HOW TO PRAY FOR A MIRACLE
Power Through Prayer - Part 3
Luke 18:35-43
Jeff Seaman
Much of life is beyond our control. There’s just not anything you can do about it. Sometimes your best efforts aren’t good enough. Sometimes the only thing that will work is a miracle.
When do you need a miracle?
You need a miracle when the boss comes in and says, "I’m sorry. I’ve got to let you go." And it’s a month til Christmas. You need a miracle when it’s the end of the month and the bills are behind due and there’s nothing in the checkbook.
You need a miracle when your marriage is falling apart and communication has gone dead and you wonder if it’s going to make it.
You need a miracle when a doctor comes in and says, "I’m sorry. There’s nothing else we can do."
The fact is, you need miracles all the time in your life. When you read about these miracle, you find all these very ordinary people had miracles happening in their lives. They’re all through the Bible. You read that and say, "Why doesn’t God work that way in my life?" The answer is, He wants to. He wants to work that way in your life.
Today I want us to look at "How to Pray For a Miracle". There are some conditions, pre-requisites, principles you need to follow in order to see God work to His fullest in your life. We’re going to look at the story about the blind man that Jesus healed. From it we get five principles about how to pray for a miracle.
1. You need to be Passionate. Pray with all your heart. Pray what’s really on your heart.
2. Be Persistent. You’ve got to keep on praying until the miracle happens.
3. Be Precise. We see this also in the story of the blind man. He knew exactly what he wanted. Be exact, be specific, be precise in your praying.
4. Be Positive. Expect God to act if you’re going to see a miracle in your life.
5. Be Grateful. I know that bothers some of you that I’ve got four "P"s and one "G". So for those of you who are stuck on alliterations... be Praiseful.
1. BE PASSIONATE.
Put your whole heart into it. When you pray, pray with intensity, pray with feeling, pray with urgency. Have you noticed that when your kids ask you for things, that they don’t always want what they say they want. You take your kids to a toy store right before Christmas and say, "Give me some Christmas gift ideas". Matthew wants everything. "This and this and this but I really want this." Now I know what he wants. As a parent you listen for the tone of the voice.
God listens for the tone of your voice. Some things you say you want you really don’t want that badly. You don’t even want them badly enough to pray for them twice. You need to be passionate.
This man was. It says in Luke 18: 35 "As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard the crowd going by he asked, `What’s happening?’ They told him, `Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.’ He called out [literally, "he cried out"; Living Bible says "he began shouting"] `Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’" He’s pleading here. He’s got passion. He knows exactly what he wants and he’s saying it with passion.
The first problem you and I have in prayer -- I have it and so do you -- is what I call lipservice praying. It’s when you pray but your heart’s not in it. You’re just mouthing words. You don’t really feel it. You don’t really care about it. Vain repetitions is what Jesus called it. Phrases: "Bless the gift and the giver... Bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies ... Help us to have a great day ... God bless America... " etc. etc. The longer you’re a Christian, the easier it is for you to slip into lipservice praying. You’ve learned all the phrases.
Have you ever set down at the dinner table and said, "Let’s pray" and you bow your head and you smell the food. You think, "Let’s get this over quick!" You just rattle out something and it means nothing. Do you ever do that? I do. I had a professor in seminary who had a little boy and one night they were getting ready to pray. He said, "Let’s join hands" and the little boy said, "Daddy, can I be the one tonight to talk to our plates?"
You need to pray with passion. When you don’t pray with feeling it means you’re not being honest to God. Honest praying has feeling in it. When we’re not praying with feeling, we’re usually praying what we think we ought to pray not what is really on our heart.
Jeremiah 29:13 "God says, `You will find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.’" Half hearted praying doesn’t cut it. It is better to have heart without words in prayer than it is to have words without heart. Sometimes the most spiritual prayer you can pray is "Help!" It’s not very profound, it’s just the cry of a child. "Help, God!" That’s passionate praying.
God wants you to learn to pray this way so He has a tool that teaches you how to pray passionately. You’re not going to like this tool but He has a tool to teach you to pray passionately. It’s called Pain. Have you noticed how much more intense you pray when you’re in pain. I’ve know guys who’ve had a lukewarm prayer life and then their wife walks out on them. That will teach you to pray. It becomes very intense. Or the guy in the foxhole says, "God! Get me out of this!" He’s serious. He’s passionate.
The problem is, when the pain leaves, usually so does the passion. You need to learn how to pray passionately what you really feel even when you’re not in pain.
2. PRAY PERSISTENTLY.
Keep on praying until the miracle happens. v. 39 "The people in front scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly. `Son of David! Have mercy on me!’" I like this guy. He’s determined. Nobody’s going to stop him from getting to Jesus. I admire his bull-headedness, his tenaciousness. It says he shouted even more loudly, "I want a miracle!" He’s passionate and he’s persistent.
Are you relentless in praying for your needs? Or do you just pray for them and then just drop them when the answer doesn’t come immediately. You quit too soon!
Why should I be persistent? Should I be persistent because God doesn’t hear me and I’ve got to wake Him up? God isn’t like that. In fact, He knows what you’re going to ask even before you ask it. It’s not like you’re waking Him up.
You don’t be persistent in order to nag God -- if I beg enough, He’ll give it to me.
Romans 8:32 "If God loved you enough to give Jesus, His Son, to die for you, He loves you enough to care for your other needs." God says, If I love you enough to send Christ to the cross, I certainly care about your other needs. Matthew 7:11 says God loves to give good gifts to His children. "If you being an imperfect father know how to give good gifts, certainly your heavenly Father who’s perfect knows how to give gifts to you."
So why do I be persistent? It shows what I really care about it. If I don’t care about something enough to pray about it more than once, it’s not that important. Notice that the more you have to wait for something, the more you desire it. It shows your passion.
Also be persistent because God is preparing you in the meantime for the answer. While I’m waiting, God is getting me ready. The Israelites had to wait forty years in the wilderness while God was getting them ready to go into the Promised Land. Why didn’t you get here sooner? I think He was waiting. He wanted you in on the miracle. So He waited until you got here.
Have you ever prayed, "God, I need a financial turn around in my life! I’m going under." Have you ever thought about maybe God’s waiting on you? Maybe He’s saying, "I’ve given you some financial principles. When are you going to start obeying them? I want to work in your life but you’ve got to obey these principles first. When you obey these principles then I’m going to bring the answer that you’ve been praying about."
Colossians 4:2, "Don’t be weary in prayer. Keep at it. Watch for God’s answers." He’s saying, Don’t quit too soon. Jesus said it like this in the Sermon on the Mount, "Keep on asking, keep on knocking, keep on seeking." If you were to come over to my house today and you come knock on the door are you going to knock only one time? More likely you’ll knock several times. You don’t just knock once when you go to a door. Nobody will hear you. The Bible says, "Keep on knocking, keep on asking, keep on seeking."
You need to be passionate if you want a miracle in your praying. And you need to be persistent.
I read yesterday about two ladies who were praying for their husbands to come to know Jesus Christ. So they decided to pray together. They prayed for seven years and didn’t see any response at all. Their husbands just weren’t interested in spiritual things. They nearly gave up. They got discouraged. But then they decided "God says `Keep on praying. Be persistent’ so we’re going to pray for our husbands for the rest of our lives, even if they never do come to know the Lord. We’re going to die praying persistently." Three years later -- a total of ten years praying -- both of the men gave their lives to Christ on the same day.
Be passionate. Be persistent.
3. BE PRECISE.
That means you don’t be vague. Be specific. You tell God exactly what you want in detail, in living color. Not only do we have a problem that we pray careless prayers where our mind and heart really isn’t in it -- we just say words and mouth words -- but we also pray too general. Vague prayers get vague answers. When you pray, "God bless America" how do you know if that happens or not? It’s so vague. You need to be specific. A lot of our prayers are pointless. This guy knew exactly what he wanted.
v. 40 "So Jesus stopped and ordered that the blind man be brought to Him and when he came near, Jesus asked him, `What do you want Me to do for you?’ `Sir,’ he answered, `I want to see again.’" He knew exactly what he wanted. He was clear. He was precise.
Jesus Christ says the same thing to you today, "What do you want Me to do for you?" If Jesus asked you that this morning, what would you say? "What do you want Me to do for you?" Would you be able to answer as quickly as this guy did? James 4:2 says "The reason you don’t have what you want is because you don’t ask God for it. You have not because you ask not." God never shuts his storehouse until you shut your mouth.
I’ve told you the story before about the guy who died and went up to heaven. He saw all of these warehouses all over heaven. He looked inside and there were all of these tremendous gifts. Job opportunities, happy family life situations, marriage partner, financial stability, cars, all kinds of nice things. He said, "What’s this?" The angel told the guy, "There’s a tag on every one of these items. Every tag says the same thing." He went over and picked up a tag on a real beautiful Porsch and it said, "Never asked for."
God never shuts His storehouse until you shut your mouth. Over twenty times in the New Testament the Bible says, "Ask!" "Ask and it shall be given." Because God is our heavenly Father and He loves to shower gifts on His children. It’s a testimony to the world of His greatness. "You have not because you ask not." But you’ve got to be precise.
The reason why we’re vague in our prayers -- "Bless everybody" and that kind of thing -- is because we’re lazy. Vague praying is lazy praying. That’s really the reason. Precise praying takes time. It takes thought. You’ve got to think about it. What do I really want? It takes self examination. It takes energy. It’s so much easier to say, "God bless my family." instead of being specific. What in the world is a blessing anyway? Sometimes a problem is a blessing. Is that what you’re saying... "God, give my family a bunch of problems." When we pray, "God bless me at work" I think God wants to say, "Could you be a little bit more specific?" What specifically do you have in mind for your family? Financial stability? Is your neighbor across the street trying to burn your house down? What’s the problem? What’s the need? Are you having a difficulty with a certain child in your family? What is the difficulty? You need to be specific about it. What do you really want?
Jesus comes to the man and says, "What do you really want Me to do for you?" Do you think Jesus had to say that? Don’t you think He already knew what the man wanted Him to do for him? Of course He did. He even knew what point in history that man would encounter Him. Why in the world would He say "What do you want me to do for you?" if He already knew what he wanted Him to do for him?
Because He wanted the man to ask. He wanted the man to verbalize his need. God says, Ask in prayer. Don’t pray this wimpy prayer that isn’t specific. Ask and be specific.
There’s a key to being precise in your prayer. The key is to write it down. Write out the request. Make a list. One of the most helpful things you can do in your Christian life is to have a prayer list. And say "These are five things I’m asking God for with my son... These are five things I’m asking God for with my daughter ... wife ... husband... These are five things I’m asking God for at work... This is what I want to see..." Write it out.
You say, That takes time and energy! You’re right. That’s why we’re lazy and we pray vague prayers. Writing it out helps you be specific. Then when you get an answer, record the answers.
George Mueller was a man of great faith in the last century. A great Christian. He started orphanages all over England and financed them simply by praying in the money. George Mueller kept a journal and it’s still in print. You can read his journal where he recorded over ten thousand recorded answers to prayer. Was he a man of faith? Yes. What made him a man of faith? Seeing God answer so many times.
You start with little faith and then it grows. You start with faith sized requests. You need transportation and you don’t have any faith, you pray for roller skates! a Hundai. If you’ve got a lot of faith, you pray for a Rolls! As you make requests and you see God answer, your faith grows and grows.
Be passionate, be persistent, be precise.
4. BE POSITIVE.
Expect God to act. Trust God to answer. v. 42 Jesus said to this blind man, "See your faith has made you well." Circle "faith." You’ve got to expect God to answer. If you don’t expect Him to answer, don’t pray. Can you imagine the blind man going up to Jesus and saying, "I don’t believe you can heal me. Prove you can. I dare you." No, you believe.
You say, "But I don’t have much faith." Use the faith you have. It doesn’t take a lot of faith to see God answer. A little faith in a big God gets big answers. It’s not the size of your faith, it’s the size of God. Little faith in a big God gets big answers. Everybody has faith, it’s just what you put it in. You have faith when you go out on the freeway every day that you’re not going to get creamed.
One guy a came to Jesus and said, "Jesus, I need my son to be healed." Jesus said, "Do you believe I can heal him?" He said, "Lord, I want to believe. Help me with my unbelief." Jesus said, "That’s good enough!" and He healed him.
I want to believe. Help me with my unbelief. Be honest to God and you make faith sized requests. Watch your faith grow like a muscle.
Mark 11:24 "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it will be yours." Notice the incredible promise: "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it will be yours." Two qualifications. Circle the words, "ask" and "believe". Those are the two conditions. You must ask and then you must believe.
How can I be more positive in prayer? The secret to being more positive in prayer -- the Bible says that faith comes by hearing the word -- is to get into the word of God, specifically. Learn what God has promised. There are over 7000 promises in the Bible. As you read your Bible, you ought to underline the promises. Star them, highlight them so you can find them quickly. You claim the promises of God in prayer. When you’re praying, "God, I need You to do this. You said that if I did `this’ You’d do `this’." You claim the promises of God and use them in your prayer life. But if you don’t know the promises, your prayer life isn’t going to be very strong. Claim them. They’re there for you to take, but you’ve got to claim them.
I read about a guy who got on a ship. He was an immigrant and he was going back to Scotland from America. This was in the last century. He got on board and ate something like peanut butter every day because he didn’t have any money. He spent all his money on the ship. On the last day he was real weak and his room mate said, "You look sick. What’s the matter?" He said, "I haven’t had anything to eat except peanut butter." Room mate said, "Didn’t you know that on this trip the meals are provided for free? They’re already paid for."
Jesus Christ has already paid to have your needs met. Philippians 4:19 "My God shall supply all your needs in Christ Jesus." They’re paid for. But you have to claim them and many of you don’t. Claim them in prayer. Be positive.
5. BE GRATEFUL OR PRAISEFUL
When a miracle happens, you express your gratitude. v. 43 "At once he was able to see he followed Jesus giving thanks to God. When the crowd saw it, they all praised God." Notice the two things this guy did after he received his sight, after the miracle. He followed Jesus and he gave thanks to God. Those are the two things you do after you’ve received an answer to prayer. You follow Jesus and you give thanks to God.
There is a story in the Bible where one time ten lepers came to see Jesus. He healed them all. They all had leprosy. In those day, leprosy was the AIDS of that environment. They were social outcasts. Nobody wanted to touch them. Nobody wanted to get close to them for fear that they might get leprosy. Jesus touched them all, healed them all. They all went away. It says later one of them -- only one of them -- came back to thank the Lord.
Isn’t that typical? Ninety percent of Americans are ungrateful for what they’ve got. What do you take for granted in your life that God has so graciously given you that you need to be grateful for?
Notice this verse: "In all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking Him with a thankful heart." You should thank God while you’re asking, not just after the answer comes but while you’re asking, you should maintain the attitude of gratitude. "Thank You, Lord, that You’ve already provided for so many other needs. I thank You for what You’ve provided in the past and You’re going to provide in the future. Here’s what I need right now."
I believe that we need to be as precise in our thanking God as we are in our asking God. We don’t just say, "Thank You, God, for all my blessings." Name them. Make a list of things to thank God for. Just like you ask specifically, you thank God specifically. Gratitude is to be the permanent lifestyle of a believer. Praise is used 550 times in the Bible. The Bible says "Rejoice in the Lord always." Always rejoice in the Lord!
It’s one thing to talk about prayer, it’s another thing to pray. I’ve got a little practical assignment here: My family, My job, My church. I’ve given you one for the church, but I want you to ask yourself about these other two, "Where do I need a miracle?" I want you to take some time to write down a specific request for your family and for your job. You say, "I can’t think of anything." That’s why you don’t pray that way. Vague praying is lazy praying. It takes some time. Don’t miss out on this blessing. Write down a specific thing you want to pray for your family this week. "God, here’s what I need..." If you don’t pray this, you only cheat yourself. Same thing for your job. What do I need help in, in my job? Be specific.
Let me give you two for our church. Prayer:
Lord, would You teach us to pray passionately and persistently, precisely, to be positive, to be grateful. Help us to realize that we don’t have just because we don’t ask. Often we give up too soon.
Would you pray in your heart, "Help me, Father, to pray passionately, to be honest with You, to share what’s really on my heart. Help me to be persistent in praying and not to give up when the answer doesn’t come right away. Help me to be more precise in my praying, to write things down. Help me to be positive, to believe You will answer. Help me to be grateful, not only for what You’re going to give me but for all You already have." In Jesus’ name. Amen.
