Careful What You Pray

Tony Hauck
Church in the Rock - Melbourne


I Kings 18 records the time Elijah called down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel, then called up rain after holding it back for three and a half years. Chapter 19 describes his fleeing to the wilderness after a threat from Jezebel. Lest you be too hard on him, keep in mind he’d just wiped out 450 of her demonic prophets and broken Satan’s long hold on Israel. I know I’ve never encountered that kind of spiritual backlash. But there is something Elijah did wrong, and it had to do with his attitude. At that critical time, Elijah interceded against Israel.

Rom 11:2-5 "God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel,saying, "LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars,and I alone am left, and they seek my life"? But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace"

There are two things to consider here. First, even though he accurately saw Israel’s problem, he was willing to write all of them off. Look at verse five. There is always a faithful remnant. Second, he wasn’t praying. He was just answering God’s question. That means whenever we talk to God, even if we’re just complaining, it’s intercession. Contrast Elijah’s attitude with Moses’ when God did have reason to write off all of Israel.

Exo 32:10-14 "Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation." Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: "LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? "Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'"

So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people." Moses appealed to God’s word, His plan, His glory, and His mercy to give Him a reason to continue to bless His people. If we’re going to be intercessors, we need to be careful how we talk to God about His church, His bride.

Slow Down

Tony Hauck

Church on the Rock - Melbourne

Daniel 12:4 has always been an interesting verse to me. It says that in the end times “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase”. Can you think of a more apt description of our hectic media driven lives? I don’t think this kind of activity and pursuit of knowledge is a good thing. I think it’s a distraction that will keep many from seeing God.

Have you ever watched a basketball game where the announcer said something like, “they’re letting the other team get them off their pace?” If you can get a team to play at your rhythm, instead of their own pace, you have a better chance of controlling the game.

So I encourage you, don’t get caught up running at the pace the world is setting. Walking with Jesus means walking at His pace, and it isn’t hectic. You’ll have to fight to simplify your life. You’ll have to cut out good things to make room for the best things. But you’ll also find it easier to obey Colossians 3:15. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.”

You Are Here

Tony Hauck
Church on the Rock - Melbourne

I was pondering three passages that describe the last days or beginning of sorrows. Understand that this isn’t the time of great tribulation spoken of in Revelation, but what immediately precedes that time, so even if you’re pre-trib, no one escapes these events. You can read them for yourself (Mt 14:4-12, 2 Tim 3:1-5, 2 Pe 3:3), but I’ll give you a short list of what to expect; deception, wars, famine, earthquakes, tribulation, martyrdom, hatred, offense, lawlessness, cold love, scoffers, lustful, self love, proud, disobedient, no self control, brutal, haughty, lovers of pleasure, haters of good, having a form of godliness but without power.

Sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it? And that’s what I was thinking about, how bad it’s going to get, when God pulled me up short with one statement. He said, “You’re already in the beginning of sorrows now.”

My first thought was, “this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be”. But my immediate second thought was, “how desensitized to sin have I become that I’m living in the last days, don’t even recognize it, or think it’s that bad?”

Remember now, O Lord!

Gary Stebbins
Church on the Rock, Melbourne


Hezekiah was a mighty king over Judah. When the Assyrian army had surrounded Jerusalem and was threatening to attack the city, the Bible says that he took the message that the enemy had sent him, spread it out before the Lord, and ... "Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, 'O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see;'" (2 Kings 19:15-16)

Later on in Hezekiah’s life he becomes mortally ill, again the Bible says ... "Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, and said, 'Remember now, O Lord, I beseech You, how I have walked before You in truth and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly" (Isaiah 38:2-3).

Both of these stories about the life of Hezekiah have always been vivid pictures to me that encourage me to pray no matter what difficulty I am facing in my life. In the first case Hezekiah’s prayer concerned the deliverance of Jerusalem and Judah from the hands of an enemy army. In the second case, Hezekiah’s prayer had to do with his own personal need for healing. Whether we are praying for issues concerning our country or our own personal lives, God is a God who hears our prayers and responds to those prayers. There is no prayer that is too small or too large for God to hear and respond to. All of our prayers are important to God.

These two stories also demonstrate to me the sovereignty of God both over the affairs of nations and over the affairs of my own personal life. God has the power to deliver a nation from their enemies and to deliver my body from sickness and disease. There is nothing in this world that God cannot take care of.

We do live in serious times. Our nation is facing difficulties that seem almost insurmountable. Many people are experiencing very trying times in their lives personally. The stories from the life of Hezekiah remind me to pray and put my faith and trust fully and completely in the Lord. Difficulties at any level in our lives should drive us into the presence of God where we can find His hope and peace. Fervent, diligent prayer is an indication of our trust in God and not in ourselves.

Pray, pray, and keep praying! God is a good God and He is listening. Prayer can move the heart and hands of God for our nation and in our personal lives.

What about you? Are you facing some serious issues in your own life? Perhaps you are facing financial difficulties, marriage problems, or health issues. Have you taken them to God in prayer? As you listen to the news do you find yourself growing anxious over the future for our nation? Have you taken your concerns to God in prayer? How has prayer helped you cope with the issues of everyday life?

Quiet Zeal

Tony Hauck
Church on the Rock - Melbourne

What does zeal look like? We all know the story of Jesus turning over the tables of the money changers in the temple, and His disciples remembering that it was written, “zeal for Your house has consumed me”. Don’t forget that whole incident was about the importance of prayer. Jesus spent a lot more time in prayer, not quarreling or crying out, not breaking bruised reeds or quenching smoking wicks (Mt 12:19-20), than he did in flamboyant displays of zeal. Yet I believe He was zealous all the time. So what did His zeal look like most of the time?

"But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir,' but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" (Mat 21:28-31)

I don’t know about you, but too often I’ve sung on Sunday, “Lord I want You, I want to do Your will, yes Lord”, and then, ignored Him on Monday. I really appreciate demonstrative worship, passionate prayer and stirring preaching, but I’m not sure these things are accurate indicators of zeal. Maybe true zeal is seen in daily disciplines, long faithfulness to a task, simple obedience. Maybe it’s less about emotion and more about making decisions in spite of how we feel. Maybe we’re most zealous when we’re dry and tired, but we’re doing it anyway.

God Help Me Pray

Tim Franklin

Freedom Christian Center

Luke 22:45 “…and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping...” NKJV “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” John Wesley

John Wesley knew well the place of prayer, and was often criticized by the church because of his rigid commitment to prayer and his demand that new believers be disciplined to prayer and the Word. Wesley knew the power of prayer, he walked in the spirit of revival and looked for those men who would give themselves to the place of prayer. God still looks for those kind of men, for communities that give themselves to Him in prayer. He can work through a praying church―not a prayerless one. He can work through praying Saints―not prayerless ones.

Is it no wonder, that Jesus would declare “My house shall be called a House of Prayer”? He did not call it a house of planning, a house of strategic thinking, a house of pleasure or a house of ease. He called it a House of Prayer―because that is what He wanted us to identify with. He was imparting to those who would follow Him, that if you desire anointing, supernatural strength, God’s help, God’s favor, then you must give yourself to prayer.

The apostles knew and esteemed the prominence of prayer in their lives. Jesus personally taught them to pray. He left His prayerful mark on their lives with the example that He lived before them. Long before daybreak; long after the sun went down; slipping out during the day; Jesus taught His disciples to pray. After their failure to pray in the garden, on the night Jesus needed them the most, their hearts were eternally marked with commitment to the place of prayer. Never again will we fail like that!

In Acts, they now began to understand that the Kingdom of God had been entrusted to them. Jesus was counting on them. They could not afford to be found prayerless, again. They put prayer first in their lives. They put prayer first in this new community called the church. They esteemed prayer in order that they would bring the people of the region to the highest place of faith and holiness. They ‘stirred themselves up’ to take hold of God. They prayed like Elijah who prayed until his prayers squeezed rain out of a drought. They ‘gave themselves to prayer’ and it was obvious to all. Even smart, well learned men took note that these uneducated men had been with Jesus in the place of prayer, continued to be found in the place of prayer and were turning the world ‘upside down.’

Oh, that Brevard County would experience the presence of praying Saints. Saints who will not say “NO” to prayer, be distracted from prayer, or give up on prayer. May this county know the fierceness of a people who call on God. May it live under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, brought on by tireless Saints, crying out for mercy in prayer. Oh, that Brevard would be awakened to the Presence of God brought on by the thunderous praying of the church. God works through men, men who depend upon Him and seek His counsel and strength in the place of prayer.

Where is the church that boasts of power?
Is she too weak to rise this hour?
Will she sit here idly by,
While souls to a Christless hell go die?
God forbid! Don’t let it be!
Lord put your holy fire in me!
Let it burn and blaze so bright and
Wake me to pray both day and night
Crying out for the souls of men
Crying out for the souls of men.
Give me a holy passion that will not end.
―Song written by Tim Franklin & Dan Walton

MyHOP! Join us this Friday night April 1st, 7 p.m. at Our Father’s House to pray.

I'm Waiting...

Tony Hauck, Church on the Rock - Melbourne

There are two verses, Psalm 27:14 & Isaiah 40:31, that promise we’ll receive strength as we wait on the Lord. I’m afraid we’ve mostly understood waiting on the Lord in the sense that He’s sovereign, and we just have to wait for Him to act. I often meet Christians who believe some prophetic promise that God is going to do, but are actually doing little more than marking time waiting for Him to show up and do it.

This is passive waiting, but the kind God is talking about in these verses is very active. The Hebrew word for “wait” literally means to be braided together. It speaks of a continual interacting, becoming entwined with God. Maybe God isn’t delaying His promises, but waiting for us to learn how to wait on Him.

So are you waiting on the Lord, or just sitting around waiting?