Conditions of Answered Prayer Part 2

Introduction

Good morning to all. It’s wonderful to be here with everyone. Wonderful to worship the Lord with you today. I think we’ve had a very uplifting service. And all the way back at the nine o’clock service. Great song leading, uh, great participation, uh, wonderful uplifting prayers, a great message by Greg at the nine hour, and hopefully we’ve had an edifying uh Bible class. And uh, I’m so glad to have you all, so glad to have our visitors who are with us today as well. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn to Mark, the eleventh chapter. Mark chapter eleven. I want to continue today and finish the two part series that I started last Sunday on the conditions of answered prayer. Jesus promised, ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find, knock, and it will be open to you. But sometimes we may feel that we’re praying for things and they’re not coming, they’re not happening. God is not answering our prayers. And we may wonder why. Are my prayers not being granted? And I truly believe that if our prayers are not being granted, it’s simply because we are not meeting God’s conditions for answered prayer. And in my studies, I have found at least five conditions for answered prayers. I’ve seen an outline that had seven, and so you might could think of more to add, but at least five. And last Sunday we talked about the first uh one is to live a godly life. That this will be the first condition for answered prayer.

1. Number Three: Pray in Faith

And secondly, to pray God’s will. Which, by the way, we don’t always know. So sometimes we’re not sure when we pray for something if that is God’s will. But we can know that if it is God’s will, that He will do the very thing that we’re asking. And so we continue along with the third condition, and we’re gonna finish out all the rest, uh, all the way through number five in today’s lesson, Lord willing. And so, number three is pray in faith. In Mark chapter 11, Jesus had cursed a fig tree on his way from Bethany to Jerusalem, and it had withered. And Peter was amazed and said in verse 21, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered away. Your prayer was granted, and something really amazing happened.

And in verse 22, so Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God. For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things which he says will be done.

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Now, really it’s a simple concept here, and the idea is that when we pray for things that might seem to be impossible, these mountains to be removed into the sea, as it were. I don’t think he means that literally. We look at this and we feel gypped if, you know, well, we can’t do that because we can’t do miracles. No, I don’t think he’s talking about working miracles, even though the apostles could. But what he’s talking about is God doing big things. As it were, moving mountains. Do you have faith to remove mountains? Maybe the mountain is some obstacle in your life. Some obstacle of your faith.

Maybe it’s some problem that’s going on in your life. Do you have faith that God could remove that? You see, if you don’t have the faith, then God won’t do it. But it takes faith. In fact, in a in another passage where Jesus says the same things as he says here in Matthew 17, he says, if you have faith as a mustard seed, which is a small seed. So the point is we just need a small amount of genuine faith. The truth is some Christians that go to God in prayer, they have really no faith. And doing that is really doubting the power of our God, who, as Ephesians 3 and verse 20 says, is able to do far more exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.

Amen? That’s our God that we serve. And so we don’t need to limit our God. We need to have faith that he can do the very thing that we’re asking him to do. Yes, even the big things. We need to have faith even before the prayer is granted that it will be granted, if indeed it is the Father’s will. We see Jesus exhibiting that kind of faith in John chapter 11. If you will turn, please to John chapter 11. In this chapter, Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, the brother of Mary and Martha, whom he loved greatly, had passed away. And Jesus waits to go to Bethany until the fourth day after Lazarus’ passing. And he commands that the stone would be removed. And in verse 41, then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying.

And Jesus lifted up his eyes. I just want you to picture that. We don’t usually lift up our eyes, we usually close our eyes. But it’s okay to lift up your eyes. In fact, we see that a lot. He lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. And I know that you always hear me, but because of the people that are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me. Now, did Jesus pray this before or after Lazarus was raised? It was before. It is after this that he says in verse 43, Lazarus, come forth. And he comes forth. You might expect this kind of a prayer to be given after the prayer was answered.

Father, I thank you that you have heard me. But this was prayed before the prayer was even answered. May we learn to have that same kind of faith and go to God when we’re making petitions and to have this kind of faith that says, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. That’s a lot of faith. But that’s the kind of faith that Jesus Himself had. Now you and I are not going to raise dead people. We’re not going to do miracles. But we can, through our prayers, cause someone who is sick to be made well. I want to go to James chapter 5. If you will turn to James chapter 5. And I want to begin there in verse 13. Is anyone among you suffering?

Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. Now let’s just pause right there for a moment. It seems very clear to me, although this is a difficult passage and in some ways a controversial passage, I believe it is very clear that this is a person who is physically ill at this point that we’re talking about thus far in the text. And so you pray for this person who is physically ill. And it mentions calling the elders. Now, why would you want to call the elders to pray for somebody who is physically sick?

Do you remember the first condition for answered prayer that we looked at? It is that we need to be living a godly life. And certainly elders are godly people. At least they should be, if they’re true elders, according to Scripture. And I think that there’s a lesson here that if you really want something to be granted, ask godly people to help you by praying. Ask the church. Don’t keep it to yourself. Get other people to pray for the matter. And so this is an example of bringing in the elders. And they’re praying for the sick individual. And they’re anointing him. Now that’s not a sacramental kind of thing, as the Catholic Church would teach. But I believe, if my understanding is correct, that this is the idea of oil being used as a medicinal purpose.

And it was used that way in the first century. And so if my understanding is correct, then this would be the equivalent of not only praying for someone who is sick, but also making sure that medically they are being taken care of. But ultimately, what will raise them up? Will it be the medical care? No. You see there in the very next verse. And the prayer of faith will save the sick. What kind of prayer? The prayer of faith. Should we pray for sick people? Yes. We should pray for people who are physically ailing, and we do that on a regular basis. But we need to realize when they get well, it’s not because of the surgery, it’s not because of the doctors, it’s not because of the medicine.

It’s because the prayer of faith will raise the sick. And that works in conjunction, of course, with the treatment that’s being given to them. In verse 15, it continues to say, and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. And I’ll just kind of pause there again. It seems to me now very obvious that he’s shifting from physical sickness to talk about spiritual sickness. And don’t we often combine those two? Once we have prayed for somebody who is physically sick, then we turn to the more important matter of praying for people who are spiritually ailing. And do you realize that your prayer, the prayer of faith, can have a difference in someone’s salvation?

Even someone that’s half a world away. We’ve got people here from England today. What if you knew of somebody who is sick in England or somebody who is spiritually sick in England, a brother or sister in Christ, and you went to God and you prayed for them, do you have the faith that your prayer could help that person to turn to God and obtain forgiveness of sins? And that your prayer could help that person if they were physically sick to get better. Brethren, if you don’t have the faith, then don’t pray it. But our God can do anything. Space and time, all that doesn’t matter to God, being separated by space and so forth. In James chapter 1, we have another passage about faith and prayer.

Beginning in verse 5, and I believe this is one of my wife’s favorite passages. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. How do you obtain wisdom? You know, sure, you you work for it, you study and obtain understanding and uh so forth. But ultimately, something that is often left out, perhaps, is ask for it. How do we obtain the spiritual blessings and the maturity that God would like us to have and wants us to have? Ask for it. And so, but make sure you do it with faith, because verse 6 says, But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. So you go to the Lord and you’re praying for wisdom, but you’re thinking, I’m not too sure if he’s going to grant the wisdom. Or let’s take something else that’s kind of, you might say, harder to believe that maybe God will do. You know, sometimes our petitions far exceed our faith. Take, for example, when you’re praying for Washington. Oh, we pray for Washington that we will get godly rulers. Maybe when you’re praying that, you’re thinking, when pigs fly. If you’re thinking that, then guess what? Your prayer is not going to be granted. We need to believe that God can move mountains, even do the big things.

2. Condition Number Four: Pray Fervently

And yes, little old me can pray for big old Washington, and something can happen as a result. And we need to have the faith and no doubting behind that. If there is a smidgen of doubt according to what James says, then you won’t receive anything from the Lord. Now, that’s just plain and simple. I don’t have any other way to say it. And so, pray in faith. And the thing to do is not to shrink your petitions to match your small faith. Grow your faith to match your large petitions. Condition number four is pray fervently. We’re already in the perfect passage in James chapter 5. Well, we were in James 1, but go back to James 5. In the second half of that verse, it says, the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Now I read the New King James. And so there are two words, effective, fervent, in the New King James that are translated from one Greek word. And the reason is that Greek word has both meanings in it. It means to be active, efficient. So the effective, fervent prayer. Your version may just say something like the effective or the effectual prayer of a righteous man. You know what the Greek word is? Energeto? Energet’o. It’s a word from which we get the word energy. And so quite literally, the passage is saying the energetic prayer of a righteous man avails much. Now that doesn’t mean you have to get all excited when you pray. It just means that you mean it. You mean it when you pray. You’re not just going through the motions when you do it.

And just like anything we do spiritually for God. And so then James gives an example of someone who prayed fervently and effectively in verses 17 and 18. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. And he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. Brethren, do you believe that your prayer could stop the rain? Do you believe that your prayer could start the rain if it is God’s will? If you don’t, then don’t pray it. But this fervent praying that we see Elijah doing is a wonderful example. He was heard because he prayed fervently. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours.

Well, God heard his prayer because he was a prophet. No. God heard his prayer because he was a servant of God who prayed fervently. That’s exactly why. You might say, well, little old me, I’m nobody special. You are special. You’re a child of God, aren’t you? You can, just like Elijah, prayed for the rain to start or to stop, or some other great thing to happen. And rest assured that if it is the will of God, that it will indeed occur as you have prayed. Now, I want to go back to 1 Kings chapter 18 to look at the context that was being referred to here in James 5. In chapter 17 of verse 1, and Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except in my word.

Now, I mentioned in a sermon I preached recently that Ahab was a really bad wife picker. And he married Jezebel. And Jezebel, through her influence, she brought in Baal worship and Asherah worship. And this became the state religion of these people that should be the people of God. And you know, the people believed that Baal was responsible for the rain. Ashura responsible for the rain and the crops and the produce. And so a point was being made, I believe, that no, your gods are not in control of that. Jehovah God is in control of that. And to prove it, we’re going to make the rain stop. And it stopped raining in that portion for three and a half years, and as you can imagine, there was a tremendous drought and famine by the end of that time.

And so we read in chapter 18, verse 1, and it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth. Now he had an advantage that God had directly told him his will on the matter. We can’t always know that just like he knew it here. But if you knew that it was God’s will and that he had some big purpose, some maybe divine reason that would bring glory to his name to start or stop the rain, then God will hear your prayer just like he heard Elijah’s. Now we read at the end of chapter 18. After the contest on Mount Carmel, we start reading in verse 41, then Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain.

Let me ask you a question. Was there any sound of abundance of rain actually? No. He was saying this in faith of what he knew was about to happen. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. And he’s saying, you need to start preparing yourself to get out of here because it’s about to rain. They were in the valley of Jezreel. That place will be flooded. So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, Mount Carmel. And he bowed down on the ground and put his face between his knees. Now the position in prayer is not the thing to be most concerned about. But I’ll tell you something. If you prostrate yourself before the Lord and put your face on the ground, it will help to remind you of how great God is and how small you are.

And sometimes the posture can help you to keep that in mind. So he’s I want you to see him and envision him, and I would do it, but I’ve got to read at the same time. And so I’ll do it. And so he’s down on his knees with his face between his knees, praying to God. Now that helps to indicate how fervent this prayer was.

You see, this is the example that James was referring to. Verse 3, and he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said, There is nothing. What’s he looking for? A cloud. I mean, if you’re going to have rain, you’ve got to start with some kind of cloud. There were no clouds. So he said, There is nothing. So Elijah said, Well, we tried. No. He kept praying. And seven times he said, Go again. He was persistent in this energetic praying. Then it came to pass in the seventh time that he said, There is a cloud as small as a man’s hand rising out of the sea. Just imagine seeing that tiny cloud and knowing that’s the answer to my prayer.

So he said, Go up, say to Ahab, prepare your chariot and go down before the rain stops you. Now it happened in the meantime that the sky, just picture this, became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab, ran ahead of those horses to the entrance of Jezreel. I think one of the key elements that I come away with when I read about this example is the persistence. He asked seven times that his servant would continue to go back and look to see that cloud coming. I think persistence is a key element of fervent praying.

And we see Jesus giving a parable about this in Luke chapter 11. If you will turn to Luke chapter 11. In Luke 11 and verse 1, now it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place when he ceased, that one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

They knew how to pray. They knew the right things to say, but they’re asking Jesus. That’s because compared to Jesus, you realize you really don’t know how to pray. They saw in Jesus that he had a personal prayer life. That was something that they were intrigued by. They wanted to know how to pray that way. So he teaches them. He gives them the model prayer. And then he says in verses five through eight, which of you shall have a friend and go to him at midnight. I want you to picture this. Here you go to a friend. It’s the middle of the night. And say to him, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.

It’s the middle of the night. And he will answer from within and say, Do not trouble me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give to you. Now, can you picture this? Okay, you can picture this. But uh, you don’t stop. You continue. No, you don’t understand. I’ve got to have some food. I’ve got nothing. I know you’ve got something in there. Just get up and give it to me. Eventually. Verse 8, I say to you though, he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give to him as many as he needs. This is somewhat of a contrast because no parable is an exact parallel to the spiritual reality.

You know, God is not like the friend who is unwilling to give us anything and will finally only do it if he’s annoyed enough at our knocking and knocking and knocking. That’s not God. Okay? Actually, it’s a contrast that if God is great and good, then he will do even more than that. But I think the point of the lesson also of the parable is that we need to be like the friend who is knocking. And we need to have persistence. You know, we pray for something once, and we just say, Well, it didn’t happen. I guess it’s not God’s will. Well, we shouldn’t give up so easily. Continue praying for it. Continue pleading for it. That is part and parcel of this fervent praying. In Luke chapter 18, we have a similar parable at the beginning of the chapter.

I’m not going to read the whole parable, but just look at verse 1. That he spoke a parable to them that men ought always to pray and not lose heart. Brethren, I want to encourage you to always pray and not lose heart. It’s easy to lose heart. It’s easy to think this is not going to happen. I might as well just give up. Don’t do that. 1 Thessalonians 5 17 says, pray without ceasing. Pray fervently. Pray persistently. And we see no better example of fervent praying than the example of Jesus himself. His prayer life was passionate. It was devoted to the Lord. And some key characteristics of his prayer life, and I have a whole series on this, but I’ll just summarize it in about 30 seconds.

He prayed often. He prayed lengthy prayers. In Mark chapter 1, he woke up before the sun came up, long before the sun came up. And he had had a really long day the day before. He didn’t sleep in. He sacrificed sleep to make time to pray. Somebody says, I don’t have time to pray. No, you know what? None of us have time, we make time. Jesus made time, and nobody was ever busier than Jesus. But anyway, he prayed lengthy prayers. Luke 6 and verse 12 says that he prayed all night before choosing the apostles. And so we need to also remember that though short prayers are fine and good and can be powerful too. That part of this idea of energetic praying is that you know what?

3. Final Condition: Pray Genuinely

Sometimes we need to pray lengthy prayers. Jesus prayed with intense emotion. Hebrews 5 and verse 7 says that in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death. Have you ever prayed and accompanying your prayer were tears or vehement cries? That is a prayer that you really mean. And finally, Jesus prayed alone. This is, I think, a key characteristic, not only of fervent praying, but also of genuine praying, which leads us to our final and very short condition that I want to talk about for answered prayer, and that is to pray genuinely. You know, is it possible for someone to pray fervently but not genuinely? Yes. Look at the Pharisees.

You might say they prayed their heart out, but they had the wrong motive. So this is about the motive of the individual. So let’s go to one passage. Let’s go to Matthew chapter 6. This is in the Sermon on the Mount. And in verses 5 and 6, Jesus says, And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you when you pray, go into your room. And when you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in the secret place. And your father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Now, Jesus doesn’t mean that public prayers are inherently bad. We’ve had public prayers today. But his point is, if your motive is you want to be heard by men, then you have the wrong motive. The only person we care to be heard by is not actually a person, it is God. And so our prayers need to be primarily primarily characterized by going to God in private and praying our heart out to God who hears us in that private place and will reward us openly. In verses 7 and 8, and when you pray, do not use vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them. For your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him.

You know, the pagans, they had to explain everything to their gods because their gods didn’t know. They had to tell their gods all their problems and all the things they needed done. Because their gods had no idea. Well, their gods never existed anyway. But our God knows. Do we think that we have to multiply our words so that he will understand us what our needs are? Of course not. If we do, we’re praying like the heathens. And also, the pagans, they would repeat themselves for the mere purpose of getting their God’s attention. They had certain phrases that were very formal, and they had to get every single word right, and they would say it over and over and over, and if they said it the right number of times, it was like magic.

Conclusion

I want you to see that there is a difference between earnest persistence and meaningless repetition. We need to go to God and be persistent about a matter. You might even pray about it many times, seven times, as we saw with Elijah, for example. But there’s a difference in that and the fact that you’re praying for it because you care about that deeply, and just thinking that if I repeat this enough times, God will hear it. If we disengage our hearts from the matter and our minds, then all we’re doing is we’re just repeating words. We need to make sure that’s not the case either. So in conclusion, prayer works. You know, I used to live in Athens, Alabama, and we lived close to this barbecue restaurant, really popular little joint, and then it was turned into a liquor store.

And it was, I mean, it was right in the corner down from our house on the end of the street, and it was just terrible to have this liquor store right there. And one day, we went driving by, and that place had burnt to the ground. And Holly said, Huh. I’d been praying that that place would burn to the ground. Now, someone might say, you know, give Holly enough matches and anything’s possible, right? I don’t believe there’s any miracle done. And I can’t say for sure that that was an answer to her prayer, but I sure wouldn’t doubt it. I believe that God can do things like that through his providence. That our prayers are not just a formal exercise to go through that we are told to do, but that our prayers can change things.

Our prayers can make a difference. They can make a difference in other people’s lives, and they can make a difference in the kingdom. And ultimately, it all leads to the glory of God. And it is for his purposes, and it is in accordance to his will and not ours. Not that we ask for our own pleasures, that we that we may spend it on our own pleasures, then we are asking amiss. So, brethren, do not get discouraged. Do not get this, you know, confused when your prayers go unanswered. Instead, make the necessary adjustments for your prayers to be granted. The five conditions of answered prayer that we have looked at are live a godly life, pray God’s will, pray in faith, pray fervently, and pray genuinely.

If any one of these is missing, our requests will not be granted. So be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I heard a quote yesterday courage is fear that has said its prayers. We have so much to fear. But if we just cast our cares upon the Lord for He cares for you and realize that if we are meeting these conditions for answered prayer, that we can just leave it in God’s hands and know that He will deal with it. Let go, let God, as you’ve probably heard before. And ultimately we need to realize that having our petitions granted by God is not the ultimate goal of prayer.

The ultimate goal of prayer is to have a relationship with our Father. How can you have a relationship with someone you don’t talk to? Prayer is one of the primary means by which we attain oneness with God. Just pour your heart out to God. Talk to Him like a friend. He’s not just there to shower blessings on you. That is one reason he’s there. But he also longs to have a relationship with you. He has spoken to you, and he wants to hear from you as well. If you don’t have a relationship with God, you can have a relationship with God today. If you’re not a Christian, you can become one by believing in the Lord and repenting of your sins and confessing his name and being baptized, burying that old man and rising to walk in newness of life and continuing to obey the gospel to the day you die.

And you will be saved. You’ll be saved by the grace of God, and you’ll be saved by his mercy through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And you’ll have a relationship with him. If you’re a Christian who has turned away from God and you haven’t been living as you should, it’s no wonder your prayers have not been heard. Turn to God. If you would like us to pray for you, or if you would like to get baptized at this time, please come as we stand and sing the song of invitation.