BIG IDEA:
All believers can achieve better results in prayer by eliminating the following 4 roadblocks to prayer.
1. A disconnected relationship with God (prayerlessness). (John 15:7, James)
2. Unconfessed sin (Isaiah 59:2)
3. Broken relationships (Matthew 5:23-24, Mark 11:25, Hebr. 12:15, Romans 12:18, 1 Peter 3:7)
4. Inadequate Faith (James 1:5-8)
INTRO:
My friend Terry Krueger has a troublesome problem with his cell phone. He tells me he can be sitting in one place talking on the phone, when all of a sudden the signal is broken. He says he can even be sitting completely motionless (for fear that it will cut out) and WHAM something happens and he is disconnected.
Those of you who are electrical engineers could probably explain exactly what is going on and how to fix it. But for most of us, we simply know it is frustrating. Here we have this great cell phone with all these great features – but if the signal gets disconnected absolutely NO communication happens.
For the last 2 weeks we’ve been talking about how prayer is our direct mode of communication with God. 2 weeks ago we learned how God promises in his word that we could have many benefits in our lives if we would pray. Then last week we studied Matthew 6 and discovered 7 different keys for praying effectively, according to Jesus.
But if we are honest, we recognize that even though “the advertisement” promised some pretty great things, and we might even use all of Jesus’ instructions on how to pray, sometimes the signal seems to be cut off. What is supposed to be a 2-way communication mode turns into a one way conversation into a dead phone.
Today I want to talk about that. Why does this happen? What are the causes of the “prayer signal” getting broken as we try and communicate with God?
The Bible gives us some great answers to explain this dilemma, as well as giving us knowledge about how to keep the communication flowing in our prayer life.
1. A disconnected relationship with God. (John 15:5-7)
John 15:5-7 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”
This passage is full of “ifs”.
IF you are living a life where you are working at staying connected with Christ (you are reading the Bible, you are obeying what you know the Bible commands, you are living a 24/7 life of keeping in step with the Spirit) THEN you can expect your prayers to be answered.
But on the other hand – this teaches that IF you’re not getting any answers to your prayers – if it seems you’ve been disconnected in your communication line with God – THEN perhaps the place to look is whether or not you’ve been “remaining” (other versions say “abiding”) in Christ.
ILLUS: We don’t use our cell phone all that much and because of that we often forget where it is. We’ll be scurrying around trying to find it – and then when we do, we discover that we left it on days ago, and of course by now the power is gone.
One thing is certain – a cell phone that is never plugged into the power will never work as a communication device. In the same way, a relationship with God that is never cultivated through time “abiding” together will never work, either.
2. Unconfessed sin (Isaiah 59:1-3, 1:15-18)
You may have been taught that no matter where we are or what we’ve been doing, God hears our prayers. It may shock you to hear that God says in his word that there are times that he will not listen to our prayers, even though we earnestly bring them before him.
Is. 1:15-17a When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!
Is. 59:1-3 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things.
Oh yes – God always hears our prayers. But he will not listen to the prayers of people who are involved in willful disobedience against him who then come and ask for his “Blessing” on their life.
These passages of scripture were written to God’s people – not to pagans! Though they knew better, they were indulging in all sorts of pagan idol worship, with all the “blood” of those sacrifices on their hands. And then these same people would come to God and seek his favor for their life, protection for their nation against foreign enemies. And God says “do you really expect me to listen to you when you’ve been choosing to disobey me all this time!”
If the signal between you and God seems to have been cut off, maybe this is the reason. Perhaps there are areas in your life that you have failed to surrender to His lordship. You know what God’s word says, but you’re choosing not to obey Him. WARNING: when you live like this, you are setting yourself up for judgment in your life, even as the people of Judah were condemned to judgment for their willful sin.
When you’ve been wandering from him – choosing to sin instead of obey Him – there is ONE prayer that God WILL listen to, however. It is the prayer of repentance. It is the prayer that says “I’m sorry God. In fact I’m so sorry about it that I’m going to DO something about it. I’m going to turn away from that sin and make a change. No matter how hard it is or what it costs me.”
3. Broken relationships (Matthew 5:23-24, Mark 11:25, Romans 12:18)
Matt. 5:23-24 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Mark 11:25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
As Jesus taught in the “model prayer” we studied last week, forgiving other people who have hurt us, and asking for forgiveness when we have hurt others, is a major key to keeping our communication “bars” up.
Here in Matthew 5 we get the idea that it really is more important to God that you and I be right with other people than for us to come and bring our worship before him. That’s because broken relationships usually stay broken for a couple of reasons:
1 – we are too prideful to admit our own shortcomings and ask for forgiveness
2 – the other person is too prideful, and we refuse to forgive them unless they come and ASK for forgiveness and admit their wrongdoing.
When we are too prideful to admit we were wrong, we place ourselves in opposition to God (James 4:6 …“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”) And if we put ourselves in opposition to God – we shouldn’t be surprised that our communication with him gets disconnected.
On the other hand, when we refuse to forgive others, we demonstrate to God that we have forgotten all that he has forgiven us. Jesus once told a powerful story about a man who owed someone millions of dollars, but when he pleaded for mercy, his debt was cancelled. Then this same man went out from there and found a man who owed him a few dollars, and he demanded payment and threw that guy in jail until the debt could be paid off.
Then, when the man who forgave the huge debt heard about this, he had this man imprisoned and tortured until every penny was paid back. (Matt. 18:23-34)
The punchline: Matt. 18:35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
When we fail to forgive others who hurt us, we are forgetting that God has already forgiven us so much more than we are asked to forgive.
As we can clearly see, God takes the issue of forgiveness very seriously. If we hope to have clear lines of communication with him, we need to be sure we don’t allow unforgiveness to fester in our hearts.
Rom. 12:18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Here we see that it is each of our responsibility to do whatever we can to bring restoration in broken relationships, but it will not always be possible. Because relationships necessarily take two people – you cannot ultimately control how the story ends when a relationship gets broken. But if we want to enjoy a powerful prayer life, we’ve got to make sure we’ve done everything possible on our side of the equation.
TRANS: So far we’ve identified 3 “signal breakers” in our communication with God: 1. a disconnected relationship with God, 2. unconfessed sin, and 3. broken relationships. There is at least one more identified clearly in scripture.
4. Inadequate Faith (James 1:5-8, Mark 11:22-24)
James 1:5-8 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
God longs to give wisdom and to provide for the needs of his children. And he wants us to ask for what we need. But if we ask him, and then immediately begin doubting if he really will answer – James tells us we shouldn’t expect to receive anything from God at all!
ILLUS: When her husband, Edmund Gravely, died at the controls of his small plane while on the way to Statesboro, GA, from the Rocky Mount-Wilson airport, NC, his wife Janice kept the plane aloft for two hours until it ran out of fuel. During this time she sang hymns and prayed for help. As the plane crossed the South Carolina-North Carolina border, she radioed for help: "Help, help, won’t someone help me? My pilot is unconscious. Won’t somebody help me?" Authorities who picked up her distress signal were not able to reach her by radio during the flight. Why? Because she kept changing channels. Mrs. Gravely finally made a rough landing and crawled for 45 minutes to a farmhouse for help.
How often we cry out for help to God, but switch channels before God’s reply comes through. When the answer doesn’t come immediately, how quickly we begin doubting and “change channels” - turning to other sources for help. When you cry out to God for His intervention, don’t switch channels!
Mark 11:22-24 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Can I be honest with you? I’ve always had difficulty with these verses. I don’t like them because they make me feel like my faith must be even smaller than a mustard seed – because I don’t command the type of authority Jesus seems to be talking about here.
But how do we solve this problem of inadequate faith? One answer is found in the story of a man whose son was possessed by a demon that would make him convulse and try to throw him in the fire. When the disciples were not able to help him, Jesus requested the boy be brought before him.
Mark 9:20-24 So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
“I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” If ever a more honest prayer were prayed, I’m not sure where it is found. That’s a prayer I can identify with. It’s a prayer I pray for myself, and for our church.
The way we deal with inadequate faith is to EXERCISE FAITH. Faith is like a muscle. When it is used, it will grow stronger. When it is not used, it atrophies.
May God increase our faith to pray for and expect miraculous things to happen! May our doubts be cast off, and may we pray with simple expectation like a child.
CONCLUSION:
What’s your signal level? Have you got “four bars” or two, or one?
Our cell phone, like many others, has a dead spot as we go through Deception Pass. If I’m driving and I want to use my phone I know what I need to do – I need to keep driving and get out of that “dead zone”.
If you feel your signal level in the communication you have with God is lower than you desire, perhaps you need to get out of a dead zone, too.
1. Spend time abiding with Christ and reading God’s word
2. Repent of unconfessed sin
3. Do what you can to restore broken relationships
4. Exercise your faith
