Not about a Great Fish, but a Great Prayer

 

If you haven't watched the sermon, watch it here:

The Five Principles for Purposeful Prayer are:

1. Acknowledge God’s Sovereignty

verse 3 – You had cast me into the deep

5 verses earlier in 1:15 – they lifted Jonah up and hurled him into the sea

So which is it? The Sailors? or God?

Yes. 

God cast Jonah into the ocean, and He did it using a crew of hardened sailors.

Two verses, sitting essentially side-by-side here show the parallel nature of man’s responsibility  and God’s sovereignty. 

2. Be Honest

Honestly confess your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and your struggles to God. 

And he’s acknowledging God’s hand in it.

3. Repentance

This prayer drips with repentance and genuine humility before the Lord. 

Jonah acknowledges unequivocally that this is his own fault even though God’s sovereignly brought him here.

The clincher: verse 6 – ...O Yahweh my God.

4. Thanksgiving

Thanklessness is a sin.

We need to overflow with thanksgiving for all we have, rather than overflow with complaining about what we don't have. We're so abundantly blessed, 

5. Commitment

Acts 26:20 – that they should repent and turn to God, practicing deeds appropriate to repentance

This is a call to action!

To faithful obedience in all areas, especially evangelism, since that's the primary command/context of Jonah.

How can we say that 

   we affirm God’s sovereignty, 

   we’re committed to the truth

   we’re living lives of repentance

   truly thankful

   committed to obedience

If we won’t speak of our own deliverance from death any time we have the chance. 

Can we truly say we’re thankful if we won’t tell others the thing we say we’re most thankful for?

Our purposeful pursuit of prayer must include and conclude with this kind of commitment to the Lord..

We must pray purposefully as we pursue being fired up followers of Jesus, radically obedient to a passionate pursuit of knowing Him and making Him known.

Purposeful prayer is one of the indispensable components of living the kind of life we’re called to live as believers. 

Soli Deo Gloria!

Pastor Rob