The Poverty of
Prayerlessness
Intro: Contrary to the will of God, many of
His children are living a life of spiritual poverty. We know from several passages of Scripture
that if a child of God is spiritually bankrupt, it is NOT God’s fault.
1. 2 Peter 1:3 According as his divine power hath given
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge
of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2. Jeremiah 23:4 And I will set up shepherds over them which
shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall
they be lacking, saith the LORD.
3. Psalms 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
DEFINITION OF WANT: to lack, be without,
decrease, be lacking, have a need; to diminish, decrease
The reason
that many believers are spiritually broke and living an abject poverty is
simply because they do not pray.
Prayerlessness produces a poverty that will affect the health of a
believer not only spiritually, but mentally, socially, and even financially.
Without a
life of prayer, you are living a life…
I. Without Access
·
Hebrews 4:16 Let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
It is
through PRAYER that the child of God has access to the throne – the presence –
the ear of Almighty God.
Prayer is
the key to the door of Heaven. Prayer is the way we access the throne of God.
Prayerlessness
is a child of God of their own volition locking themselves out of the very throne
room of God.
II. Without Assistance
·
Hebrews 4:16 Let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
III. Without Answers
·
Jeremiah 33:3 Call
unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which
thou knowest not.
·
Psalms 27:7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and
answer me.
·
Psalms 86:7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.
·
Psalms 102:2 Hide
not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto
me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.
IV. Without Ability
·
TURN
TO Matt. 17:14-21
Matthew 17:21 Howbeit
this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
QUOTE: If your church is powerless, it is
because It is prayerless. - Andrew Murray
V. Without Assets
·
Matthew 6:6
But thou, when thou prayest, enter
into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is
in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But
when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that
they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto
them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
·
John 15:16 Ye
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go
and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall
ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
·
Matthew 7:8 For
every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened.
·
James 4:2 …ye
have not, because ye ask not.
