1. SCRIPTURE READING 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

2. DOES PRAYER MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

3. When man works – man works. When man prays – God works.

4. DOES PRAYER MAKE A DIFFERENCE? DOES PRAYER MAKE A DIFFERENCE? 1. We must pray earnestly.

5. JAMES 5:17 17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

6. LUKE 18:1-5 18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

7. DOES PRAYER MAKE A DIFFERENCE? 2. We must pray confidently.

8. JAMES 1:6 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

9. EXODUS 32:7-14 7 Then the L ORD said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ 9 “I have seen these people,” the L ORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

10. CONTINUED… 11 But Moses sought the favor of the L ORD his God. “L ORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the L ORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

11. RESPONSES TO PRAYERS IN A CRISIS: Some experience miracles. Some experience great loss, but their witness remains strong.

12. RESPONSES TO PRAYERS IN A CRISIS: Some experience a shattered faith. Some experience compromise to avoid pain. Some experience reality on what really matters.

13. DOES PRAYER MAKE A DIFFERENCE? 3. We must pray strategically.

14. THREE PRAYERS: Logistical – me. Tactical – others. Strategically – God’s Mission.

15. TAKE AWAY The issue is not that we should pray more, the issue is that we should understand God’s heart and God’s mission and pray strategically.

16. DOES PRAYER MAKE A DIFFERENCE?