Prayer on Fire #3 of 3 Traditional

In one paragraph

This message was the closing session of the First B Jackson "Prayer on Fire" weekend. Don Young taught on what he called receiving the Father's love, arguing that all genuine prayer flows out of a love relationship with God, and that a lying "orphan spirit" works constantly to cut people off from that love. Don opened by pointing to the Lord's Prayer as the foundation. When the disciples asked...

Read together

1. Luke 11 Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray, giving the Lord's Prayer as a template
2. Jude 21 quoted from bulletin: keep yourself in the love of God
3. John 15:9 as the father has loved me, so have I loved you, now remain in my love
4. Romans 8:15 you received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abba Father
5. John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you
6. James 4:7 submit yourself to God and resist the enemy and he must flee from you
7. Proverbs 21:31 victory belongs to the Lord, declared when coming out of life's toughest battles

Talk about it

1. Don described the orphan spirit as something that robs, kills, and destroys our understanding of the Father's love. Where do you see that spirit at work, either in your own life or in the lives of people around you?
2. Don said that many people around the world have never heard the words 'I love you' from their earthly father, and that this makes it hard to receive the heavenly Father's love. How has your experience with your own father, for better or worse, shaped the way you relate to God?
3. Don shared that for years he prayed for his wife rather than with her, and that the Holy Spirit had to break him of that before his prayer life changed. Is there someone in your life you pray for but not with? What would it take to change that?
4. Don drew a contrast between the Father's love, which brings freedom, acceptance, abundance, and healing, and the orphan spirit, which brings fear, rejection, and wounds. Looking at that list honestly, which side of that contrast describes where you are living right now?
5. Don said that what the Holy Spirit reveals, He will always heal, and that He never wastes a revelation. Has God brought something to the surface in you during this weekend or this morning? What do you sense He wants you to do with it?