Pray Receptively
Acts 13:1-2
Good morning! Please open your Bibles to Acts 13. We are going to wrap up our series on prayer this morning. Just as a reminder of where we’ve been, here’s a quick review:
A review:
Week One: Pray Expectantly: Believe something will happen.
Week Two: Pray Persistently: Pray until something happens.
Week Three: Pray Persuasively: Believe prayer affects what happens.
And if we stopped here, then you might be left with the idea that the point of prayer is to communicate our requests to God. We’ve talked about how some of those are selfish requests that God is not going to answer. We’ve also talked about how those might be things that will bring glory and honor to God, and how we can have faith that God not only hears those prayers, but that He acts on them. Still, everything we’ve talked about so far has been about making our requests known to God.
So today, I want to look at prayer from God’s perspective. We need to understand that prayer isn’t just us talking to God. It’s God talking to us as well. And prayer is so much more than us letting God know what we desire. It is God letting us know what He desires. So more important than praying expectantly, or praying persistently or praying persuasively, there is Pray Receptively: God gets the deciding vote in what happens.
We are going to look at a lot of Scripture this morning, but I want us to start off with just two verses from the book of Acts. If you are new to Bible study, then let me give you a little orientation here. Acts tells the story of what happened in the decades immediately following the resurrection of Jesus. It was written by Luke, the same guy that wrote the gospel of Luke. Acts 13 records what happened as a result of a prayer meeting at the church in the city of Antioch. Let’s stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word:
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
Acts 13:1-2
Pray…
Here we see Paul and Barnabas being commissioned for Paul’s first missionary journey. The church at Antioch, which is in Modern day South Central Turkey, was the third largest city of the Roman empire. Acts 11:26 tells us that Paul and Barnabas spent a year there. This was the city where believers were first called Christians.
So now, in Acts 13, we are at the end of Paul and Barnabas’ time in Antioch. Let me ask you a question: can you tell from verses 1-2 what, specifically, the church was praying for? You can’t. The text says who was there: It lists the prophets and teachers who were gathered. Paul (still called Saul here) and Barnabas; a black man named Simeon, a man from Cyrene named Lucius, who may have been a non-Jewish convert. A guy named Manean who had some pretty powerful political connections. So it was a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, socio-economically diverse gathering.
The text also says what they were doing: They were worshiping and fasting. Which is pretty remarkable when you think about it. We don’t often see a lot of ethnic and cultural diversity in our worship gatherings. We mostly have one skin color, one language, and one nationality represented in our churches. And I have to wonder if we don’t experience the moving of the Holy Spirit as much in the modern American church because we don’t look much like the church in the book of Acts. When you have a group get together and the only thing they have in common is Jesus, maybe its more likely that Jesus is what is emphasized.
Scripture also says they were fasting. In fact, it says it twice. They were worshiping and fasting when the Holy Spirit gave them instructions, and then they fasted and prayed some more. This is also really different. Here in the south, when Baptists get together, we eat. Apparently in Antioch, the believers got together to not eat!
So we know who was there, and we know what they were doing. But we still don’t know what they prayed for. And I think that may be the point. Literally all we know about this gathering is that they were worshiping and fasting. And it was in the midst of this that the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
So here’s the first truth for our teaching this morning:
1. Receptive prayer rises from worship and fasting (Acts 13:2)
If we want to really hear God speak, we focus on worship. And I don’t mean we sing one more praise song. I don’t mean we try to ratchet up the emotional pitch of our worship services—dim the lights, lift our hands, bring in smoke machines, whatever. But I think it means that when we come together, every other agenda is left at the door. Every political opinion, every attempt to impress someone else, every selfish thought about how whether or not my needs are being met in the worship service—all that gets left in the parking lot.
What about fasting? We don’t talk about fasting very much, but its mentioned throughout the New Testament. Jesus assumed we would fast in the sermon on the mount when he said,
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward (Matthew 6:16).”
Fasting is the discipline of going without something, usually food, although people talk about fasting from TV or social media, or something else, in order to focus on spiritual things. The idea is that whenever you would normally be eating a meal, you spend that time in prayer instead. And throughout the day, whenever you feel a pang of hunger, you let that be a reminder that your spirit needs God the way your body needs food, and that we should hunger for Him the way we hunger for food.
Fasting is also closely associated with repentance, especially in the Old Testament. The people of Israel fasted as an expression of sorrow over sin.
Do you see how worship and fasting leads us to open handed praying? When we are focused on God’s glory, we are acknowledging that his ways are so much higher than our ways. His desires are so much more important than our desires. And when we are conscious of our sin, which is what fasting does for us, we are in the mindset of saying, “Lord, I don’t deserve anything from you. I don’t need anything apart from you. Nothing I would desire compares with you. So Lord, I’m just going to open my hands before you and let you fill them. I’m going to open my heart before you and let you direct me. Receptive prayer rises from worship and fasting.
2. Receptive prayer lets the Holy Spirit speak (Acts 13:2) Something happens in verse two that is really, really rare in the New Testament: we get a direct quote from the Holy Spirit. In fact, I can only find one other place in the New Testament where it happens—Acts 8:29, where the Holy Spirit told Philip to have an evangelistic conversation with the Ethiopian eunuch. So the Holy Spirit speaks directly in verse 2: After worshiping, praying, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
What did that look like? Did they hear an audible voice from heaven? We don’t know. Did their alphabet soup suddenly spell out a message? Probably not. But it was clear enough and unique enough to get this rare designation in the New Testament.
Now, it’s worth asking the question, why doesn’t it happen more often? Don’t we all long for a message in the clouds sometimes? Woudn’t it be so much easier if the Holy Spirit spoke to us in an audible voice? How many bad first dates would you have been saved from if the Holy Spirit just spoke out loud every once in awhile?
Well, I can’t say for certain why the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak in an auduble voice more often, but I have a pretty strong theory. Check out Hebrews 1. The author of Hebrews says,
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
See, when people say, “Why doesn’t God speak to me, God’s answer is that He has spoken. He’s spoken through His Son. He’s spoken through His word. And I’m afraid that if we heard from God in an audible voice more often, then we would start to think that was the best way to hear from Him. Then we would eventually think that was the only way to hear from Him. And we would stop reading our Bibles. We would stop learning from the life of Jesus. And we would start putting all our faith into the next guy that comes along claiming to be getting direct messages from God.
When we are open handed in our prayer—not filling up all the time with what we want and what’s on our mind, then the Holy Spirit will speak to us through God’s Word. That’s why it is so important for you to read your Bible. To memorize Scripture. To hide God’s Word in your heart. Because that is the primary channel through which God speaks to us today. Receptive prayer lets the Holy Spirit speak.
3. Receptive prayer lets the Holy Spirit redirect (Acts 16:6)
There is a fascinating passage just a few chapters over from where you are right now in Acts 13. In Acts 16, we see Paul on his second missionary journey. This time, instead of Barnabas, Paul is accompanied by Silas and Timothy. And apparently, Paul has some pretty strong ideas about where he wants to go on this missionary journey. Look at verse 6 with me:
6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul[c] had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Again, we don’t know how the Holy Spirit did this. It could be that circumstances made them realize they weren’t supposed to go to those places. Maybe Paul lost his passport. We don’t know. But what we do know is that being surrendered to God means that God gets the deciding vote on our plans. I’m sure Paul had lots of great reasons why he should go to Asia or Bithynia. But God had other plans. Specifically, God had plans that would lead Paul and his companions to Macedonia, where the church at Philippi was founded. But the truth is that when we are open handed in our prayers, we give the Holy Spirit the absolute right to redirect. To say no to some plans and point us to other plans. And we might hate it, because we really, really liked our plan. So we clench our fists and hold tightly to our plan. Or we hold tightly to our bitterness. We don’t want to let it go.
Henri Nouwen, a Dutch priest who died in 1996, wrote a book about prayer called “With Open Hands” where he talked about how hard it is to let the Holy Spirit redirect us. At the end of the introduction, he included this prayer. I wonder how many of you could relate to this prayer:
Dear God,
I am so afraid to open my clenched fists!
Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to?
Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?
Please help me to gradually open my hands
and to discover that I am not what I own,
but what you want to give me.
And what you want to give me is love—
unconditional, everlasting love.
Amen.
Are you willing to open your hands to God in prayer, and receive what He so wants to give you?
4. Receptive prayer lets the Holy Spirit pray for you (Romans 8:26-27)
Have you ever been stumped on what to pray for? Sometimes its like when someone asks you what you want for Christmas, and you can’t think of anything because you have everything you need. Other times its more like when you are overwhelmed with am issue you’re facing, and you’re like, “I don’t even know where to start.”
It’s during those times that we can take comfort in Pauls words from Romans 8. Even the Apostle Paul admitted in verse 26 that he didn’t always know what to pray for.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
Isn’t that amazing? Intercede is a big word that just means someone is praying for you. So let that sink in. The Holy Spirit is praying for you! And there are two things the Holy Spirit has perfect knowledge of. He knows you perfectly. Verse 27 calls the Holy Spirit “he who searches hearts.”
27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because[g] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
The Holy Spirit knows your heart. Secondly, the Holy Spirit has perfect knowledge of His own mind. “He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit…” because its His mind! So when we let the Holy Spirit pray for us, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is praying for us according to the will of God. And if it is according to the will of God, guess what? IT’S GONNA GET DONE!!! That’s why verse 28, which many of you know by heart:
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[h] for those who are called according to his purpose.
It’s all good because the Holy Spirit, who knows you perfectly, who knows the mind of God perfectly, is praying for you according to the perfect will of God.
My goodness! I am so thankful that God hears my prayers. But y’all—my prayers are nothing compared to the prayers the Holy Spirit is praying for me! So don’t you realize that there are times we just need to be still and let the Holy Spirit pray for me?
A mom is doing her final room check of the night, and she walks by her daughter’s room. And she peeks in and sees her daughter kneeling next to her bed in prayer. She hears the little girl say, “Dear God: A,B,C,D,E,F,G…” and she prays the entire alphabet. “W, X, Y, Z… in Jesus name, Amen.” The mother pops her head in the room and says, “Sweetheart, what was that about?” And the little girl said, “Well, I didn’t know what to pray for, so I just figured I would give God all the letters and let Him come up with the words.”
5. Receptive prayer lets the Holy Spirit go above and beyond (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Think about this: if we limit our prayers to only what we ask for, what we think we need, and how we think things need to be accomplished, how much are you limiting God? Let me tell you a story about how I learned this lesson.
In the summer of 2013, I was preaching a kids camp at Shocco Springs. Our missions emphasis that year was about a children’s orphanage in South Asia, and so every day we had been talking about that orphanage. On the last day of camp, a boy came up to me that morning. His name was Trent, and he was a sixth grader, which meant this was the last year he could go to kids camp. And Trent was holding his Bible—God’s Word for Boys
He said, pastor James, this is the Bible I came to camp with, but next year I’m going into the youth group, and I thought I might be a little old for this Bible. So yesterday, I went to the bookstore and bought a Teen Study Bible. But I was wondering if you could give my Bible to the kids in the orphanage in Asia that we’ve been talking about.
I said, Trent, I don’t know how I would do that, but what about this? In October, I’m going to Kenya on a mission trip. What if I take your Bible with me, and I’ll pray that I’ll meet an English speaking Kenyan boy, 12 or 13 years old, that I can give your Bible to. How would that be?
So Trent liked that idea, and he gave me his Bible. So in October, I went to Kenya, and every day while we were out sharing the gospel with people, I had Trent’s Bible with me. And I would pray, “Lord, let me meet an English speaking Kenyan boy, 12-13 years old, that I can give Trent’s Bible to.
Every day I prayed that, and every day I still had Trent’s Bible when we got back to the guest house. Finally, on the last day, I prayed my prayer, as usual. And all that morning, We were in an area populated by people of the Kipsogi tribe, so I had two translators, one for Swahili—the national language of Kenya, and one for Kipsigis, the tribal language.
Near the end of the day, we came to a school. And we could hear the sound of kids playing behind the school So we walked up the path to the school. On the way in, I noticed a sign that said this was the “Londiani Elite School.” I didn’t know what that meant, but I was about to find out.
We found the administrator for the school, a woman named Miss Amy. We told Miss Amy who we were and asked her if we could speak to the kids. She graciously agreed, and dispatched two assistants to gather the children all into one classroom. And while we were waiting, she told us about her school.
She said, “I hope it is all right that we only have boys at this school. There is a school for girls down the road. And I am sorry, but we only have the younger boys today—the older boys are on a field trip. So all the boys are 12 or 13. And I am going over the points of my prayer—“English speaking boy, 12 or 13.”
I said, Miss Amy, I have two translators, one for Swahili and one for Kipsigis. So which would you like us to use when I share the gospel with the children? And Miss Amy said, “Oh no—Londiani is an Elite School. That means we only speak English here.”
Then she was told that the children were assembled, and we walked into a room full of English speaking Kenyan boys, 12 or 13 years old. I shared the gospel with them. In English. Without a translator. Many of them prayed to receive Christ as their savior. Then I told them about Trent, and about my prayer. And I presented Trent’s Bible to Miss Amy. And now, a little boy’s Bible is in the library of the Londiani Elite School in Kericho, Kenya. This last picture is of the boys posing for us as we were leaving.
When we pray with open hands, it gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to go above and beyond what we pray. I had asked for one English speaking Kenyan boy. The Holy Spirit answered with eighty. And Ephesians 3:20-21 says,
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Are you limiting your prayers to what you can imagine? To what you can do? To what you are able to accomplish?
A group of men were working together on a construction site. And the youngest, fittest kid in the crew was mouthing off to all the older guys about how much stronger he was than the rest of them. “I can outwork all of y’all,” he bragged.
Finally one of the old guys [I picture Larry Kelley when we were working on the playground] got a little tired of his mouth and he said, “Tell you what. I’ll bet you that I can carry a load in this wheelbarrow to the other side of this site and dump it into that hole over there, and you won’t be able to carry it back.
The kid said, “Old man, anything you can wheel in that wheelbarrow, I can wheel back. You can’t dump anything into that hole that I can’t load up and carry back here. You’re on!”
“Great,” said the old man. “Now shut up and get in the wheelbarrow.”
There are so many times when we get so impressed with our own strength. We are pretty confident in what we are able to accomplish. Even in prayer time, we are so sure we know exactly what we need, so we fill up our prayer lists with what we want. But receptive prayer means letting God say, “My child, shut up, and get in the wheelbarrow. Allow Me to steer you where I want you to go. Let Me drop you off where you need to be.
