Getting Serious About Prayer
Jeremiah 33:3
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, Mo
Do you believe in prayer? Really believe in prayer. This is how one lady came to believe. This supposedly true story started this way:
One summer Saturday morning, a preacher had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. He coaxed, offered warm milk, and anything he could think of. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not sturdy enough to climb, so the pastor decided to pull the branch down so he could reach the kitten.
He couldn’t pull it by hand so he threw a rope over a high branch of the tree and tied a rope to his car. He slowly drove the car away from the tree. He watched his progress carefully, waiting for just the right time when the tree would be bent over far enough that he could reach the cat or it would jump on its own. He drove farther and farther away. The tree bent further and further toward the ground.
Then it happened. The unexpected! Boooiiinning!! The rope broke; the tree flipped back in the opposite direction and one little kitten went sailing out of sight. Not being a “cat person” that would where the story would end if it had been me. The pastor felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they’d seen a little kitten. No. Nobody had seen either a stray cat or flying kitten. Finally, he gave up and put it out of his mind.
Monday morning, the preacher was at the grocery store and met one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. Now this woman made no secret of her dislike for cats. So cat food was the last thing he expected to see her buying. “Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?” She replied, “You won’t believe this . . .” and then she proceeded to tell her story.
Her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the mom finally told her little girl, “Well, if God gives you a cat, I’ll let you keep it.” She told her minister, “That was last Saturday. I watched my little girl go out in the yard, get on her knees and ask God for a cat. And really, Pastor, I wouldn’t have believed this if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. Just as she finished praying, a kitten suddenly came flying out of the sky, paws spread out, meowing to high heavens. It landed on all fours right in front of her. That’s why I am buying cat food!”
Do you believe in prayer? Do we believe in prayer? I know the answer is yes. But I also suspect that the practice of our faith regarding prayer can be a lot more than it is. This is the purpose of our evening studies together. I want us individually and collectively to be the kind of praying people and praying church that are more surprised when God doesn’t answer our prayers than we are when he does.
My core conviction is this: many things are important to the victorious Christian life. A few are absolutely essential. One of those items that we dare neglect is prayer. S. D. Gordon was right when he wrote, “The great people of the earth today are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer, nor those who believe in prayer, nor yet those who can explain about prayer, but I mean those people who take time to pray.”
Consider our text: Jeremiah lived about 600 years before Jesus. Jerusalem had fallen. Exiles had been taken away to Babylon. Jeremiah’s task was to keep calling the nation to repent and trust God despite the discouragement. His call to repentance was met by resistance. Others said he ought to be more positive. God will deliver us; we are his people, the false prophets said. Jeremiah kept saying, no he won’t unless you turn to him. They advised their leaders to make political alliances and military deals in order to solve their own problems. Jeremiah kept saying, their strength was in God not chariots and they needed to get serious about seeking the Lord and his will. He was imprisoned, ridiculed, harassed, and finally tossed in the mud of a cistern and left to die. This particular chapter is part of a promise that God would one day restore and renew the nation, despite how dark things looked right now.
A few chapters earlier is one of the most beautiful passages in all of Jeremiah. It reveals much about the heart of the God to whom we pray. Let’s read it against the background of our text: (Jer 29:4-13 NIV) This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: {5} "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. {6} Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. {7} Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." {8} Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. {9} They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them," declares the LORD. {10} This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. {11} For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. {12} Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. {13} You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Then comes our text – a powerful promise of pray. It is the Lord who is speaking and issuing the promise. The verse, Jeremiah 33:3, divides into three parts. Let’s examine them in order:
1. The Command: “call to me . . .” Note clearly that prayer is a command. It is not an option. It is not a suggestion. It is a command. “Call to me.” (1 Chr 16:11 NIV) Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. (Mat 7:7 NIV) "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Three times in his final night’s instructions to his disciples before the cross Jesus calls them to claim the promise of prayer: (John 14:13-14 NIV) And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. {14} You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 15:7-8 NIV) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. {8} This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 16:23-24 NIV) In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. {24} Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
Why are we commanded to pray. It seems so self-evident. Certainly prayer is good. There are blessings to be received. Why would anyone neglect prayer? Why do we?
Three reasons:
We get discouraged. We know in heart that God promises to answer our prayers, but we don’t feel like it. Jeremiah and the people of his day knew all of the promises, but the reality that surrounded them was so much more powerful than the promise of prayer. We think that prayer is all about getting our wants or needs satisfied. When that doesn’t happen on our time table we become discouraged. Prayer is not primarily about that. It is all about developing a relationship with the heavenly Father that seeks his will and then glorifies him regardless of what happens.
Secondly, sin keeps us from praying. Isaiah knew this: (Isa 59:1-2 NIV) Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. {2} But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Sin was what led Adam and Eve to hide from God rather than seek him in the midst of the Garden (Gen. 3).
A third reason for prayerlessness is simple unbelief. In our day, our unbelief often comes in the form three familiar “isms.” Secularism—the view that life can be divided into neat little pockets, that parts of life has no need or place for God. We put our faith in one and other parts of our lives in other pockets. We convince ourselves that prayer is for Sundays, but has little impact on the other six days of the week. We are under great pressure in our day to so interpret life. Secularism is a from of unbelief. Jesus is either Lord of all or he is not Lord at all.
A second common “ism” is humanism. This is the belief that man is the savior of his own condition. If I can’t solve my problems myself, then no one can. Humanism believes that prayer is weakness. We ought to work out our own problems, not expect God to deliver us. Sound familiar or tempting. It is all around us. That is why God must command us to prayer. So much of our world sees it as a last resort rather than our first resort to a God eager to hear and answer.
The third “ism” of unbelief is skepticism. We doubt that God cares. On one hand some of us are tempted to doubt his power, but more are tempted to doubt his goodness. Does he really care that much about our plight, our illnesses, our burdens? The Bible says he does. Our world says he doesn’t. He is too busy or too big or too important to care about us, so we are told. What do you think? This is why we must be commanded to prayer.
2. The second part of the verse is the promise: “and I will answer you.” At the foundation of our text and of our most basic understanding of prayer is the objective, real, response of the Living God to our prayers. John Wesley hit the heart of the Bible’s teaching on prayer: “God will do nothing but in answer to prayer.”
We will deal with this more in later studies. But let it be understood here that our world is wrong when it thinks of prayer in terms of auto-suggestion, self-hypnosis, getting in touch with your inner strength, or some sort of psychological placebo that makes you feel better even though nothing real happens. Prayer is not simply meditation on higher thoughts, self-counseling, or releasing some innate human potential. Prayer is verbal communication with the Living God, who hears and answers. Earth prays; heaven responds. Faith calls; God answers.
This is exactly what Jeremiah had promised: (Jer 29:13 NIV) You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. John would later insist: (1 John 5:14-15 NIV) This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. {15} And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.
3. This naturally leads to the third part of our text—the results: and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ What are the limits to prayers potential? What is too big or too difficult or too small or too insignificant for our God?
Nothing? Well there might be one exception. Did you hear about the man who was walking along a California beach praying. “Lord, you have promised to give me the desires of my heart. That’s what I am asking you for right now. Please give me a confirmation that you will grant my wish.”
Suddenly the sky clouded up and booming voice from heaven spoke, “I have searched your heart and determined it to be pure. The last time I issued a blank wish request it was to Solomon. He didn’t disappoint me with his request for wisdom. I think I can trust that you won’t disappoint me either. I will grant you one wish you ask for.”
The man sat and thought about it for a while and said, “I’ve always wanted to go to Hawaii, but I’m deadly afraid of flying and I get very seasick on a boat. Could you build a bridge to Hawaii, so I can drive over there to visit whenever I want?”
The Lord laughed and said, “Do you realize what you asking? Think of the logistics of that? How would the supports ever reach the bottom of the Pacific? Think of how much concrete . . . how much steel! Besides your request is very materialistic, very disappointing. I could do it, but it’s hard for me to justify your craving for such a worldly thing. Take a little more time and think of another wish, a wish you think would honor and glorify me as well.”
The man thought about it for a long while and tried to think of a really good wish. Finally, he said, “Here’s the deal, Lord. I’ve been married and divorced four times. My wives always said that I don’t care that I’m insensitive. So I wish I could understand women . . . I want to know how they feel inside and what they’re thinking when they give me the silent treatment . . . why they cry so easily . . . I want to know how to make them truly happy . . . that’s the wish that I want, Lord. I want to understand women!”
After a few minutes, God responded, “You want two lanes or four lanes on that bridge?”
Seriously, the promise of prayer is without limit because our God is without limit. Re- member these powerful words from Ephesians 3: (Eph 3:20-21 NIV) Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, {21} to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!
What great and impossible things are you willing to call upon the Lord for? We can—God calls us to—pray for changed lives, the salvation of the lost, of our friends and loved ones. We can pray for revival to be ignited in our church and our community. We can pray that the whole atmosphere of this town become one of God consciousness and faith. We can pray for our faith to be strengthened, for problems to be overcome, for the sick to be healed and enjoy health in gratitude before God. We can pray for directions and wise decisions. We can call for the empowerment and filling of the Holy Spirit in our lives and daily experience. You can’t guess what God may want to do. He delights in surprising you and delighting you!
Conclusion: (Jer 33:3 NIV) ’Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’
R. A. Torrey, a fellow evangelist of Dwight L. Moody put is this way: Praying will do more to make the church what it ought to be than anything else we can do. Prayer will do more to root out heresy than all the heresy trials every held. Prayer will do more to straighten out tangles and misunderstandings and unhappy complications in the life of a church than all the counsels and conferences ever held. Prayer will do more to bring a deep and lasting and sweeping revival, a revival that is real and lasting and altogether of the right sort, than all the organizations ever devised by man.”
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
