TOPIC: ?How Are Prayers Answered??
TEXT: John 15:5-8; Matthew 7:7-8; Matthew 21:21-22
At a church in Kentucky, a little boy got a little too rambunctious during the worship service. His father picked the boy up and started for the door. As they were heading down the aisle, the boy said, at the top of his voice: ?Ya?ll pray for me now!?
Another little boy was spending the day with his father. They went to a diner for lunch. When the waiter brought the food, the father said, ?Son, we?ll just have a silent prayer.? Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer. The little boy sat there for a long time with his head bowed. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, ?What in the world were you praying about all that time?? The little boy replied, ?How do I know, Dad? It was a silent prayer.?
For the past few weeks, we have been looking at the topic of ?Prayer? here in SonDay Live!. Steve Strange started us off a few weeks back by talking about what prayer is ? a sort of how to do it talk. Two weeks ago, before our day off last Sunday for the ?All-Church Anniversary Lunch,? I talked about prayer as a necessity for Christians. Prayer is an essential part of our relationship with God. Prayer strengthens our relationship with God, connects us with God?s power for our lives, and enables us to hear the will of God for our lives. Through prayer, God speaks to our lives. So, you see, prayer is essential for our lives as Christians. A strong prayer life keeps us strong as Christians.
Today, we are turning to the final topic in our series: ?How does God answer prayer?? To get us started, let me ask you the same question that J.T. and Chris asked people at the Galleria Mall on the video we saw a few minutes ago. How many of you believe that God answers prayer? Shout yes if you do. Sounds like most of us believe that God answers prayer. Now, how many of you have ever prayed for something that didn?t happen? Shout yes again. So, what do you make of that? If God answers prayers, why do some of our prayers go unanswered?
To be honest with you, I have had a difficult time writing this sermon. You see, I am in the same boat as you are. I have prayed many times for things to happen that never happened. I have prayed for people to get well and they didn?t. I have prayed for marriages to be saved and they weren?t. I have prayed for success of church programs that were flops. I have prayed for people to change their lives, and they didn?t. I have prayed for people to live and they died. I have prayed for a lot of things over the years that never happened. Yet, I believe with all my heart that God answers prayers. I?ve had a hard time putting this sermon together because there are so many things about prayer that I don?t understand, and I sure don?t understand why God seems to answer some prayers and not others.
To make things more complicated, the Bible talks about prayer in ways that seem to contradict our experience:
Jesus said: ?Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8).
Or how about Matthew 21:22? Jesus said to his disciples: ?If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer? (Matthew 21:22).
Or how about John 15:7? Jesus said to his disciples: ?If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you? (John 15:7).
Sounds confusing, doesn?t it. The Bible seems to say that we will get whatever we ask for in prayer. Yet, our experience in prayer is just the opposite. We don?t always get that for which we pray. There?s my dilemma. So, don?t expect this talk to be the last word on prayer. Instead, see it as a work in progress from someone who, like most of you, doesn?t have all the answers. I am going to talk about how God answers prayers, but first, I want to say two things to help us think about how.
First thing: Prayer is about our relationship with God. The purpose of prayer is to establish and enrich our relationship with God. The simple truth of the matter is that God wants more than anything to have a relationship with each one of us. God loves you so much that God wants to be in your life. If you don?t hear anything else I say this morning, hear that. God wants to be a part of your life! God loves you more than you can ever imagine. You are more valuable to God than anything. God wants to be a part of your life. In fact, God sent Jesus into the world to die for your sins so that God can be a part of your life!
Christian writer Max Lucado tells the story of taking his young daughter, Andrea, for a walk in their neighborhood. She was about four years old at the time. Listen to the story:
The area was brand new to her. We walked down streets she?d never seen and petted dogs she?d never touched. The yards were different. The kids looked older. The houses bigger.
I thought all the change might trouble her. I thought the new sights and sounds might generate anxiety.
?Are you okay?? I asked.
?Sure.?
?Do you know where we are??
?No.?
?Do you know how to get home??
?No.?
?And you aren?t worried??
Without slowing her pace she reached up and took my hand and said, ?I don?t have to know how to get home. You already do.?
God wants to have a relationship with us like Andrea has with her father. God wants us to walk with Him and love Him, and trust Him. God wants us with Him and God has made the way for that to happen in Jesus.
And that?s where prayer comes in. Prayer helps us to move closer to God, and keeps us close to God. Prayer is first and foremost about our relationship with God.
Second thing: prayer changes our lives. To say that another way, when you move closer to God, your life changes. Have any of you experienced that to be true in your life? Have any of you had your life changed because of your relationship with God? I have. When we move closer to God, our lives are changed! So, if prayer helps us to move closer to God, and keeps us close to God, prayer changes us! I heard that idea expressed years ago in a phrase you might have heard: ?Prayer changes things. Prayer changes you.?
I am told that there is a shrine in France where people go to pray for healing. A war veteran who had lost a leg appeared at the shrine sometime after World War II. As he hobbled his way along the street to the shrine, someone said, ?Look at that silly man! Does he think God is going to give him back his leg?? The young man overheard the remark, turned toward the speaker and said: ?Of course I don?t expect God to give me back my leg. I am going to pray to God to help me live without it.? Our relationship with God changes our lives. It helps us to live from day to day.
I have heard stories all my life of how people were changed when they gave their lives to God. I?ve heard of people with serious problems ? drug abuse, alcoholism, and other addictions ? who changed completely when they gave their lives to Jesus. I?ve heard of people who were just plain mean becoming gentle souls after giving their lives to God. If you talk to Christians who work with prisoners, they will tell you stories of how even the hardest of criminals change when God comes into their lives. When we move closer to God, our lives change ? our attitudes, our prejudices, our desires, our values, all change when we move closer to God. Prayer helps us to move closer to God. Prayer changes us.
Prayer is all about our relationship with God. Prayer changes our lives. Those are two things that are important to remember when we try to make sense out of how God answers prayer. When we start with those two ideas ? prayer is all about our relationship with God and prayer changes our lives -- how God answers prayer may become a little bit clearer.
Now, let?s turn to the Bible, to one of the passages I read earlier. It?s in the Gospel of John, the 15th chapter. Jesus is talking to his disciples about their relationship with him, about how he is a part of them and they are a part of him. Jesus says: ?I am the vine; you are the branches.? A little later he says: ?If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.? Did you hear that? We usually focus on ?ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.? Did you hear the first part of the sentence? ?If you remain in me and my words remain in you . . .? Jesus is not promising his disciples that anything they ask for will be theirs for the asking. He?s talking about their relationship with him. He?s saying that what we ask for is part of our relationship with him, a relationship that changes our lives. If our lives are changed, then our desires are changed, our needs are changed, our view of the world has changed, and what we ask for will change.
Have you seen the commercial on TV about a computer search engine called Lycos? This search engine is supposedly so powerful that it can find anything you need, anywhere in the world, and deliver it to you. Whatever your heart desires, you can find out where to get it through your computer. Folks, that is the way some people approach prayer ? as if prayer should get us anything we want!
Some people approach prayer like they do a soft drink machine. What do you do when you go up to a soft drink machine? You put in your money, you make your selection, you punch the button, and you wait for your soft drink to drop out of the machine. The whole transaction takes a few seconds. If the soft drink doesn?t drop out of the machine, you get ticked-off. You push the machine. You hit it, and if that doesn?t work, you write a nasty little note that says ?This machine took my money? and you leave it on the machine. Some people approach prayer like that!
You see, many people think that God is always going to answer their prayers the way they want them answered and in the time that they want them answered. And when God doesn?t perform the way they think God ought to perform, they feel cheated. They think God is not a ?good? or loving God. I?ve had people tell me that they no longer believe in God because their prayer wasn?t answered. It?s like they?re saying: ?So, there, God. If you won?t do what I want, I won?t believe in you.?
Prayer is not given to us as a way to present our demands to God! Prayer is not like presenting our Christmas wish list to Santa Claus. Prayer is all about our relationship with God, not about getting what we want. I once knew a woman who had a different understanding of prayer. She wanted a swimming pool in her back yard. Her husband was in the anti-swimming pool camp. He didn?t want one, said they couldn?t afford one, that they didn?t need one. No, no way, no how were they going to have a swimming pool in their back yard. Now, this woman believed that if she prayed for a swimming pool, God would make it happen. So, she prayed for a swimming pool in her back yard. Then she put feet to her prayer by calling the swimming pool company and ordering a pool. And when the pool was delivered, she charged the cost to her husband?s credit card, all the while proclaiming that God gave her the swimming pool!
Prayer is not about swimming pools or new cars or houses or clothes or CD players or stuff. Prayer is all about our relationship with God When we pray for things ? stuff -- we tread close to missing the point that prayer is about our relationship with God.
Jesus demonstrated the way we are to approach prayer when he was in the Garden of Eden. We looked at this passage last time. The setting is this: Jesus has just finished the Last Supper with his disciples. In just a short while, he will be arrested, tried, and executed. In between his last meal and his arrest, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray. Do you remember his prayer? Jesus said: ?Father, remove this cup from me. But please, not what I want. What do you want?? It?s important to note here that Jesus? prayer was unanswered, at least in the way that one might expect. He prayed for there to be another way to finish his mission without dying! His prayer wasn?t answered. Why? Because he added ?not what I want. What do you want??
You see, our prayers are answered according to the will of God. Whether or not we get what we pray for depends upon whether or not what we pray for fits into God?s will. Does that sound unfair to you? Does that sound like God is some kind of dictator? If it does, then you need to move closer to God. When you move closer to God you realize that God wants the very best for you; that God?s will always helps you in the long run, even if it hurts you in the short run. I know it?s hard to understand. I don?t always understand it, either. But my not understanding the will of God doesn?t mean that God?s will is bad for me! It just means that I don?t understand.
Not long after Jesus prayed in the Garden of Eden, he was arrested, tried, and crucified. While he hung on the cross, under the weight of the sins of the world, under the weight of our sins, he felt abandoned by God. He prayed again, ?My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?? Jesus felt totally alone in that moment, and he expressed his despair to God. But even when he felt abandoned by God, Jesus didn?t stop praying! In fact, he prayed seven different times while he hung on the cross. He didn?t give up on God! And just before he died, Jesus prayed: ?Father, I place my life in your hands.? He trusted God and God didn?t let him down!
As I was writing this sermon, my mind was on an unanswered prayer, a recent one for me. You see, a friend of ours died last Friday. He was 45 or 46 years old. He was a doctor, a brilliant physician who had given his life to taking care of newborn babies. He was also a committed Christian, a faithful husband and father, a good friend, and a really nice guy. The moment we heard he was sick, we started praying for his healing. We prayed for God to make our friend well. God answered our prayers, though not in the way that we wanted. Our friend died to this life. But I?ve gotta tell you, he is healthier now than he has ever been! He died to this life, but he is alive with Christ forever. It may seem as if our prayers were unanswered, but our friend will be alive in the presence of God forever!
We don?t always get what we pray for. If we are part of Jesus and Jesus is part of us, then we often will get more than what we pray for, and better than what we pray for. Here?s how someone has put it:
I asked for strength, that I might achieve. God made me weak that I might listen. I asked for health that I might do greater things. I was given grace that I might do better things. I asked for riches that I might be happy. I was given poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the praise of men. I was given weakness that I might feel the need for God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy life. I was given life that I might enjoy all things. I received nothing that I asked for, yet all that I hoped for. My prayer was answered.
We don?t always get that for which we ask in the way that we want it. God can give us more than we ask for! So, keep praying, even when you don?t understand, keep praying. Move closer to God and your life will change!
