March 7, 3:30 p.m. 
Speaker: Paul Washer
Topic: Prayerless and Powerless
Passage: Mark 1:29–38

Message Summary: 

In this passage, we see the prayer life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Proclaiming that He had come to inaugurate the kingdom, He had come to preach. News about Jesus is going everywhere. He is busy in ministry and people are constantly seeking Him out. And yet we look at Him and see Him constantly in prayer.

In Messiah, in the perfect man, we see the perfect example. We must be faithful disciples, following and imitating Jesus, especially in the matter of prayer.

Jesus shows us that we will be no good to any man if we do not spend time before God. Neither the conversion nor edification of the soul is a possibility that belongs to us. If you and I are to be used in either of these endeavors, then we must cling to the wisdom and power of God. We must do nothing separate from Him. 


In the book of Matthew, Jesus teaches us how to pray, and what He teaches is:

Our Father in heaven—God is your Father. But your Father is the King of heaven. Come into His presence with reverence.

Hallowed be your name — In all prayer, our ambition is that God’s name be hallowed, separated from all other names, and raised above them.

Your kingdom come — God’s name is the name of a King. We want His reign to come. And so we pray that God’s kingdom be advanced in us, in those we love, and in the world. We pray that everyone be brought out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light. 

Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven — As we bring our desires to Him and plead before Him, we rest in God's perfect will.

Give us this day our daily bread — We pray, "Lord, the ambition of my life is that your name be hallowed, your kingdom come, and your will be done. Now Lord, as a man committed to live for these things, provide for me what I need so that I might serve you."

Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors — We have not entered into perfection and cannot until we get to heaven. But we can be broken, we can be God-fearing, we can be transparent. We come before Him in humble repentance.

Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil — We must recognize our need for the sustaining, empowering grace of God.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever —We serve a King who is incorruptible, and we are bound for glory because of Him. There’s beauty and wonder here beyond what the mind may ever see. God’s is a kingdom that will never end.

God loves you. You must go in the strength of that love. Look for Christ. Look for greater and greater pictures of Him in the Bible and in prayer. Seek Him with all your heart and recognize that your strength is no replacement for His.