PRAYER STRATIGIES FOR STRENGTHENING THE FAMILIES
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
The family is the building block of any society and nation. But the family is also essencial to the building of God’s kingdom in the earth.
When God chose to impact the world, establish His glory here on earth, and bring redemption to mankind He worked thru families.
Adam & Eave
Noah, his wife and children
Agraham and Sarah
Moses and his family
Mary & Joseph
Jesus and the church.
The instution of the family was created by God and represents Him God and His relationship with His people.
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
eph 5:31-32
Hence God is a god of families, and intends to use them to transform a community, a city, a nation and the world.
That is why satan attacks families so hard; especially married couples and christian families.
if we are going to win the battle against the enemy we must have a stratigy.
Illustration: Jack and the bean stalk - The trasformation of jacks family started with 3 p’s
PROPOSITION
PROPOSITION
For our families to fulfil its potential as world changers it starts with 3 P’s (1) PRESENCE, (2) PROTECTION, (3) PROVISION.
Presence of G
MAIN POINTS
MAIN POINTS
(1) PRESENCE - of God in our families
(1) PRESENCE - of God in our families
David saught to return the Ark of the covenant to Jerusalem - but there was a misap...
And David was afraid of God that day, and he said, “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?” So David did not take the ark home into the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of God remained with the household of Obed-edom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that he had.
1 cr
Because the Ark (which carries the presence of God) was in Obed-edom’s house his home and family was blessed.
Consecration: - to cleanse, set appart and make holy.
Take away the unclean things
Dedicate the place & People - anoint with oil both place and people.
As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.
The presence of the Lord will come and fill your home if you will consecrate and cleanse it.
Communion: - Raising up a prayer alter in your home.
- The prayer of the saints are refered to as incense.
- It discribes the Alter of incense:
“You shall make an altar on which to burn incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.
Ex
And you shall put it in front of the veil that is above the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is above the testimony, where I will meet with you.
EX 30:6
“Where i will meet with you” - It is thru our communion - raising up an alter of prayer in our homes that we will.
And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it, and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the Lord throughout your generations.
Morning and Evening - prayer must be raised up in our homes onto God. - for our Husbands, wives, children, community, nation.
Another thing that was significant about the alter is that it was a place of atonement.
Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering of atonement he shall make atonement for it once in the year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”
Pray for the cleasing and consecration of your family - Note that Aaron applied the blood of the Lamb for the sins of the people. Jesus is the Lamb that died for the sins of the entire world.
Therefore apply the blood: - over your husband, wife, children. Apply the blood.
Maintaining the presence of God in your home will bring blessings to your family. (Obed-edom)
And Obed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sachar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth, Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peullethai the eighth, for God blessed him. Also to his son Shemaiah were sons born who were rulers in their fathers’ houses, for they were men of great ability. The sons of Shemaiah: Othni, Rephael, Obed and Elzabad, whose brothers were able men, Elihu and Semachiah. All these were of the sons of Obed-edom with their sons and brothers, able men qualified for the service; sixty-two of Obed-edom.
And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.
He went out and made war against the Philistines and broke through the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod, and he built cities in the territory of Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gurbaal and against the Meunites. The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong.
But he did not put their children to death, according to what is written in the Law, in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, “Fathers shall not die because of their children, nor children die because of their fathers, but each one shall die for his own sin.”
Then Amaziah assembled the men of Judah and set them by fathers’ houses under commanders of thousands and of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He mustered those twenty years old and upward, and found that they were 300,000 choice men, fit for war, able to handle spear and shield. He hired also 100,000 mighty men of valor from Israel for 100 talents of silver. But a man of God came to him and said, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel, with all these Ephraimites. But go, act, be strong for the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy? For God has power to help or to cast down.”
Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the Lord, all who were skillful, was 288. And they cast lots for their duties, small and great, teacher and pupil alike.
Do you want your family to be blessed and become a plessing - cultivate the presence of God in your home.
Illustration : - My mother
(2) PROTECTION - of God over our families
(2) PROTECTION - of God over our families
The nation is being invaded by so much evil.
In the media - In the music - in the movies
In the music
in the movies
Our children are being Abducted, Rapped, Murdered.
We have to pray for the protection of God over our families.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
If we maintain the presence of God in our families we will have the protection of God over our families.
Job 1:1-5
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.
So Job made sacrifices on their behalf to consecrate them peradventure they had sinned and defiled themselves.
Job’s was an act of intercession - Standing between God and man: - Today we no longer need to make a physical sacrifice as Jesus died once for all but - the prayer of confession and repentance is powerful because it appropriates the work of Christ and destroys the enemies legal rights against an individual, family, or even community.
Examples:
Moses -
Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.
The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you.
Hezekiah -
For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the Lord, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness.” And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
2 chronicles 30:18-20
New Testement
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
So Job interceeded / made sacrifices on behalf of his family - was it effective?
- satan brought an accusisation against Job.
“Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”
There was an edge of protection arround them.
But there are conditions to this protection:
Job was Blameless (hb “tam”) - one having moral integrity. - He had no Iniquity.
Our sins will impact the edge - Illus - Israel and balak
Job feared God, resisted evil - he walk in obedience to God.
The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
The Presence brings Protection - Keeping danger away from us. But some it brings Preservation - Keeping us safe in the midst of danger.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Sometime you are going thru the valley - its not because you sinned but its because the devil made an accusation against.
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
Satan made an accusation against Job.
The Question is why did God grant him permission? Because his accusation had some truth in it.
Job didn’t serve God completely for naught
For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes.”
dsfsdf
and so satan brought an accusation, and got permission against him.
Illus - The devils attack & My Grand-mother’s Dog
It is important that as we seek to interceed for our families Protection that we do some investigation, wheather thru enduiries / or discerment.
Family mapping.
(3) PROVISION - of God for the families
(3) PROVISION - of God for the families
One of the major things the enemy uses aginst families is the lack of provission.
The young girl with the bigman because he can provide lunch mony and bus-fare for school
The young youth involved in crime because there just seem to be no other was to survive.
The woman wants to serve God but “a di man/man dem who provide”
Even in our own christian home we struggle to make ends meet - Yet the Bible says “the cattle on a thousand hills are His” all the resources are His.
Hence we should Pray:
But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
KVJ- Peace - (hb “shalom”) - which also mean welfare
So it is our responsibility as believers to pray for the prosperity of ......
Paul repeats this charge in
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
Pray for the prosperity of the nation.
But i want ot propose to you that the way to provisions is not solely in praving but also in giving.
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.
Act 10:1-4
3 things we observe about this man:
Feard God
Prayed always
He gave alms - Giving to the poor
If we are going to shift our financies and that of our families then the people of God must not only pray but give.
I know that im soppose to be talking about prayer stratigies but if we are praying but yet stingy it will not be effective.
Yes you are a mighty prayer warrioe yet your neibour is hungry; the little lady down the corner has nothing and you know and can help and do nothing. The Lord is calling us to act.
In Vs 4 - When the Angel appaired to Cornelius he said “that his prayers and giving had come up as a memorial to God”. - Cause for God to pay attention and respond to.
God responded by blessing his entire family with salvation and the power of the Holy Spirit.
The giving that im talking about is not soley to the church. Yes as saints we are called to give to the work of God through the church, But we are also called to give to the needy.
We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.
2 cor
Illus - Giving my tithes to the mission in Haiti
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
As the family is important in the transformation of the nation, let us begin to pray for our family and that of our neighbour and comminuty
Pray for God’s Presence in our homes that our children can be blessed
Pray for God’s Protection against satan’s plans to distroy our marriages and families
Pray for God’s Provision that the needs of our families be provided
Become that instrument of blessings thru your giving.