LG Teaser: April 5, 2009

April 5th 2009, Message series: conTXT

Hezekiah was a King who accomplished great things however almost none of his accomplishments were every recorded and most of them perished because of one errant prayer request. Hezekiah did not ask for anything unreasonable of God, but what he did ask for was outside of God’s will and God granted Hezekiah’s wish. We all go to God in prayer and for most of us our prayer life is more about asking God for what we want than consulting with God to figure out what He wants. Scripture says if you ask it will be given unto you…but sometimes we don’t really want what we ask for or we ask for the wrong thing.

The Big Idea

Prayer is about praising God, and asking Him to line your will up with His.

God's View

Psalms 66:4 - All the earth worships • you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.” Selah
Psalms 32:5 - I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess • my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Psalms 100:4 - Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
Philippians 4:6 - do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Hebrews 5:7 - In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

Questions

Have you ever prayed or wished for something that you knew you wanted and got it and realized it was not all it was cracked up to be.
When you pray where do you spend most of your time:

Adoration – proclaiming to God how great He is and how much you Love Him. (Psalms 66:4)
Confession – being honest and open with God and admitting your sins and asking for forgiveness (Psalms 32:5)
Thanksgiving – Thanking God for his many blessings (Psalms 100:4)