Foxes in the Vineyard – Week 4 (1-28-24)

Foxes In the Vineyard
January 28, 2024 – Week 4
The Prayerless Fox

Song of Songs 2:15 —> Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin our vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.

The Prayerless Fox
Begin with the assumption God wants you to be in spiritual unity with your spouse.

Genesis 2:24
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Why is praying together so difficult?

Hurt & Shame

Shame: fear of disconnection

Genesis 3:7-9
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. ⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Fig leafs allow you to control what others see!

Vulnerability: Being exposed to the possibility of being harmed, either physically or emotionally.

Throughout scripture…
Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Colossians 1:9
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,

1 Timothy 2:1
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—

James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Lust – epithymeo (very rarely a sexual nature in NT.)

1. impersonal & extreme desire (over or idolatrous desire) to take something that is good & try to get from it what you can only get from God.

Prayer Equation —> 1+1+1=1

1. Getting Started:
   Pray silently together.
2. Write out your prayer
3. Pray out loud for & over one another

Marriage Struggling?

2 Chronicles 7:14
if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

What if…

Peter & John before the Sanhedrin…
Acts 4:13
”When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.“