You’re The Answer To Someone’s Prayer!

MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER

RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK

TEXT: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Luke 22:42; Romans 8:28

ILL. I heard a story recently about a missionary in Africa, named William Chalmers, who was approached by two tribal chieftains. For more than a year they had been hearing about Chalmers & his God & the changes that had occurred in the villages which had welcomed him.

Impressed by it all, they had come to invite him to their villages also. Sadly, Chalmers told them that because of commitments he had already made that he would be unable to go back with them to their villages. They then asked for any Christian teachers he could send. Once again he had to tell them that he had no one to send.

As a result, the two chieftains remained there with Chalmers for 2 weeks, observing what life was like in what was now a predominantly Christian village. They were particularly curious about his custom of daily praying to God – not as a God to be feared & whose anger had to be appeased, but as a God to be loved & thanked for His protection, for providing what is needed, & for His guidance.

Then the chieftains went home, after urging Chalmers to come as soon as he could. Nearly 2 years passed before Chalmers could arrange to go as he had promised. It was early in the morning when he arrived at the first village & found the villagers on their knees in perfect silence. They were not making a sound!

Mystified by this, Chalmers asked the chief what they were doing. "We are praying to your God," he replied. “But you’re not saying anything.”

"We do not know what to say, but for nearly two years we have met here praying & waiting for someone to come & teach us what to say."

(Adapted from Guy Mcgraw on Sermon Central)

A. Now how about us? Do we know how to pray? Well, of course we do! Or do we? For example, how do we pray for Christians who are going through difficulties in life? The natural response when we see someone who is sick, or going through tough times, or family difficulties is to say, "We'll pray for you."

But have you ever found yourself wondering, “What is the best thing to pray for in this situation?” Sometimes it is hard to know just what to pray. And doubts can arise when we pray earnestly, & we don’t get the answers that we want.

Sometimes we pray for people who are sick, & they don’t get better. Or we pray for a marriage to be healed, & the couple gets a divorce. Or we pray for a couple to have a healthy child, & a handicapped child is born. I can't give you any easy answers as to why this happens.

B. But what I don’t know about prayer doesn't discourage me, because the way I've seen prayers answered, & the way lives have been changed as a result of prayer, gives me so much encouragement that I'm absolutely convinced the most important thing we can do in times of difficulty is to pray.

Prayer puts us in touch with God. And it’s important for us to come to God & express our needs & the deepest longings of our hearts.

C. So with that in mind, look with me at 2 Cor. 12:7-10 where the Apostle Paul speaks about his "thorn in the flesh."

He says, "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

“That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Now here is the situation: Paul had just had an amazing spiritual experience. But there is a danger in spiritual experiences. And that is of becoming conceited, of beginning to think that you’re more spiritual or important than anybody else.

So the Bible tells us that God gives Paul what he calls a "thorn in the flesh." We don't know what it was, but it was something that caused Paul physical pain & anguish. In fact, it was so bad that 3 times Paul prays for God to take it away. And 3 times God answers, "No."

Then He tells Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect (or obvious) in weakness." So Paul learns the lesson & accepts the grace of God & recognizes that it is sufficient to see him through.