There’s a prayer through the Word of God, a prayer that God answers for us, and that’s the prayer from the Word God has promised to us.

Let us read 119:145-152 responsively.  The title of today’s message is, Prayer Through the Word.  There are people who receive answers to prayer when they pray, and others do not.  First and foremost, the basic level of prayer is that we pray about everything.  

Introduction

Prayer – With, Word

The first level of our prayer is praying about everything we think about, everything we need.  A person who prays has a much higher probability of receiving answers to prayer then someone who does not pray at all, but there are second things that are answered even if we don’t pray about it.  If you’re enjoying the Lord being with you, that becomes your prayer because He is with me 24 hours a day.

Then there’s a prayer through the Word of God, in other words, there is a prayer that God answers for us, and that’s the prayer from the Word God has promised to us.  People who have received the Word of God can pray, and I believe the beginning of that is worship.  In Psalm 119:107, it says, “Preserve his life through the Word,” and that’s a very good way to live, he is saying “Let me live my life according to God’s Word.”  But if you ask to receive something that is not connected to God’s Word, that is the first level of prayer where you don’t know God very well.

But you can see that the Word of God and prayer should be the same.  God is the Word, and prayer is something I do.  God isn’t praying; we are praying, so God gives us His Word and we receive answers to those Words by taking the Word to prayer, and that’s what it means to receive power from God.  The reason the members of the Early Church were able to pray even though they were in such a vulnerable situation and they didn’t know what to expect is because God had given them His promise. 

People who know the promise are able to wait until the very end, but let’s imagine we are praying on our own without any promise.  Then that person’s prayer will depend on their personality.  They’re going to pray however they want, without having received any promise, and if answers don’t come, they give up.  So the most important thing is to pray according to God’s Word.

It also says in John 15:7 that, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be given to you.” Am I receiving answers to my prayers? If I’m not receiving answers, then it means God’s Word is not remaining inside of me.  It’s not about hearing the word with my ears, but the Word has to come into me, into my heart, in order for me to pray.  If someone says, “I have to pray about this,” that’s someone for whom the Word of God has come into their heart.

Therefore, the beginning of prayer is worship. If you’re not able to receive the Word of God through worship, then our prayer topics disappear.  Then again in the coming week, I’ll have to live with my own strength without the power from God.  The Word of God is being proclaimed by God and being fulfilled unchangingly.  In order for that to become power for me, I have to change that into prayer.  Only that kind of person can receive answers every week.

That’s what it means. If our worship is destroyed, then our life is destroyed because ultimately you can’t have victory over the world with your own strength.  Because there is an entity named Satan who controls the entire world with authority, I cannot survive with my own abilities.  

Today, there is a reason why we need prayer with God’s Word.

1.Without discovering God’s given direction, we cannot solve our problems

The Bible says the Word of God is like a lamp unto my feet, and this means that as I walk the path of light, only the word of God is my life, therefore, if you lose hold of the Word, you lose hold of everything.  People say there is a word they received a long time ago, and that may have been given by God, but He is also speaking to you today.  In that past, God gave you the Word according to your time schedule then, but there is a Word of God that God is giving to you right now, along the path you are currently walking on.

That’s because the Word of God is a lamp unto my feet, and unless we find God’s direction, we can’t solve our problems.  That is why God who came onto the earth, in the form of flesh, who is Jesus Christ Himself, prayed.  Why do you think Jesus Christ prayed? He had no choice because He had a physical body. If you didn’t have a physical body, you wouldn’t have to pray.  This means, humans cannot survive without prayer.  A praying student or businessperson will, without a doubt, go into the direction of the method of God.  

It’s so much so that John Wesley said, “Praying is my full-time job.”  You must come to a decision regarding these few things:

1) A time 

You have to set a time to pray.  Yes, you should be praying 24 hours, but we cannot do that in the beginning so we set a time to pray.

2) A place

And we also determine a place to pray, and the reason is because your life itself isn’t set up to pray.

3) Although it is fine to meditate on God’s word with other people, as much as it is possible, it is necessary to have your own personal time of prayer to revive God’s word. 

You also need to have a very personal, quiet time to meditate on God’s Word, and another time to do this with other people.  For people like this, problems are not problems because you keep going in the right direction, but for people who can’t do this, everything is always a problem. They always have to ask questions to people.  You have to ask God.  If you ask God, He will reveal all directions in all things.  There is a second reason we have to pray.

2. We are soldiers marching towards a spiritual battlefield. Therefore, we need the power of God.

There is an enemy against whom we fight this spiritual battle.

1) Our enemy is Satan

We must spill our blood to fight against Satan and sin.  Satan has the authority of sin. We may be the ones who commit sins, but Satan is the one with the authority to create sin, therefore, fighting against sin means fighting against Satan.

(1) Satan’s power made Adam fall (Genesis 3:1-5)

In Genesis 3:1-5, Satan was able to destroy Adam and Eve in an instant, who were built in perfection. How did he destroy them? God had already given them His Word, and that was Adam and Eve’s direction of their lives and they couldn’t depart from that, but Satan made them shake about this.  He did not use words that didn’t exist; he used the word that God gave them but made them go slightly astray.  The Word that Satan tells us always makes us go “astray” from God’s Word.

It says in Rev. 12:7-9 that Satan leads the whole world astray, and that’s why people who don’t have the Word of God at all are completely seized.  For people who hold onto the Word in a vague way, they’re also seized in a vague way. It seems correct from my perspective but later on they are seized. Because your perspective is not the Word of God, that is your thoughts. Accurately hold onto God’s Word. 

(2) Satan is like a lion (1 Peter 5:8)

1 Peter 5:8 says “He prowls around like a roaring Lion looking for someone to devour.” And the one he is looking to devour are the ones who fall into disbelief. Everyone who goes to church says they believe in God.  There isn’t a single person who goes to church and doesn’t believe God exists, but there’s a difference between acknowledging that God exists and looking for God in the direction towards which you live your life. 

If you go into the church, people say, “I go to church, I believe in God,” meaning they believe God exists, but do you believe in His Word? That’s a different story.  People are going to speak very ambiguously, and if you don’t have an accurate word, you can’t even evangelize.  “That person says they believe,” you’re not going to evangelize because you’re in the same situation they are.  What is the Word God gave you? What is the Word God has given you this week?  God gives you the Word for the week because you live in this reality.

(3) Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14)

He masquerades as an angel of light because he’s a deceiver, and he will never reveal himself, so you can’t distinguish.  “That person has a great personality and I feel like I can trust them,” but that’s why you’re deceived.  “This person never lies, so I feel like I can trust them,” but you have to trust in God’s Word, that’s how Satan masquerades as an angel of light to completely destroy us.  

Even if it’s your own child, if it’s not the word of God, it’s not right.  A parent will make any excuse to accept their children, but that’s how Satan is stealing everything from you because it’s your kid, but that’s not the Word of God. If it’s not the Word of God, why are you relying on that? It is with the word of God, and that is why the family is the easiest for deceiving you, because you trust them 100% even if it’s not God’s plan, “Because they are related to me.”  Even if they are your children, if it’s not the word of God, that’s not right. You have to make your life decisions along the path that follows the Word of God. 

2) Evangelism is the action that saves people from the hand of Satan (Acts 10:38)

When we talk about evangelism, someone who doesn’t pray cannot evangelize. It’s a spiritual battle where you save people from the other side, then what kind of strength do you have to do that? If people aren’t able to pray, they can’t have continuous evangelization.  You’re under a misconception that evangelism takes place with eloquent words.  It doesn’t matter how much you fly around; you cannot follow after a pastor.  It doesn’t matter how many messages you give; you cannot imitate the pastor.

Then, you’ll reach the conclusion that you speaking well doesn’t equate to evangelism.  A pastor gives the Word from the Word of God, but there are many pastors who don’t pray, then they cannot win the spiritual battle. Church officers must listen carefully.  There is no evangelism or answer without prayer. Satan is laughing at the words you say, and it only makes you struggle. “My time is so busy,” but the busier you are, the more you have to pray. You keep making your own excuses, there is no “your excuse;” the Word is the Word, and prayer is prayer.

Where does it say in the Bible that God says, “Oh hey, you’re a little bust so you shouldn’t pray right now”?  The Bible never says that. There’s nothing more urgent than prayer and evangelism.  Push anything other than that to your second priority and put everything into missions and evangelism, otherwise, you’ll always be dragged around by your circumstances, and the words may be correct because Satan will deceive you by saying, “You’re so busy.” 

If you’re so busy, just wake up earlier.  What is the problem? Nothing can be a problem.  “Oh, I can’t sleep earlier,” then just minimize the time you waste.  But the place where I must align myself is towards the direction of missions, evangelism, and prayer.  

3) Therefore, we need God’s power (Zech. 4:6)

It is not by might nor the power of people, but by the power of God’s spirit. You have to know this.  How do you do regional evangelism, multiethnic evangelism, and future generations evangelism? It is only by the power of God.  

4) To gain this power, we must meditate regularly on His Word and pray

The person and the remnant who does this can survive even when they’re alone.  But if they’re not able to do this, it means they don’t have the Word of God and they don’t have power, and that’s why they’re always lacking money. If they don’t have money, this actually contains a lot of different things, it means that their mind isn’t able to keep up, then they have to live their life in an unintelligent way.  They always have to do everything by themselves, but this work won’t take place by itself.  

Because God’s power isn’t coming upon you, God is not giving you people, money, or intelligence, so you always have to live at your lacking level.  But the Early Church who prayed had absolutely nothing and took it to everybody.  But people say “no time,” they have no time, but they’re able to turn it into “Every time.”  Only those who are able to resolve this are able to go into the Word fulfillment and prayer.

God has given us 24 hours, and how will you use up your 24 hours completely?  In order for you to do that, the Word of God must come into you first, and that’s how we connect it to you 24 hour prayer.

3. What do we do?

1) How should we pray to experience power?

(1) Mark 1:35

Very early in the morning, this is hard, isn’t it?  Until you can do this.  Early morning means the very quiet time before your life begins.  Was Jesus crazy? Why would He go off by Himself before even speaking to the disciples?  If the remnants aren’t able to make this into a habit, they’ll always be lacking and busy, always facing problems and weaknesses.  However, because you’re busy, you cannot come to early morning prayer, and you’ll always be even more busy, you’ll always be even more dragged around. Jesus Christ had power, yet He had a physical body like us, so He was like us.  

If you think you can live by your own thoughts and make a life living and survive, that’s a nonbeliever, so you don’t have to wake up early to pray, but at the very least,you have to evangelize to your family. That’s the very basic field you’ve been given, then what’s going to happen?  You have to do this early in the morning, that’s a time where nobody can disturb you. When you have this,you will have leisure.  You are beginning the day already having the power of the Word of God. Success follows people like this, and the reason success follows them is because God brings everything in this diretoni for the purpose of following the word.  People who aren’t able to pray in the early morning will have to follow after success. 

(2) Psalm 5:3

In the morning.  Why does everything say, “In the morning”? It is before your day begins.  “Oh, but I have a very late night nature, where I work into the late night, so I wake up late.” Lately, more and more jobs require working late, then that person just have to make this appropriate to their schedule, but a lot of people waste their times in the evenings.  They watch dramas they don’t have to watch; they gossip that they don’t have to do, and they can’t wake up in the morning. So the very system in your life is not prioritizing prayer. It doesn’t matter how much you live with people, only God’s Word is fulfilled. 

“Oh, let’s try running a good business together,” but it doesn’t matter how much you do that, God’s Word is fulfilled. If someone is shaking heads or hands and making a resolution to help one another, that already means you’re relying on people, and if you spend all your time networking like this and you lose your time of prayer, then nothing will work out. Do you think life will work out just because you make a promise, “”You promised to help me out, right?” It doesn’t mean life is going to work out that way, because things will work out according to God’s Word.  THen you have to let go of all your humanism and stand before.  

Before you live your everyday life, you have to learn how to live a proper life, and before you do anything big, you have to learn how to stand before such a great big god. Because you don’t have this foundation, you keep falling over because you keep on continuing the work that is not aligning with God, and what’s going to happen if our children live like that? It’s not going to be good.

(3) Acts 3:1

“At the time of prayer.”  THis means the Jewish people set a time to pray, five times a day. So their entire life was moving according to a system of prayer.  This is very important.  God uses a system of prayer that you have established to make works happen, and that is when Peter and John saw the cripple beggar. On his way to prayer, because they had set time to pray, because i have to receive the guidance of God, before you evangelize, learn prayer and before you do your business and study, you have to learn prayer.  Simply put, prayer is making a life system centered on God’s Word, and everything has to come from within this, then a problem will not be a problem for this person and a crisis will not be a crisis for this person, because they are remaining in the guidance of the omnipotent God.

But things are difficult because we are not able to do this so our system is not aligned with God, and when we go into the field, we are deceived by Satan again, how? According to my thoughts, this should work out. But that’s not aligned with God, so without even realizing it you’re going to collapse later. And because you have your own limitations you listen to the words of people. Instead of listening to the word of God, you listen to the words of people. Then you’re going into a system that has no choice but to repeat. 

2) How do we pray and where is it good to pray? (Acts 1:3)

Acts 3:1 says they were praying at the temple at the church the church is a place of prayer. You must utilize this well because the church is the best place to concentrate, because the church is doing this whole heartedly, but your family is not so; but when you come to church, it is a good place to let go of everything, and concentrate. That is why the apostles always look for the place of prayer in the temple. 

3) What prayers does God absolutely answer?

We have to receive answers to prayer. 

(1) 1 John 5:14

God will answer if we ask according to God’s Will. You can only seek God’s Will if you know what it is, but you don’t know what Gods will is so you keep seeking your own will.  The universe does not move according to you will.  God moves his will regardless of me, that is why I go into that Will. 

(2) 1 John 3:22-24

When we obey His commands, what is His command? It is to love one another.  Raising other people and saving them is another Word for evangelism. The one who does intercession prayer for the church, they will revive answers. Why? Because the sign of loving other members of the church is to pray for them. And the one who relays the word of God to other members of the church, they love them. And among the non believers, there are people that have been prepared to be saved and become members of the church. You pray for them and give them the word of God, that is the one that is following God’s will. That is the one who will revive answers. 

(3) John 15:7

The third kind of prayer is John 15:7, “If my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish.” If I remain in God’s words and God’s word in me, I can seek whatever and God will answer me. Every single week, the answers are before you and you say you’re not getting any answers. Honestly speaking, answers cannot be out standards. The fact that me being within the word of God is the answer. When there answers come to me or not, that’s in God’s hands. 

(4) Matthew 18:18-20

When two or three people gather with one heart towards Him, God will be with them, if two people want to agree with anything, it has to be the word of God, because other than the word of God, people might agree of doing bad things, so when you two agree about something with the word of God, pray about it. In verse 20, “When two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” It is talking about the gatherings you have, whether it is through your regional churches and your meetings for darakbang. If you keep wanting to explain this by yourself, you don’t know battles very well.  God said wherever two or more have gathered together. The earl church gathered together in Christ name. And that is where the Holy Spirit was with them. And that is where God fulfilled all of His plans. 

But let’s say there’s a gathering of Christians but instead of gathering for Christ’s name they are gathering for their own motives, and they’re just talking bad about the church and other members of the church.  They are gathering but there’s no God there, and since there’s no God there, Satan works.  You must avoid these things, because you’re going to fail with them, but in this church, there’s someone who conveys the Word of God.  

You have to hold hands with people like that, in order for God to be with you guys, but there is some people who say words that are correct, but it is critical, for people like that, you have to keep a distance from them, otherwise, you’ll fail together, and the work you are doing will be stepped on, as well because people are going to flop with people that are similar to them, people who like to grumble and complain, will oddly meet other people like that too, and as evidence that the word of God is not there, they will continuously grumble and complain. 

Then they’re going to fail together, birds of a feather flock together. That’s what we call a spiritual doctor, follow God’s word, then God will attach people in the field to you. Anyone can evangelize but not everyone can evangelize. If you’re so critical about everything then you’re going to stick with people who are critical. And if you keep looking down on people, then your going to meet people who do the same thing because it’s automatic.  

But if you’re within the word of God, and within the answers of remaining in the answers, then God will attach these people in your field, and you have to hold hands with and work with those people for God to be with you. It’s the same in your job.  Whatever you guys keep thinking, it’s wrong.  You’re getting caught up in your thoughts.  It’s about whether something is right with the Word of God. Is the Word of God within this person? That’s what is right. It doesn’t matter if this person.  It doesn’t matter if this person has power or not.  In the work of God, there are even unbelievers who require the help of God.  If I’m a believer, and I’m fulfilling God’s plan, there is a nonbeliever that is helping that, then they are also within God’s plan, because God fulfills His work even through unbelievers.   

The King of Persia, Cyrus, liberated the Israelites from Babylon. He’s not a Christian, but God fulfills His will through that person. There are people like that in the field.  King Cyrus was an unbeliever, but he told them to build the temple.  When I say I’m going to do the work of God, there are unbelievers who tell me to do it and support me.  Most people are going to be irrelevant to that work, but you can understand this properly. If you believe that you have motives, others with the same motives will be attached to you. But you’re not going to know this motive because you’ve lived your entire life like this. Imagine how much your nature is geared towards being deceived by Satan?

(5) John 14:14

“You may ask for anything in My name and I’ll do it.” The name of Jesus doesn’t mean you can ask for whatever you want in Jesus’ name. Just because you’re close to Joe Biden doesn’t mean you can use his name to buy yourself some meals.  “In His name” means anything is possible within the boundaries of what the Word of God permits.  It’s the same for everything, the 237 nations, 5000 unreached people groups, and temple construction.  Then God will fulfill it and that’s it; there’s no need to make it complicated.  America Evangelism ends with this.  God gives you a business and talent and power in order to do this.  

So I pray that through today’s Word, you yourselves will have the prayer that receives answers.  I hope you’ll keep relaying this online.  If they’re far away, they can study the Word of God online if you relay it to them. If they’re in another nation, they must listen to the Word of God there, too, so relay it to them.  This is the will of God. During the pandemic, what is God’s will? This, and God has prepared everything to allow this.  May you and I be victorious.

Prayer

Father God, we thank You.  We pray You will work in this blessed time of answers so we can go into missions and evangelism with the prayer that goes into the Word. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.