Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing.
1 Corinthians 1:10
FIVE TIMES IN THE OPENING CHAPTERS OF ACTS were told that the disciples were in “one accord.” This was also true in their crying out to the Lord: “They raised their voice to God with one accord.” 112
In the Old Testament, in a time of great need for God’s people, the Lord gave these instructions through the prophet Joel:
Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
Gather the elders
And all the inhabitants of the land
Into the house of the LORD your God,
And cry out to the LORD. n 3
They were to gather in God s house and give voice to their united prayer. Then Joel himself set the example for them: “O LORD, to You I cry out. 14
When an entire group cries out in right relationship with the Lord and with each other, they’re in one accord, and powerful results take place. The difference between the prayer we commonly experience in a prayer meeting and the true one-accord crying out that took place in the first-century church is like the difference between diffused light and a laser beam! When one person leads a group in prayer, those who listen are often distracted by other thoughts and concerns. But when the entire group focuses on an urgent need and cries out in unison, there’s little chance of distraction.
CRYING OUT IN UNISON
A church in Oklahoma City began including a time of united crying out to God in their regular weekly services. Soon afterward, a man in the church asked that the congregation call out to the Lord regarding his physical condition. He had contracted a viral disease that damaged his ability to walk. For a year, he was dependent on a wheelchair or walker to get around. Seventeen different doctors had been unable to help him.
The entire congregation cried out in unison, “O Lord, deliver this man from his infirmity.” At the end of the
prayer time, he felt his whole body strengthened. He walked forward and gave a public testimony of Gods healing power, and walked out of the church holding his walker over his head. This caused the entire church and all who knew him to glorify God.
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He told them to say “Our Father,” not “My Father.” In our praying we should always keep in mind that were in a covenant with all the members of the body of Christ, so that when one member is blessed, all the members benefit. The awareness of our bond together is particularly true when believers cry out in unison, as well as when we praise God together, according to God’s design: “that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 115
Whether alone or in company with God’s children, we cry out to Him in our need, and then experience His help and deliverance.
And what then? We give Him all the glory through our gratitude and praise.
This goal of drawing attention to God’s glory through our trials, our cries, and His answers is fully encompassed in God’s invitation in His Word: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me. ” 116 Significantly, the verse preceding this invitation tells us,
“Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.”* 1 ?
God’s ultimate purpose in all creation is to demonstrate His glory. We help fulfill that purpose by telling others of His love and power at work in our lives: “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” 118
The voice that has been bold to cry out to the Lord God in prayer will more likely be bold to speak aloud both to testify of the Lords work in our lives, and also to share the Lord’s gospel (His greatest work!) with the people around us.
As we cry out to God and we receive His answers, let’s look for ways to share the results with others. (A special Web site has been prepared that will report the mighty power of God in the lives of those who cry out to Him. To submit your report, log on to www.lifestudygroups.com/contact.asp.)
OUR VOICES LIFTED IN PRAISE
In Scripture, crying out is practiced not only in seeking God’s help but also in fervently praising Him, to His glory. We see it often in the Old Testament, and we see it again when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday:
Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!” 119
The Lord is determined to hear voices crying out in His praise to Him—so much so that when the Pharisees that day complained about the noise Jesus was arousing among the people, He answered, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out. ” 120
THE CRIES IN OUR FUTURE
In heaven, where all our hearts will be pure and God-centered, we’ll continue to cry out—not for deliverance, but in praise. Heaven won’t be a quiet place! In the portrait we find in Revelation, John reveals what he heard from the voices of the redeemed in eternity:
I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb! ”...
And there were Loud voices in heaven, saying,
“The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”...
After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God!”...
And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great
multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the
sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia!
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!” 121
We can begin this fervent praise even now by making sure we give Him glory with our voices.
The psalmist shouts to us,
Oh, bless our God, you peoples!
And make the voice of His praise to be heard. 122
And in the final verse of the very last Psalm, the verse that brings to conclusion that entire songbook of heartfelt cries, Gods Word says this: “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD .” 123
You and I have the gift of breath from God... and we can forever offer it back to Him in spoken praise.
Praise His mighty name!
Vh/n/s bo CPoncfer
Suggest to your Bible study, Sunday school class, or small group that they consider the principles in this book and begin crying out in unison for urgent needs as they arise within the group.
Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near
Isaiah 55:6
PERHAPS THIS WHOLE IDEA of “crying out” still feels a little strange, a little uncomfortable to you.
PerEiaps you’ve bougfit into the prevailing notion that a persons faith is very personal and private. So you’ve kept your beliefs to yourself. You’ve kept your faith to yourself. You’ve kept your prayers to yourself. You’ve kept and restrained your praise and gratitude to God as something extremely private and completely silent.
Through it all, you’ve been dignified, calm, proper, respectable, and restrained.
But maybe you’ve also begun to feel a little empty sometimes.. .as if God was very distant and far away from you.. .and you’ve even begun to wonder if He’s hearing your prayers at all.
8 9
90 BILL COT HARD
A friend of mine recendy described his own experience with giving loud voice to his prayers. With his wife suffering from cancer and other family problems looming, he took a long walk down a dirt road in a nearby forest.
Faraway from prying eyes and listening ears, he determined to lift his voice to God and cry aloud his fears and hopes and requests before the Lord. At first, he later admitted, he felt strange, a little foolish—even self- conscious—about it. His doubts kept telling him that it was “just a gimmick,” and that it really wouldn’t make any difference.
But he began to do it anyway.
Kneeling on the forest floor, he began to cry aloud to the Lord.
Immediately, something happened. Tears sprang to his eyes. The sense of urgency and fear he’d been feeling for weeks on end began spilling—and then gushing—out before God. He felt more like a child with his father than he could remember for a long time. “I can’t explain it,” he told me, “but praying that way made a difference in me. It changed the whole nature of my prayers.”
Crying out is now an important part of my friend’s prayer life. But it would have never happened if—all by himself out in that pine forest—he hadn’t swallowed his pride, set aside his doubts, and humbled himself before the Lord.
Maybe that’s where it could start for you, too. Take your anxieties and burdens and worries before your heav-
enly Father. Humble yourself and cry aloud to Him with all your heart.
He will hear you, just as He has promised. And your life will begin to change from that hour.
The publisher and author would love to hear your comments about this book. Please contact us at: www.lifechangebooks.com
Notes
1. Luke 18:1-8
2. Dallas Morning News, October 28, 2001; reprinted with permission.
3. Psalm 50:15
4. Psalm 145:18
5. Psalm 55:17
6. Psalm 18:6
7. Psalm 34:15
8. Psalm 34:17
9. Psalm 61:1
10. Psalms 3:4; 30:2
11. Psalms 4:3; 28:1-2
12. Psalm 142:1
13. Galatians 4:6;
see also Romans 8:15
14. Isaiah 31:4
15. Isaiah 38:14; 59:11
16. Isaiah 16:7;
Jeremiah 48:31
17. Psalms 35:28; 37:30; Proverbs 8:7
18. Joshua 1:8
19. Psalm 1:2
20. Romans 8:15
21. Romans 8:34
22. Romans 8:26-27
23. Psalm 38:9
24. Luke 8:43-48
25. 1 Samuel 1:10, 12-13, 15
26. Charles Spurgeon, in a sermon delivered September 8, 1881, at Londons Metropolitan Tabernacle.
27. See the disciple Ananias’s prayer in Acts 9:14.
28. Romans 10:12;
1 Corinthians 1:2
29. Exodus 2:23—25
30. Exodus 3:7—8
31. Exodus 14:10
32. Judges 3:8-9;
3:14-15; 4:3
33. Judges 10:9-16
34. Judges 10:16
35. Judges 11:1
36. Psalm 22:4—5
37. Daniel 9:3
38. Daniel 9:17-19
39. Psalm 107:6; see also verses 13, 19, and 28
40. Psalm 50:15
41. 2 Corinthians 12:10
42. Psalm 46:1
43. Psalm 102:1-2
44. Matthew 8:23—27;
Luke 8:22-25
45. Matthew 14:30-31
46. Jonah 2:2
47. 1 Chronicles 5:20
48. Psalm 88
49. Psalm 88:18, ESV, TLB, and NASB
50. Psalm 88:1-2,9,13
51. Exodus 22:22-23
52. Psalm 72:12
53. Proverbs 21:13
54. Exodus 22:22—24
5 5. Deuteronomy 24:14-15
56. Psalm 20:1
57. Psalm 138:3
58. See Luke 6:27; Matthew 5:48; 2 Corinthians 13:11, KJV; Ephesians 4:1-2; 1 Peter 1:16;
1 Thessalonians 5:17; Luke 10:27
59. Proverbs 2:3
60. You can check out the account on Kens Web site: http://kenpierpont.com
6 1. Mark 9:17-27, NASB
62. Mark 9:28-29, KJV
63. Ephesians 6:12
64. Psalm 56:9
65. Jude 9
66. 1 Chronicles 4:10
67. Genesis 32:26-29
68. 1 Kings 17:17-24
69. Mark 10:46-52
70. Exodus 15:26
71. Matthew 15:23
72. Matthew 15:21—28
73. Exodus 15:25
74. 1 Peter 2:24
75. Psalm 50:15
76. Acts 2
77. Acts 2:21
78. Acts 2:37-38
79. Romans 10:9-10, 13
80. Acts 22:16
81. Luke 18:9-14
82. Psalm 86:5
83. Psalm 17:1
84. James 4:6
85. Matthew 5:3
86. Luke 18:13
87. Psalm 9:12
88. 1 Peter 5:6, KJV
89. Jeremiah 11:9-14
90. Isaiah 58:6-9
91. Psalm 66:16—20
92. Matthew 26:40-41, kjv
93. James 5:17-18, KJV
94. James 5:16, KJV
95. James 5:16, TLB, NASB, ESV, AMP
96. Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
Table caption94 BILL GOT HARD
97. | E. M. Bounds, The | 121. | Revelation 7:9-10; |
Necessity of Prayer | 11:15; 19:1,6 | ||
98. | Thomas Watson, The | 122. | Psalm 66:8 |
Lord’s Prayer | 123. | Psalm 150:6 | |
99. | Psalm 119:145 | ||
100. | Hosea 7:14 | ||
101. | Luke 18:1 | ||
102. | 1 Samuel 15:11 | ||
103. | Psalm 62:8 | ||
104. | 2 Chronicles 16:9 | ||
103. | Luke 18:1-8 | ||
106. | Be sure to read Dr. Bruce Wilkinsons life-changing book, The Prayer ofjabez. | ||
107. | Luke 18:7-8 | ||
108. | Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening | ||
109. | Job 30:20 | ||
110. | Psalm 22:2 | ||
111. | Habakkuk 1:2 | ||
112. | Acts 4:24 | ||
113. | Joel 1:14 | ||
114. | Joel 1:19 | ||
115. | Romans 15:6 | ||
116. | Psalm 50:15 | ||
117. | Psalm 50:14 | ||
118. | Psalm 107:2 | ||
119. | Matthew 21:9 | ||
120. | Luke 19:40 |
EXPERIENCE THE POWER OF CRYING OUT your own Life Study Group
Steps You Can Take
1. Form a group in your church, home, business, or community
2. Meet once a week to study forty-nine commands of Christ.
3. Watch a powerful video message on each command by outstanding Bible teachers.
4. Discuss the character quality that relates directly to the command of Christ.
5. Set goals on applying the command and character quality.
6. Conclude with prayer and crying out for special needs.
The Rich Rewards of This Study
• The Commands of Christ are The Curriculum of the Great Commission — “Teach them all things I have commanded you.”
• You will know Christ more intimately—“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).
• Experience true joy—“These things [ commands ] have I spoken unto you. ..that your joy might be full” (John 15:11).
For More Information...
on Life Study Groups, to order resources online, and to post needs for and results from crying out, visit:
www.lifestudygroups.com
