Powerful Short Prayers Pt 4
Praying when you don’t deserve an answer
Introduction
A. We are continuing our sermon series on “Powerful Short Prayers.” We have been looking at some of the short prayers that are recorded in the Bible and one thing that we are seeing is a clear pattern that SHORT PRAYERS REALLY COUNT! According to God’s Word, short prayers are important. Short prayers move the heart of God.
B. Prayer is a portal. It is a doorway which allows us to interact or cross over into the spiritual world. It allows us to experience the spiritual dimension. For some people they like to pray in a certain place or at a certain time. They feel comfortable praying there. It becomes sort of a ‘thin place’ where they feel they can cross over into the spiritual dimension. For some that might be in their living room while they sit on a certain chair. For some that might be on their back porch or at their dining room table. For others it might be their car, or while they are walking out in the woods, or alongside of a river or on the beach at the lake or the ocean. What we need to understand is that ANY PLACE can be a ‘thin place.’ Any place is a good place to talk to God. We don’t only have to restrict our prayers to a certain time of day or a certain place. We can use that portal of prayer and cross over into God’s presence 24/7. That is what short prayers are all about.
C. We looked at the short prayer prayed by Abraham’s servant, Eliezer and saw how quickly God answered that prayer.
D. We looked at the short prayer prayed by Nehemiah and how God answered his prayer.
E. Last week we looked at the short prayer of the mother who would not take no for answer and how Jesus did eventually answer her prayer.
F. Today we are going to look at a short prayer prayed by a king who knowingly did something wrong and as a result got himself in big trouble. Has anyone here ever done that? Well this is a great story to read then. We shall see that this king had the sense of mind to still cry out and ask God to help him anyway.
G. Let’s take a look and see what happens to this king. We will be reading in 2 Chronicles 18 and 19.
Tell the story of what happened.
A. At this time Israel was divided into two kingdoms. They had a civil war after King Solomon died and the 12 tribes were divided into two kingdoms. One consisted of the large tribe of Judah and Benjamin and the other kingdom was called Israel and it consisted of the other ten tribes.
B. The sad state of affairs that existed at this time was that the ten tribes had fallen away from worshipping Jehovah God and were worshipping idols and the man who was the king at this time was Ahab. The Bible says that Ahab and his wife Jezebel were the worst rulers in all of Israel’s history.
C. The two tribes in the south, Judah and Benjamin had stayed true to Jehovah but were continually warned by God’s prophets to stay away from the Kingdom of the north, Israel.
D. Here we read that Jehoshaphat had married Ahab’s daughter and was trying to reunite the two kingdoms. This is where we pick up this story.
The king at least wanted to hear what God had to say 18:1-6
A. It is to his credit that he sought out a man who he knew he could trust to tell him what God really says. It is so easy to get counsel from our friends who we know will see things our way and agree with us.
B. You know, people are always looking for “flattering prophets.” Those who will say just what they want to hear. There are some Christians who go around from person to person, even to every preacher in town, they buy books and tapes, looking for someone who will say what they want to hear. Listen, if you search long enough you’ll ALWAYS find someone who is willing to agree with you, even if you say the moon is made of cheese! Sure, you may have to go to an institution to find them; but you can ALWAYS find someone who’ll say what you want to hear.
C. The world laughs at the caricature of “fire and brimstone” preachers. They mock and scorn such men. But do you know why? Because they don’t want to hear a message of judgment, a message that makes them uncomfortable and demands a decision. So they laugh, and run off to their flattering prophets who say “Be at peace, all is well!”
D. I thank God that in my own life I have always had, and still have, people who can “call my cards.” People who know me well enough, and love me enough, to tell me the truth. They will give me counsel I need to hear rather than just what I’d like to hear.
E. At least this king had enough common sense to request that a prophet of the LORD be brought in so he could hear what God had to say about this upcoming battle.
The king gave into peer pressure 18:7-27
A. When he finally heard what God wanted him to do he didn't want to do it.
B. Does anyone not understand what Micah is telling the king here? Does anyone think that Micah is telling King Jehoshaphat that he should go to war with King Ahab? NO.
C. There is no misunderstanding here. It was clear that God said, “DO NOT GO.” The king knew what God wanted him to do but it was not just not “politically correct” and he felt the peer pressure. Do you know how bad he would have looked? Coming all the way up to Samaria to join with this king and hearing all these other prophets saying that this was going to be a great victory and then he would have to tell them that he was going back home. It was just too much and he could not do it. He gave in to peer pressure.
D. Reasons we all give in to peer pressure:
1. We don’t want to look bad.
2. We are afraid of being different.
E. How many times have we done this? We say we want to serve the Lord and then when the Lord speaks something to us that we don’t want to hear, we don’t do it. Since this is true of all of us, we ought to be careful who our peers are. If we are running with the wrong crowd it is going to be extremely difficult to say no when you are supposed to and more than likely you are going to be doing things you should not be doing.
F. Let this be a warning to us, if someone asks us about something that they are doing, and they want to know if we think they should do it and if we think God will bless them if they do it, no matter how many people are saying yes it is of God, if you know in your heart that it is not of God you had better say so.
The king’s short prayer vs 31
A. He cried out to God when he got into trouble. How many of us would have asked for God’s help after we knowingly disobeyed Him?
B. We don’t know what this short prayer consisted of, but we can sure take a guess! “Help, Lord, help Lord!”
C. Don't you know the devil told him to shut up and take what was coming to him? “You disobeyed God, what right do you have to call upon Him now for help. He isn't going to even listen to your cries.”
How could he have the confidence to cry out to God? 18:31
A. It would have been so easy for him to give up. To convince himself that he deserved this punishment. But he knew that God was a God of mercy and compassion.
B. The Apostle Paul speaks about this in 2 Timothy 1:12, “I know whom I have believed in and am persuaded that He is able to keep me until that day.”
C. Psalm 51:17, “A broken and contrite heart He will not despise or turn away.”
D. In Isaiah 57:15 God said, “I dwell in the high and holy place and also with him of a contrite and humble spirit and will revive them.” The miracle of life is that someone so great would want to know someone so lowly. He that dwells in the highest heavens dwells in the lowest hearts. He inhabits the sincerity of his people as sure as He inhabits eternity.
E. In Psalm 139:8 we read, even when we make our bed in Hell, there God is with us!
F. This is the great danger of sin. It causes us to pull away from God. When we sin we want to hide from God like Adam did in the garden. This is why it is so important to “repent quickly.” The longer we delay the further we pull away from God.
God helped the king 18:31
A. God helped King Jehoshaphat even though he was disobedient.
B. This is still true today. God helps us when we don’t deserve it. This is a great picture of grace. This is about the wonderful grace of our loving and compassionate Father. What we must understand is that God realizes we are going to fail and He is willing to work with us in our shortcomings. We are often too hard on ourselves and actually hold ourselves back. When we mess up we realize that we have failed God, and then we get depressed and stop trying.
C. What is grace? It is “UNEARNED favor” It is getting something good when you don’t deserve it. Another way to say this is, grace is favoritism! It is sort of like being the teacher’s pet. If you are on the outside and looking in, you don’t think it is fair, but when you are on the receiving end, it is nice. Grace is for those who are special, God’s favorites. And who might that be? God’s favorites are His followers. That’s what grace is, God showing favoritism for His people.
D. When I was a coach for my children I always had to deal with favoritism. I would just tell the parents straight up, I was going to show favoritism and that was the way it was. I was going to make sure that my children had a great time. I was not going to try to prove to everyone that I was not showing favoritism and make my children suffer for it. I also let them know that I was going to make sure that their children had a great time and told them to let me know if there was anything I could do to help them out.
E. The Bible is full of stories of God showing favoritism to His people, with Abraham, Moses, Jacob, King David and all throughout the OT. Many of Jesus’ parables are laced with the grace theme.
F. Grace is the fulfillment of Ephesians 3:20, which says, “Thanks be to God who is able to do exceeding abundantly ABOVE all that we ask OR THINK.” Grace means God is bigger than our best prayers. Grace means that God is not held back by our shortcomings.
G. Never give up on God. No matter how bad things have gotten, no matter how bad you have been or what you have done, you are never too far from crying out to God.
God did rebuke him for his disobedience. 19:1-3
A. We are not making light of sin and disobedience, there are consequences to our bad choices. We are trying to clarify the true character of God. He is a Father who greatly loves His children.
B. The king was chastised for his behavior. God is faithful to correct us when we do wrong, but He is not spiteful.
C. When we disobey God we do need to be corrected but we don't have to be killed or horribly punished for it.
D. God saw the king’s heart and saw that the king really did want to serve Him. This is what God looks at even today, your heart.
Psalm 18:6 David said, “In my distress I cried out to the Lord and He heard me and answered me.”
A. We don’t what caused this particular distress in King David’s life, but we know that many times David brought trouble upon himself by his own sins and disobedience.
B. Yet he knew enough to continue to call out to God. David knew the grace of God.
C. There may be some of you here today, by your own negligence and maybe even disobedience you have gotten yourself in trouble. Cry out to God, He will answer you.
Summary
A. Short prayers powerful. Always do your best to obey God and follow His ways, but there are going to be those moments when you flat out mess up. Remember this, even when you make you bed in Hell, God is still with you. Call out to Him, don’t ever pull away. He is always there and always ready to help. He is just a short prayer away!
B. There is nothing more refreshing then to meditate grace of God. Nothing motivates more to action than understanding God’s grace.
