01 Oct IHOP (International House of Prayer) That’s Not on the Menu – Isaiah 43:26

Have you ever gone to an Italian restaurant and ordered Chinese food?  This could be a very frustrating experience for everyone involved!  Unfortunately, we do this all the time when it comes to our prayer life.  We “order” in prayer without ever bothering to read what’s on the menu.

Over the last number of weeks we have begun a series of teaching on “International House of Prayer.”  We have already laid down a foundation for prayer where we discussed, “May I have your order, please.”  This week let’s get lasting results in prayer as we share, “Two Principles to a Powerful Prayer Life”:

Principle #1:  Don’t pray the problem (Heb. 4:15-16).

Are you a problem oriented thinker?  Do you have a tremendous sense of right and wrong and do you hate injustice?  There is nothing wrong with a tremendous sense of right and wrong.  As a matter of fact, there is something very right with it (see Isaiah 5:20).  It is also a good thing to hate injustice.

A few years ago they removed a simple cross out of the chapel at William & Mary College.  Even though William & Mary College was historically a Christian college, the President of this prestigious university thought it may be offensive to some students.  Shortly thereafter, this same college sponsored a sex conference in which almost every deviant sexual behavior was discussed.  The same college president who removed the “offensive” cross did not seem to think the sex conference would be “offensive”.  As a matter of fact, he was quite proud of the fact that his school was sponsoring this perverted event!  I don’t know about you…but I hate those types of injustices!

Again, this is a good thing, however if you are not careful you can begin to view life as one big problem after another!  While we certainly should not be “Christian ostriches” with our head stuck in the sand…we do not need to be “chicken little’s” either.  The sky is actually not falling!

Problems come to everyone’s house.  However, it’s all how you look at them.  Please allow me to share an acronym that I have in my office that will help you view problems from a little difference vantage point.

Predictor…Nothing predicts my future better than how I handle a problem.

Reminder…The problem reminds me to focus on the Word.

Opportunity…Every problem has an opportunity.

Blessing…God turns problems into blessings.

Lesson…Always learn from the problem or repeat it.

Expect…I expect to be delivered from the problem.

Mountains…Mountains are made to be removed.

Solvable…Every problem is solvable.

If we live life as a problem thinker, they will become complex, powerful and dominate our lives!

Next week we will continue our series!