July 6, 2008
Morning Worship
Text: Luke 11:1-13
Subject: Prayer
Title: Praying for Results
I suppose that there isn’t a Christian anywhere that doesn’t pray. I know for a fact that even non-Christians pray (I did before I accepted Jesus). But I wonder how many people know how to pray in order to see results? Jesus repeatedly told His disciples that they could pray in His name and expect results. So when we pray are we expecting something to happen or are we just performing some religious exercise that we were taught as children?
There are so many passages in the scriptures that talk about prayer. Jesus talked about it. Paul wrote about it. The Psalmist spoke of it. So why is it difficult for people to pray until they see an answer? I think our culture has a lot to say about our attitudes in prayer. 1) We live in a fast food society – When we pray we tend to say if I don’t get it now I guess it’s not coming. 2) We tend to only ask God for the big things and we take care of the little things – He wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives big and small. 3) We just don’t pray at all.
I like what John Bunyon said about prayer, “You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”
So let’s look at the scriptures to see how to pray prayers that we can expect to be answered.
Lord, open my eyes to see and my ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
I. PURSUIT OF PRAYER. (1-4) The first thing I want you to notice is that the disciples saw that Jesus was faithful in prayer. Their request to Him was not to teach them how to pray. They said in verse 1, “Teach us to pray…” WE know Jesus prayed because He was in constant communion with the Father, but He also knew that everything that He was going to do on earth would be a result of His prayer life. Why do you think that He went out often and prayed all night? Jesus’ response to them was not the response that they expected. I suppose they thought that since they had asked Him to remember to pray that He would simply remind them, "It’s time to pray".. What Jesus does is to give them an outline for prayer, that if they follow, they would never not want to pray. Now many people believe that the Lord is teaching them exact words to repeat as a prayer. But that’s not what He is doing. He is giving a pattern. And the pattern goes like this. 1) “‘Father, hallowed be your name…” The first step in effective prayer is to tell God that you recognize who He is. It begins with worship. God, your name is holy. You are awesome. You are the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end… You see we cannot even begin to pray effectively until we understand who God really is. Hallowed means set apart – there is none like Him. 2 Chronicles 20:6, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. He has dominion and authority over all things. 2) your kingdom come… The one thing that this hope that we have in Jesus Christ hinges upon is His return. If there is no second coming then there is no eternal life. If there isn’t any hope for the rapture of the church, a wedding feast in heaven, a thousand year reign then there is no hope for a resurrection and Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Jesus says we should pray, “YOUR KINGDOM COME…!” Because we trust His word and expect that what He has said will happen. In Matthew 6 Jesus includes with this “Your will be done…” God’s perfect will shall be accomplished with the second coming of Christ. 3) 3 Give us each day our daily bread. Jesus says that now we can begin to ask for the needs that we have in life. This is the time for petitioning God for your requests. Paul says that we can do that. Philippians 4, 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. The writer of Hebrews says 4:16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. God wants us to ask Him because He is able to meet our needs. 4) We need to take care of our standing with God and with others. Verse 4, Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. Unconfessed sin and unforgiveness of others will hinder us from receiving the answer from God that we are looking for. 5) Help us to recognize the enemy’s tricks. And lead us not into temptation… God does not lead anyone into temptation. James 1 says, 13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Lord help us to know when we are being duped by satan. Don’t let us fall into his traps. Keep my spiritual eyes turned upon you. Lord, teach us to pray…
II. PURPOSEFUL IN PRAYER. (5-8) 5Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7“Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs. You need to get a picture of what is taking place in this story in order to get the full effect. In NT times animals were kept inside the house on the main level. The living quarters were on a separate level. The problem is that in knocking on a door at night the whole household would be awakened. The man who was doing the knocking was quick to recognize the futility of his situation. By no means could he provide his own needs. He needed help. He had a purpose for his request. That is an important step in receiving anything from God. We must know that it is only by His grace that we can receive anything from Him. Now, having said that, I want you to see something else. In our weakness we can be bold in asking God to supply our needs. Hebrews 10: 19-23, Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Look at the words in that passage that refer to the boldness that is ours in Christ; confidence, draw near, sincere heart in full assurance of faith, unswervingly… Knowing who you are in Christ gives you boldness to ask whatever you need in His naMark 11:24, Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Be purposeful and know that God will answer.
III. PERSISTENCE IN PRAYER. (9-10) 9“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. The key to these verses is the tense of the verb. In the original Greek it is in the continuous tense so what it really means is to keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking. Do you see that prayer is never a passive activity? Even though God knows your every need before you ever speak it He does not act until you release His power to work in the world through prayer. As a matter of fact, because He does not act contrary to His own will, God cannot act until the people He with whom He has established a covenant set His will into motion through prayer. George Muller was a great man of God who ran orphanages across Europe. He trusted God to meet every need that he had personally and that the orphanages would have. He often would be at the point where there was no food for the orphans for the next meal and God always miraculously supplied every need. When asked how much time he spent in prayer, George Muller’s reply was, "Hours every day. But I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk and when I lie down and when I arise. And the answers are always coming." God’s power is released into the world when people of God pray and are persistent in prayer.
IV. THE PROMISE OF PRAYER. (11-13) Jesus compares earthly fathers to the heavenly Father. He confesses that earthly fathers, even though they are less than perfect, in fact are evil because of sin, will still give their children the things they ask for and not give them something that is counterfeit. 11“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? Jesus said that whatever we ask the Father in Jesus’ name we will receive it. Now we see the power involved in that promise. It is the Holy Spirit. 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Whatever we ask for in Jesus’ name, Whatever we seek, whatever door we knock upon will be given us through the power of the Holy Spirit working in God’s people. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us… It is God giving the anointing of the Spirit to work in us. This also means that when we ask God to be baptized in the Holy Spirit that we can rest assured that what we receive will be the Holy Spirit and not a counterfeit. So many people are prayed for to receive the baptism in the Spirit and as soon as they speak words in an unknown tongue they clam up because they think that wasn’t from God. But this scripture says that if we are asking for the Spirit we are going to get the Spirit. Don’t be concerned with how it sounds. Don’t worry about how it feels. Just know that if God said He would give you the Holy Spirit that it is the Holy Spirit. Whatever you are wanting God to do in your life, keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. And He will do it by His Spirit.
Dr. Helen Roseveare, missionary to Zaire, told the following story. "A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister. One of the girls responded, ’Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, send a doll for the sister so she won’t feel so lonely.’
That afternoon a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it. Much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle! Immediately the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper, exclaiming, ’If God sent that, I’m sure He also sent a doll!’ And she was right! The heavenly Father knew in advance of that child’s sincere requests, and 5 months earlier He had led a ladies’ group to include both of those specific articles."
Our Daily Bread.
What are you asking God for today? What need do you have in our life? The anointing of the Holy Spirit is here to tough your life through prayer today. God knows your need but He is waiting for you to ask.
That’s the kind of God we serve.
He loves those who are in pursuit of prayer.
He honors those who are persistent in prayer.
He rewards those who are patient in prayer.
And He empowers those who receive the promise of prayer.
Praise the name of Jesus!
