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| Prayer is Powerful | The Red Line Compromise |
Campfire Devotional
By
Brent Pasley
Last year at cap we prayed for lots of
things and God answered us
with yeses. I want to teach you about prayer because it is the most
important thing in Christianity. Prayer is how we begin and prayer is
how it ends.
We pray a prayer of faith and ask Jesus to come in to our hearts, and
we are saved. When we die we go to be with Jesus where we win
commune with God.
So, what is prayer? ..Wait ..prayer is simply taking with God and
waiting for an answer o Prayer may not seam like much but prayer is
Powerful.
Ex. 1) Last year during campfire devotion a girl lost her
bracelet. The
girl and her friend looked for the bracelet but did not find it. I asked it
they had prayed to God to help them find it. They looked at me like I
was crazy. They searched some more but didn't find it so they gave up.
I grabbed their hands and prayed for God's help. Then the girl turned
around looked down and found her bracelet.
Ex. 2) Last year on the last day of camp it was raining The
problem
was that we were going to have a baptismal service that day in the
pool. We went to worship that morning and Kevin told me that if it
was raining. we couldn't baptize the kids. He asked me to pray so I did.
When worship was over the rain stopped and the kids were baptized.
Ex. 3) A few years ago a friend of mine named DJ got hit by a
car while
riding his bike. His friend ran to my house and told us that DJ had
gotten hit by a car and probably was going to die. My Pastor Karl and I
drove to the hospital. Karl went in to the emergency room to pray for
DJ and I prayed in the waiting room. With in two hours he was
released form the hospital.
Prayer is Powerful!
How do you do
it?
In :1st Timothy 2:1 Paul says, " I exhort therefore, that, first of an,
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for
all men [people ]
Wow, those are big words huh? Well lets Make them smaller. There
are two books that you need in your life.
The BIBLE and the Dictionary that way when you are reading the
Bible and you don't understand what it is saying you can look up the
words you don't understand.
Okay there are your different kinds of prayer. mentioned here.
1) Supplications = which means to make a humble request. This
is
what it looks like.
Mark 1:40 a man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus,
begging to be healed. " lf you want to, you can make me well
again." This is supplication.
2) Prayers is another king of prayer = which means a fervent
prayer. That's simple enough huh? Can anybody tell me what
fervent means? It means greatly emotional. This is what it looks
like. Mark 10:46 As Jesus left the town of Jericho, a crowd was
following. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus was sitting beside
the road as Jesus was passing by. Bartimaeus heard that Jesus
from Nazareth was near by, he began to shout out, "Jesus Son of
David have mercy on me!" The people told him to stop shouting
but he just shouted louder. "Son of David, have mercy on me!"
This is prayers
3) The third kind of prayer is Intercession = and it means to
pray
on behalf of another. Mark 5:22-23 a man named Jairus came and
fell down before Jesus, pleading with him to heal his daughter,
"she is about to die, " Please come and lay your hands on her and
she will live." This is intercession.
4) The final kind of prayer is caned Thanksgivings can any
body
tell me what thanksgivings means? -wait- it means to be
thankful or to have an {Attitude of Gratitude}. This is what it
looks like. Luke 17:11 Jesus entered a village and there were ten
lepers standing at a distance the cried out to Jesus to heal them.
Jesus told them to go to the priests as they went they were
healed. On of the ten came back to Jesus saying, Praise God, I am
healed!" Then he fell at Jesus' feet thanking him for what he had
done. Jesus blessed him and said, "Stand up and go, your faith
has made you well." This is thanksgivings.
Well there are some
examples of how you do it?
Now what does it do?
James 5:16 says.
The effectual, Fervent, prayer, of a righteous man availeth much.
Oh no more big words!
Okay so this is what it means= effectual means to as much as is needed,
fervent means with great emotion like a pot of water boiling over,
prayer means supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings,
and availeth means has great power and wonderful results.
So you could say it this way
To pray as much as is needed, with great emotion like water boiling
over, with any of the four kinds of prayer, prayed by a righteous or a
Christian person, has great power and wonderful results.
So Prayer is Powerful!
The The Red Line of Compromise
Compromise= adjust, adapt, agree, arbitrate, bargain, concede, make concessions,
negotiate, retire, retreat, settle.
Antonyms differ quarrel
We are all
taught from the earliest age to compromise. We are taught that in the face of
conflict with someone we are to reach a common ground to bring about peace
between your opposition and yourself. In some circumstances that maybe a good
idea such as school projects, deciding what to eat when you go out with friends
or when you are having an argument with your brothers or sisters. Reaching peace
or a truce through compromise. However there are situations that come up where
compromise is not only costly it is also a sin.
The key to
this word is called disconcernment. This is the first thing our enemy the
Devil attacks he does this by showing us there is no such thing as black and
white instead we are taught that there are endless shades of grey. See this is
true but it is only half of the truth. See the Devil's tactic is not that he
lies he just leaves out the information that may sway you to stand on what you
know to be right and descent. There is black and white and then there are shades
of grey and there is also a red line of compromise. See God Created the Heavens
and the Earth and everything around them. God having created the heavens and the
earth knows the inner workings of our world from an experts point of view and is
flawless in his own knowledge of what is good for us and what is harmful for us.
He knows because he designed us. What God has said, his laws his statues are
black and white. Sin entered the world through a compromise, a choice to concede
with the unknown philosophy to gain the knowledge of good and evil from a false
prophet the Serpent, and to disobey the direct command of our known creator at
the beginning of it all. In walk the shades of grey. Now we the created have the
understanding of God in this matter without the ability to handle it. We were
never designed to know the understanding of good and evil (the Law) we were
designed to believe in God's word and trust that God loves us and thus would not
hold anything back that we need know (faith). This has been the message since
the beginning and it is the message now. So God has sent his Son to die for us
the way back to paradise. He has left us here so that we can show the rest of
creation the way back through Jesus Christ. However, they will only be
lead back by those who do not compromise the
Gospel of Jesus Christ for anything else. This is the life of one who has chosen
Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This is preaching the Gospel with
integrity;
that we live a life acceptable of the high calling of God. We do it by not
crossing
the red line of compromise.
This is the red line compromise. It is when you come to make a decision
on something and it crosses you mind that Jesus would not want you doing it and
you do it anyway. It's when somebody is having a rough day and the Holy Ghost
tells you to comfort that person and you don't because you're to embarrassed.
It's
when God tells you to pray for someone and you don't. It's going to a movie
when you know the content of the film isn't acceptable. It's when you don't walk
out of a movie you thought would be okay after you found out that it isn't. It's
listening to music that doesn't glorify, support, or even mention Jesus' name
just
because you like it. It is making peace with your friends or family by not
bringing
up the subject of religion when you know that they need to talk about it. It is
any
time you deny Christ to make peace with this world. It is refusing to pick up
your
cross and follow Jesus when Jesus said if you don't than you are not one of his.
It
is forsaking the assembling together of saints for a night of drinking and sin.
It is
using the Grace of God as a license to sin. It is causing your brother to
stumble. It
is being entangled in the yoke of bondage again instead of being free as Christ
has
set you free. It is when you join in on picking on someone instead of standing
up
for him or her, or even just ignoring it all together. It is stealing a grape at
the
super market. It is choosing entertainment over worshiping God. It is placing
more emphasis on what makes you happy rather than what pleases God. It is
placing more emphasis on what makes you happy rather than what might make
others happy. It is when you place less value on yourself than what God places
in
you. It is not taking time to listen to Jesus we are his sheep and we Can here
his
voice. It is seeing Christianity as something you do on Sunday rather that who
you are for the rest of your life. It is when you don't yield your life and
tongue to
the Holy Spirit. It is speaking in sarcastic tones to cover up the truth. It is
not
loving God's laws and taking time to attempt to number the starts. It is
honoring
the stars, the moon, the sky, the animals, or people and not the one who created
and sustains all things. It is not seeking the Lord. It is being passive it is
any time
you adapt your theology to include all religions. It is any time you adjust your
life
around the world' s design instead of God' s, It is any time you agree with what
the
enemy and accuse your brethren instead of help them, It is when you try to
bargain with God to let you sin in this way so that you won't sin in that way,
It is
any time you concede with or side with those tearing down the church of God
rather than encouraging and building up the church. It is when you negotiate or
strike a deal with Satan for power & knowledge, or fame & fortune. It is when
you
retire or give up because it is to hard when Jesus told you to persevere; it is
to
retreat in this battle rather than Loving not your lives even in to death. It is
to
settle for sin when Christ is bringing you to perfection. This is the red line
of compromise you as a Christian have been given
God's amazing Grace. It is to be a light in darkness. It is to be proof that
this
Hope that we have is true and not false. It is Love one another as Christ has
loved
you so that the world will know that Christ has come and that he is coming
again.
It is the Glorious standard of God that we without Christ could never do
or understand but in Christ we can do all things and he gives us the power by
the
Holy Spirit to live a life that is worthy of the high calling of God.
