"Four Keys to Effective Prayer" – Dr. David Gibbs, Jr.

when I get to heaven I'm going to sing just like that that's how it's all going to come out doesn't come out anything like that now but I'm going to sing just like that let me let you stand and stretch your bones one minute let me stretch your bones here's what I want you to do look around you look to your left look to your right and then pick the ugliest sky around you and shake his hand all right just get the ugliest guy around you and shake his hand now tell him you love him now let me love him but also tell them praise the Lord you don't look like him all right oh god bless you man you may be seated you may be seated brother McCracken thank you thank you for that message can I tell you what I have found in our ministry a thousand times over nothing nothing destroys like bitterness yeah it is a spiritual cancer that no one can handle and by the way that's why god forbids it there is no such thing as a good bitter Christian yeah because you understand when you read the fruit of the Spirit love joy peace a bitterness knocks every one of them off Wow but it starts small and we all think we can handle it how many of you know some people that are a royal pain hold your hand you know so yeah have you got some of them in your own family yeah I mean we sit next to one right now there you go can I tell you what I found the world is full of people that's hard to like let alone love yet we are commanded by God to love and them you can't love and be bitter right right you can't do it for that message help me how many of that message helped you tonight I don't know who Bubba is but he's got a sidekick somewhere named Bubba yeah and I'm gonna tell you what I'm amazed watching him go up and down these steps number 1 I'm waiting for him to split his britches all right I mean it's a big step but number 2 I'm thinking I hope they got 911 because I'm telling you if I went to do that we'd be at the hospital finishing this service thank you for showing honor to this precious lady I'm afraid sometimes we show honor to people because it's expected and that's not particularly wrong but it can quickly just be a habit this lady deserves honor let's thank her one more time thank you sound all right start turn in your Bibles to James chapter 5 I'm not going to preach at length tonight I will be done it's a 5 after 9 I'll be done by 9:30 in the Hawaiian timezone I just want to assure you but I'll tell you I was blessed by everything that's gone on the music I enjoyed that brass and the choir just every bit of it and praise the Lord for 20 years of faithfulness a van tonight for the next couple of minutes I want to talk to you about what is unquestionably the most powerful thing in the universe there's nothing that even comes close to being as powerful as this you say brother give us what do you think the most powerful thing in the universe without any doubt the most powerful thing in the universe is prayer do you understand prayer moves the arm of the almighty the God who says to you and the God who says to me there is nothing impossible nothing it's only impossible with men it's never impossible with God and that God both commands you and invites you to pray yeah now the reason I want to talk about this tonight is because I became very dissatisfied with my own personal prayer life let me tell you what was happening to me I would pray and it didn't surprise me at all when nothing happened and so I pray again and after a while I'd say well I don't know maybe it's just not good so I don't know and you know what we've got all across our land wonderful men wonderful Christians who have no power in prayer one if we had to get a hold of God tonight if we needed somebody in this room who has power with God I wonder if you could hold your hand and say I'm that man it ought to be every one of us right James chapter 5 I want you to read a short passage of Scripture starting if you would please at verse 17 Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are but do you understand this is God talking and god says every uncertainty every fear every uneasiness you've ever had he had he was subject to like passions as we are Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain in a rain not on the earth by the space of three years and six months one man prayed and God unsynched the weather of the universe verse 18 and he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth our fruit I want you to quickly jot four things down for things that are absolutes if we're going to have power at prayer and by the way can I submit to you there's no way to be the man God's called you to be without power in prayer no way to be the husband the father no way to be the friend or the pastor if we don't have power in prayer but God here gives four keys right the first one down if you want power in prayer the first key is this you got to pray we say brother give said that's way too simple no no yeah that's critical yeah the Bible says ask and you shall receive right and then it goes on James the chapter right ahead of this says and you have not because you ask not now that word ask that's used there in James use two other places in scripture was the word for asking with specificity what exactly are you specifically asking God for specifically don't be the least bit surprised that you don't have what you did next for right good and God says ask and you shall receive now I've never seen anybody any good at prayer that didn't have a great prayer list and can I tell you why because without a prayer list I think you're pretty much like me I can pray without a prayer list brother McCoy for maybe 10 15 minutes but I'm praying these general sweeping prayers all God be with my family and my wife Oh God help my dear wife and my kids and my grandkids and all God America help us in America and God I might that our local church all got our pastor and God seal it and you're not asking for one thing specific oh right right you're right just what exactly do you want God to do on my prayer list I have 62 things I pray for my wife every day every day now there's nothing on that list of 62 things peculiar to us I promise you if you read that list you'd say I want that I want that I want that I want that you'd say I want that 62 times there's only one problem you're not asking what's on your prayer list for your kids specifically what's on your prayer list for America specifically come on or are we just gonna believe in prayer go ahead but be comfortable not asking that's good I promise you you can change your home you can change your vocation you can change virtually everything in your life through prayer but you got to ask now what I'm about to tell you is not in the Bible listen carefully it's not in the Bible would be wonderful if it were would be great if in the Bible it said as God's child you get 10 miracle asks yep you can ask God for 10 uh turley impossible things not 11 10 choose carefully you know what the number is in the Bible unlimited what are you asking for that's impossible remember us what are you asking for God to do that only God can do my wife came to me brother King and she said we we ought to have an impossible list we're praying for and so we started do you not offer that list now hundreds of things have been answered hundreds man but you have not because you ask not I promise you once you start a list you'll never stop adding to it I was listening to a preacher preach the other day and boy he said something and brother McCracken I thought how do I not have that on my prayer list how did I miss that show me your prayer list and I'll tell you all about your prayer life well brother Gibbs I just don't think prayer is all that important really you're commanded to pray without ceasing you're commanded in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God what do you want God to do in America we've all sat there and watched Fox News or some news outlet for an hour and just grind the porcelain off our teeth how many of you upset with what you're seeing in our land but have you ever prayed one hour for America one ever have you ever prayed 30 minutes for America ever and then we sit here like I don't know how we got in such a mess you have not because you asked not prayer is the most powerful thing in the universe I know when I get to heaven the Lord's going to say to me brother rule David why didn't you ask right you asked for so pitiful little why didn't you ask how many of you remember the name Lester roll-off hold your hand up you remember him we were doing a trial and I went down to his room and get papers everywhere both beds on the floor on the table on the papers everywhere and I said brother roll off are these papers for the trial he said no no no I said what are all these papers he said this is my prayer list I said this is your prayer list he said yeah David I'm asking God for a lot you know what we want to fix Washington but we don't want to fix us I promise you God wants to answer your prayer but you got to ask right the second key down you got to do it earnestly Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed next word is earnestly earnestly that word earnest means with intensity it means with focus means with diligence it means he was into it look at the verse right ahead of this the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man right availeth much when's the last time you got fervent you got earnest with God now you can fake me up but no one here fakes got out and God says you want your prayers answered number one you got to pray and number two you got to get earnest you got to get intense Charles Haddon Spurgeon it's on the wall at the Metropolitan Tabernacle to this day it says he who plays without fervency does not pray at all have you ever watched guys watch a football game when their teams in the hunt brother steve Kluth wonderful man in our ministry been with me 18 years is here with me tonight when brother Steve watches a ballgame it's like he's on the field I mean he's like stop somebody as a Steve lighten up it's just too hip no one's not and he he's fervent he's your family ever seen you earnest with God how long has your maid ever seen you earnest with God we want power in prayer we got to get fervent and my brother Gibbs I'm just not good at being out loud in that well let me tell you the story of Hannah going to the temple to pray for a son you know what it says she didn't say one word out loud but she was so fervent in Perth they thought she was drunk and they rebuked her for being drunk and she said I'm not drunk at all I'm just fervent with God Oh do we really want power at prayer number one you got to ask number two you gotta get earnest right number three down you got to get clean man the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much now we're almost done tonight but I want to ask you a beseech in question when's the last time you got clean with God whoa brother not cleaner clean I'm telling you British rock I know five hundred and maybe a thousand times I went to the altar to get cleaner but not clean I would go for what God was dealing with my heart about but I didn't go up there saying search me Oh God see if there be some wicked way in me if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from what's the next word all unrighteousness if you're not clean it's because you chose to stay soiled Ryan Dalziel moody used to close almost all of his meetings by saying do not walk out those doors if you're not clean with God because until you get clean we're going nowhere where the Roloffs and I were in a trial that was going poorly and he had this horrible habit he would call you like 3:30 4:00 o'clock in the morning and he'd always say the same thing I didn't get you up did I and you'd lie I mean he did I said not just sitting there praying waiting for you to call right he said get down to my room we're changing stuff today man I'm in his room it's not 4:00 a.m. yet and he said you know we're getting killed in that courtroom he said I got one lawyer you they got a dozen they got unlimited money we got no money the judge doesn't like me I see yeah the judge says he hates you he's I know he said that jury every time we look at him they shake their heads he said but we're going to change it we're going to pray God's gonna do the impossible in that courtroom today I said okay he said now if we're gonna pray and get anything done with God we got to get clean and he thumped me on the chest and he said I got to have a clean lawyer and then he thumped himself on the chest he said you got to have a clean preacher because he said this prayer time is a waste of time if we're not going to get clean so he said here's what you do you go over and get in that corner and don't come out to your clean and he said I'll go get in my corner and I won't come out to lumpy now no one had ever in my life talked to me like that never ever man I tried lawsuits all over America no one had ever said get clean he said go on get over that corn court so one got in the corner I'll pay what I said lord I don't know how to do this but I said here's the first thing I'm not coming out of my corner till he comes out of his corner because brother McCoy won't look good if I come out first do you understand that's pride so while I'm getting clean I'm sinning in the process now the son he starts praying out loud and then he's confessing sin I'm like sweet Alabama listen to that Wow after about 10 minutes he yelled at me said I hear you confess enough then what are you doing by the way if you're here tonight you think you got nothing to confess that's the first thing you need to confess yeah so you know what I did I know it's the right way I said god I do not know how to do this but I want to be clean do you want to be clean or do you just want to be a good act yeah do you understand if we're not clean all we are as an act right yeah nice ed Lord what God started bringing things up I'd forgotten about two hours went by like that finally we stood up and he said you clean I said well best best of my abilities okay me too he said let's pray never forget his prayer he said now God you know the mess we're in but here's what I want you to do those lawyers those 12 lawyers I want you to turn them on each other make it where they don't like each other make it where they don't get along God make it where they they really really dislike each other and this judge get him good and sick what he said he said don't kill him but make it where he can't stay and do the trial today and God will give you the glory and he turned to me and he says that prayer okay with you brother Gibbs and I don't even close my eyes yet I'm like wow this is getting downright personal 8:30 in the morning all rise men we stood up judge walked in he said you ready to proceed mr. Gibbs I said yes turn to the lead lawyer for their side he said you own the proceed the lead lawyer he said Your Honor we got a problem the judge said what's the problem he said last night all 12 of us were in complete agreement about everything and this morning we can't agree about anything one of the lawyers popped up behind him and said we should never have sued that Pastor this whole lawsuit was a terrible idea that preachers done nothing wrong the judge said you out of your mind the juries in the Box listening to this they started arguing finally that lead lawyer said I can't explain what happened it brother roll-off tugged on my sleeve he said you want me to tell him what happened I say focus then you're going to tell the judge you better get to the hospital right away I don't want to go there two hours later they dismissed everything they paid all the expenses and they gave written apologies to Reverend Rollo when we walked out of that courtroom people flooded me it's all brother gives you did such a good job I said you know we'll all due respect you don't know what you're talking about you want to live seeing what you can do or do you want to live seeing what God can do you want power number one you got to ask you got to pray number two you got to get earnest fervent number three you got to get cleaned right number four down you got to persist then you got to persist yeah amen you realize two of Jesus's parables were about persisting in prayer the parable of the unjust judge were the widow kept asking and asking and finally he said because you keep asking I'm going to grant it and Jesus said that's how I want you to be with your father don't stop asking he's going to answer you just got to believe it and then there was the parable the man who got guests at midnight and he went to the neighbor and said you got to get up help me he said no we're all in bed go away and he kept knocking and knocked and then knocking and finally he came down and Jesus said that's how I want you to be keep knocking now it's in this story you notice what it says he prayed one time and God shut off the rain and you know the story from Kings chapter 17 and 18 they're on Mount Carmel and the prophets of bale and they're going to serve the God who answers by fire and boy the prophets of bale can bring down no fire so Elijah walks up there and prays and down comes the fire so it took one prayer to shut the rain off and it took one prayer to bring the fire down now he's going to pray for the rain to come back and if you read the story don't miss this he prays for the rain to come back and he sends his servant out he said tell me what it looks like out there and the servant goes out looks around and comes back and says no rain well wait a minute I thought you were the one prayer wonder God loves it when by faith you believe he's going to answer he prayed a second time sent him out no rain he prayed a third time and sent him out no rain a fourth time sends the servant out no rain what if he'd quit what can you show me that you persisted in prayer for and didn't quit Wow he prayed a fifth time a sixth time but the seventh time when he set him out he said there's a cloud about the size of a man's hand he said get out of here it's going to rain like you've never seen before the God of Elijah is your God the God who answered his prayers wants to answer your prayers but you have got to ask and you got to do it fervently earnestly and you got to get clean and by God's grace don't stop asking I don't know what you're dealing with in your life you don't know what I'm dealing with all I can promise is we all have stuff but only prayer is the answer only prayer and by God's grace prayer is the answer would you be ready to be the man who can get his prayers answered it's time to ask father thank you

Channel: Master's Men Conference

Views: 12,460

Rating: 4.8293839 out of 5

Keywords: Masters Men, Fresno, David Gibbs, Baptist, Preaching, Prayer

Id: vUZdYNE0aXo

Length: 31min 28sec (1888 seconds)

Published: Sat May 21 2016