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Oct 18, 2020

Praying to a Compassionate God

Praying to a Compassionate God

Speaker: Dennis Gallaher

Series: The Compassionate Character of God

Category: Sunday Morning

This is the reason we pray!

Take in this magnificent gift that God has given to us that whoever we are, whatever circumstances we are in, whatever time of day or night, we can pray. Prayer is transmigration from this world into Heaven. We can speak to God and He hears us. He hears evaluating from a heart of compassion. Compassion is everything to do with the heart, not the head.

Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

We are in a safe place today because of The Word. The Word created the world, became flesh, dwelt among us, and is still able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. God knows everything. Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is who we turn to in worship or in trouble – He walks with us and leads us.

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Have you been tempted this week? Jesus, the Word, will pull us through. This God sympathizes with our weaknesses. He carries the sacrifice for all mankind.

Who are we? Psalms 103:14 For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. Psalms 103:14 He is mindful that we are but dust just a bag of mud. (The Message). We are dirtbags.

Who is He? Hebrews 4:15 He is sympathetic to our weakness. He understands all the temptations but without the sin. He did not fail, so He offers His holiness in exchange for our sin. He paid for our sin. He is seated on the throne of grace-giving mercy. It is where we find grace for those admitting their great need. Who we see high and lifted up is the personification of compassion. Jesus is full of compassion, sharper than a sword, gentle, and meek.

Why do we pray? We pray because Jesus, God in the flesh, The Word, is the definition of compassion. We pray because when we go to God in prayer we are coming to compassion itself.                                          

Why do we not pray? Because of:

  • Self-sufficiency: needing no outside help keeps us from praying.
  • Self-condemnation: condemning one’s own character and actions.
  • Self-determination: choosing our own way and making our rules.
  • Selfishness: seeking exclusively one’s own welfare and disregarding others.
  • The war for our souls that began in the Garden, all the way to the cross, to today.

We pray because He is compassion and we need that advocate before the throne of God.

Psalm 103 We pray because:

  • He forgives your sin.
  • He heals our diseases.
  • He redeems our lives from hell.
  • He saves your life.
  • He crowns you with love and mercy.
  • He wraps you in goodness and beauty eternal.
  • He renews your youth.
  • He puts victims back on their feet.
  • He is shear mercy and grace.
  • He is not easily angered.
  • He is rich in love.
  • He does not treat us as our sin deserves or pay us back in full for our wrongs.
  • He separates us from our sin.
  • He knows us inside and out.
  • He knows we are made of mud.
  • His love is ever and always.
  • He offers you and me His hand of friendship today. 

This is the reason we pray!

Prayer begins with a crying out of the mess we have made. Then becomes a crying out because the heart of God is one of compassion. We get to bring to God other people, our own selves, our own lives, our children, the church, the nations, and to cry out for His mercy and kindness. He is the God of Compassion!

Ask because He is the God of Compassion!

How do you describe prayer?

How does it help to call on God who is Compassion?

What other attributes of God help you to pray?