MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE, TX
A. I want to read a passage of scripture that you have probably heard many times, but I’m afraid we have generally failed to focus on what it is saying.
Listen as I read Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart & lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, & He will make your paths straight."
That’s a great passage. But I have a question for you. Is it possible we have become so self-sufficient that we think we don’t need God anymore?
Surely not! But I’m afraid that when things are going well, we act as if we don’t need God.
You see, if we get sick, we can call the doctor or go to the emergency room. If a natural calamity destroys our property, we can fill out an insurance claim. If company comes unexpectedly & we’re short on food, we can go to the supermarket. If our clothes wear out, we can go to a clothing store.
If we run out of money, we can use plastic. If we don’t have enough to make ends meet, we can get food stamps or a loan. If we’re having relational difficulties, we can go to a counselor. So with all of this, who needs God?
B. Now most of us here obviously don’t think that way. I mean, we know that we need Him! Each week we gather in His name. We sing songs of praise, & worship Him. We join together in study of His Word. And we pray, believing in the power & importance of prayer.
Or do we pray? When we’re asked during the worship service or in our Bible classes to pray for people on the Prayer List, are we really interested & involved enough to pray for them during the week? Or do we believe that everyone else is going to be praying, so God doesn’t need our prayers?
Do we really believe that God is a prayer-hearing & a prayer-answering God? Or have we become Christian humanists who believe that we humans can do anything if we take the time to plan carefully & implement the plan - & that God no longer has the power He had in Bible times?
ILL. In Woody Allen’s Love and Death, Napoleon walked by his lady’s room & heard voices. "I was praying," the lady explained. "But I heard two voices," Napoleon said. "I do both parts," she replied.
Is that what we do - both parts? We talk to God & then tell Him what His answer should be? Then, if He doesn’t do what we ask, we just don’t pray?
C. But wait a minute! We don’t pray because we believe in prayer. We pray because we believe in God. If we do believe that He is the all-powerful God of the Bible, who has not put His power on hold - then we will pray.
You see, the power of prayer is the power of God. Psalm 115:3 declares, "Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him." God does whatever He pleases, & He doesn’t need our vote - nor does He wait for our veto.
ILL. Even King Nebuchadnezzar knew that the God of Israel had that kind of power, for he declared, "He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven & the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him: `What have you done?’" [Daniel 4:35]
PROP. So if we’re going to talk about prayer, the first thing we need is to realize the awesomeness of God. Some have been taught that the only reason we pray is to change ourselves. But the Bible does not teach that as a reason to pray. Instead, the Bible teaches that prayer affects God & that prayer can affect circumstances.
I. PRAYER AFFECTS GOD
A. Aren’t you affected when your kids talk with you? Of course you are. So is God. He is the perfect parent as well as the powerful creator. And the Bible teaches that God is affected when His people pray.
ILL. For instance, remember when God brought His people out of Egypt through those great miracles? After coming through the sea, they stopped at Mt. Sinai for a time.
While Moses was having a long talk with God on the mountain, the people got impatient. They took off their jewelry, melted it down, poured the liquid into a mold shaped like a calf - & guess what resulted? A golden calf!
They worshiped that calf, sang hymns to that calf, brought offerings, & declared that the calf was the god who had brought them out of Egypt.
God was not pleased! He said to Moses, "I have seen these people...& they are a stiff-necked people." Then God gave Moses a command: "Now leave me alone..." (Have you ever said anything like that to your kids?) God continued, "...so that my anger may burn against them & that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation" [Exodus 32:9,10].
Even though God told Moses to leave Him alone, Moses immediately began to beg God not to destroy His people. Deuteronomy 9:18 tells us that he kept begging for 40 days & 40 nights. Do you know what happened? Exodus 32:14 says, "The Lord relented & did not bring on His people the disaster He had threatened."
APPL. Isn’t it marvelous that our prayers can make a difference with God? God listened carefully & changed His mind.
ILL. And then there was King Hezekiah. God told Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah to get his house in order because he was going to die. But Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, & before Isaiah got out of palace courtyard, God told him to go back & tell the king, "I have heard your prayer & seen your tears; I will heal you...I will add 15 years to your life" [C].
Some people suggest that God never changes His mind, but listen to what God says about Himself. In Jeremiah 18:7-8 God says, "If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down & destroyed, & if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent & not inflict on it the disaster I had planned."
SUM. While God will never change His mission, His goal, or His plan for the redemption of humanity, He will & can change some particulars & methods in response to the prayers of His children. That’s part of what it means to be God. He has that right, & He has demonstrated that many times in the Bible.
II. PRAYER CAN AFFECT CIRCUMSTANCES
A. Not only can prayer affect God, prayer can also affect circumstances because we’re talking to the One who has all power - yesterday, today, & forever. One of the messages of the Bible is the all-powerfulness of God.
In Genesis 18:14 we read, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" When God was going to fill a valley full of water without any rain or wind, He said, "This is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord" [2 Kings 3:18].
An angel who came directly from heaven to Mary brought this message: "Nothing is impossible with God" [Luke 1:37]. Jesus, who knows God better than anyone, said, "With God all things are possible" [Matthew 19:26].
SUM. If God, an angel, an inspired prophet, & Jesus proclaim the awesome power of God, then we who are Christians ought to proclaim it, too.
ILL. The disciples once asked each other about Jesus, "Who is this? He commands even the winds & the water, & they obey Him" [Luke 8:25]. When Jesus commanded that the fig tree dry up, it did not have a committee meeting with the other fig trees to see what to do. Any time God speaks to nature, nature has no option but to obey.
B. We human beings are the only part of creation that God has given the freedom to listen to a command & then decide whether to obey or not. Nothing else has that option. That’s the reason God could say to the Red Sea, "Open up," & the sea opened up.
ILL. Remember the battle Joshua was involved in? Daylight was running out before the battle was over, so Joshua prayed for more daylight. The Bible says God caused the sun to stand still. What a day that was!
Some people say that shows the Bible does not know anything about science, because it’s not the sun that moves but the earth. God knew that. I suspect God said something like this: "Earth, stop right now in your tracks - & everything else that is dependent on the earth’s rotation, just hang loose. I’m in charge here."
Don’t let the phrase "the sun stood still" bother your confidence in God’s Word. I guarantee the next time you watch the weather on television, you will see something like "Sunrise at 6:45" & "Sunset at 7:10."
You see, I’ve never heard anyone say, "I’m not going to watch that TV network again because they should have said, `Tomorrow morning the earth is going to rotate so that the edge of the circumference of the son will appear on the horizon at 6:45 A.M.’" Who wants to hear all that where "sunrise" & "sunset" communicates clearly to us?
ILL. Remember when Daniel was thrown to the lions? The lions were starving, but when Daniel came on the scene, God must have said, "Right now, lions, you have anorexia." Those lions lost their appetite.
ILL. Remember when Jonah was thrown overboard? The Bible says that God provided a great fish to swallow him. God must have said, "Now, fish, the very next thing you see splash into the water, swallow it whole - but don’t hurt it." That fish had no option but to obey.
Jonah was in that fish for 3 days & 3 nights. I’m convinced he tried every way he could to get out - yelled, tickled the ribs (or whatever was on the inside of that fish) - but nothing worked. Jonah finally realized that he was in a crisis & started to pray. Aren’t we often the same way?
As soon as Jonah finished praying, "the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah up onto the beach, & it did" [Jonah 2:10 TEV]. God must have said, "Now, fish, I want you to surface & find the beach & spit that man right out of your mouth." That must have been one fantastic spit!
SUM. You see, prayer does have power to affect circumstances.
III. WHAT ABOUT TODAY?
A. But what about today? Does God really continue to hear our prayers & intervene in our lives today? I’m convinced that He does. Many of our missionaries observe God’s intervention firsthand.
ILL. Missionary Jim McElroy tells about what happened in the Philippines when he was called into a village. An infant was deathly ill. The child had not nursed for days & was turning gray. His eyes were rolled back; he was lifeless & listless, apparently just moments from death.
Jim turned to the Filipino preacher & said, "I didn’t know we were coming here for a medical reason. I brought no medicine. Did you?" The Filipino preacher said "No." "What shall we do?" Jim asked. "Let’s just pray."
While they were praying fervently for God’s intervention, the little infant reached up & touched one of those who was praying. Before they finished, the infant moved toward the mother’s breast & began to nurse.
The following Sunday was Easter. As Jim was preaching in a neighboring village in an outdoor assembly, he saw coming over the brink of the hill a woman carrying a baby. Behind her were over 20 adults.
As they got closer, Jim recognized the mother & the infant, who was looking very healthy. The adults had come to accept Jesus Christ & to be immersed. We serve a powerful & awesome God!
B. That does not mean God will always answer "Yes" to our prayers. We have all experienced the "No" answers. We must be careful lest we start to believe that we can order God around with our prayers. God does not honor the "name it & claim it" game some people play - as if they can tell God what to do.
The prophet declared, "Who can speak & have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?" [Lamentations 3:37]. Our God listens carefully to our petitions, prayers, intercessions, agonies, & heartaches. But He will not permit us to dictate to Him what He has to do.
So how do we understand it when we pray for someone to be healed & that person dies? It does not mean that God loves some more & some less, or that God respects some & not others. Psalms 103:11 says, "As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him."
With that great love He also declares, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways...As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways & my thoughts than your thoughts" [Isaiah 55:8-9]. I believe we can trust in a God who is that big & has that much love for us.
C. When the answer does not come exactly the way we want or expect, our faith should hold hands with the faith of those 3 men thrown in the furnace of fire, who declared, "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, & He will rescue us from your hand...But even if He does not, we want you to know...that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" [Daniel 3:17].
Our trust in the power of God continues not because we always get our way, but because we believe in the way of God!
To pray is to tap into God’s power. Non-Christians do not believe that God still has power today. If Christians don’t believe it, who will? Isn’t it time for us to catch up with our forefathers & believe in, teach about, & pray to the kind of God we read about in Ephesians 3:20, "who is able to do...all we ask or imagine"?
We can imagine great things. Wouldn’t a God who could accomplish all of them be a great God? But that’s not what Ephesians 3:20 says. Such a God is too small.
Did Paul write, "Now to Him who is able to do more than all we ask or imagine"? Even that God is too small.
Here’s what Paul wrote: "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church & in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever & ever! Amen" [3:20-21].
That’s the power of prayer. It is tapping into Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can possibly ask or imagine. What a God & what a privilege - to actually talk with Him, & know that He listens!
