Today a post on the Devotional Thoughts thread ([i]The Missionary Watching[/i] by [b]Oswald Chambers[/b]) reminded me of this thread. These encouragements have continued in my fellowship, for over a year now. The first one on 08/03/08 was quite short:

[b]A Call to Prayer – R.C. Ryle[/b]

Have you forgotten that it is not natural to anyone to pray? “The carnal mind is enmity against God.”... “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw near to you.” The secret [of growth and greater intimacy with God] is for us to draw nigh first.

Lately, I am including one quote each week that that points out the relationship between the Word of God and prayer. Below is the encouragement for this Sunday's Bulletin.

[b][size=small]Encouragement to Prayer[/size][/b]

[b][u]Word of God goes with Prayer[/b][/u]:
"If ye abide in Me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." ([b]John 15:7[/b]) ... 2. But there is another condition stated in this verse, though it is really involved in the first: "AND MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU.” If we are to obtain from God all that we ask from Him, Christ's words must abide or continue in us. We must study His words, fairly devour His words, let them sink into our thought and into our heart, keep them in our memory, obey them constantly in our life, let them shape and mold our daily life and our every act. - [i]How to Pray[/i] by [b]R. A. Torrey[/b].

“Men are commonly more zealous to support their own authority than God’s.” - [b]Matthew Henry[/b].

"Prayer is not preparation for the work, it is the work." - [b]Oswald Chambers[/b].

“Half a dozen men on their knees for 60 minutes waiting upon the Lord with the absolute conviction that they have no answer, that their human ideas and programmes are ineffective and bankrupt – they will accomplish more than 50 men around a table discussing problems for a whole year.” – [b]Alan Redpath[/b].

“When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. But when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do." - [b]A. C. Dixon[/b].

“The deepest impressions of T. Austin-Sparks' life and ministry came from his prayer life and its challenge to those who gathered with him at the Christian Fellowship Centre. Two evenings a week were given exclusively to prayer, and few areas of the world were untouched on these occasions. ... Additionally, the leaders and church elders at the Centre devoted all day every Tuesday to prayer and fasting.” [i]Theodore Austin-Sparks: Reflections on his life and work[/i] by [b]Agnus M. Gunn[/b].

[b]T. Austin-Sparks (1888-1971):[/b] Converted in the Welsh revival at age seventeen and barred from his parental home in 1906, he was active in the evangelistic movements that followed the revival. Continued by serving as a Congregational and Baptist Union pastor (1912-1926), then established with like-minded colleagues, a Christian fellowship and conference center in Forest Hills, London, that attracted and sent out many world-wide. He left behind a treasury of messages and articles full of wisdom and revelation of Christ.

[b]Alan Redpath (1907-1989):[/b] A well-known British evangelist, pastor (Moody Church 1953-1962) and author. In 1936 he joined the National Young Life Campaign (later called Young Life) as an evangelist.
([b]09-06-09[/b] – Quotes from men and women of prayer.)

[b][size=medium]Encouragement to Prayer[/size][/b]

[b]Men and women of prayer all put it a bit differently, but they all agree: the Word of God goes with prayer. Here are just a few examples.[/b]

[b]R. A. Torrey, [i]How to Pray[/i][/b]: Here is one of the greatest secrets of prevailing prayer: To study the Word to find what God's will is as revealed there in the promises, and then simply take these promises and spread them out before God in prayer with the absolutely unwavering expectation that He will do what He has promised in His Word. ... But how does real faith come? Romans 10:17 answers the question: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing BY THE WORD OF GOD." If we are to have real faith, we must study the Word of God and find out what is promised; then simply believe the promises of God. Faith must have a warrant. Trying to believe something that you want to believe is not faith. Believing what God says in His Word is faith.

[b]D. S. Whitney[/b], Seminary professor,[b][i] Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life[/b][/i]: The most important thing you can do is not pray but rather read your bible. For it's much more important that you hear from God than it is for him to hear from you.

[b]Dwight Moody, [i]Sermonindex, Devotional Thread[/b][/i]: Dwight Moody when he was asked which is more important: Reading the scriptures or prayer. He answered with his own question, “Which is more important to a bird, his right wing or his left wing?”

[b]Watchman Nee, [i]The Lord My Portion, July 29, 2009:[/b][/i] So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17) ... It is a waste of time to pray without believing in the word of God. In order to receive God’s grace, one thing which is so necessary is to lay hold of His word.... Whenever something confronts you, you must ask Him to give you a word.

[b]C. H. Spurgeon, [i]Plea of Faith: Do as Thou Hast Said:[/b][/i] Oh! that you studied your Bibles more! Oh! that we all did! How we could plead the promises! How we could plead the promises!

[b]William Gurnall,[i] The Promise of John 14:13:[/b][/i] Furnish thyself with arguments from the promises to enforce thy prayers, and make them prevalent with God. The promises are the ground of faith, and faith, when strengthened, will make thee fervent, and such fervency ever speeds and returns with victory out of the field of prayer.... The mightier any is in the Word, the more mighty he will be in prayer.

[b]A. T. Pierson:[/b] God has no greater controversy with His people today than this, that with boundless promises to believing prayer, there are so few who actually give themselves unto intercession.
([b]08-16-09[/b] – Quotes from men and women of prayer.)

[b][size=medium]Encouragement to Prayer[/size][/b]

[u][i]The Path of Prayer[/i] by [b]Samuel Chadwick[/b][/u]
Scholarship is blind to spiritual truth till He reveals. Worship is idolatry till He inspires. Preaching is powerless if it be not a demonstration of His power. Prayer is vain unless He energizes. Human resources of learning and organization, wealth and enthusiasm, reform and philanthropy, are worse than useless if there be no Holy Spirit in them.

The Church always fails at the point of self-confidence. When the Church is run on the same lines as a circus, there may be crowds, but there is no Shekinah! That is why prayer is the test of faith and the secret of power. The Spirit of God travails in the prayer life of the soul.

The carnal can argue, but it is the Spirit that convicts. Education can civilize, but it is being born of the Spirit that saves. The energy of the flesh can run bazaars, organize amusements, and raise millions, but it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that makes a Temple of the Living God. The root trouble of the present distress is that the Church has more faith in the world and the flesh than in the Holy Spirit. Things will get no better till we get back to His realized presence and power. The breath of the four winds would turn death into life and dry bones into a mighty army, but it only comes by prayer.

[u][b]“But Prayer ...”[/b][i] Awake My Heart[/i], August 16th devotion by [b]J. Sidlow Baxter[/b][/u]
It may seem difficult to think that one humble Christian believer, kneeling in a small room in secret prayer, can wield an influence outmatching that of ostentatious state councils. There is nothing of outward impressiveness or dimensional grandeur. Yet once we grasp the real significance of that kneeling intercessor, pleading there in the name of Jesus and persevering under the compulsion of the Holy Spirit, our sense of values is revolutionized. The decisions of deliberative bodies, and the whole course of events, can be effected by such praying.

“PRAYER IS THE BEST WIRELESS CONNECTION” – [b]Anonymous[/b]

[b]WORD OF GOD GOES WITH PRAYER:[/b] The battle of prayer is against two things in the earthlies: wandering thoughts and lack of intimacy with God’s character as revealed in His word. Neither can be cured at once, but they can be cured by discipline. - Oswald Chambers

[b]Samuel Chadwick (1840 – 1932):[/b] English born into a devout Methodist family, he worked 12-hour shifts with his father in a cotton mill from age eight. Called as a lay pastor at age 21. After an awakening and deepening of his faith in his late twenties, he burned his sermons, preaching to increasingly larger congregations with mission work in the coal fields. In 1913, he became Principal of Cliff College, a Methodist lay training center.

([b]09-27-09[/b] – Quotes from men and women of prayer.)

Note: Leonard Ravenhill studied at Cliff College during Samuel Chadwick's tenure.

This is a blessing and good one. We must pray the word, Lord Jesus honor the annointing on this word and we trust you to bring it to pass swiftly. PS 147:15 He sends his command to the Earth; his word runs swiftly.
Lord send in your harvesters to gather your people together.
Math 9:38 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send labourers into his harvest.

Luke 10:2 Therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth Labours into his harvest.

Could every conflict in the church be a conflict over who Jesus is? It seemed that way as I studied John 8 this last week, where even those that believed John 8:30-31 quickly came to picking up stones to throw at Him! John 8:59.

Oh for spiritual insight: "What are we arguing about?"

My fellowship would argue about worship! What are we arguing about when we argue about Worship? I have repeated the following encouragement to prayer for three weeks in a row now. I have others, but no freedom to move past this one. This week John 8 helped me understand a little bit more.

[b][size=small]Encouragement to Prayer[/size][/b]

[i][b]Whatever Happened to Worship[/i] by A. W. Tozer

A Prayer by A. W. Tozer[/b]

"O Lord God Almighty, not the God of the philosophers and the wise but the God of the prophets and apostles; and better than all, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, may I express thee unblamed? They that know thee not may call upon thee as other than thou art, and so worship not thee, but a creature of their own fancy; [b]therefore enlighten our minds that we may know thee as thou art, so that we may perfectly love thee and rightly worship thee.[/b]"

([b]12-06-09[/b] – Quotes from men and women of prayer.)

[size=small][b]The [u]Greatest[/u] Encouragement to Prayer

He is Risen[/size]

[u]Truth [/b][/u]
“Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, … declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:” (Romans 1: 3-4) “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.” (1 Corinthians 15:20) “ … It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”(Romans 8:34)

[b][u]Praise[/u][/b]
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1 Peter 1:3)

[u][b]Thanksgiving[/u][/b]
“Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians. 2:12, 15)

[u][b]Confession of Sin[/u][/b]
“Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection;” (Mark 12:18) [Do we say there is, but act as though there is no resurrection?]

[u][b]Exhortation[/u][/b]
“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4: 14-16)

[u][b]Supplication[/u][/b]
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1)

[u][b]To God be the Glory[/u][/b]
“Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2: 5-7) “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” (Ephesians 3: 20-21)

[size=small][b]He Is Risen![/b][/size]

([b]04-04-10[/b] – Quotes from men and women of prayer.)