EFFECTIVE AND FERVENT PRAYER
Adapted from - LET THESE BE OUR PRAYERS
Sermon Central – 09.17.06
2Thessalonians 1:11-12
San Raphael, Prieto Diaz
Sorsogon
INTRODUCTION
My wife and I were married in 1971 and there was a popular country song entitled “I never promised you a Rose Garden”… Being married has had it’s challenges and likewise living a Christian life is not a “bed of roses.” We are not exempt from troubles and trials in our journey, as Christian.
1. Difficult people
2. Health problems
3. Circumstances beyond our control
One thing I have learned (over and over) is that every problem I have had to face has passed through God’s hands and has this purpose:
To bring us to the end of trying to rely on our own resources, and to rely exclusively on God’s riches.
The Apostle Paul stated this truth in a letter to the church at Thessalonica.
Text: II Thes. 1:11 - 12
Paul (no doubt) was a prayer warrior in that he was “always praying”. It’s almost too hard to believe that a person could live their life in continuous prayer for someone else…
Perhaps this is an area in which our church is missing it.
These final days we are living in are short, difficult and uncertain. I’ve spoken with many pastors from all over this part of the country and every one of them are very concerned with what they see happening.
In some cases the church is little more than a giant machine with all kinds of programs and merely performing in one church service after another. In the meantime, the day to day personal needs of the people are being overlooked by the individual people and the church at large.
I am hearing reports of churches becoming more and more relevant with the people while the need for being redeemed by the blood of the Lamb is neglected. Godly living may no longer be as important to the congregation as is tolerance and permissiveness. The liberal views of the world are replacing the Ten Commandments not just in our schools and court houses, but in our churches as well.
Why are these things happening? Because the church is forgetting how important prayer is to it’s people and the people of it’s community.
1. What is Prayer? PRAYER IS:
Faith Expressed with words straight from the heart.
PRAYER is - Making deliberate contact with God.
It is an Invaluable Discipline
It is also a whole host of other things such as,
1. outpouring of praise
2. confession of wrong
3. request for help
4. declaration of need
5. statement of thanks
6. intercession for others
• Through prayer, we draw near to God
• Prayer is the discipline of the mind and heart, and is seldom easy. 1Thes. 5:17 - We are urged to “pray without ceasing” – meaning we’re to have an attitude of prayer everyday of our lives.
2. Why Is Prayer Important?
• It refocuses our perspective
• It brings peace to our fears and anxieties.
• It transfer our burdens to God’s hands(Matt.11;28-29)
• It upholds our friends and loved ones who are in need.
In this chapter Paul:
1. expressed a thanksgiving for their faith (v.3)
2. acknowledged their perseverance/endurance (v.4)
3. reassured them that God is just (5-9)
4. encouraged them in the hope of the Lord’s coming (v.10)
In verses 11-12 he prayed for the people, and we can see the prayer life of Paul. Paul knew what he was doing so look closely with me.
Verse 11 says that we are to “always be worthy of the calling”
• Instead of asking to remove problems/hardships, Paul prayed that God would make us the kind of children He wants us to be.
• “Calling” here is meant, the ultimate glory for our lives. Ah-h-h- NO PRESSURE, PAUL…
• The prayer HERE IS that, by the sanctifying work of God through the Word and the Spirit and even through their trials, the people would live in a manner that was consistent with God’s calling on their lives.
• However, this passage doesn’t mean we don’t have to think about our sufferings or those of our families and friends. It just that we are going to have to trust God.
Verse 11 also tells us “to fulfill all of His goodness”
• our own goodness would not be good enough
• But we must pray that all good intentions that are of God should be accomplished
You see prayer is not primarily about us…it’s about Him!
As well, we need the “work of faith to be fulfilled with power”
• If we expect to see anything change through our prayers we will need to ask God to strengthen our faith in Him and give to us the ”power” to pray.
Note: Your faith to pray with power can only come from God.
The problem: We often pray with only our own strength, and not expecting God to give to us His power.
Hebrew 11: 1 talks about this kind of faith and says that it is the assurance of things we hope for, the evidence of things not seen”
• No matter how difficult our circumstances may be… it is in this process of prayer and faith that will build us stronger and, in the end, make our lives more blessed and enjoyable.
• May God enable us to experience the reality of our faith through effective prayer.
1. We want relief from our trials and tribulations, but God wants to grow and deepen our relationship with Him.
2. We may ask, “When will this be over?”; but God wants your testing to refine your Christian character and maturity.
3. We want to find a way out; but God wants to see us through.
James 5:16
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
I desire so greatly that our prayers are just that – “Effective” and “Fervent”. In the recent years Christians have been deceived by our society that you should and can have everything you want in life.
That sounds appealing but is not Biblical.
Prayer should be our humble approach to the Throne of God, but oftentimes Prayer has become a petition of demands and expectations (we have on God). It is easy to make prayer about ourselves, instead of God’s glory and His kingdom.
The phrase "believing in faith" (all too often) has become a matter "claiming in faith."
When this happens, our personal desires can be easily misunderstood with the sovereign will of God and the purposes He has for our lives. When we make selfish claims on what we expect from God we (in effect) interfere with God’s plans. Standing on the promises of the Lord is what we need to be doing…and not making demands on Him.
There really is an imbalance in how many people pray. We all need to exercise our faith and I truly want to see and experience the supernatural God has for us all. And when God’s people become ill, or have a need for their life, as a church we need to pray.
We need to be “Effective” and “Fervent” in our prayer. We need to petition the Lord for an answer. But here is what can easily happen. After a prayer is prayed, and time passes, there may not be an immediate or obvious answer to that prayer. One Bible Scholar put it this way:
“It has been determined that out of 667 prayers for specific things in the Bible there are 454 traceable answers.
That is roughly 2 out of 3 times…
Transiton:
God has His ways, but oftentimes we will grow weary of waiting and demand some answers from God. From that point, perhaps there are even isolated Bible verses used to support their insistence and demands that God must do something. Sometimes the cry from a person will frantically become a demand.
Unfortunately, what begins as a sincere desire to see God work His miracles becomes frustration. The final outcome is this – this attitude will prevent us from trusting in God’s care and His provision.
Only to make matters worse other overly zealous believers will make the comment, "You didn’t have enough faith." To make matters worse - Condemnation is then added to the other problems we already had…
Now we all have seen this happen at one time or another in our lives. The real problem that God has with all of this is that people will put their faith in faith (itself), rather than their faith in God.
This is contrary to what the Lord wants from us. God and God alone is to be the focus of our faith
So then – what is the answer?
How do we stay faithful in our prayers?
We must be willing to trust and believe in how and when God will answer the prayer, but at the same time we must experience a spirit of acceptance to God’s sovereign purposes.
This is not a “cop-out” from us stretching our faith.
We must pray in faith but we must be content to leave the results of that prayer with the sovereignty of God.
There really is two possibilities for extremes here:
1) That we shrink back from believing God for the supernatural–that is the full expectation that God is going to act;
2) That we cross over the line and impose our agenda on God.
All Christians must find a balance between aggressive faith and obedient compliance to His will.
CONCLUSION
Verse 12 really gives us the answer:
“That the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you…”
• Let us pray that we will fully live out our faith in the midst of all of our circumstances so that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified in us.
1. Christ’s reputation with your friends and loved ones is directly impacted by how you, as a believer, live.
2. We either exalt Him or we mock Him by how we live and through the choices we make and how we conduct ourselves.
• To glorify His name means that the person and the work of Christ is our focus while we give Him honor.
• Our needs and even our desires are important to God. Nevertheless, the glory of God is more important and must be the focus of our prayers.
• We must let Him live and move and have His being in us… especially while we are praying.
Real joy comes in seeing our prayers align with what God is working in our lives and in the world.
We must certainly_
• Abide in the word of God.
• Meet the Lord day by day, moment by moment, within your heart.
