Be Intentional
#7 – How to Have an Effective Prayer Life
(Part 2)
Matthew 7:7-12
March 2, 2003
Introduction
During last week’s message, I went through a scenario of God using a computerized answering service to handle all our prayers. It was humorous, and I used it to point out that God has no need or use for such a device, because He is more than capable of handling our prayers.
But in the interest of maintaining the highest standards of sermonizing, I searched far and wide for actual answering machine messages. And boy, are you about to be blessed!
Actual answering machine answers recorded and verified by the world-famous International Institute of Answering Machine Answers.
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Hello, this is Sally’s microwave. Her answering machine just eloped with her tape deck, so I’m stuck with taking her calls. Say, if you want anything cooked while you leave your message, just hold it up to the phone.
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Hello, you are talking to a machine. I am capable of receiving messages. My owners do not need siding, windows, or a hot tub, and their carpets are clean. They give to charity through their office and do not need their picture taken. If you’re still with me, leave your name and number and they will get back to you.
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This is not an answering machine -- this is a telepathic thought-recording device. After the tone, think about your name, your reason for calling and a number where I can reach you, and I’ll think about returning your call.
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Hi. I am probably home. I’m just avoiding someone I don’t like. Leave me a message, and if I don’t call back, it’s you.
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Hi, this is George. I’m sorry I can’t answer the phone right now. Leave a message, and then wait by your phone until I call you back.
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You’re growing tired. Your eyelids are getting heavy. You feel very sleepy now. You are gradually losing your willpower and your ability to resist suggestions. When you hear the tone you will feel helplessly compelled to leave your name, number, and a message.
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Please leave a message. However, you have the right to remain silent. Everything you say will be recorded and will be used by us.
Contributed by: Dru Ashwell
(SermonCentral.com)
I want to reiterate to you that God is not aloof and uncaring. He is ready, willing, and able to listen and to act on your behalf, for your benefit and His glory.
The theme of prayer runs from Genesis to Revelation. It’s important to God, and it’s important for any who would want anything close to an authentic and growing relationship with God.
In helping to set the stage for today’s message, I would invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 7:7-12 (p. 685).
MT 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
MT 7:9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
God expects you to pray to Him. And He is a good God, wanting only what is best for you. He never dishes out evil, because He cannot – He is only pure and loving. So I aim to urge you to call on Him in prayer.
My intention with this message is to give you some very practical stuff on having an effective prayer life.
It’s not going to be very deep, but I think it will be useful, and my earnest prayer for you this morning is that you will take something away from here that will make a significant impact on your relationship with God.
So let’s look at the question of…
How do we have an effective prayer life?
1. Approach God with a proper attitude.
Prayer is only possible because of the sacrifice of Jesus – therefore approach prayer with an attitude of reverent awe and thanks.
He is all-holy, you are not. We are righteous in His eyes, but we are still not worthy to come to His presence.
He is awesome – you are not.
Avoid cavalier attitudes. We don’t deserve the opportunity to pray. But God in His grace and mercy opened up the way to pray.
Last week we read through some of Isaiah chapter 40, and I’d suggest that if you find yourself approaching God just a bit too casually, then re-read that passage a lot.
This is not to say that you need to make sure you come to God only when you can be completely ready with your reverence.
Sometimes we need to just say, “You know what, God? I just need to talk. I’m up to my neck in something and don’t know what to do.” Or as you’re driving down some back roads, “Man, Lord, You really know how to make some beauty.”
What I mean is that our underlying attitude needs to be reverent awe of God and His love for you.
So approach God with a proper attitude.
The next way to have an effective prayer life is to…
2. Pray all the time.
Listen to 1 Thess. 5:16-18 -
1TH 5:16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Now, obviously, God is not saying we are to spend every waking moment on our knees.
But He is saying that we should always be ready to pray about anything and everything. Don’t just pray during your devotional time, but pray while you’re driving, while you’re the newspaper, while you’re doing you’re job.
Pray for the people you interact with during the day. Pray for needs you hear about when you hear about them.
Pray about whatever circumstance you find yourself. Pray all the time.
The next way to have an effective prayer life is to…
3. Pray in Jesus’ Name
During the last supper, Jesus spends a great deal of time discussing what will be happening to Him and what is to come. He specifically mentions that He will be leaving, and that the Holy Spirit would be with them until He returns in glory.
In John 16:24, He says this:
24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
Jesus is not telling us the “magic words” to make God answer our prayers. I’ve read instances where a person has been praying their hearts, with no sign of a positive answer from God. And then someone comes up to them and says it must be because he or she did not say the words, “in Jesus’ name.”
Jesus is not saying we have to utter the words. He is saying that we can come to the Father on the merits of the Son. We have no merit before God on our own – only through the Son.
Jesus is saying that we are invited to come to the Father in the authority granted by the name of the Son, Jesus Christ.
Remember, Jesus’ made access to God possible in the first place. Praying in Jesus’ name is a recognition of that fact.
Don’t get caught up in the words. Get caught up in the opportunity provided by Jesus.
Next, to have an effective prayer life…
4. Ask God to work!
The underlying bedrock of prayer is that God is capable of doing something about whatever we bring to Him.
Again, last week we looked at how powerful God is – able to create and hold together the universe.
He’s capable of acting in whatever situation you find yourself.
Ask the Lord to work:
In me.
Ask Him to work on you, first of all. Why me first? Because if you are allowing God to have His way in your own life, you will be more in tune to the will of God.
So ask Him to work on you. Ask Him to give you a godly character that desires Christlikeness in everything.
Ask Him to give you a desire for Him that will never go away. Ask Him for strength to obey. Ask Him to help you discern the will of God when making decisions.
Next, ask God to work…
In circumstances.
We all find ourselves in situations we would rather not have to be in. And sometimes these circumstances seem overwhelming.
God loves to act in these types of situations. A reading of just the book of Genesis and Exodus will tell you that God loves to intervene in the circumstances His children find themselves in.
I’m not a big fan of bumper-sticker theology, and the bumper sticker that says, “Prayer changes things,” strikes me as not totally accurate.
The sentiment is right on – prayer is instrumental in getting through our circumstances.
But I prefer another piece of bumper-sticker theology that’s a little closer to the Biblical heart of praying, and it’s the idea that when we work, we work; but when we pray, God works.
You see, prayer doesn’t change things – God does. If prayer changed things, then it wouldn’t matter who we pray to.
We trust God to move, to change the circumstances.
And let me tell you something that is very important: God does not always change our circumstances. Sometimes God lets us go through them, because it’s best for us.
Or sometimes our circumstances are the result of our own poor decisions. I think God allows us to go through the hassles that come with poor decisions.
But sometimes God lets us struggle through circumstances that have nothing to do with our personal decisions. The situation is forced on us.
So let me ask you a question: if God does not intervene in your circumstances, can you still trust Him to look after your best interests? I hope so. It’s not always easy, I know. But you have to understand that God is still God even when He seems to be silent in your circumstances.
Do pray for God to work in your circumstances, and in you through them.
Next, ask God to work…
In others.
Pray that God would intervene in the lives of other people. Pray for their physical and spiritual health.
You know, it’s pretty easy to pray for people who are sick or injured. I’ve also found that it’s easy to pray for people who you think God needs to work in in other ways.
I think you know what I mean. We see something in somebody’s life that we think needs to be changed. I’m not talking about things such as a deepening of their devotional life and a greater understanding of the Word of God.
We need to pray about these things, to be sure. But I what I mean here is when we pray about someone else’s flaws, especially when we’re not willing to take the plank out of our own eye, if you know what I mean.
We pray, “Lord, please help Helga Smith’s gossip problem. Just the other day I was telling her about how Freda Jones was a go-go dancer before she became a Christian, and don’t you know, SHE brings up something nasty about my best friend, Diane. Would you please do something about her gossiping?”
Folks, we need to pray about such things, but remember to pray for their good, not your benefit.
Pray for the sick, that God would heal them. Pray for the lonely, that God would bring people to them to encourage and love them. Pray for those who are struggling with sin. Pray for those who are raising young kids. Pray for those raising teenagers. Pray for your students and the school they attend. Pray for the poor you know.
By the way, be ready. Sometimes God calls you to be the person He uses in helping the people you are praying for.
Pray for the people needing the ambulance that just went by your house or while you were driving.
Pray for others.
Oh yeah, and another thing: Pray for those who mistreat you.
“You’ve got to be kidding, Preacher!” No, I’m not. If you want God to act in the lives of those who mistreat you, you need to pray for them!
Ask God to bless them, and to help them grow in Christlikeness. And if they don’t have Christ as their Savior, pray that God will reveal Himself to them.
So: pray that God will work in you, that He would work in your circumstances, that He would work in others, and then we need to pray…
Most of all – THY WILL BE DONE!!
This is easy to say, but not always easy to really trust in our hearts to happen.
When it comes right down to it, folks, God’s will will be done. When we pray for God’s will to be done, what we’re really saying is that we’re submitting ourselves to whatever God has in mind.
I would love for us to avoid war with Iraq. I would prefer that we never had to deal with dictators such as Saddam Hussein.
And so I pray for that. But I also pray that God’s will would be done. If that means going to war, then God’s will be done.
When Debra and I were expecting children, we prayed that God would bring us healthy babies. But it was God’s will that two of them would go to heaven ahead of us.
I don’t always understand God’s will, but I know that God knows what He’s doing.
Listen to what God says in Isaiah 55:8-9:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
We have to believe that God is in control. If we cannot believe that, then we’ll never have the kind of faith we need to ask and trust.
Let’s move on. Next, I want to help you…
5. Understand barriers to answered prayer:
Unforgiveness of others
Harsh treatment of wife
Wrong motives
Lack of faith
Lack of persistence
Lack of action
Unconfessed sin
Keep in mind…
Prayer is not a formula, it is a relationship.
God wants to meet with you, and He treasures the time with you.
God’s answer is not always yes. Understand that sometimes God answers prayer with “No,” and “Not Yet.” Sometimes He answers “Yes” in a way we don’t expect (or even like!).
Don’t be afraid to ask for miracles! You are a child of the almighty God – ask BIG!!
Conclusion
These two messages have been designed specifically at giving you some practical help in developing your prayer life.
I didn’t spend a lot of time discussing theology about prayer, except where it helped in understanding the need to become authentic in our praying.
So in closing I just want to encourage you to pray. It’s that simple. Pray.
Don’t try to find the time – you’ll never find the time. You need to make the time.
If you want a real, authentic relationship with God, you need to pray. Schedule it on your daily calendar if you have to, but do it.
If you want a life and lifestyle that makes other people thirsty for the things of God, you need to pray.
If you want to avoid being a hypocrite, or someone who makes a lot of good talk but has a lousy walk with God, you need to pray.
And if you want to impact your family, friends, neighbors, city, society, and nation for Christ, then you need to pray.
Prayer is there for us. God knows we need it. And so He made it possible. Don’t miss out. He’s waiting.
Let’s pray now. And in praying, I would like us to pray together the Lord’s prayer. And we will use the word trespass instead of debtor today, okay?
Let’s stand and pray together.
