A pastor had earned a vacation from his flock and he decided to make it a golfing holiday. He went to a golfing resort, and on his first day out on the course he learned that Arnold Palmer played the course frequently.
The toughest hole was the 17th, and as the pastor approached the tee his caddie said, “When Arnold Palmer plays this hole he uses a No. 3 iron and says a little prayer.”
“I’ll give it a try,” said the pastor. But the ball landed in a sand trap. “Ah, well,” he said, “I guess the good Lord didn’t hear me.”
“He probably heard you,” said the caddie, “but when Mr.. Palmer says his prayer, he keeps his head down.” —Submitted by BBFI Missionary to Kenya, Jerry Daniels
It is amazing to discover how many people think that God is obligated to answer their prayers positively, and, of those, how many think He is obligated to answer their way, on their terms according to their schedules. NO THAT IS FUZZY THINKING.
James has several passages dealing with prayer and specifically conditions to answered prayer.
James 1:6. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
James 4:2. “. . . ye have not, because ye ask not.
3. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
James 4:7. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
James 5:15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
The 1st condition is: Asking (James 4:2), “Ye have not because you ask not.”
* We don’t ask because we don’t think God can.
* The problem is not with God.
James 1:5. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask (invited) of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him
* We don’t ask because we can take care of ourselves. We don’t need God.
Eleven leaders of conservative renewal movements, representing eight groups from within six Protestant denominations, pooled common concerns at a third annual meeting. . . . One concern of the group: prayerlessness. They cited recent studies showing that “the average pastor surveyed prays only three minutes each day.” —Christianity Today, April 6, 1979
No Time to Pray
I got up early one morning
and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I didn’t have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me,
and heavier came each task.
“Why doesn’t God help me?” I wondered.
He answered, “You didn’t ask.”
I wanted to see joy and beauty,
but the day toiled on, gray and bleak;
I wondered why God didn’t show me.
He said, “But you didn’t seek.”
I tried to come into God’s presence;
I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided,
“My child, you didn’t knock.”
I woke up early this morning,
and paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I had to take time to pray.
2nd condition: Faith
James talks a lot about faith in prayer.
James 1:6, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering”
7. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
James 5:15, “the prayer of faith shall save the sick.”
Faith is stated as a condition!
In chapter 1 the lack of faith is to be a double minded man who wavers. Faith to many people has become believing what we say God will do, (name and claim or blab and grab). but James has previously stated that faith shows in your actions. Perhaps a better example of faith than an individual telling God what he wants and then beliving with all of his being is the example of the three Hebrew children in Daniel who didn’t know if God would deliver them yet refused to bow to a pagan idol. That is unwavering faith. Other examples of unwavering faith might be the example of Joseph who would not commit immorality with Potiphars wife because he believed it was wrong regardless of the personal cost. To paraphrase James had they wavered they could not expect anything from God. For the Hebrews in Daniel they would have been spared from the fire but would also have never experienced the protection and presence of God. In the case of Joseph he would not have gone to prison but neither would have been used of God as prime minister in Egypt for the saving of a nation. Those are examples of unwavering faith.
Once while lecturing in Utah, Mark Twain got into an argument with a Mormon on the subject of polygamy.
“Can you find a single passage of Scripture that forbids polygamy?” asked the Mormon.
“Certainly,” Twain replied. “No man can serve two masters.” (Matt. 6:24)
“Doubleminded” 2x’s. God says of those, “Let not that man think that he shall receive anything from God.
In chapter 5 faith is again stated as a condition to answered prayer. In this case the stated example is Elijah and as we pointed out in another message, in both cases before the drought and before the rain, God told him what He would do ahead of time. Elijah was simply praying for what God said He would do. So, prayer is claiming Biblical promises. It is based on what God said.
The 3rd condition to answered prayer: James 4:2,
Prayer for our hedonistic pleasures will not be answered. This we talked about last week.
The 4th condition to answered prayer: Submission, 7a “Submit yourselves therefore to God”
To submit we must give God the right to choose our circumstances, our health, our measure of prosperity, our location, our job—EVERYTHING!
Experiment: Ask a young person to do you a favor. Usually they will ask, “what,” first.
Submission is a condition to answered prayer. We want God to tell us what He wants us to do so that we can decide whether we want to or not. He wont show us until we submit regardless of what His will is.
* Submission is an act of the will; it is saying, “Not my will but thine be done.” The Lord prayed that in the garden.
* When Betty Elliott received news that her missionary husband had been martyred by the Auca Indians in Ecuador, she was shaken but not to the point of despair.
* She believed that her Heavenly Father had permitted this seeming tragedy for some good purpose.
* The confidence she had in the allwise God enabled her to write a letter to a friend, saying, “Only in acceptance lied peace - not in forgetting nor in resignation nor in busyness. His will is good and acceptable and perfect.”
* Many of us never submit to God’s will and then wonder why he doesn’t bless our half-hearted obedience. We are bitter about our circumstances. We blame God for our trials and for holding us back.
* A radio preacher tells of receiving a letter from a young lady who was sure that she could do great things for the Lord if she could move to Pittsburgh, but was sure she could do nothing in the small town where she was. It developed that she refused to work in the small tasks in her home church because she felt too big for it. We have plenty of “Pittsburgh Christians,” eagles on hummingbird nests, always too big for where they are.
The 5th condition to answered prayer: Cleanliness (James 4:8, 9; 5:15, 16)
A. Clean hands, 1 Peter 3:7; Mk. 11:25: Mt. 5:23, 24
Is. 59:1. Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
In his book Why Prayers are Unanswered, John Lavender retells a story about Norman Vincent Peal.
When Peale was a boy, he found a big, black cigar, slipped into an alley, and lit up. It didn’t taste good, but it made him feel very grown up…until he saw his father coming. Quickly he put the cigar behind his back and tried to be casual. Desperate to divert his father’s attention, Norman pointed to a billboard advertising the circus.
“Can I go, Dad? Please, let’s go when it comes to town.”
His father’s reply taught Norman a lesson he never forgot.
“Son, he answered quietly but firmly, “never make a petition while at the same time trying to hide a smoldering disobedience.”
B. Clean minds and motives
Ps. 66: 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
The 6th condition to answered prayer: Humility, 4:8-10
Luke 18: 10. Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
His prayer failed because it was not really prayer at all: it was a self-righteous recital of his own good works.
If the essence of pride is self-sufficiency then it stands to reason that a prideful person doesn’t think he needs God. God does not do anything until we come to the end of our resources.
* The disciples in the boat. They were the fisherman. They knew how to sail. It wasn’t until they came to the end of their resources and self sufficiency that they finally came to Jesus.
The March (94?) issue of Life magazine grabbed the attention of Christians with its cover story: “The Power of Prayer.” Here’s what former Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said when Life asked about his prayer life: “Each morning I ask myself: ‘What can I take credit for in my life?’ I really think about that. The answer is ‘almost nothing.’”
He continues: “Even though I can take credit for almost nothing, I can do all things through Christ. That’s where my power comes from.”
Conclusion: God answers prayer when His conditions are met.
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
“The leaders of the Clapham Sect of British social reformers such as William Wilberforce, daily gave themselves to three hours of prayer and organized Christians throughout the country to unite in special prayer before critical debates in Parliament. William Temple replied to his critics who regarded answered prayer as no more than coincidence, “When I pray, coincidences happen; when I don’t, they don’t.”
David Watson, Called & Committed, (Harold Shaw Publishers, Wheaton, IL; 1982), p. 83
