by Pastor Bob Rasmussen
This morning, I wanted to talk a little bit more about prayer, amen? And then the next time I think it will be on fasting, I think. For those that are new or watching online, prayer is not a “religious” act when it comes to the body of Christ, to his church. Prayer can be warfare as I preached the last time I spoke, but it is getting the business of heaven done. Prayer is creating the future and impacting not just this generation, but generations to come.
Prayer is not just devotional time; it is moving mountains. Prayer can still take out giants, and I believe, that the mightiest force on earth is God’s people praying, so prayer is not a little thing, and we are meant to be a house of prayer.
Mark 11:15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; 16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. 17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
This house that we are in, should always be a house of prayer, amen? You know, I watch some other church services, and sometimes it seems to me the longest prayer and sometimes the only real prayer time is over the offering. I think about that sometimes and wonder if Jesus decided to walk around from church to church and see what tables he would turn over.
The church is not a business, it’s a mission. To glorify our Lord Jesus Christ and share the gospel with the lost so that He can save them. Yes, we need to have wisdom and order and that is important, but there are churches that are doing some things that are just sad because they need money and people to feed their ministries. Like what you ask?
I recently heard a preacher share something that some larger churches do in densely populated areas. It’s called geofencing. What is geofencing? I had to look it up. Geofencing shows your offers or product listing near your retail locations. It can run custom offers to different neighborhoods, schools, or venues. Geofencing can tailor your message based on user location. It can target shoppers at a competitor’s location. It can even show a message to people attending a particular event. The primary purpose can be to drive more local traffic to your door.
All of those things sound good in an effort to reach a dying world, right? I like technology, it is how I make a living. Technology can be utilized for good. If I didn’t have work Friday and had commitments this weekend, I could be out right now making money helping cleanup this Crowdstrike drama that has crippled airlines and 911 centers and hospitals. But apparently some churches use this geofencing not to reach a certain demographic or area, some of them use it to target a specific group – existing churches.
There are churches that may be literally trying to poach a known set of “potential” customers that already believe, and more importantly, may already be givers in the church. Now this pastor did not mention the church name as he went and confronted the other leader one on one. I don’t know about you, but I think that is worthy of a table flip!
The pastor that I heard this from had this to say, his name is Michael Kelly – “We are here to build the kingdom of God, not build our own kingdoms within the Kingdom” – amen! And thinking about the business of church, and the business of our lives, I think that we, meaning me as well – we forget the priority of why we exist.
We’re a place where people can come and call on God and see breakthroughs in their lives. And this place here is the church, but we are His church, amen? Jesus calls us all individually to be a house of prayer. We are his temple.
1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
You know, the temple in the Old Testament was a very important place. God had instructions about how it was to be built and how it was to be furnished. It was the primary place where God was revealed. The temple was the place where the people and the priests made various offerings to God. The temple was a holy place, and place where God’s Spirit dwelt and interacted with the Israelites. And that is why I believe, one of the highest purposes that we have, is prayer. And that is how we can be a house of prayer corporately or as the church, by letting it start with each one of us.
This is not a house of worship, this is not a house of sermons, this is not a house of activities with smoked brisket and awesome sides and salads and sheet cake! Thank you everyone that came, that brought food, that helped setup, and cleanup – a really good day in the Lord. But that is not what we are, we need to be a house of prayer, amen. Because the more we are praying, that’s more time that we are in His Presence. The more we pray, the more we are in the Will of His Spirit. The more we pray, we are more connected to Jesus.
And that is when our worship will be filled with His glory and His Presence. That’s when the worship is filled with His Holy Ghost power. And then His Word is preached, and His power is revealed. And anything we do as a church will be driven by our purposeful, intentional, time spent with God. And not mission statements and geofencing.
You know, we have prayer time every week at 10:00 AM to pray as a body. If you come at 10:00 and the worship team is still practicing, please, come on in. The worship team tries to be done at 10:00, but sometimes they need another minute or two. Jesus can still hear your prayer, amen? But this 10:00 prayer time, are we doing it to be religious? Are we doing that so people will know we are religious? God did not create religion, man did.
God created us for relationship with Him, not a religion. It’s about praying for revival. It’s not praying religious prayers, it’s praying the will of God into a dying world, full of too much bad. It’s not about ceremony or trying to look holy. It’s about genuinely seeking His presence and His will in our lives and the world’s. I can’t get more holy by praying, the only righteousness I have is because of Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Prayer is not a work to show my righteousness or my spirituality.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
And who would not want to spend time in prayer. We have access to the greatest power in the universe, and He wants to commune, to be with us, come on man – that is amazing! Thank you, Jesus, for making a way for us! Hallelujah and amen!
We pray because His Word tells us to and it is our connection between heaven and earth. We can pray to our Lord and affect what is happening here on this earth. And I do not have faith in prayers, I do not have confidence in prayers. Many religions pray, some pray on schedules, but none of that matters. My faith, my confidence is based on whom I am praying to, amen? I have faith in the God who is on the other end of those prayers, amen. I have faith in what He has said.
1 John 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. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
I have absolute faith in His character and His desire to respond, amen? God hears the prayers of His children.
And that first scripture says a house of prayer for all nations! I think that means that all nationalities, all countries, all cultures, all are welcome to pray. All the people in the world are God’s children – if they will believe. But I think there is more meaning in that. That the prayers that we pray can affect all nations. It’s not that every culture can pray, but every culture can be impacted by prayer. It’s not just every nation can pray, but the prayers of God’s children can affect a nation – Lord knows we need it!
But that is crazy talk, I guess, because just one person praying can’t do much – or could it be possible? Can a prayer change anything at all? I’m glad you asked!
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Availeth is a pretty powerful word, in the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon the meaning says it is pronounced – is-coo’-ah- But that word means to exert, to wield power, to be a force, amen. Does that sound like something religious, or is it more about praying and expecting results from the receiver of that prayer, our God, Lord Jesus. Availeth is a verb, and that means action.
I know that for me, sometimes, I can being be doing everything I can do in the natural. I’ll read the books. I’ll listen to a sermon or watch a video. I’ll try whatever I can think of. The reality is that sometimes I just need to step back, and remember I have a heavenly lifeline that I can reach out and grab, simply by opening my heart and spirit to the lover of my soul, and just pray. And more times than not, that is when things change. That is when God moves and produces amazing results
The Bible continues:
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
This is an example of what can happen when the children of God pray and affect great change. So maybe I was wrong when questioned whether prayer change anything? James is showing us what happens when God’s people pray. He prayed and there was no rain for 3 and a half years! Being within the will of God, a man praying, brought about the awareness to a fallen nation about the God they had forgotten, to turn their hearts back to God. This is the kind of results we should be expecting when we pray!
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
I think James is not telling us hey, Look at Elias/Elijah, look and see what he did! Rather, I think he is saying that there is indeed real authority when we pray. That when we pray it is not just a vain act, but something that can release the power of God, that literally can affect a nation or nations. And you know what, Elias was human. Just like you and I. He was not a superhuman.
And I know for me, that the righteous part, it made me shy away and sometimes made me look for people who seemed more righteous than me. That was the ticket! Maybe if I could get a pastor to pray for me or this situation, that was the way. Maybe for some, if you are younger, I’ll get my Grandma to pray. I know some of our kids are that way. She’s a holy roller, amen? Grandma Diana, Grandma Carmen, Grandma Dee, Grandma Cindy, man, we have a lot of grandma’s! Praise the Lord! She’s always talking about Jesus and church! She’s the one I need to pray in this situation?
Maybe it’s grandpa, or pawp, or papa – he goes to church too! He talks about Jesus a lot. When he says get off my lawn, he means it! I’ll get him to pray, he seems righteous. Friends, the only reason a pastor is righteous or even your holy roller grandma or grandpa is righteous is this.
AMP 1 Corinthians 1:30 But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God [revealing His plan of salvation], and righteousness [making us acceptable to God], and sanctification [making us holy and setting us apart for God], and redemption [providing our ransom from the penalty for sin], 31 so then, as it is written [in Scripture], “He who boasts and glories, let him boast and glory in the Lord.”
The grandma or grandpa, the preacher are not more righteous – but they have more awareness of who they are in Jesus. Maybe they have seen some things that when they prayed, and God moved, amen. Maybe they have been through some battles, where someone was actually dead. They saw it, it was there right before them, but they prayed to the God who had already conquered death and the grave. They understood the power of prayer and that person came back to life. Hallelujah!
Maybe there was a man that was struck down by a stroke, and all the doctors said, well, there is nothing we can do. The doctors said the outlook is not good, he probably won’t walk and he probably won’t talk again. But the body of Christ came against that and said, hold on a minute, my Jesus is not done yet. My God is a healer, my God – my God can do the impossible. And they prayed, disregarding what the expectation was in the natural. They prayed knowing who and what their righteousness is. They prayed and spoke to what God said He was and what He could do!
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
and that man recovered, praise be to God. They have seen the power of the prayer. The enemy wants you to exclude yourself, and you want to know why? He doesn’t want the people of God praying. He has plans and schemes, and he wants people to disqualify themselves when the only qualification to be righteous is Jesus. The enemy wants you quiet, resist and get the victory.
Jesus paid a high price, the ultimate sacrifice, so that we could be filled with His Holy Spirit, that we could be a house of prayer.
So Just Pray
And what are we to pray, well, it’s in the Word.
Matthew 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
I know we talked about spiritual warfare last time, but I think this scripture is important. What if we do not pray God’s will into the earth. What will be missed, if we do not pray? What move of God will we miss for our families. What move of God will we miss for our generation, or moves of God for generations to come. I am not the one saying to pray for these things – it’s Jesus.
I think it is a bigger responsibility than we realize, that we are standing and praying in the gap. And the only way to know what God wants us to pray for, is to be in prayer with Him. And you know, we may never see the fruit of some things that we pray for that are God’s will, because time is different for God. He was there yesterday, He is here now, and He is in tomorrow. So we just keep praying.
But brother Bob, how much time should we be praying. Don’t ask me!
1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Praying all the time is hard, I have a job and I am so busy. Well, we just have to try to make time. I know for me I try to look for opportunities. I think that sometimes God definitely puts us in places for a reason. And when He does, sometimes I need to take a minute and ask Him what I should pray about:
God asks me to pray where it is needed but uncomfortable. Pray when it seems impossible, that healing and hope would prevail and that the ministry would grow. Pray for the future, that God would be glorified. If you ask God to lead on what to pray for, be ready. You’ll find yourself walking down the aisle at a store praying for someone and you won’t even know why, but take comfort knowing that you are in the will of God.
JAM – or Janesville Apostolic Ministries, we call ourselves JAM because the other one is a mouthful, amen? We used to do this thing called SOAK on Fridays. What is SOAK? SOAK is a time to rejoice in the presence of the Lord as we read His word together and sing in the spirit. Here at JAM we are going to start SOAK again. Starting on September 6th at 6:00 PM – it usually lasts an hour, but I don’t really want confine God – if Jesus is moving, I’m staying as long as He needs, amen?
I don’t know what you may be facing today, but I know a God who hears you and will respond to your prayers, if you let him, and if you pray. Maybe it’s a health issue, and you keep going to the doctor, and it just doesn’t get better. I know that Diana and I are frustrated. Maybe it is a mental health issue. You take all the medications and do all the therapy, all of which are good, but you need a breakthrough. Maybe it’s financial and you keep trying everything, but you just cannot get your head above water. No matter what it is, we have all been there. Let’s pray.
Janesville Apostolic Ministries 