Prayer Problems, sermon notes

A couple of announcements:
*the annual reports are in the foyer, pick yours up asap...
*check out the youth room, Melisma is doing such a great job leading, they just painted, it's now the best room on campus...
*we're having loads of fun playing volleyball in the gym every other saturday, zach rusty bo just fixed the lights, YEAH!...
*Don't miss out on stewarship week, beginning next Sunday...
*Homebuilders series is amazing Tiva said so, Don't miss out on Wednesday evenings, 7pm...

One day, Joe, Bob and Dave were hiking in a wilderness area when they came upon a large, raging, violent river. They needed to get to the other side, but had no idea of how to do so. Joe prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength to cross this river." Poof! God gave him big arms and strong legs, and he was able to swim across the river in about two hours, although he almost drowned a couple of times. Seeing this, Dave prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength and the tools to cross this river." Poof! God gave him a rowboat and he was able to row across the river in about an hour, after almost capsizing the boat a couple of times. Bob had seen how this worked out for the other two, so he also prayed to God saying, "Please God, give me the strength and the tools, and the intelligence, to cross this river." Poof! God turned him into a woman. She looked at the map, hiked upstream a couple of hundred yards, then walked across the bridge.

Dennis King wrote an article: "I'm Not a Superhero!" A Pastor's Plea for Prayer...
Some might imagine that pastors are spiritual superheroes soaring above all normal earthly struggles. But we are vulnerable human beings who, as Paul wrote, carry around the treasure of God's ministry "in jars of clay" (2 Cor. 4:7) (1 Thess. 5:25)
What happens when people pray for their pastors?
1. Empowered Preaching...1 Cor. 6:19
2. Clear Discernment...Jn. 10:4
3. Courageous Leadership...Ps. 27:2,3
4. Spiritual Protection...Zech. 13:7, Phil. 1:19
THE GREATEST GIFT you give your pastor is prayer!

We will all struggle with Prayer Problems from time to time we need to press on through these "valleys"...
Ginny Kisling said it all...we may have an idea of what the ministry (workplace, home, "fill in the blank") can be - and then there's the reality of what it is...
Biblical Principles to help you hang on to your hope for breakthroughs:
1. Walk out your calling...Gal 6:9
2. Take up your position with Kingdom authority... Mt. 11:12
3. Submit to God's schedule...1 Chron. 22:8-10
4. Surround yourself with like-minded people...Prov 24:6

Godly character qualities are forged in the "valleys"...
1. Faithfulness...Mt. 25:23
2. Purity of Heart...Ps. 24:3,4
3. Endurance...Heb. 12:1
4. Single-minded focus...Phil.3:14
(character demands we not lose our generosity and hoard during economic difficulty)

Desperately, helplessly, lovingly I cried; Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I plead and I wept for a clue to my fate, And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."
Wait? You say wait! My indignant reply. "Lord, I need answers, I need to know why?
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard? By faith, I have asked, and am claiming your Word. "My future and all to which I can relate, Hangs in the balance and you tell me to wait?
I'm needing a Yes,' a go-ahead sign. Or even a No,' to which I can resign.
"And Lord, you promised that if we believe, We need but ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry: I'm weary of asking! I need a reply.'"
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate. As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."
So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut. And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting...for what?" He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine. And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign. I could shake the Heavens and darken the sun. I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run. "All you seek I could give, and pleased you would be. You would have what you want, But you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of My Love for each saint. You'd not know the power that I give to the faint. "You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair; You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there. You'd not know the Joy of resting in Me. When darkness and silence were all you could see. "You'd never experience that fullness of Love As the peace of my Spirit descends like a dove. You'd know what I give and I save...(For a start), But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart. "The glow of My comfort late into the night, The faith that I give when you walk without sight. The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked Of an infinite God, who makes what you have last "You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee, What it means that my grace is sufficient for thee.' Yes, your dreams for you loved ones overnight would come true. But, oh, the loss if I lost...What I'm doing in you!
"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see, That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me. And though oft' may my answers seem terribly late. My most precious answer of all is still, Wait.'"