Sunday, December 8, 2019, Evident Grace looked at Luke 1.57-80:

 

Luke 1. 67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

 

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; 72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us 74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

 

80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

 

From those verses, we pursued this Big Idea and two points:

 

Big Idea: God’s Work in Your Prayers

 

Prayer is About Seeing God at Work

Prayer is About Seeing Your Life as Part of God’s Work

 

Context

 

Luke 1.57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.

 

Luke 1. 67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

 

—

 

Prayer is About Seeing God at Work

 

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; 72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us 74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

 

In this prayer, we see Zechariah modeling 5 things for us. In his prayer, he focuses on how God keeps His promises, that God gave us Jesus, that we are delivered from our enemies, that we can now serve without fear, and that we now have the joy to serve God.

 

Prayer is About Seeing Your Life as Part of God’s Work

 

76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

 

80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

 

In this, we see God’s active work in Zechariah’s life, and it teaches us how we can pray doing the same. Zechariah sees that God has been faithful to His promises, His prayers are rooted in grace, and he attached his life to God’s missional work in the church and in the world. These principles can help us fuel our prayers.

 

Truth: Our prayers become more powerful and more intimate when we believe that God is at work in this world and in our life.

 

Application: Live knowing that God joyfully and purposefully uses your prayers to bring about His will and His work.

 

Action: Foolishly pray big prayers this week.