You will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Jn 14:20

when was the last time you made anything happen

outside of your body, without using a part of your body?

we are about to start praying for 6 months straight.

why you may ask?

speaking for myself, I would say there is a verse

that has pressed significant value on my heart,

in regards to the importance of prayer.

Ephesians 5:30

“for we are members of His body,

of His flesh, and of His bones.”(nkj)

again, when was the last time you made anything happen

outside of your body, without using a part of your body?

keep in mind what john wesley said

“God does nothing but

in answer to prayer”,

this is very interesting to me.

especially paired up with Eph. 5:30

and the question in asked.

lets think this through. and look at some more verses

to help us understand what we really are?

and why we should do what we do?

1st, Col 1:24 “…for the sake of His body, which is the church.”

2nd, 1 Cor. 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ,

and each one of you is a part of it.”

Obviously I chose those two verses to point out one thing,

we ARE the body.

we are the physical, tangible, audible, body of Christ.

this truth is rarely accepted. I personally have trouble accepting it.

and honestly I don’t have all the answers about this,

but I know that in order for us to understand how God sees us,

how we should see each other, and WHY WE SHOULD PRAY,

we NEED to believe we are the body of Christ.

and His blood runs through my veins.

now, about Ephesians. five.

by now you have probably figured out that Ephesians five,

specifically the verse I am referring to, is about marriage.

and you may say,

“danmike why would a verse about marriage

make you think about 24-7 prayer?”

and I would say, “good question..”

I think the reason, my heart goes to this verse when we talk about 24-7,

is because of the verse that we are using as our theme for 24-7 prayer,

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” Jas 4:8.

we are calling it “Near”

a season, that hopefully leads to lifestyle,

a lifestyle of nearness to our Father,

nearness to our Savior,

nearness to the Spirit,

so bare in mind that verse Jas 4:8.

and the question still is,

"what does 24-7 have to do with marriage, and being the body of Christ?"

ok, so the last ten or so verses in Ephesians chapter five

are specifically drawing our attention to the

relationship between the church and Christ,

which is a husband and wife relationship.

Paul ends the passage by quoting God in Gen 2:24, which say’s,

“For this reason a man will leave is father and mother and be united

with his wife and the two shall become one flesh”

Call me crazy but that say’s to me we are united with body of Christ.

If our relationship with Jesus is a husband wife relationship, vs. 25,

then we are united and have become one flesh.

you are the body of Christ,

and when was the last time you made

something happen outside of your body

without using a part of your body?

unity of the church becomes so much more significant

to us if we believe that God wants to use His body to do things.

who wouldn’t want to use there body to do things?

who would want to split up there own flesh and blood,

because the hand said to the leg “I disagree with you.”?

who would starve his own body?

and God is not going to do anything without using His body.

so I believe unity with Christ makes us His body

and that is why we need to have 24-7 prayer for the city.

you might say, “why should I pray to my body”

because of vs. 23 and 24,

“For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church,

His body, of which he is the Savior. 24) now as the church submits to Christ..…”

that is saying to us, the church/wife, of Christ/husband

you must listen and submit to the husband/Christ.

we the body/church/wife CANNOT know what to do without asking the head!

it's common sense

so we draw near to Him and He will draw near to us,

and tell us where to go,

what to do,

who to pray for,

who to talk to,

who to listen to,

who is a man of peace,

who isn’t,

and so on and so forth.

God has good desires,

but he will not just carry them out without using us.

Matthew 18, Jesus say’s

“whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,

whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

I tell you if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for,

it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”

why does this matter? because God chose to give us free will,

and He won’t mess with that.

He is telling us through His Word that if we bind things here,

heaven will respond,

and if we lose things hear

heaven will respond

and if we agree on something here,

heaven will respond!

heaven responds to what we, the body, do and ask for here on earth.

That is why it is important to ask God what to ask for,

and that is why I believe in 24-7 prayer.

Christ is using His body to administer justice in our neighborhood,

and it is because we turn to Him to hear His words.

do believe in prayer?

prove it..

prayer means so much more then what we think.

Believe that God wants to tell you what to do.

Act upon what God tells you to do.

“faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” Rom. 10

-D. Thompson