James 5:16
"Pray one for another"
This Is What I Am Praying For You
Some time ago, I asked myself a question. The question was, "What do Christians
need?" I had been praying for some Christians that God would grow and bless
them, and the question came to my mind, "Exactly what am I asking God for?" As
I thought about it, another question came to my mind, "What do I want from God?"
It wasn’t long before I had my notebook out writing down what I feel to be
the answer to all of these questions.
I. I am praying that we will be resolved for God.
A. It is not enough to be saved. It is not enough to be free of
the worst of sins. We need to desire God with all of our heart!
B. \\#Psalms 18:1-3\\ David’s Declaration - David makes three declarations
or commitments to God.
1. \\#1\\ I will love thee.
2. \\#2\\ I will trust thee.
3. \\#3\\ I will call upon thee.
C. Let me say some things about these three statements.
1. These three statements give us what are probably the three
greatest actions we can express toward God.
2. These three statements are, I think, in the correct order.
3. The actions expressed in these statements are not as important
as the remainder of the sentence. (I will call the remainder
of the statement the root.)
D. Notice the root and that the actions are interchangeable.
1. "I"
a. It is used in every statement.
b. It is the source of the sentence.
c. David is not using WE for he can not control the WEs of the
world, but he can control the Is.
d. Never under estimate the power of self, the power of one.
a. It was one who stood before Goliath when the we coward.
b. It was the one who raised the staff over the Red Sea when
the we coward.
c. It was the one who stood before Jezebel and her prophets
when the we coward.
d. Some of the greatest battles ever fought were fought with
an army of ONE.
2. WILL
a. Spoke on this word this morning.
b. It is used in every statement as well.
c. It represents David’s personal resolve.
d. You and I will never do for long anything we don’t want to do,
don’t desire to do, don’t resolve to do.
e. If you take the word WILL out of these sentence and replace it
with MAY, you lose the significance of the statements.
3. THEE
a. Thee refers to God.
b. David isn’t pledging these actions to just anyone but to God.
c. God is the object of these three declarations.
4. THE ACTIONS ARE GOOD ACTIONS, BUT THEY ARE THE INTERCHANGEABLE
PART OF THE SENTENCE. THEY ALL HANG ON THE ROOT, THE REMAINDER
OF THE SENTENCE. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE ROOT (the RESOLVE), the
ACTIONS MEAN NOTHING!
E. God give us Christians that are resolved! If we have the a resolved
heart we can find the right actions!
II. I am praying that we will be assured of some things.
1Jo 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of
the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may
believe on the name of the Son of God.
A. Someone (Me) has said, "Sanity comes by living with absolutes.
Insanity comes by living with uncertainty."
1. I do not believe the human frame was designed to living on maybes.
2. A man will not long care for a woman who MIGHT love him.
3. A person will not long wait for a company that MIGHT hire him.
4. A Christian will not long serve a God who MIGHT save him.
B. We need absolutes. We need to know some things.
1. We need assurance of salvation.
2. We need assurance of God’s will.
3. We need assurance of God’s awareness.
III. I am praying that we will resist temptation.
Jas 1:12 Blessed [is] the man that endureth temptation: for when he is
tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to
them that love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust,
and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin,
when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
A. Temptation is as much apart of our life as breathing is.
1. There is no one who can not be tempted.
2. The crook says that everyone has a price, that everyone can be
bought.
3. I don’t know if that is true but I know there is a place where
most everyone will stop to think about it.
B. My prayer for you is that you would resist whatever it is that Satan
offers.
1. Resist the easy.
2. Resist the luxurious.
3. Resist the pleasurable.
4. Resist the powerful.
5. Resist the famous.
C. These things may not always be wrong but they are often used by
Satan as bait!
IV. I am praying that we will receive the blessings of God.
Ps 27:13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the
LORD in the land of the living.
A. David is saying that he almost quit.
1. There was one thing that kept David going.
2. The hope that God was going to show His goodness in the land of
the living.
3. We are only human. Everyone needs a blessing every once and while.
B. Most have some secret desires.
1. I sometimes ask that God will give the the desires of your heart.
2. I pray that is a godly desire.
3. Everybody needs to have a blessing every once in while.
What am I saying? I am saying praying that we need to pray one for another.
There are a lot of things that we need to pray for - our President, that abortion
would be stopped, that souls would be saved, and so forth. But in praying for
all of these important things, we need to remember that the saved need to be
prayed for as well. I will pray for you. Will you pray for me?
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