In the movie, Bruce Almighty, Bruce (Jim Carey) is a reporter who made a fool of himself on national television, lost his job, was attacked on the street, and had an emotional blow-up with his girlfriend, Grace (Jennifer Aniston). With his world falling apart, Bruce takes a midnight ride to clear his head and begins a pleading conversation with God. (Start Video Clip: Bruce Almighty Send Me a Sign)
“Okay, God, you want me to talk to you? Then talk back. Tell me what's going on. What should I do? Give me a signal.”
As he utters these words, a glowing road construction sign, directly in front of him, flashes: “Caution Ahead.”
But Bruce doesn't notice. “I need your guidance, Lord,” he begs, “please send me a sign.”
Immediately a large road-crew truck pulls in front of him. The back of the truck is filled with street signs in plain view: “Stop.” “Dead End.” “Wrong Way.” “Do Not Enter.”
Again Bruce is oblivious. In fact, he becomes irritated to be stuck behind the slow, rumbling truck. In frustration he recklessly swerves to pass the truck and grumbles, “Lord, I need a miracle. I'm desperate. I need your help, Lord.”
Losing control of his car, he spins off the road and rams into a lamp post. Jumping out of his hissing, mangled, steaming vehicle, Bruce flings his arms into the air in utter disgust. He rages at God.
“Fine, the gloves are off. Come on, let me see a little wrath. Smite me, Almighty Smiter. You're the one who should be fired. The only one around here not doing his job is you. Answer me.” (Bruce Almighty, Universal, 2003, directed by Tom Shadyac, written by Steve Kornen and Mark O'Keef, 00:21:03 to 00:23:25; DVD track 5)
God is answering Bruce, but Bruce fails to pay attention, and then he wonders why his world is falling apart. How like so many people in our churches. They want answers from God, but fail to pay attention to the answers He is already giving them. The fact is: God is communicating with us all the time. The question is: Are we listening?
Do you want God to answer your prayers? Then first of all, you must…
LISTEN TO GOD.
You must pay attention to what He is already telling you. You must heed His Word. You must open your ears before you open your mouth.
That’s what Abraham did. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Genesis 18, Genesis 18, where we see how Abraham was able to get tremendous answers to his prayers.
Genesis 18:16 Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. (ESV)
Abraham was walking with the Lord and two angels.
Genesis 18:17-19a The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him…
Literally, in the Hebrew, “I have known him”; i.e., I have a close, personal, intimate relationship with him
Genesis 18:19-21 For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” (ESV)
God already knows, doesn’t He? So then why does He want to investigate it personally? Why does God go to all the trouble to come down and see for Himself what is happening in Sodom and Gomorrah? That’s so no one can accuse God of judging them unfairly. That’s so no one can accuse God of judging people on the basis of hearsay evidence.
But why tell Abraham? God doesn’t have to answer to Abraham or to anyone else for that matter. So why does God tell Abraham His plans. It’s because He knows Abraham! They have a close, personal relationship. They’re friends, and that’s what friends do! They share secrets with each other. They tell each other things they wouldn’t tell anybody else.
God shares his thoughts with Abraham, and Abraham takes the time to listen! As they get up from their meal (described in the first part of the chapter), Abraham is not shooing God out the door. No! Abraham walks with God and takes the time to listen to what God has to say.
And that’s what we must do if we want to get answers from God. Like Abraham, we must listen to Him before we speak to Him. After all, we who know Christ, have the same kind of relationship with God that Abraham had.
In John 15:15, Jesus said to His followers, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” Like Abraham, we are friends of God, and God wants to share His secrets with us if we’ll just take the time to listen.
John Hyde was at one time an American missionary to India, but what set him apart from many other missionaries was his prayer life. When he prayed, things happened. Scores of people trusted Christ and believers got right with God. In fact, he was so effective in prayer that he earned the nickname, “Praying Hyde.”
Dr. Wilbur Chapman, another missionary statesman, wrote of the experience he had when John Hyde prayed for him: “At one of our missions in England the audience was exceedingly small; but I received a note saying that an American missionary was going to pray for God’s blessing down on our work. He was known as Praying Hyde.
“Almost instantly the tide turned. The hall became packed, and at my first invitation 50 men accepted Christ as their Savior. As we were leaving, I said, ‘Mr. Hyde, I want you to pray for me.’
“He came to my room, turned the key in the door, dropped to his knees, and waited five minutes without a single syllable coming from his lips. I could hear my own heart thumping, and his beating. I felt hot tears running down my face. I knew I was with God.
“Then with upturned face, while the tears were still streaming down, he said, ‘O God.’ Then for another five minutes, at least, he was still again; and then, when he knew that he was talking with God there came from the depths of his heart such petitions for me as I had never known before. I rose from my knees to know what real prayer was.”
Praying Hyde spent at least five minutes in silence before the Lord before he uttered a single word. Then he spent another five minutes in silence before he began to pray. And therein lay the key to his effectiveness. He was listening to God before talking to Him. He was waiting to get God’s mind on the matter. Then he could talk to God about the things that were on God’s heart and mind.
1 John 5 says, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (vs.14-15).
Did you hear that?! You can have whatever you ask of God if you ask according to His will! But how do you know God’s will unless you take the time to listen to Him?
Here’s a suggestion for the next time you pray. Spend a few moments in silence before God so you can listen to Him. Let the Holy Spirit bring verses of Scripture to mind, or sit before an open Bible and read until you know you have heard from God, i.e., until the Holy Spirit says to your heart, “That verse is for you today.” Then talk to the Lord about what He puts on your heart.
Listen to God before you talk to God. Then you can talk to God about the things He wants to talk about, things according to His will. Open your ears before you open your mouth. That way, when you open your mouth in prayer, you won’t put your foot in it; you won’t ask for something that God cannot and will not do. If you want answers to prayer, listen to God first. Then 2nd…
ASK GOD FOR THINGS IN LINE WITH HIS CHARACTER.
Ask the Lord to act in ways that conform to His own nature. Make requests of the Lord that are consistent with who He is as a person. That’s what Abraham did. Look at what Abraham says to God when he finally talks to God.
Genesis 18:22-26 So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the LORD said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” (ESV)
Do you see what Abraham is doing here? Abraham is appealing to God’s justice in his prayer. It is not just to slay the righteous with the wicked. It is not just to treat them all the same, so Abraham simply asks God to act in accordance with his just and righteous character, and that’s what we must do if we want God to answer our prayers like He did for Abraham. We must appeal to God’s character and nature.
John Newton, the man who wrote Amazing Grace, often received unbelievable answers to his prayers, because he believed in what he called “large asking.”
He explained what that meant by telling a legendary story of a man who asked Alexander the Great to give him a huge sum of money in exchange for his daughter's hand in marriage. Alexander agreed, and told the man to request of Alexander's treasurer whatever he wanted.
So, the father of the bride went and asked for an enormous amount. The treasurer was startled and said he could not give out that kind of money without a direct order. Going to Alexander, the treasurer argued that even a small fraction of the money requested would more than serve the purpose.
“No,” replied Alexander, “let him have it all. I like that fellow. He does me honor. He treats me like a king and proves by what he asks that he believes me to be both rich and generous.”
Newton concluded: “In the same way, we should go to the throne of God's grace and present petitions that express honorable views of the love, riches, and bounty of our King.” (www. PreachingToday.com)
Try it! When you pray, ask God to answer your requests in accordance with His righteous, gracious and generous character. Instead of limiting your prayers, you may find that it actually expands your prayers in ways that God will delight in answering.
If you want God to answer your prayers, then 1st of all you have to listen to Him. 2nd, ask for things in line with His character. And 3rd…
ASK WITH A HUMBLE CONFIDENCE IN GOD.
Pray with a respectful boldness. Come to the Lord with a contrite courage. That’s what Abraham does.
Genesis 18:27 Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. (ESV)
Abraham recognizes that he is nothing before God, that God owes him nothing; and yet, Abraham dares to haggle with God for the preservation of two whole cities!
Genesis 18:28-33 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. (ESV)
Wow! That took guts! Abraham is both persistent and specific in is request, and that’s what we need to do when we talk to the Lord. Like Abraham, come boldly to the throne of grace.
That is, be persistent in your requests. Persevere in prayer. No less than six times, Abraham asks God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah. No less than six times, Abraham asks God for basically the same thing. And God promised to do what Abraham asked Him to do!
In 1982, the Today Show in New York City scheduled an interview with Reverend Billy Graham. When he arrived at the studio, one of the program's producers informed Graham's assistant that a private room had been set aside for the reverend for prayer before the broadcast. The assistant thanked the producer for the thoughtful gesture, but told him that Mr. Graham would not need the room. The producer was a bit shocked that a world-famous Christian leader would not wish to pray before being interviewed on live national television.
Graham's assistant responded, “Mr. Graham started praying when he got up this morning, he prayed while eating breakfast, he prayed on the way over in the car, and he'll probably be praying all the way through the interview.” (Harold Myra and Marshall Shelley, The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham, Zondervan, 2005; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s one of the main reasons why God used Billy Graham in such significant ways over the many decades of his ministry. He prayed persistently, and the God who loves to hear our prayers answered extravagantly.
So be persistent in your own prayers. Don’t be afraid to bring up the same requests you brought yesterday and last week and last month and last year especially if they are in accordance with God’s character and will. Keep on asking, because God never gets tired of listening to you. In fact, He delights in your persistence and will deliver on your requests in ways “far more abundantly than all we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).
If you want God to answer your prayers, come to Him with a respectful boldness. That means be persistent in your requests, like Abraham was, and be specific, as well.
Abraham was very specific in his request. At first, he asked God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of 50 righteous people, then for the sake of 45 righteous, then 40, then 30, then 20, and stopped at 10.
Why do you suppose Abraham stopped at 10? Perhaps, that was the number in his nephew, Lot’s, family. Lot and his family had moved to Sodom several years before this, so there was Lot, his wife, 2 sons, 2 single daughters, 2 married daughters, and their husbands – for a total of 10 people! Abraham assumed that Lot was able to influence at least his own family to trust in the Lord. So Abraham asks God to spare two whole cities just for the sake of Lot’s family.
It was a very specific request, and that’s what we need to do in our prayers. None of this, “Lord bless the missionaries” kind of stuff. What does that mean? What missionaries? Where? And how should God bless them? Be specific when you address the Lord. Otherwise, how would you even know He answered your prayer?
Pastor and author, Tony Evans, was in Columbia, South Carolina, to preach in the University of South Carolina football stadium. 1,000’s had gathered for the session, but news reports indicated a serious thunderstorm was on the way.
The sky grew darker and darker; and with the threat of cancellation a valid possibility, a group of pastors decided to pray. All of them prayed “safe prayers”—ones quite undemanding of God.
Then, a woman named Linda spoke up: “Lord,” she said, “thousands have gathered to hear the Good News about your Son. It would be a shame on your name for us to have all these unbelievers go without the gospel when you control the weather, and you don't stop it. In the name of Jesus Christ, address this storm!”
That was the end of the prayer meeting. Everyone took their places under the dark, threatening sky. Umbrellas sprouted up among the crowd, and a man sitting next to Linda offered to share his umbrella with her. Linda refused. The rain clouds came up to the stadium and then split in two, dropping rain on both sides of the stadium; but inside the stadium, everyone stayed dry.
Evans asked, “How did Linda get what the preachers didn't?” It’s because she had the boldness, the shameless audacity, to ask. (The Brooklyn Tabernacle Pastors and Leaders Conference, 4-16-07; www.PreachingToday.com)
If you want answers to your prayers, then do the same. Have the shameless audacity to ask God for things persistently and specifically.
Listen to God first. Then 2nd, ask for things in line with His character, and 3rd, ask with a humble confidence in Him.
Missionaries sometimes have to make do without needed equipment or with inadequate equipment. That was the case with a missionary who was assigned a car that would not start without a push.
After pondering the problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years.
Then ill health forced him to leave with a new missionary taking his place. When the older missionary began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man began looking under the hood. And before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, “Why, I believe the trouble is this loose cable.” He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, turned the ignition, and to the older missionary’s astonishment, the engine roared to life!
For two years, needless trouble had become routine. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept the missionary from putting the power to work (Leadership, Fall 1985, p.77).
Please, don’t let needless trouble become a routine in your life. Connect with God in prayer today, and find the power to be all that He has called you to be.
