Prayer Summary for March 1

Pastor Ken Olsen shared…

I was just thinking recently how important faith is. In particular how everything God does is by faith and through faith. If you read the great faith hall of fame chapter 11 of Hebrews, it repetitively says by faith and through faith. By faith, Noah… through faith, Moses… by faith through faith over and over and over again. Faith is enormously important and especially when it comes to effectiveness in prayer, but before faith can do its thing through our prayers, there is one step before that. That is relationship with our heavenly Father because faith is born out of connection with God. It flows effortlessly and organically that is from a place of connection, communion, and relationship with God.

In fact, we were created to connect and our lives unfold, or destiny unfolds, prayers flow freely and organically, really efficiently and effectively when we connect, when we value the most important thing, the one thing, like somebody once said, “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” And the main thing is Him. The main thing is what Jesus talked about in John 15 because everything unfolds from there. And that was the secret to Jesus’ effectiveness on the earth and His earthly ministry. In fact, it was the secret for Him for batting a thousand in prayer. He was effective in prayer if there ever was somebody. And God wants us to have the same effectiveness. But it is going to require the same kind of lifestyle. Not approaching God as something to check off our list on a given morning but approaching God as our list. He is our life, amen. And this morning I want us to do that, I want us to just approach Him and worship Him and see Him as our life.

Scripture focus…

“For in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’” Acts 17:28 (NKJV)

Our lives thrive and rise and prayer flows effectively and powerfully and accomplishes His purpose as we connect. In John 15 Jesus over and over again uses the word “abide” and it simply means to connect.

(1) “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. (2) He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. (3) You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. (4) Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. (5) “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (6) If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (7) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:1–7 (NIV)

Pastor Ken Olsen shared…

If Jesus said that of Himself that apart from His Father, connection with His Father, He could do nothing and if Jesus said that how much more ought we be able to say that. This is so essential and so important. You know I have walked with God my whole life and been a pray-er for a long time now and I still find myself coaching myself and cheering myself on to connect. There are so many things that disconnect us, so many things that distract us, the enemy comes for the word to steal it out of our heart, to sidetrack, to derail us because he knows in connection the perfect will of God is evidenced. Amen. In abiding with Him, there is fire on the altar of the believer, there is fire on the altar of the prayer. The Bible says the effectual fervent, earnest, white hot prayer of a righteous man or a righteous woman makes much power available, dynamic in its working. Our responsibility is to fan the flames of devotion, to fan the fire on the altar of our souls because in that white hot fervent place there is effective prayer. God is able to steer us and use us and accomplish His great purpose. But we have to do our part which is abide. God can do anything you can imagine but He can’t make us connect. That’s our job. That’s our responsibility.

The word abide means to live, remain, dwell, connect. It carries with it the connotation of doing so with tenacity, fervency, and consistency. In other words, not just connecting or abiding once but daily, day in and day out. Our one responsibility, or one main thing, is to stay connected, to be abiding presently and continuously in Him. Amen. Just like an electrical circuit there is a loop because it’s connected. Power flows when there is a connection. When you plug something into the wall and when we plug into Him we begin to prosper, we being to increase, life begins to flow, God’s purpose comes to pass and life becomes more joyous and fruitful. I think sometimes our prayer lives or our lives in general can be arduous and difficult and challenging and dry and dull because we are doing it in our own effort. We are doing it out of memory rather than out of design. And God designed for us to flow from that place of relationship. And I don’t know about you but that’s the one thing since I was a kid that always energized me was this reality that I had a relationship with my heavenly Father and that all things were possible if I just walked with Him, talked with Him, believed and listened for His voice because He is speaking. Even this morning God is speaking. He has all the answers. He holds all the power. He knows just what needs to be done. Now it is up to us to just come to that place and just abide, live, remain, and dwell.

One translation says abide means to stay in one place or state or relationship. Sometimes that’s the hardest thing because we want to do our own thing. We want to shift, we want to move, we get tired, we get distracted, get bored so we want to do something different. But day after day if God hasn’t given you a second word, He is expecting us to do the last thing He told us to do… in our lives specifically but of course what His Word says which is abide. The Bible reads that Jesus day after day got up and He went to a desolate place, a desert place, He went into the wilderness all by Himself… many Bible scholars agree that probably the time frame was 3:30 or 4 in the morning. In other words, hours before anyone was stirring, any of the disciples were up, before the donut man was making the donuts, Jesus was up. And He was in a quiet, desolate, probably cold place behind a rock or a boulder out in the desert somewhere, on His knees, pacing, whatever, connecting with His Heavenly Father, drawing on heaven.

We are simply vessels. As pray-ers, as believers we are vessels because of the shed blood of Jesus and the work of the cross, we are worthy vessels. We are prepared vessels. Amen. I love the fact that Jesus comes on the inside of us when we receive Him. He went into the Holy of Holies in heaven and presented His blood but He also by and through His Spirit comes in and dwells in us, recreates us on the inside and is ever with us on the inside, on board and in our lives 24/7 all throughout this lifetime, never to leave us or forsake us, never to say “Oh, you are not righteous. I guess you are going to have to go it alone and do your best not to do bad and do good.” No, even this morning because we abide in Him, because we have received His Spirit and He indwells in us, we are His children fit for His use, that being prayer here this morning, righteous in His sight, holy, justified… goodness gracious. Justified means just as if I never sinned, had always obeyed because of Him. Amen. Everything flows out of connection, out of relationship with Him especially if you are going to endeavor to pray. He is the one that has the words. He can move a nation into revival with just one word through the mouth of the most unlikely person who is praying if that person is connected to Him.

We don’t maybe know how God is going to solve a problem or how He is going to change our nation, how He is going to get the right president into office, how to solve world problems, how we are going to wrap things up in these last hours. We don’t know a lot of things. We don’t have to. We just need to know one thing. He is the answer. The Bible says all those who turn their hearts toward Him, He will show Himself strong in their lives and on behalf of them. But we have to turn our hearts toward Him. Bible says we are to incline our ears to His sayings. Incline literally means to turn, tilt your ear to hear what He is saying from the direction He is saying it. And so, this morning I want us to endeavor to connect with Him. Open our hearts to Him. He already has all the answers. He’s already taken care of the sin issue. If you are a follower of Jesus and have received Him into Your life then you are right in His sight in every way, worthy and fit for His use. What He is most passionate for in this hour is John 15:7 I believe which says “If you abide (connect, live, remain, dwell) in Me and My words in you… So I am sharing in the word this morning because He and His Word are one. First place You dwell, you remain with Him is letting His Words abide in you. Pastor Lynne has always said through the years that the first place God will speak to you is from His Book. I would add to that, when the going’s tough and it’s difficult, when you are facing adversity, when you don’t have answers or know which way to go, know that God is wanting to speak to you. That’s important to think about because sometimes when we get in a difficult season our tendency is to go it alone and take matters into our own hands. But in those moments, especially we must connect.

You know King David when we read in the Old Testament about him you will find that he won a lot of battles. He was hugely successful as a king and a leader and I think the first and foremost reason why he was so successful is because he was in the habit of connecting with God. Even after the enemy had plundered his city called Zitlag and captured and hauled off wives and children, he and all his mighty men and of course that was a devastating loss, he still had the presence of mind to firstly seek God and ask Him what He wanted him and his men to do. I don’t know about you but I might have a knee jerk reaction in that situation and approach things with a scorched earth mentality and go after the enemy without even thinking out of pain and hurt and devastation. But yet the Bible records that David who is the one the Bible reveals was the man after God’s own heart, had this presence of mind and this value in his heart to seek God first before even stepping one foot out on the battlefield or making one other move. The Bible says that he was in the habit of asking God. By the way is a very important key to prayer. No, I mean specifically asking God. He asked “God this happened, do you want me and my men to pursue and go after our enemy that has plundered our city and captured our wives and our children or what would you have us…” He asked a very pointed, specific question. Which is important because much of the time in prayer, that’s what God waits for is for us asking Him. You have not because you ask not. So this morning maybe in your life there is something very specific going on and you are kind of waiting around for an answer or direction. Well maybe God is asking you to bring it to Him and say “Lord, what do you want me to do with this specific situation. What should I do about this deal? How should I handle my children? How should I handle my finances?” Ask Him very specifically.

And the Bible records that God gave David because of that a very specific answer and said yes, rise up, go out at once and pursue the enemy for you shall overtake them and recover all. Isn’t that good?

Jesus was in the wilderness maybe early in the morning praying, seeking, abiding and the most amazing thing would happen during the day. You would find Him… it would seem like He had already been there, done that you know so to speak, when He raised Lazarus, when He encountered the woman at the well, when He faced adversity, when He faced whatever. It was like He already knew what to do. Of course He did. He has a Spirit of faith and He had a Spirit of Seeing and knowing. The Holy Spirit is our Spirit of Seeing and Knowing. The Bible records in John 16 that “Howbeit when He the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth… He will even show you things to come.” As pray-ers we pray for a while and we start thinking to ourselves “well I got this. I will take care of that for you.” And we almost turn prayer into a work a little bit and forget and leave God behind. We forget that prayer is really a manifestation of the Divine, it’s a manifestation of God and His presence and His purpose. And first we have to plug in and draw and wait and listen, work smarter so to speak not harder. I just mean be smarter in how we approach prayer and I guarantee you will make more right decisions than wrong decisions. We will have more answered prayers than unanswered prayers. Because Jesus, when He went about His earthly ministry, He really just walked out what He had already seen in that place of prayer, in that place of abiding. He just walked it out. He said I simply do what I see My Father doing and I say what I hear My Father saying. Life and prayer is an open book test. We already have all the answers right here we can just read from and recite them. We have to take the time to listen and to look and to wait on Him. Amen.

So John 15:7 once again says “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done unto you.” Isn’t that good? In other words, it’s basically Him giving us a blank check. You can ask whatever you wish and it will be done unto you. Why? Because we are abiding in Him and He is abiding in us.

Let’s draw close to Him, open our hearts and tune in, yield over to Him from the inside and let’s just let Him inspire us together this morning. He is going to mobilize and utilize all of us. He has a mission, purpose here today. I think very often the first mission and purpose that He has is to refresh up. One thing that always sticks out in my mind that helped me years ago is what is most important is not what I bring to the table for God but what He brings to the table for me. It’s not about what I can do for Him but what He has done and wants to presently and continually do for me every morning. We can’t overlook the fact that it was Mary that Jesus acknowledged and gave props to. It wasn’t Martha. He loved Martha deeply but it was Mary who just sat at the feet of the Master and received and gleaned and was ministered to, that He noted as special and important and the one thing that wouldn’t be taken away from her. That’s the one thing, to wait at His feet. Amen.

Prayed…

Father, we come in the name of Jesus
You are so merciful and kind
We come here knowing that You are already waiting on us
Every care we leave at the door
Freely and easily giving ourselves over to You
You have created us to connect with You
Thank You, Father, for sending Your Son
Let Your presence flush out the old and bring in the new
Holy Spirit, be free to work in us, fanning the flame of devotion in us
Show us the doorways, Lord, that we and our community must go through
Help us to see, cast light upon our souls
Lifting up the church, open the eyes of our understanding
Flood our lives with truth
Higher operations; higher places
Declare a loosing of finances
Every hindrance and evil strategy be removed
Declaring a new pathway—mountains are moved!
Declaring a highway for our Lord
Prayers are timeless, lifting up previous prayers yet to be manifested
Progress and advancement to move us to the end of our race
From east, west, north and south—breaking up the fallowed ground
Supernatural preparation!
Today there is a forging ahead!
Praying in the Spirit and making our supply
The Spirit of prayer is orchestrating us today
Reviving of the Church—shake what need to be shaken
Repositioning and uncovering
We leave it in the past
Responding to the leadership—help us all to hear it and see it
We lift up the economy, surrounding it with the blood of Jesus
Orchestrations of the economy, by Your strong hand
We declare the economy goes in the right way
Peace to Wall Street, business owners, and corporations
Peace, grace, supply, and wisdom from the heart of God
Divine strategies
Lifting up leaders in Washington, Cities all over for wisdom and strength
You turn the heart of unscrupulous and certainly good leaders
We speak blessing over all that You have ordained in our country
A foundation for the preaching of the Gospel!
It’s in You that we find all that we crave and seek
Bless the Lord and all that is within us bless His holy name

Annie led us in worship…

Continued praying…

We honor and bless You, Lord
Welcoming You in the tabernacle of each of our hearts
First and foremost fill us, Lord, with Your Shekinah Glory
It’s Your presence we seek and so desire
Saturate us, engulf every problem, heal every wound, bring light and answers
Teach us, Lord, how to relate and abide and move in Your presence
Thank You, Lord, thank You for Your Holy Spirit, Father
Surrender to Him this morning
We want more not just a little but all that You have to give
Craving and desiring—blessed are they that hunger and thirst for they shall be filled
Take possession of us, Lord, help us to abandon our will to You
Bless You, Lord, thank You, Jesus
New order of things, new paradigm, first in our lives and then in the Church
Release that Lord, steps of preparation
Thank You for helping us see the doors that may have been there all along
Lead us, Father, we give You permission to make it clear
Speaking grace to the path of the Church
Easy now, grace now
Grace to the insufficiency and unknowns
For each and every one of us and Your body
In concert and unity, we speak grace to the mountains, to the impossibilities, to the fear that has tried to reign
Releasing grace in the spiritual dimension
Spiritually and naturally as we walk it out!
Releasing ideas and concepts—favor in the marketplace
In every area, we walk out in the days ahead
That way is prepared and ready and apparent to us in Jesus’ name
Thank You, Father, for a whole new modus operandi
Wisdom and ideas, progressive
Grant us as Your church the new ways leading to Your purposeful destiny
Founded on faith and the principles of Your kingdom—new doors, plans, purposes, and thoughts
For this year and all the years to come
Raise us up, Father, where we can apprehend those ways
Breakthrough and favor are opening up—Thank You, Lord!
We will obey, Lord, give us hearts tender and responsive to Your leadership
Thank You, Jesus!

Pastor Ken Olsen shared…

I was remembering that prayer really is just … one of the most fundamental purposes of prayer is that it enables God through us to open a way. We are like a porter, to use an old phrase, one that watches and waits and at the right time of the direction of his or her master, opens the door, open what needs to be opened. And I believe we opened some things this morning, spiritually, we may not see or be able to taste it or touch it but in the Spirit we have accomplished God’s mission for this time and season this morning. Amen. So go expecting this morning. God is doing some good things. Enjoy your day. Have a happy and blessed Tuesday.

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