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

Preacher Huijun - 25 June 2015

Being Called To Be Set Apart

All English Service

We are chosen to be set apart. It's God's divine election, none of our faith and human merits play a part in it. Often, we ask God, "Did you really choose me? But I am a nobody, I can't be like Abraham or David who had great faith, I'm just a nobody." But through the story of Zechariah, God brings an emphasis to Zechariah and us - No matter how ordinary or utterly nothing we are, God's supremacy transcend all insufficiencies of man, i.e. there's no condition too ordinary that God cannot use; God shames the proud but lifts up the humble; because God wants to reveal to us His sovereign grace and will. Instead of sinking into fallible human conditions and desiring the good conditions of others, God wants us restore an upright heart before Him first, for God is a God who searches the heart of men. It is your believing heart in His promise that pleases Him; it is your believing heart that enables you to pray and open the spiritual eyes in anticipation knowing He is the Lord who hears your prayer and knows your deepest need; it is your believing heart that enables you to participate in His plan no matter how weak or tiny you feel, for He is great nonetheless; it is your believing heart that compels God to want to prove to you that indeed He is a faithful God. As we receive the calling of God through our believing heart, the spirit within us will move us into setting apart. But when you find it hard to be set apart, look to God's promise and find strength in Him. Rather be small in the eyes of men but great in the sight of the Lord! Let the "commissioned" heart lead you to each blessed and assured footstep of your life.

Related Topics: Faith, Regeneration & Sanctification | More Messages from Preacher Huijun

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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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