 12-6 am section of IHOP with about 100-120 staff and interns.

1. I serve the Night Watch as an Associate Worship Leader. My worship leader and I lead six two-hour sets per week.

2. I have the privilege of pouring into the lives of 60-100 young adults in the Fire in the Night internship from all over the world who come every three months and spend six hours a night, six nights a week in the prayer room.

II. A Vision for One Thing

A. I believe David’s vision statement for His life is found in Psalm 27:4,

One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.

B. David wanted to be a man of deep intimacy with God and a man who gave his life to prayer.

III. The Need for Sustained Prayer

A. The overwhelming need of the church today is prayer.

1. Jesus told His disciples in Luke 24:49, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (NIV)

2. Jesus told his disciples to stay until this promise of the Father came.

3. This is what Jesus has called His church to do: waiting in prayer for the promise of the Father.

a) However, in prayer we are doing so much more then just casually “waiting”.

b) We are prevailing in prayer awaiting a Kingdom that is to come but is now here.

4. The disciples waited in the upper room, and then from that place of waiting, the Holy Spirit came.

a) After waiting in the upper room in Acts 2 the Holy Spirit did come with power and authority on the preaching of the gospel and over 3,000 people were brought into the Kingdom on the first day.

B. Isaiah 62:6-7

On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the Lord, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

1. The Lord is raising up “watchmen” who will give me “no rest” until the kingdom of God is established in the nations of the earth with its seat of government in the New Jerusalem.

2. God is asking for a continual cry to arise before His throne filling the heavenly bowls with intercession! (see Revelation 5:8)

C. Luke 18:6-7

Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. ⁷And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? ⁸I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.

1. Day and night prayer brings about speedy justice.

2. We need speedy justice in our nation, our cities, in our churches, and in our families.

D. For this purpose, God is orchestrating a global worship and prayer movement that will bring about a great harvest of souls and will prepare the way for the second coming of Jesus.

E. Luke 2 briefly tells the story of a woman named Anna.

1. After being married for seven years, Anna became a widow.

2. Verse 37 says that Anna “never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.”

3. This woman, at the age of 84, was privileged to see with her own eyes the answer to her 60 or so years of night and day intercession: a young woman and man walking in to the temple carrying the hope of all the world, the baby, Jesus Christ.

4. Just as God called Anna before the first coming of the Lord to pray night and day, we are also living in a time when God is raising up people all over the world to pray before his second coming…

F. Prayer is the Method of the Great Commission Being Fulfilled

1. God is raising up this prayer movement for this very purpose: to pray for laborers to fulfill the Great Commission. Jesus said, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37, 38)

2. This is the strategy Jesus gave to His disciples for getting laborers to go to the mission field: prayer.

3. Having been called of God as a teenager to be a part of fulfilling the Great Commission, I find myself now right in the middle of God’s strategy for actually pulling this dream off that I had as a teenager!

IV. Prevailing in Prayer- Joining with the Son in intercession

A. Right now, before the throne, Jesus is interceding (see Rom. 8:34, Heb. 7:25).

B. When we pray we are joining with the cries of the Great Intercessor, Jesus before the throne.

C. The Father calls us in Isaiah 42 to look at His Servant, Jesus. Several parts of the passage give us a picture into the intensity of Jesus. Verses 1-5:

“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one {in whom} My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations… ⁴He will not be disheartened or crushed until He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

1. Verse four says that he will not be disheartened or crushed until He has established justice in the earth.

2. I like the way the New Living Translation puts the last part of this verse, “until truth and righteousness prevail throughout the earth”.

3. Jesus is so incredibly tenacious about seeing righteous, truth and justice prevail in the nations of the earth.

D. Later in verses 13-14 we see a rather violent picture of Jesus:

The LORD will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse {His} zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies. “I have kept silent for a long time, I have kept still and restrained Myself. {Now} like a woman in labor I will groan, I will both gasp and pant.

1. This is a violent picture! You can not get much more violent then a woman in labor!!

2. This is the heart of Jesus that we are to behold. In beholding we are transformed and begin to take this very heart with us into intercession.

V. Sustaining Prayer- Intimacy with God

A. Prayer in essence is communion with God. In its boiled down form, it really is simply meant to be a conversation!

B. We find in Jesus’ life His key to sustaining ministry and prayer- intimacy with His Father (See Matthew 3:17-4:1, Matt. 14:13/Mark 6:31 after the death of John, Matt. 14:23/Mark 6:46, Matthew 17:1-8, 26:30-46, and John 6:15)

1. Jesus’ depth of communion with His Father and His relentless zeal to do nothing unless He first saw the Father doing it (see John 5:19) shows us our need to stay “connected” with the Father through prayer.

2. In all of this, we are blessed with the Holy Spirit who helps us in our weakness “with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26)

C. Isaiah 56:6-7

Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, To minister to Him, and to love the name of the LORD, To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath And holds fast My covenant; ⁷ Even those I will bring to My holy mountain And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.

1. We find this promise that God would make us happy when we pray.

2. Much of our prayer times just don’t seem to be this way! But, we have this promise from the Lord of enjoyable prayer.

3. How does this happen? How can we actually enjoy prayer?

D. I believe the first part of Isaiah 62 which we looked at earlier gives us the answer. Verses 1-5 lead up to the prophetic promise of verses 6 & 7 that we looked at earlier:

For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet…And you will be called by a new name which the mouth of the LORD will designate. You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God. It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,” Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”; But you will be called, “My delight is in her,” And your land, “Married”; For the LORD delights in you, And {to Him} your land will be married. For {as} a young man marries a virgin, {So} your sons will marry you; And {as} the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, {So} your God will rejoice over you.

1. It really is in this place of seeing ourselves as the cherished bride of Jesus that prayer becomes enjoyable.

2. You freely converse with someone who you have confidence in their love for you. However you keep your distance from someone whom you do not. It is the same way with Jesus. However, Hebrews 4:16 says that we are to come before His throne with confidence.

3. Having confidence in Jesus love and delight in us is essential to sustaining prayer.

Jonathan Baldwin, 8/23/2006