Prayer

Introduction

We’ve been talking, I guess, all month about prayer. A couple of Sunday nights ago, we sang about it, celebrated it in our song service. And then on last Sunday morning, we were talking about one of the dangers we face with our prayer life, and that is how prayer can become merely a ritual, an exercise through which we go rather than being meaningful communication with God. And you recall that last Sunday we talked for a little while about some things that we can do to make prayer more meaningful. We said that it was important to remember that when we pray, that we’re actually talking to someone, that the God of heaven is attuned to the prayers of his children. He’s listening and listening compassionately and sympathetically. We said that when we pray, we need to be sure that we say something that is meaningful rather than just rehearsing some old worn-out phrases that we’ve used over and over again to really talk to God.

And we said thirdly that we need to create a meaningful habit of prayer. Not just to remember that God is listening and to say things that matter, but to do that regularly, daily, communicating with our Father. But what we didn’t say last Sunday is perhaps the one thing that I think most makes prayer meaningful. Perhaps the most significant thing that we need to say about prayer, and that is that prayer is powerful. That when we pray, it makes a difference. That God not only hears us when we pray, but he responds to our prayers. Turn back, if you will, to Psalms chapter 145. We read this passage last week as we were emphasizing how God hears our prayer, but there’s more to it. In Psalm 145 and verse 17, the psalmist said, The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his deeds.

The Lord is near to those who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. But look at verse 19. He says, He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. And he will also hear their cry and will save them. Did you see that? He didn’t just say he would listen to us, that he would hear us when we call to him. He says, He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. And will hear their cry and will save them. I want to spend some time this morning thinking particularly and specifically about that grand truth. That God will hear and will answer our prayers. I don’t guess to say that is a surprise to anyone in this audience. I imagine if we took a survey, a Gallup poll of the South Bumby Church and asked if you guys believe that God answered prayer, I bet everybody would say yes.

I’m just suspicious that we’re not very convicted about that. And I’m suspicious about that, because I’m convinced if we were truly convicted about the power of prayer, we pray more than we do. Pray more fervently, more diligently, be devoted to it, as Paul talked about in Colossians chapter 4 and verse 2. I’ve heard sometimes that we do not really believe that prayer is going to make a difference. That things are going to turn out as things are going to turn out, and if I pray about it, or if I don’t pray about it in the end, it won’t really matter. It reminds me of a guy who was working up on the roof of a big two-story house, way up high. And as he was up there working, he stumbled and slipped and fell and began to roll right off that roof, certain that if something didn’t change, he was either going to be seriously injured or maybe killed from the fall.

And so as he’s rolling off that roof, he says, God help me. And just as he gets to the edge, there happened to be a nail protruding up from the roof, and it snagged on his pants and caught him just before he went over the edge. And as he caught his breath, he looked up to heaven and he said, Never mind God, the nail got me.

Isn’t that the way we are sometimes about prayer? That in the end things happen as they happen, and whether we prayed about it or we didn’t, it really didn’t matter. You know, folks, when you remove the power of prayer, then indeed it becomes nothing more than an empty ritual. Even if God is there, even if he hears us, even if he hears us sympathetically, if he’s not going to respond, if he’s not going to answer, if prayer’s not going to change anything, then what is its purpose? Ultimately, what gives life to prayer, what makes it meaningful, the thing that makes it meaningful is the fact that God answers. And when we pray, it changes things. And I want us to send some sign this morning, doing nothing else but being convinced of that truth.

Being more convicted about it in our hearts. Now, as we say that, I want you to realize with me this morning that I know that there are some other things that need to be said when we say God answers prayer. I realize there are some things that need to be said in connection with that statement, that there need to be some qualifications placed upon that statement. And we’re not going to emphasize, though, this morning, but I don’t want you to think that we’ve forgotten about them. When I say that God answers prayer, I don’t want you to get the impression that that means God always answers everybody under any circumstances and give them whatever he wants. We can’t say that because that’s not what the Bible says.

And I want you to understand that when we say this morning that God is answering prayer, that is not meant to imply that God will always, under any circumstance, hear us. We have to place that qualification upon prayer because the Bible says that. Over in Isaiah chapter 59, verses 1 and 2, the prophet would tell the Israelites, behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save, neither is his ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. And your sins have hidden his face from you. Listen, so that he does not hear. We can live a certain way and conduct our lives in a certain way that God will not hear our prayer, that we won’t be on praying terms with God.

And so when we say that God answers prayer, that doesn’t mean that he always hears everybody under any circumstances, however they might be living. Nor are we trying to imply that when we say God answers prayer, that God will always give us everything that we want. There are some requests that we might make in prayer that God will not give us. For example, in James 4 and verse 3. James says, you ask and you do not receive. Do you see that? You ask and you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your own pleasures. Here were people who ask with improper motives. And he says, you ask, but you’re not going to get anything.

God doesn’t always give us everything that we ask for. And the third thing we need to appreciate is that even when we do pray and God hears us and God answers, he doesn’t always give us the answer that we want. Paul had to learn that. If you go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 7, Paul would tell us there about his thorn in the flesh. Some problem that he was experiencing that was just causing him great pain and difficulty and unpleasantness. And in verse 8, he says, concerning this, I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. He prayed about it. And you know what God said when Paul prayed, Lord, remove the thorn in the flesh, God said, No, you’ve got something to learn from it.

There’s a benefit that’ll come to you from it. I’m going to leave it. I assure you that that was not the answer that Paul wanted. But it was the answer that he needed. When I say that God answers prayer, brethren, I do not mean to imply that God will always give us the answer that we want. And I hope that all of us can grow to be thankful for that. Because sometimes we don’t know what is best for us. We don’t know what is in our best interest. We don’t know what is good for us. In fact, sometimes we ask God for things that were He to give it to us, it would be to our harm. See, the great thing about God is He does always know in our best interest, and He does see the beginning from the end.

And for that reason, He is always able to do what’s right in our case, even though we may not perceive it. I am thankful that sometimes God says no to my request. And I’m thankful that sometimes He says, David, you need to wait for it. Because He knows what’s best for me. What a frightening thing it would be. What an intimidating prospect prayer would be if indeed all we had to do was ask and God gave it, whether it would be for our good or for our bad. I don’t want it that way. I’m grateful I’ve got a God in heaven who will do what’s right, even if that means saying no. And so just because God will answer does not mean that we will always get the answer we want.

It does mean we’ll always get the answer we need. But having said that, I want you to understand that when we talk about the power of prayer this morning, we’re not forgetting about those things. But it is those qualifications that I do not want to be our emphasis this morning. Just because there are conditions placed upon this wonderful promise that God will answer our prayers does not make the promise any less awesome. And it is in the promise that I would like for you and I to focus our attention this morning. God answers prayer. And we need to rejoice in that reality. In fact, that is critical, believing that is critical, to effective prayer. If you turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 11 and in verse 22.

In Mark 11 in verse 22, Jesus would say, Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted to him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted to you. A critical part of effective prayer is praying in faith, praying with the belief and confidence that God will indeed answer. And what I want to do in the lesson this morning is demonstrate to you that God just gives us all kind of reason to believe that he will hear and respond to our prayers.

1. The Bible Teaches the Power of Prayer

I’d like for us to notice that together this morning. First of all, I want you to notice with me that the Bible, in three key passages that we’ll note this morning, teaches us about the power of prayer. If you have your bulletin and want to take it out this morning, you can follow along with us as we look at these passages together and perhaps make a few notes. Over and over again, the scriptures emphasize this awesome truth that God answers prayer, and there are three key passages that I want us to notice this morning. The first one is found in Matthew chapter seven in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter seven, look with me, beginning in verse seven. Perhaps this great truth is never stated so plainly and so simply as it is stated here by Jesus.

When he says in verse seven, Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it shall be opened. I don’t know how you can get the truth stated any more clearly or simply than it is there. Ask, Jesus says, and it shall be given to you. Now understand that implied within that statement is a responsibility that falls to you and I, isn’t it? Because Jesus does say that if we wish for it to be given to us, we have to do what? We have to ask. We have to seek. We have to knock.

That is not always as simple as it might seem to be. Asking requires humility. It means that I’ve got to reject the notion of this world that I’m a self-made man, and what I do, I do by my power and my ability and my wisdom. It means I’ve got to acknowledge my utter dependence on God. There is something, and be careful with me on this word, there is something humiliating about prayer as it expresses to God our utter dependence on Him. Sometimes I fear our culture struggles with prayer because they’re just too proud. It’s admitting we need God. And asking involves faith in God because it means I can depend on God and see him as my source and my supply and my strength, the one who is able to answer and respond.

There is an obligation on our part in all of this. The words that Jesus would use here are words that imply perseverance in prayer. In fact, the very tense of the verbs that he uses. When he says, ask and seek and knock, carry the idea of keeping on. Keep on in your asking. Keep on in your seeking. Keep on in your knocking. Be persistent. Persistence implies sincerity. This isn’t just a ritual to me. It really means something to me.

But now, the promise is that when we do that, well, what happens? Ask, he says, and we are given. When we seek, we find what we’re looking for. When we keep on knocking, the door is open. And in case we miss it, verse 8 adds the same thought for instance, emphasis, for everyone who asks receives. And he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it is open. There’s a wonderful truth being communicated in this passage about God. Really, the passage is more about God than us. It is saying that God will indeed respond to the request of his children. He will hear and answer their prayers. Now, are there any qualifications we have to put on that? Sure there are. When he says ask and you’ll receive, does that mean I just get anything I ask for?

No. James says some ask and they don’t receive. We understand that. But such qualifications do not negate the wonderful truth Jesus is trying to express here. God answers prayer. And if we miss it for the sake of emphasis, he would illustrate it. Look at verse 9. It says, or what man is there among you? When a son shall ask him for a loaf, we’ll give him a stone. Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him? The argument is from the lesser to the greater. He says, look at yourselves.

You fathers. Don’t you want to do good things for your kids? That you love? Don’t we want to give good things to our children? I mean, even though sometimes we’re wicked and we’re driven by selfish motives and sometimes we’re only looking out for ourselves and not others, isn’t it true that it is our desire to give good things to our kids? We want our kids to have good things. In fact, sometimes we’re at fault in going overboard and doing that, aren’t we?

Jesus’ point is that if we know, if we understand how earthly fathers respond to the needs and the requests of their children to give them what is good. He says, How much more will your perfect heavenly Father respond to the needs of his children? Folks, we need to remember who we’re dealing with when we pray. John 3 16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. God has already in Jesus Christ addressed our greatest need. The need for salvation. And done so in such a dramatic way in the giving of Jesus so that we can be saved. What a sacrifice. If God has taken care of that, the greatest of human needs.

How can we have any doubt? That when we bring before Him the comparatively trivial concerns of this life, how can we have any doubt but that He will hear us and respond? Jesus is trying to teach us that our prayers are heard by a God who is not only able, but who is willing to answer. He says, ask, and it shall be given to you. But let’s look at another passage together. Turn in your Bibles, if you will, to 1 John chapter 3. And note this passage. Jot this one down in your bulletin. 1 John chapter 3. And we want to look there at verses 21 and 22. And then later we’ll look at another passage in the same book in chapter 5. In 1 John chapter 3 and verse 21.

John says, beloved, if your heart does not, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. Listen to this, verse 22. And whatever we ask, we receive from him. Because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. You know, the statements of this truth are so plain in Scripture, it’s difficult to miss. Whatever we ask, John says, we receive from him. We enjoy this privilege as his faithful children, because he said we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight. Whatever we ask, we receive. Look over in chapter 5, starting in verse 14. We read verse 14 last week, emphasizing the assurance that God gives us that he hears our prayers. Verse 14 of chapter 5 says, and this is the confidence which we have before him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

We know he hears us, but there’s more. Look at verse 15. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from him. We need to have confidence before God that when we ask, he will answer and he will grant our request. Prayer is powerful. It changes things because God will hear and respond and provide the things that we ask from him. One of the passage I want you to notice with me this morning. I want us to look together at James chapter 5, starting in verse 13. In James 5, starting in verse 13, what you’ll notice, first of all, is that this context is literally filled with exhortations to pray. In verse 13, James says, Is any among you suffering?

What should he do? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises. 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 offered in faith, listen to this, will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Verse 16, therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. He said, if you’re suffering, pray. If you’re sick, call for the elders of the church and have them pray for you. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other.

Whatever life throws your way, whatever comes up against you, pray about it. Why?

Because prayer accomplishes something. Do you see that in verse 16? The effective prayer of the righteous man accomplishes much. I like this word accomplished that James uses. It’s an interesting word. Literally, it is a word that means to be of force, to be effective, capable of producing results. Catch that. Literally, James is saying that the prayer of a righteous man is capable of producing results. It changes things. It makes a difference. James would illustrate his point by pointing to the Old Testament character of Elijah. Verse 17, he says, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. Elijah was just a fellow like you and I. But he said, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain. And it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

2. The Bible Demonstrates the Power of Prayer

And he prayed again. And the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit. So look at the example of Elijah. He was a man no different than you and I. And according to the will of God in that day and under those circumstances, he sought God that it would not rain, and guess what? It didn’t. And when he returned to God and sought that God would bring rain, it brought rain. Prayer accomplishes something. Which leads to yet another valuable help, I think the scriptures provide to remind us of the power of prayer. I want you to appreciate with me this morning that not only does the Bible teach us that there is power in our prayers, but I want you to notice with me secondly, that the Bible demonstrates over and over again, in biblical case after biblical case, demonstrates to us the power of prayer.

Shows us how throughout Bible history the prayers of righteous men accomplished much. They made a difference. I want you to be impressed with four of these examples with me this morning. And I want to begin with Elijah, if you’ll turn in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 18. I want to begin with Elijah because James alludes to Elijah. But I want to look at a different story, not the one that James mentions here in James chapter 5. Turn back, if you will, to 1 Kings chapter 18. And permit me just a moment to kind of set the stage for what’s happening in the context so we can fit this story in its historical context. At this particular time in Israelite history, they are being ruled, the nation is being ruled by Ahab and his wife Jezebel, who were notorious as two of the most wicked rulers Israel had ever seen.

It is no small thing to say that about Ahab and Jezebel, because trust me, Israel had seen some wicked rulers in their time. But Ahab and Jezebel, well, they took the prize. It was through their influence that the nation had been led into the worship of pagan idols, into the worship of the Baal and the Asherah. And here in 1 Kings chapter 18, starting in verse 20, Elijah, the true prophet of God, comes on the scene, and he challenges the followers of Baal and particularly the prophets who aligned themselves with the worship of this pagan God. He says, I have a challenge for you, and I just want us to read this context together. Start in verse 20. It says, So Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel.

And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal follow him. He says, Look, people, you’ve got to decide who God is. You can’t believe in Baal and Jehovah. Who are you going to believe in? One or the other. Verse 21 at the end of the verse says, The people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, I alone and left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Now let them give us two oxen. And let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it up and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it.

And I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put fire under it. Then you shall call on the name of your God, and I will call on the Lord, the God who answers by fire. He is God. And all the people answered and said, That is a good idea. Let’s see who’s really God. That’s what Elijah said. We’ll at least prepare a sacrifice. Get it all ready, except we won’t light the fire. And we’ll each call upon our gods. You guys call on Baal. I’ll call on Jehovah. We’ll see who answers. I like Elijah. He’s smart, isn’t he? You think for a moment he had any question about how this is going to come out? Not for a moment.

In fact, he’s somewhat courteous or sneaky, depending on how you want to look at it. He lets them go first. Verse 25. So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many, and call on the name of your God, but put no fire under. Then they took the ox which was given them, and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from the morning until noon, saying, Oh Baal, answer us. But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they had made. And it came about at noon that Elijah mocked them and said, You just got to get a mental image of this. Call out with a loud voice, for he is a God.

I never understood why, if he was a God he needed to call louder, but then again it did say he was mocking them. Either he is occupied or gone aside or is on a journey, or perhaps he’s asleep and needs to be awakened. Maybe Baal is asleep. Just shout louder and he’ll hear you. I don’t know if they bought into that, but it does seem they got a bit extreme in their response. It says, So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. I guess they thought maybe that would uh that would get his attention. And it says, It came about that when midday was past that they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice.

Listen to this. But there was no voice. No one answered, and no one paid attention. Well, on the Baal’s side, there was no score. They failed utterly.

So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord which had been torn down. And Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, Israel shall be your name. So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood. And he said, Do it a second time, and they did it a second time.

And he said, Do it a third time, and they did it a third time. And the water flowed around the altar, and he filled, and he also filled the trench with water. Then it came about that at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that thou, O Lord, art God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. There’s the prayer. Verse 38 says, Then the fire of the Lord fell from heaven and consume the burnt offering, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench, and all the people saw it, and they fell on their faces, and they said, The Lord He is God, the Lord He is God.

Isn’t that an awesome storm?

Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal could not accomplish in a whole day of shouting what a simple of a simple appeal of a man of God could accomplish in an instant. That it is not God’s will to provide in our circumstances such miraculous manifestations of his answer to prayer is not the point. That the same power that brought down fire from heaven to consume this sacrifice is exactly the same power, equally potent power that works to answer our prayers, is exactly the point.

Elijah is teaching us something about prayer. James would say, look at him. He’s an example of prayer’s effectiveness. He answers us today just as he answered Elijah then with the same potent power. We need to believe in the power of prayer. For this is the far from the only examples. I want you to notice a couple of more with me. Over in 2 Kings chapter 19, I want you to notice the prayer of Hezekiah on this occasion. 2 Kings chapter 19. Again, permit me a moment just to kind of set the context. On this occasion, Judah is being threatened by the overwhelming armies of Assyria. In fact, the king of Assyria has sent messengers to Judah demanding their unconditional surrender. In fact, he warns them in 1 Kings chapter 18 and verses 29 and 30.

He warns the people of the city not to let Hezekiah the king fool them or deceive them about some deliverance that their God will provide. He says, Don’t listen to Hezekiah. He said, God will deliver you. He said, Look, we’ve been marching around the world conquering everybody else, and they hell they all had gods, and none of their gods delivered them. And so when Hezekiah says your God will deliver you, don’t buy into that lie. He’s just setting you up for doom. Judah. Judah was nothing. No match for the armies of Assyria. Their situation was, from a human perspective, utterly hopeless. But in 2 Kings 19 and verse 14, Nehemiah or Hezekiah looks beyond the human predicament and turns to God. In verse 14, it says, Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it.

And he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord, the God of Israel who art enthroned above the cherubim, thou art the God, thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. Incline thine air, O Lord, and hear. Open thine eyes, O Lord, and see. And listen to the words of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. Which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nation and their lands. And they have cast their gods into fire, for they were not gods, but work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Hezekiah says, certainly they’ve overrun the other nations and thrown their idols into the fire.

Those weren’t really gods, they were just the work of men’s hands. But in verse 19, he says, And now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand, that all the kings of the earth may know that thou alone, O Lord art God. Remember that when Hezekiah prayed this prayer, that from a human perspective, the idea of deliverance seemed impossible. The idea of overcoming the onslaught of the Assyrians, a dream. But what we must remember is that with God on our side and the power of prayer at our disposal, we are always the majority. God answered the prayer of Hezekiah. If you look at chapter 19, starting in verse 35. It says, Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians.

And when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and returned home and live at Nineveh. It is so impressive that the power of prayer was able to accomplish what the armies of the world could not. It was the power of prayer that turned back the threatening military force of the Assyrians. Rather, God answers prayer. And the same power that was at work and answering the prayer of Hezekiah is at work, answering our prayers today. We could look at other examples. The prayer of Nehemiah in Nehemiah chapter 1. You remember from our study of Nehemiah back about a year ago? How he received word about how poorly things were going in Jerusalem, how the walls were still in ruins and the people were discouraged.

And so starting in chapter 1 and verse 4, Nehemiah goes and he prays before God. And he asks God to grant him compassion before the king or to Xerxes as he was going to go and ask permission to leave and go help his people.

You know, Nehemiah’s is a great example about how God answers our prayers, but not always in our time. You know, at the end of chapter 1, we’re told about how Nehemiah asked for God’s help in having compassion before the king. But when you get to chapter 2 and verse 1, you find out that four months have passed before God opens the door for Nehemiah to talk to the king and receive before him a compassionate king. Ultimately, Nehemiah got the answer. The king would hear him and have compassion and send him on his mission and provide for his needs, but it was four months before he got the answer. God was indeed in answering Nehemiah’s prayer, just not in his time, but in God’s time. We have other examples.

We could look at Acts chapter 4 and the prayer of the persecuted Christians that is recorded for us there. Peter and John had been arrested for preaching in the name of Jesus. They had been jailed. They’d been threatened never to preach again in his name. And in chapter 4 and verse 24, word is brought back to their brethren about what has happened, and they turned their attention to God and pray about the matter, asking that he would grant them courage to continue to preach even in the face of opposition. Verse 31 says, And when they had prayed, the place where they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. They prayed for courage, and immediately the answer of God is to provide them with the courage they needed.

Conclusion

Again, to focus on the fact that it is not God’s will today to provide such miraculous manifestations is to miss the point. That the same power that answered the petition of these faithful servants is the same power that responds to our request today, is the point. What are we trying to say? It is that God answers prayer, and we need to believe that. I mean, really believe it. Be convicted in our hearts. Now I tell you, folks, there are some things about prayer that I do not understand, and I confess that freely this morning. I don’t always understand exactly how God answers prayer. For example, when someone is sick, perhaps someone who’s about to have surgery. I believe that we can go before God and we can pray for them, and that prayer will make a difference, that God, if it if it is his will, can and will intervene and help in the recovery of that loved one.

But ask me, David exactly how does he do that? I’m not sure I can answer that. What exactly does God do? Exactly in what way does he intervene to help bring about their recovery and help that surgery to go well? I’m not sure I know. You see, there are some questions that can be raised about prayer that I cannot answer because God didn’t bother to tell me.

But at the same time, we must appreciate that there are many wonderful answers that the scriptures give us about prayer that we simply cannot question. And one of the great assurances they give us is that God does indeed hear and respond to the cries of his children. Whether or not I understand exactly how he does that and how he acts in every case really isn’t important. That he does is important. And I tell you, that needs to have a practical difference in our lives. It ought to make prayer more meaningful. Brother, and I’m convinced that if we were really convicted that through prayer we access the power of God, the power of God that in Elijah’s day brought down fire from heaven, that in Hezekiah’s day destroyed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers, that in Nehemiah’s day opened the heart of King Artaxerxes.

That in the day of those early Christians in Acts 4 granted them the courage they needed to preach the gospel. If we believed in prayer’s power like that, we would pray more. We would be more dependent on. We need to be convicted in our hearts. That we serve a God that is not only attentive to us, that not only hears us and hears with sympathy, but a God who promises that He will answer. He will respond. Take out your songbooks, if you will, please, and turn to the number that Jim has selected as the invitation song.

And when you’ve done that, if I could have your attention back just for one more minute, I would take that moment to remind you that the pure privilege of prayer illustrates the depth of God’s great love, doesn’t it? That God will not only open up to me lines of communication with him, but promise to hear and to respond to my prayers is an awesome truth. But I tell you, the love of God for us has been manifested in a far more significant way than just the privilege of prayer. The greatest manifestation of God’s love is that he sent his son Jesus to die for our sins so that we could be saved. The question I would pose to all of us this morning is how will we respond to that love?

It’s been evidenced in so many ways, but in the greatest way in the giving of his son. How will we respond to that love? If you’re here this morning and you’re not a Christian, how will you respond to the love God’s happening? He’s offered to you in Jesus the opportunity to be saved from your sins. Would you receive that? Would you accept his offer of salvation and obedience to the gospel, confessing your belief in him and your determination to live your life for him, and even this day being baptized in water for the remission of your sins? Would you respond to his love by loving him and his will and obeying it this morning? If you’re subject to his invitation, come right now as together we stand and sing.