This is the audio and outline from session two with the leaders during a June 2022 prayer seminar held at the Spencer Christian Church in Taylorsville, Kentucky.
Text: Nehemiah 1 & 2
Before Nehemiah led the people of Israel in the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls, he was serving as a cup-bearer to a foreign king. As the book that bears his name opens, I find some incredible lessons about prayer as he sought to both know and do God’s will.
Seek accurate evaluations.
Seek God’s perspective.
Talk to God honestly about who He is and who you are.
Remember God’s promises.
Request mercy and favor.
Be honest and courageous in your reporting.
Talk to God before you answer others.
Give God’s answers, not your own.
Count the costs; do your homework.
Trust God for His answer.
Who’s in charge of your prayer life?
Who gets the credit when God works in your life and in your church?
“When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.”
Nehemiah 6:16 (NIV)
This is the audio from the June 17, 2022 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.
“Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” Matthew 5:37 (NIV)
As we continue to grow in A Lifestyle of Prayer, it is important to remember prayer should be a lifestyle, not an event. View prayer as your first priority, not as the last resort. This week we will focus our prayer emphasis on some things that God says about integrity. Selfishness and situational ethics have made integrity a dying characteristic — everyone else does “it”, so will I. Integrity is a part of God’s nature so it is a characteristic we ought to pursue in our life in order to better reflect Jesus to the world.
“The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.”
Proverbs 11:3 (NIV)
As you pray this week, ask God to help you grow in your commitment to letting your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’. Pray that your pursuit of God would fill you with an integrity that guides your every step. Pray for a life of faithfulness that is guided by integrity. Pray that the people around you would avoid destruction by seeking God in a life of integrity.
You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page.
This is the audio from the June 16, 2022 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.
“Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” Matthew 5:37 (NIV)
As we continue to grow in A Lifestyle of Prayer, it is important to remember prayer should be a lifestyle, not an event. View prayer as your first priority, not as the last resort. This week we will focus our prayer emphasis on some things that God says about integrity. Selfishness and situational ethics have made integrity a dying characteristic — everyone else does “it”, so will I. Integrity is a part of God’s nature so it is a characteristic we ought to pursue in our life in order to better reflect Jesus to the world.
“And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.”
Psalm 78:72 (NIV)
As you pray this week, ask God to help you grow in your commitment to letting your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’. Pray that all leading you do, whether considered big or small, would be done with integrity. Pray that all those who lead within God’s kingdom would do so with a heart of integrity. Pray that the people around you would both lead with integrity and be involved in choosing leaders with integrity.
You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page.
This is the audio and outline from session one with the leaders during a June 2022 prayer seminar held at the Spencer Christian Church in Taylorsville, Kentucky.
Text: Colossians 4:2-6, Isaiah 40:30-31
For me, one of the comforting aspects of the Isaiah 40:30-31 passage is the acknowledgement that even youths grow weary and tired. It serves as a reminder that we all experience circumstances of life that wear us down and we find ourselves in need of renewal. The good news is that God says those who wait upon Him, or put their hope in Him, will be renewed. Learning to put our hope in the Lord and wait upon Him helps us to lead as we . . .
Pause. Colossians 4:2, Proverbs 24:32
Learning to pause can be a valuable tool to help us grow in a lifestyle of prayer. It is often the lack of a pause that gets us into trouble as our nature has a tendency to want to respond out of the emotions that are stirred up by what we see and hear. When we watch and pause, we take time to observe carefully and seek God’s perspective on what is really going on. Practicing the pause is done when we spend time with God in prayer and His Word so that we are the sheep who hear His voice and know His voice.
Request. Colossians 4:3-4, Philippians 4:6
By beginning with a pause that seeks God above all else, our requests are refined to remove the typical selfishness that seems to be a part of mankind’s nature. Watching what is really going on around us should lead us to requests that God would use us to speak boldly and lovingly about the good news of Jesus. When we are devoted to prayer in a way that is watchful and thankful, our requests of God tend to have a more eternal perspective as we realize the temporary nature of this life on earth.
Act. Colossians 4:5, Proverbs 3:27
Learning to watch and act means that we are listening to God and being obedient when He calls us to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the people around us. Many times we make our requests known to God and then we sit back and expect God or someone else to make them happen. Learning to pause and request doesn’t negate the need to act — it just puts the action that we take into the proper perspective of being directed by God. When you pray and make your requests known to God, especially requests for others, it is important that you also listen for the great possibility that God will call you to act in response to that request.
Yield. Colossians 4:6, Matthew 6:10
This may be the most difficult part of learning to watch and pray for many people. Yielding to God’s authority in all things means that we are not in charge. When we learn to let our words be seasoned with grace, we yield the need to be right about everything and we remove ourselves from the position of pretending we are God. Even when we pause, request, and act, we must be careful that our will is fully yielded to God and that we are not simply using a false spirituality to push our ways on others. Learning to watch and pray leads us to a point of joining in the prayer of Jesus, “Not my will, but yours be done.”
What do you need to work on in order to PRAY as you lead?
What could happen if you were to PRAY as the foundation of leading?
This is the audio from the June 15, 2022 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.
“Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” Matthew 5:37 (NIV)
As we continue to grow in A Lifestyle of Prayer, it is important to remember prayer should be a lifestyle, not an event. View prayer as your first priority, not as the last resort. This week we will focus our prayer emphasis on some things that God says about integrity. Selfishness and situational ethics have made integrity a dying characteristic — everyone else does “it”, so will I. Integrity is a part of God’s nature so it is a characteristic we ought to pursue in our life in order to better reflect Jesus to the world.
“In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.”
Psalm 41:12 (NIV)
As you pray this week, ask God to help you grow in your commitment to letting your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’. Pray that your life of integrity would lift you up to eternal life with God. Pray that your pursuit of integrity would fill you with a growing peace of God’s presence in your daily walk. Pray that the people around you would have a relationship with Jesus that is upheld by their integrity.
You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page.
This is the audio from the June 14, 2022 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.
“Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” Matthew 5:37 (NIV)
As we continue to grow in A Lifestyle of Prayer, it is important to remember prayer should be a lifestyle, not an event. View prayer as your first priority, not as the last resort. This week we will focus our prayer emphasis on some things that God says about integrity. Selfishness and situational ethics have made integrity a dying characteristic — everyone else does “it”, so will I. Integrity is a part of God’s nature so it is a characteristic we ought to pursue in our life in order to better reflect Jesus to the world.
“May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.”
Psalm 25:21 (NIV)
As you pray this week, ask God to help you grow in your commitment to letting your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’. Pray that the hope you have in Jesus would fill you with an integrity that protects you from sin. Pray for a growing integrity that protects you from the accusations of the enemy. Pray that the people around you would seek God’s protection through a life of integrity.
You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page.
This is the audio from the June 12, 2022 second service sermon, “Growing As Those Who Pray STRONG”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Spencer Christian Church.
Text: Ephesians 6:10 – 18
Learning to pray strong begins when we realize that the strength of our prayers is not by our power or might, but by the Spirit of the Living God.
As we develop a lifestyle of prayer seeking to pray strong, we must learn to pray:
Submissively:
Matthew 6:10 — Perhaps one of the toughest parts of praying strong God’s way, is learning to empty our prayers of self and be fully submissive to God. Jesus taught us to pray that God’s will be done on earth just as it is in heaven. For that to happen, we must take captive every thought and motive that influences our prayers toward our selfish desires.
Truthfully:
Luke 18:13 — I suppose we get so used to hiding behind a mask with one another that somehow a lack of honesty with God infiltrates our prayer life. When we pray truthfully, we begin by being honest with God about our own weaknesses, shortcomings, and sins so that they don’t become a hindrance to our prayers. Adam and Eve’s communion with God was interrupted not only by sin, but by an ill-conceived attempt to hide the truth from God.
Repentantly:
Matthew 18:3 — Learning to pray truthfully really only becomes powerful when we follow it up with praying repentantly. It is not enough to be truthful with God about our attitudes and actions, we must turn away from all that is not of Him and allow His transforming power to change us. Praying repentantly leads us to the freedom necessary to walk in conversation with God in all that we do.
Observantly:
John 4:35 — The disciples that walked with Jesus each day often missed the opportunities that were right in front of them simply because they weren’t looking with the same kind of eyes that Jesus was looking with. Praying observantly leads us to notice people and situations that are far too easy to walk by without a second thought. When we ask God to open our eyes to see the fields which are ripe unto harvest, we soon discover that the harvest is indeed plentiful and it is much closer than we probably thought.
Noticeably
Matthew 5:16 — While praying noticeably may sound contradictory to the scripture that tells us to go into our closet and pray in secret, there is a difference between praying to be noticed and praying that is noticed. In fact, if we learn from Jesus, we see that His prayer life got the attention of the disciples to such an extent that it was the one thing we find recorded in scripture that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them. Prayer ought to make such a difference in our life that people notice it and even if they don’t know prayer is the reason, they want to know how to have what we have.
Globally
Matthew 9:38 — I suspect when you read this topic, one of the first things that comes to mind is to pray for those involved in missions work around the world. While that definitely is included, the oft overlooked part of praying globally is the fact that your next door neighbor, coworker, stranger you encounter in your day to day life, and the homeless person sleeping on the streets are all part of the global population. Praying globally will have you praying for people who are like you and for people who are very different from you no matter where they live.
When I think about praying strong, I think about Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel. If you didn’t know the story and who was on which “team”, I think the American concept of praying strong would tend to choose the wrong side of this epic showdown. Rather than finding strength in numbers, volume, activity, or even length of prayer time, the real strength of prayer was found in a sole individual who humbly asked God to answer in such a way that the people would have no doubt that God was indeed the one and only true God.
I pray that you and I would learn to pray Submissively, Truthfully, Repentantly, Observantly, Noticeably, and Globally in such a way that those who are watching us would know that the God we serve is the one and only true God.
This is the audio from the June 13, 2022 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.
“Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” Matthew 5:37 (NIV)
As we continue to grow in A Lifestyle of Prayer, it is important to remember prayer should be a lifestyle, not an event. View prayer as your first priority, not as the last resort. This week we will focus our prayer emphasis on some things that God says about integrity. Selfishness and situational ethics have made integrity a dying characteristic — everyone else does “it”, so will I. Integrity is a part of God’s nature so it is a characteristic we ought to pursue in our life in order to better reflect Jesus to the world. As you pray this week, ask God to help you grow in your commitment to letting your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’. Pray that the message you present with your life would match what you say with your words, and that both would match God’s Word. Pray that you would make a life of integrity a priority each day you live.
“Let the LORD judge the peoples. Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High.”
Psalm 7:8 (NIV)
Pray that you would live in such a way that you have no fear when the One who knows your heart judges you according to your integrity. Pray for the humility needed to live with confidence in your integrity and in the righteousness of God.
You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page.
Tom's Treasure 