Series: 1 John
Week: 24
Passage: 1 John 5:13-17
Title: Three of God’s Responses to Prayer
Focus: Prayer
INTRODUCTION: A tale is told about a small town that had historically been "dry". One day a local businessman decided to build a tavern in the middle of town. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated "no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not." (J.K. Johnston, Why Christians Sin, Discovery House, 1992, p. 129.)
It has been said that God answers prayer in three ways.
1. He says “yes” and you get exactly what you prayed for.
2. He says “no” and you’re left wondering why God would abandon you in your time of need.
3. He says “wait” leaving you wonder about the date in the future He will say “yes”.
With that said, we often misunderstand how communication with God actually works. The person in prayer often deems God’s answer based on his or her own predetermined thought instead of getting to understand the reason in which God answered the request.
Therefore, it is more proper to evaluate the answer instead of the solution when it comes to prayer. When we talk to God we must remember that He responds (1) according to His will, (2) in His own time, (3) in relationship to our faith, because ultimately, through everything, He is good.
SCRIPTURE: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. 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. If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death.” 1 John 5:13-16
TITLE: Three of God’s Responses to Prayer (1 John 5:13-16)
POINT #1: God Responds to Prayers According to His Will (1 John 5:13)
• Explanation: John says “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13) The key to the verse is to understand the statement “that you may know”. John has already written about the testimony from God, assuring us that despite anything the antichrists have said we indeed possess eternal life. Therefore, the assurance of our salvation points us to understand that what happens to us rests on God’s promises (according to His perfect will). If we ask of God but don’t receive, we must still understand all things happen in His will.
o Example: Jesus personal example of prayer:
• Pleading - Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
• Participating - Jesus told us to pray “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10).
• Jesus pleads and then participates. We ask (plead) and then responded to God’s will. Can this cup be passed? No? Then let your will be done.
o NOTE: The more mature we grow in Christ, the more we will realize how our prayers and petitions line up with God’s will.
• Illustration: When my daughter asks her Daddy for something, I can see that it is in my power to provide properly for her request. My response may or may not make sense but regardless of her response she must have faith and believe that the greater good is being done in her life (Daddy knows best.). As she matures, she will begin to see these reasoning for the “yes” and the “no” answers and in turn stop asking for things she knows will not work for the ultimate goal. At a proper age she can either choose to continue to follow her father or go her own way. She has a choice to respond according to her Father’s will or go on her own path.
• Application: Either you are in a state where you are pleading with God or moving past the pleading, understanding the answer and now participating in His plan. Maturity in Christ happens when we reach the place where we are willing to accept God's will instead of our own. While our emotions try to convince us there is no possible way we can give in to God’s Will, we must submit to His plan instead of our own because God is trustworthy. We must have faith that God’s has our best interests at heart. He is doing what is most beneficial for us, no matter how it appears on the surface.
o "For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me." John 6:38
Point #2: God Responds to Prayers in His Own Time (1 John 5:14-15)
• Explanation: Let’s take God’s Will and expand on it a little more to show how His will is in direct relation to His time. John continues, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” If God answers “wait” to a prayer, we must remember that He may be working to bring about the answer to your request, but the timing is not right. This involves patience.
• Illustration: Phil Callaway had no idea what to say when his young children asked if Mommy was going to die. His wife, Ramona, suffered horrible seizures. Hundreds of friends and relatives prayed, but Ramona's weight eventually slipped to 90 pounds. Medical specialists tried everything, but the seizures were occurring daily, sometimes hourly. Phil rarely left Ramona's side. He wondered if she would even make it to her 30th birthday. One evening, when things looked utterly hopeless, Phil paced their dark back yard, then fell to his knees. "God!" he cried out. "I can't take it anymore. Please do something!" Suddenly a doctor's name came to mind. Phil called the doctor, who saw Ramona the next morning and diagnosed a rare chemical deficiency. Within a week, Ramona's seizures ended. Her eyes sparkled again. The miracle was so incredible Phil says, "God gave me back my wife."
• Application: Why did it take so long? Only God knows that. Phil was called to be patient and WAIT on the Lord. Why did she get healed and others die? Only God knows that. We must understand God’s timing as it is not our own. Let me illustrate.
o God answers prayers from His perspective: He sees things from a different (eternal) perspective - the whole picture. When we are hoping, praying and waiting for something, it’s easy to forget God’s will.
o God answers prayers according to His will: Because God’s plan comes in His time you may feel powerless. This is normal. In 1 John 5 John speaks to us to the fact that sin is forgivable. Sins are forgivable because we seek God’s forgiveness, and God grants it.
• Since we all sin and in God’s will He is faithful to restores us we can be assured that any sin we commit and seek God’s forgiveness for we can be redeemed from it because it is in His will.
• Romans 8:28 “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.”
• Psalm 62:8 “Trust in Him at all times.”
o God is able to deliver what you need in His perspective, according to His will.
• Story of Job if time.
Point #3: God Responds in Relation to our Faith (1 John 5:16)
• Explanation: John continues, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.” (1 John 5:16) John communicates that we as believers ought to pray for each other and interceding on each others behalf because we know that any sin, if continued in long enough, is a threat to a fellow brother or sisters spiritual and physical life. Therefore, in our prayers, there must be a remembrance that we must have complete dependence (faith) in God working in His will and operating in His time.
• Illustration: Paul and the Thorn
o “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
• Could God have delivered Paul from his “thorn in the flesh”? Could the saints have gathered to pray for their brother in need? Absolutely.
• “Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that thou may believe, but believe that thou may understand.” Augustine
• Application: God moves in relation to our faith. I’ll show you how…
o Prayer takes Faithful Endurance: When God’s servants endure weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties, God is able to glorify Himself in and through them because of the faith needed to rely on the Lord. This strengthens our relationship with God. God is responding in your endurance (in either prayers for self or others – out of darkness, into the light).
o Prayer uses Communication to breed Assurance: God shows us a relational status by using verbal communication and then answers according to His will and plan. The relationship increases the more we communicate (whether prayers for self and others are “answered” or not).
• Difficult situations can often occur because the difficulty reminds us of our place. God’s response is a push to help change human perspective. This takes faith in our relationship with Christ. As John says, prayers either point back to a life lived in Christ and a conforming to His will or death.
CONCLUTION: God is good. Romans tells us “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:28-29)
We will continue to believe that God is in charge and in control. We can trust that He is working and we can that in all prayers and petitions His “yes” will be “yes”, His “no” will be “no” and His “wait” will be for a purpose. God is in charge, he is always love (even though it may not feel like it), and he is still good. Why? Because…
1. God Responds to our Prayers According to His Will (1 John 5:13)
2. God Responds to our Prayers in His Own Time (1 John 5:14-15)
3. God Responds in to our prayers in Relation to our Faith (1 John 5:16)
