God Answers Prayer

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God Answers Prayer

Contributed by Mark Haines on Mar 27, 2001 (message contributor)

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Scripture: Luke 18:1-17

Denomination: Wesleyan

Summary: A deductive exposition of the text introduced by statistics and stories of answered prayer.

Topic: Prayer

Theme: Answered Prayer

Purpose: to be the Holy Spirit’s second witness calling God’s people in my care to pray with persistence and humility.

Response: Individuals will ponder God’s grace in answering our prayers.

Pattern: A deductive exposition of the text introduced by statistics and stories of answered prayer.

Do you believe God answers prayer? Odds are pretty good that since you’re in church today that you do. But what about people outside the church?

Do you think Americans believe in prayer?

What do you think the percentage of Americans that pray every day is? 75%

What do you think the percentage of Americans who say they have had prayers answered might be? 95%

What would you expect to be the percentage of Americans who believe God hears their prayers and has the power to answer them? 86%

This may be a little harder. What do you think the percentage of Americans is who pray in order to forgive others? 86%

How many pray for forgiveness for themselves? 92%

Do you think God always answers prayer the way we expect?

Not necessarily right? A woman from Fremont, Michigan tells this story about an unexpected answer to prayer.

When three of [her] sons were in college, they formed a trio that sang at various churches. One night they were singing when a fly started buzzing around their heads. Greg, one of the boys, breathed a quick prayer that the Lord would get rid of that fly. God answered in an unexpected way. When Greg opened his mouth to sing, the fly flew in. The song ended abruptly, but the fly was taken care of.

A missionary wrote about a time when God surprised her family with His answer to their prayers. She said:

We were in need of passage money to return to our work in Switzerland. In faith, we set a date that the children and I began "praying towards." We contemplated sending out a letter informing people of this need, but kept deciding against it--"Let’s just pray about it for the time being. "Less than three weeks before the date, the money began to come in. It was a direct answer to prayer, because I never did mail any letters. And the love gifts did not come from any of the sources I had had in mind when praying. It was as though God said, "It is not necessary to bring the money from those places you think are possibilities. I am able to make it all a surprise to you, my child."

The fact is that God seems to answer our prayers in surprising ways on a fairly consistent basis. That’s why one pastor says we should expect the unexpected when we pray. He wrote:

We all tend to prescribe the answers to our prayers. We think that God can come in only one way. But Scripture teaches us that God sometimes answers our prayers by allowing things to become much worse before they become better. He may sometimes do the opposite of what we anticipate. ...Yet it is a fundamental principle in the life and walk of faith that we must always be prepared for the unexpected when we are dealing with God.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

God does ANSWER prayer.

So, how can we pray in order for God to answer?

1. Jesus gave part of the answer when He told the Story of the PERSISTENT Widow (Luke 18:1-8).

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, `Grant me justice against my adversary.’

"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, `Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ "

And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

 Who was the audience? “his disciples”

 What was Jesus’ goal?” to show them that they should always pray and not give up”

 What is the principle of answered prayer? “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

God is much more likely to answer your prayers than the unjust judge, so will you trust Him when you pray?

2. Jesus went on to tell the Story of the APOLOGETIC Tax Collector (Luke 18 9-17).

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 Who was the audience? “Some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else”

These were the good religious “church” folk of Jesus’ day. They were the Bible believing conservatives who trusted in their own good behavior more than in God.

 What was Jesus’ goal? To confront their pride and to call them to trust God.

 What is the principle of answered prayer? “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

In other words, God accepts those seeking his grace and mercy – not those who think they’ve earned His approval.

So, let’s take a moment to examine our prayers? How would you answer these questions?

A. Are your prayers persistent because you believe God will answer? Do you tend to give up when the answer you expected doesn’t come quickly?

B. Are your prayers filled with comparisons to others? Do you ask God why you can’t be more like someone else? Or do are you thankful to not be like him or her?

C. Do you approach God with a sense of awe and humility?

D. Do you ever wonder why God answers your prayers?

That’s a good question for us to think about – isn’t it?

Why should God answer my prayers? It must be His grace and mercy. I don’t deserve His attention. I can’t earn it. I could never repay Him for the answers He gives.

As you receive Communion today, think about God’s grace and mercy in answering our prayers. Remember that God hears and answers your prayers because of the Cross.

As you receive Communion today, renew your commitment to pray. Pray with persistent faith and penitent humility. God will answer your prayers.

Contributed by Mark Haines on Mar 27, 2001 (message contributor)

Summary: A deductive exposition of the text introduced by statistics and stories of answered prayer.