Praising God For His Wonders - Sermon Iv: Praising God For Answered Prayer Series

PRAISING GOD FOR ANSWERED PRAYER

In this month’s Health & Nutrition Newsletter, I read an interesting report based on a study of the “dose-response” effect of exercise – that is, if you exercise more than the minimum recommended for you, do the benefits increase?

The conclusion was: More IS better – significantly so – especially the effect that “more than recommended” has on the reduction of high levels of anxiety – of the kind that, more often than not at our age, is associated with worrying about the possibility of experiencing traumatic disease or tragic death – both highly unlikely.

Mark Twain: “I’m an old man and I have had many problems in my life, most of which never happened!” We spend too much time needlessly worrying.

Perhaps you have noticed that so many Christians seem to be so “restless” when they ought to be so “rested” – at peace.

Jesus’ disciples, worried about their Lord’s impending date with destiny, observed the positive effect His frequent exercise of prayer had on Him. They saw how His “restlessness” turned into “restedness” after He prayed passionately.

They must have thought: “Why not us”? Why shouldn’t prayer have the same effect on us? Thus, they said to Jesus: “Lord, teach us to pray”.

In response to their request, Jesus first of all recommended a minimum dose for effective praying – a model for how to pray and what to pray for – Luke 11:1-4 . . .

The very first word tells us that in prayer we are not coming to someone out of whom gifts have to be unwillingly extracted, but to a “Father” who delights in supplying the needs of His children.

Jesus ascribed to God the name “Father” just as Isaiah had prophesied - 9:6 . . . 63:16 . . . God the Father of the Son became the Father of all who believe in the Son and commit their lives to Him. His name shall be “Everlasting Father”.

A name in Hebrew meant the whole character of the person so named, as the psalmist (9:10) said: “They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee.”

We who know the character, the mind and the heart of The LORD God will gladly and unreservedly put our trust in Him because He is “Father”. Thus: Before asking anything for ourselves, we are to give Him the glory . . . show the respect and reverence due Him!

The rest of our praying covers all of life - present needs . . . past sins . . . future situations (trials) that test our insight . . . integrity . . . “level of maturity” – meaning how well we (as Christians) “know” the LORD . . . to what extent we “believe God and believe in (have entered into a trust relationship with) the Son of God” - stated eloquently in I John 5:1-12.

God answers prayers of those who know the LORD . . . rely on His authority . . . respect His superiority . . . reverence His holiness . . . whose requests are based on needs not deeds – “Humbly I bow before Thee – not, haughtily I seek to wow Thee”. . . . “and another thing, lest you get the idea that it is your prayers that move God rather than God who moves you to pray, I want to tell you a story to illustrate what God, in responding to your needs, is NOT like; then I want to make a couple of points to illustrate just how God DOES respond to your needs” - Luke 11:5-13 . . .

Folks: We have a standing invitation to pray to God - anytime, anyplace, under any circumstance . . . without hesitation or reservation . . . with a great deal of determination . . . to stay in touch, to stay the course with no limitations whatsoever – in contrast to the unwilling friend who resented being bothered, inconvenienced, let alone to meet the need of a stranger - of all people!

The word translated “persistence” actually referred to an act of “shameless insistence” on the part of the one whose guest arrived at an ungodly hour . . .

Perhaps his desperate insistence had more to do with his concern about shame he might feel if he broke with Jewish custom pertaining to hospitality by not providing for the traveler right then and there rather than wait ‘til morning.

Or, maybe he was thinking of how proud he would be of himself when word got around that he had gone to such great lengths to provide for a weary traveler in the middle of the night. (After all, there were no Waffle Houses back then!)

Jesus left it open to speculation as to the motive of the man who angered an entire family by banging incessantly on a door that was shut - meaning “do not disturb” until we get up in the morning and open the door, as is our custom. When the door is open, as it customarily was all day, welcome. But when the door was shut, it was okay to knock once, maybe twice, but if there was no answer, wait ‘til day break.