THE GOD THAT ANSWERS PRAYERS
Jer. 33: 1-3: “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. “
“When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.
The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Ps 126:1-6
God has committed Himself to answering prayers. He is a Rewarder, meaning, He does not owe any one anything. Heb, 11: 6. He has not asked His people to seek Him in vain. Is. 45:19. He said,” Call unto me and I will answer “ ! Further He says, “Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you. Matt. 7:7. The Book of Proverbs Says, “The expectation of the righteous shall not be cut off” Pr. 23:18; 24:14
According to some of these scriptures above and others like them, we will examine what we should look out for when we pray according to the will of our Father:
1. Jer, 33:1-end
i. Great and mighty things.
Our God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above whatever we may ask or think. Nothing in our imagination is equal to God. God is and can do beyond our widest and wildest imagination. He puts all the elements of the seas together. If our needs demand that the waters of the seas should dry up and we ask Him, it is nothing to Him to dry up the seas for us! He had once parted the Red Sea for His people. In answer to one man’s prayer, our Father had stopped the Sun or rather the earth from rotating on its orbit .
Have you not read in your Bible that some men on earth have eaten bread baked in heaven? Do you remember that a Prophet was fed with food couriered by a bird? Study the scriptures, money was provided to pay taxes from the mouth of a fish! Our God is great! We have limited Him for so long. Much of what we see today is a reflection of the prayer and the desire of Lazarus the poor beggar, “Please let me feed from the crumbs that fall from your table”. Our Daddy says,” Call unto me and I will answer you…” If He has promised it, He will do it. Our failure to have stems from our failure to ask. All other things being equal.
Beloved, have you really, truly called on Him? Have you recognized Him to be the Source of all you can ever need? Do you know that He measured the waters in the Palms of His hands? Have you not read that the nations are like a drop in a bucket before Him? Imagine all the nations of Africa, Asia, North, South and Central America, the middle East, Europe- all of them--just a drop in a bucket? This is your God. This is our God! We must limit our limitations and exalt His Omnipotence. Somebody said,” Stop magnifying your mountains before your God but start magnifying your God before your maintains and the result will surprise you’ David confronted Goliath on the authority and the knowledge of the God who is able to do great and mighty things and Goliath’s height was reduced to zero!
Beloved if you can pray, if you will pray, your sorrows will change to joy, your mountains will be leveled, there will be a turn-around in your life before the end of this year such that those who have abandoned you will queue up to associate with you.
“O Thou that hearest prayers, unto Thee shall all flesh come’! Amen.
ii. Deliverance from troubles:
Troubles are universal citizens and they come in different shapes and shades. They appear when we least expect them. Great men have faced great troubles - Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and David. The rank of the Prophets had their portions. Elijah was harassed by Jezebel that he despaired of life. The Apostles had their share of the troubles of life. Of course the Lord Himself not only got through bouts of unrelenting trials and troubles, He told us that we would have them plenty on this side of eternity. He warned,
" In the world you will have tribulations." John 16: 33. In fact the Apostles understood that
“we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.." Acts. 14: 22
However, the mercy of God is expressed also in that He promised that if we call on Him in the time of our troubles He will deliver us. Ps. 50: 15. Has He fulfilled this promise any time in the history of mankind? Certainly so. The Bible is full of accounts of men and women that God has delivered from troubles of life:
Joseph was delivered from prison and promoted to the palace.
Jacob was delivered from his ugly past and servitude and given a new name and a new beginning. David was rescued from Goliath and Saul and given the throne. Elijah was given victory over the prophets of Baal and Jezebel. Daniel was delivered from the lions. Jabez prayed and his destiny was changed. God took care of his sorrows. The woman with the issue of blood was healed. Blind Barthemeus had his eyes opened.
Brethren, God has committed Himself to answering prayers. We have not because we ask not. Jam. 4: 2. Prayer is more potent than the arsenals of war. It is more powerful than the atomic or nuclear bomb. Prayer accesses and penetrates the elements of the spiritual and carries an unrestricted force that can affect anything and anyone except God. Remember, a man is as powerful as his prayers. This is true when we realize that prayer is working in concert with God over any impossibility of man. Jesus commanded that "men ought always to pray and not to faint” Lk. 18:1
Life is defined as either a race or a battle, never a joke or a casual game. Both require strength. The man or woman that will not faint therefore must better be praying, He who fails to pray becomes a prey--this is the equation of life. The time of trouble is when human strength, wisdom or resources become ineffective and inadequate and therefore unproductive. It is called, in various terms: the swelling of Jordan, the evil day, the time of Jacobs’ trouble, the day of reckoning, the hour and the power of darkness, etc. Everyman has a portion. Who wins is determined by who has God on his side or rather who runs to God’s side through the process of prayer.
Brethren, if we would pray, and rightly so, we would be delivered, for God has given this as a promise.
Are you in a day of trouble? Is life squeezing you out? Are you going through the valley of depression? There is a God who will deliver you and you will glorify Him.
"Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee, and thou shall glorify me".
