Prayer

I. If my people, who are called by my name

A. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you are one of His people.
B. If you would like to hear the good news of Jesus so that you can make a decision to accept him as your Lord and Savior:
http://www.everystudent.com/features/gettingconnected.html

II. Will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways

A. Humbling ourselves before God. (Joel 2:12-13)1. Fasting is one way to humble ourselves.2. Kneeling is another.3. Finding an alter at church or an isolated place is effective as well. (Matt. 6:6)
B. Pray and seek His face.1. When we pray, we must know that we are communicating with the Lord God of heaven and earth. We must earnestly seek Him.C. Turn from our wicked ways.1. Remember, we are praying to the "Lord whose ways are perfect" (Psalm18:30)We shouldn't compare ourselves with what others are doing. Allow God to reveal any areas of personal sin and shortcomings. Read 1John 1:8,9 and apply this liberating process.

III. Then I will hear from heaven and will forgive your sin and will heal your land

A. If we do our part in section II, God will do his part in section III.1. He will hear our prayer and forgive our sins as individuals and as a nation.2. With His forgiveness comes healing and restoration, personally and nationally.

Prayer

Prayer is never a motionless, useless activity. Satan would have prayer marginalized to nothing more then a 'religious' ritual of little importance.

The truth is that prayer is the 'Atomics' of God. A very powerful force that increases exponentially with each passing moment.

First watch this video before you read my clarification:

Prayer can be likened to dominos perfectly lined up. Only your 'prayer' dominos get bigger with each successive domino in the line. Each domino getting incrementally bigger then the last, until there is a domino large enough to fall upon your car and flatten it like paper on the road.

Kenetic energy works like that. The only power source that can actually produce much more power then is put into the intiation of it.

One finger tip lightly touching the first domino in the line can result in your car being smashed flat by the last giant domino. The first light touch sets the chain reaction in motion. The gradual increase in size of each domino in the line up generates enormous power at the end on the line.

Prayer must be persisted in. There are things happening beyond our perception that will yield the desired answers or at least the answers allowed by God. No matter how we feel or what we are perceiving we must not faint. We have to continue in prayer, knowing that there is power being released.

Luke 18:1And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Jesus said:

Mark 11:24Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Mark 13:33Take ye heed, watch and pray...

Acts 10:9On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:

1 Thessalonians 5:17Pray without ceasing.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7004161135893835972&q=dominos+falling&total=2056&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=7

Prayer

Prayer

Luke 18:1And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Jesus speaks of prayer as a continuous contiguous activity, to be done tirelessly by us.

Have you ever been tempted to regard prayer as just a ritual that usually doesn't do much, if anything. A ritual that we only exercise deeply in those moments when nothing else will do.

In actuality prayer is the "Atomics of God."

Prayer does do something beyond ritual. Prayer is one of the most powerful forces upon this earth. Every one has this mighty power available to them.

Satan would have everyone to believe that prayer is just another "religious" ritual practice. And not the true power that it actually is.

Lets look at a physical property in the natural world.

Experiment#1

Imagine we had an unlimited amount of dominos and we lined them up from here to Paris. Then we could tip the first domino with 10 grams of pressure; it will fall down and cause the second domino to tumble too, etc...

From this experiment we should understand that it is not the 10 grams action that causes all the dominos to tumble, but the ten grams action just creates an imbalance of the first domino. It is the natural power of gravity, however, that causes the dominos to fall. In other words, only a 10 gram action is required to triger a gravitational activity of all our dominos from here to Paris.

Experiment #2

Imagine we had an unlimited amount of special dominosod which only the first one we line up here is of normal size, and all subsequent dominos we line up again from here to Paris are of continuously increased size. By the time we reached Paris, the last domino would be 1000 meters high and weigh millions of tons. Again we tip the first domino here with 10 grams, which will fall down causing all the subsequent dominos to tumble. By the time the gravitational action reaches Paris, the last domino in Paris will smash the Eiffel Tower.

From this experiment we should understand that it is not the 10 grams action here that will smash the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but it is the gravitational energy that is picked up on the way to Paris that smashes the Eiffel Tower.

In other words, only a 10 gram action is required to trigger a non-linear gravitational activity which will cause destruction of the Eiffel Tower. The use of a natural process accomplishes this, a little in and BIG out effect...

There always is a spiritual counterpart to these things.

Concerning the domino affect, James, chapter 3 said:

3When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

We have been trusted with more power then we realize. Prayer is a very small thing that leads to very great things. If we don't give up and keep on persevering in prayer, much can be accomplished.

This is where our faith comes into play. Not our faith in prayer, our faith in Jesus. Jesus who answers our prayers. Our prayers of 10 grams get received by He in Whom we live and move and have our being. He who is everywhere all at one and the same time.

Jeremiah got it.

Jeremiah 32:17Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

The results are not in us, but in Jesus. Our little input and His powerful output.

So the next time Satan tells you that your prayers are puny and worthless with no real purpose or power, you will not stop praying because of him.

1 Kings 8:54And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.

1 Kings 9:3And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

Our prayer is that this place will be a place of much blessing and encouragment in the Lord Jesus Christ. A place where those who come in will leave refreshed in the Lord. So much so that they will catch spiritual fire from on high and be torch bearers of that fire to others. We desire the people of the Lord Jesus to be filled with His Holy Spirit and the power that the Holy Spirit has and is as the third person of the Holy Trinity. The Trinity wherein the One God Almighty there are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We give You praise! We worship You! We lift up Your Holy Name!