Prayers: Don’t Trust The Heart, Yet You Need The Heart

04 Nov Prayers: Don’t Trust The Heart, Yet You Need The Heart

Posted at 11:22h in English Service by

Pastor Vincent - 23 October 2014

Lie Weakens, Truth Stengthen

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭27-28‬ NIV) We often live our lives in isolation to the meaning of this verse. In the beginning, God had created with all spiritual and physical goodness, given the ability to control and manage all things (desires, emotions, will, inclinations) and bless us with the ability and longing to spread the blessings we have to those around us.  However, we all know that such is not the case today. Today, despite going to church, believers cannot resist the pressure of the world to pursue success and having more in life; despite praying believers still do not feel joyful, assured and peaceful about what come may is truly plans of God that will prosper them and not to harm them.  Man, even believers, have become so occupied with the lies of Satan to the extent of not knowing they are living in untruths. Because of the lack of truth, we start looking at our creator, ourselves and our conditions incorrectly, subjecting ourselves to the slowly and insidious attacks of Satan, repeatedly. Yet unless one comes to the knowledge of the truth of God, he will never know the greatest problem of his life is not the problems he can see with his naked eyes but the deeper spiritual problem of being separated from the One who gives life to him. Through today's message, may the truths we hear become the strength in our hearts and generate the right need, will, sensibility and emotions in all things. If we cannot see how victimised we are by the Lies, we will never realise how great is the grace that God has given us.  When truth strengthens, it brings us into full resistance to the devil through repeated submission to God's words. And that's how the influence of lies weaken in us and our loved ones.

Related Topics: Regeneration & Sanctification | More Messages from Pastor Vincent

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Prayers: Don’t Trust The Heart, Yet You Need The Heart


We no doubt know the importance of prayer. Yet in reality, prayer could be the hardest thing to do in our Christian life. And the reason is probably because our hearts doesn’t seem to draw close to God in prayer. We felt more like engaging in a ritual than prayer often times. So the problem at heart is THE HEART. How do we overcome the problem of the heart then?

 Verses to read:
<Jeremiah 17:9> <Mark 7:20-21><James 4:7-10><James 4:1-2,4>

Introduction:

“Pray in the spirit with all kinds of prayers in all occasion” <Eph 6:18>.

  • Yet, prayer is by far one of the most difficult spiritual exercise in most Christian lives. Few enjoyed prayer becoz they could not draw near to God.
  • In prayer, our heart lies at the center of the problem.
  • Should we trust our heart? Yet without the heart, how to pray?
  • The Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and HE saves the contrite in spirit <Ps 34:18>.

1. The Gospel reveals the nature of the Heart.

1) Its deceitful above all else <Jer 17:9>.

  • It creates its own truth, even about God.
  • People who believes in the wrong gospel are NOT praying, even though they are.
  • What is the fundamental gospel truths?
    – SIN (against God)
    – Salvation (through Faith in Christ alone)
    – To live in pursuit of God and the Kingdom

2) So there must first be a renewal of the heart

  • heart of stone to a heart of flesh <Eze 36:26>.

3) Yet, the heart is always prone to spiritual attacks.

  • Prone to the enemies lies (temptations, accusations, worries of life, feel abandoned by God, etc)

2. How to draw near to God, despite spiritual attacks?

1) Know our spiritual enemy – The Devil

  • He works through:
    (1) Our sinful desires
    (2) The World
    (3) Haughtiness, proudness

2) Yet God showed us MORE GRACE! <v6>

  • My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. <1 John 2:1>
  • If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. <1 John 1:9>

3) Act of True Confession <v8>

  • (1) Wash your hands, you sinners
  • (2) Purify your hearts, you double-minded

4) Grieve, mourn and wail… <v9>

5) Humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up. <v10>

Reflection:

1) What is the greatest obstacle in your prayer life?

2) How do you usually deal with a “no heart to pray” situation?

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Pastor Vincent Choo
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Vincent serves as the President of The Blessed Run Church. He is also the Senior Pastor of The Life Church and Missions (Singapore) and is an ardent missionary to the Chinese World. He currently lives in Singapore with his wife, Qiufen, and has three kids, Mary, David, and Caleb.

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