Someone Has Been Praying

Gtcotr/032623 

Luke 22 NKJV

31  And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.

32  “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

 

How touching … how real. Three and a half years earlier Jesus had asked Peter to quit his job so he could be free to follow Jesus around and help Him. At that time Peter was a young man with a wife and an aging mother-in-law to take care of. His decision to follow Jesus was not without cost or concern.

 

Becoming a disciple in those days was equal to becoming not only a student but in many ways it was more like becoming a servant. You went where you were sent and did what you were told without the promise of a paycheck. The goal was to learn what your teacher knew so one day you could do what they did. (i.e. get people to follow and serve you for no promise of a paycheck hoping they can learn what you know so they can one day do what you did.)

 

Of course we are well aware this was and still is the plan of God. It may not be the easiest and perhaps even frowned on at times, nonetheless it is exactly what happened to me and to several successful men and women I know who are currently in the ministry.

 

Just two weeks ago I took a day off and drove hundreds and hundreds of miles just to see a man I have not talked to in decades so I could personally thank him for allowing me to become his disciple at a critical point in my calling. At that time, 1980/81, I had a wife and two children, and I felt it was the will of God for me to leave my job and offer my service to another minister. I served him faithfully with no promise of pay, and no pay by the way, even though it cost us everything we had. After all these years, I still believe it was a bargain. Turns out it was really the Lord.

 

For the forty plus years I have been in the ministry I have had many disciples God has sent to me to learn the ministry. Some of those have simply showed up and sat in our hallways or on the floor every day, some for months, some for years, waiting for the next lesson. 

 

Three weeks ago AJ Jackson, the man you saw leading praise and worship today, decided to do just that. I see him every day and take him along with me around the community, into planning meetings and even on walks through the buildings, teaching him and exposing him to the ministry. He keeps showing up even though I have told him there is no pay. Perhaps, like so many others, this will be the greatest investment he, or I for that matter, will ever make.

 

By the way … this is not my suggestion for you. Only God can write a prescription this big. If God is not willing to pay for it, you cannot afford it.

But Church is still one of the best Bible Schools on the planet.

 

God is interested in us learning … and God wants to use what we have already learned as well as teach us new applications. It’s the pattern of God.

• Moses spent 40 years as a member of the royal family in Egypt, and another 40 years as a shepherd of another man’s sheep in Midian.

o Then Moses found himself back in Egyptdelivering God’s children from the house and the hand of Pharoah.

o And then he pastored them for the next 40 years in a wilderness he knew like the back of his hand.

• Jael spent her days homemaking on the plains of Jezreel, pounding tent pegs into the ground, making blankets, and milking goats.

o Then God led Sisera, the captain of the armies of God’s greatest enemy right into her hand.

o She used what she learned: She gave him warm milk; covered him with a blanket; and drove a tent peg through his head and into the groundin one blow.

• David learned how to use a sling while just a young shepherd boy.

o He killed the bear, the lion, and then he killed Goliath.

o He became a man of war, a captain of armies, and then a king.

• Peter learned how to fish to provide for his family.

o Jesus made him a fisher of men and he took care of the family of God.

• Paul went to school and studied hard and learnedhow argue, and defend the law of Moses in public setting and in court.

o He used everything he learned and in it he found Christ.

o Paul spent the rest of his life presenting arguments for the Gospel all the way to the governor, then to the High Priest and before the king. Finally he found himself presenting arguments in the courts of Nero, Emperor of the Roman Empire.

• Mary Magdalene, like the demon possessed man of Gadara, learned and understood what it was like to be bound by darkness.

o They knew the difference when they saw the light.

o Jesus cast 7 devils out of Mary, and a legion of demons out of the man in Gadara. (Luke 8)

o Both became evangelists, called, commissioned, and sent to go and tell theirGood News to others.

 

God most often uses people in the area of their expertise. Without you knowing, and without having first gained your permission, or even made you aware, the providential hand of God has been preparing you.

 

Through each season and over every mountain, God has helped you. Though the prince of the darkness of this world has done his best to distract you, disappoint you, disillusion you, deceive you, and destroy your life, yet here you are, today, giving your attention to God, hoping He has the answer, wondering if He knows, uncertain if He cares … yet you listen.

 

The Holy Spirit has never left you, even in your darkest moments. And He will not leave you now. There is a mark on your life. Someone has been praying for you and these prayers have been heard in heaven. This is why you are here; this is why your heart is being touched once again.

 

I wondered how God could ever use me. I was no goodand everyone except my grandmother, my mom and my siblings believed it. Even I believed it. I was wearing all the medals of a sinner. No one imagined I would change. I was headed down the same road which my fathers walked before me.

 

Everyone in my hometown knew my family. My dad was a nice guy but he was a drunk 30 year old with 4 children when he finally gave up and went to a church in our little community one night. At the end of the service he went forward to the altar in tears under the conviction of the Holy Spirit only to be told by the preacher that everyone knew him and knew how he was and that he had already committed too many sins to be saved and all he had to look forward to was hell. 

 

Sadly he was turned away from the altar that night because everyone knew what a sinner he had been. He left that church and said to himself, if God is going to send me to hell anyway, I might as well go ahead and live like hell now. And he did. For the next 16 years, critical child raising years, from the time I was 5 until my early twenties, he lived his hell and his wife and children paid for it. I wonder how different it would have been f only that preacher who turned him away would have known how much God loves sinners.

 

I’m here to testify that the Holy Spirit never left my dad. There were some tough-love moments and boundaries had to be set from time to time, but mymother taught us children how to pray. I know mybrother, my sisters, and my mother never stopped praying for my dad. And while they were at it, they were praying for me as well. Wouldn’t you know it … God allowed me to reap the greatest harvest even though I worked the least.

 

At 26 years old I was blessed to see my dad walk the aisle in church once again, and I got to baptize him in water, pray for him to receive the Holy Spirit, become his pastor, ordain him into the ministry, serve with himand my mother in the Church for years before I preached his funeral right alongside my brother, a Southern Baptist Preacher, who most of you know.

 

The Holy Spirit never left my father, but He stayed right with him through all of the devils attempts to destroy his life, his family, and his future. God didn’t want my dad to go to hell … God loves sinners! And so should the church.

 

Only the devil would tell you God doesn’t want you in His church. Only the devil would tell you God doesn’t love and won’t forgive you. That same devil will even try to convince you that you don’t love God. That’s a pack of lies. The arguments you’re having in your head are one voice arguments and the devil is the only one talking. That’s not you … you don’t believe that … it’s the devil. 

 

God has never left you and that’s why you’re listeningto me right now.

 

What am I saying? I am saying, “Today is the day.” This is your day. God loves you and He wants to forgive you of your sins, save your soul from an eternity in hell, and deliver you from the hell of this life. Someone has been praying for you! His name is Jesus!!!

 

Luke 22 NKJV

31  And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.

32  “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

 

Satan wanted to put Peter through the wringer and destroy him … but Jesus prayed for him. 

 

Jesus is praying for you today as well. He has been praying for you every day of your life, and even before. 

 

Not only is Jesus praying for you, but the Holy Spirit has also put you on the heart of someone who loves you. Perhaps it’s someone from your past. God does not forget the prayers of His people. 

 

The only question is what are you going to do right now? 

 

God needs your help. He has helped you through so much. The devil has tried to destroy you, but here you are anyway. 

 

Give it all to Jesus right now! Surrender your life to Him. Take Him to work with you in a new way this week. Let Him be the Lord of your home. Follow His leadership in your family time. A renewed commitment to Jesus will work. This time might just be the right time.

 

As well … Ask God to put someone on your heart to pray for. Then do it!