Teach Us to Pray Privately II

This is an area I would like to tread lightly on. I do not want you to think that this makes God less powerful or less “all knowing” because He would change His mind. Facts are facts. If God knows all things before even one thing came into existence, then He would also know that you would ask him to adjust a situation for your desired outcome given He already knows what you will pray before you do.

I don’t know the intelligence behind streaming live services, the technology behind self operating vehicles, or even the ingredients to make pecan pie. But I also do not need to understand those things in order to enjoy them.

the same is true of God’s will being changed. All I know is that He is able to do whatever He wants to do. But that also means He has the power to do whatever He wants to do and so we should petition Him regarding prayer.

There are a few places we see this happening in the Bible

King Hezekiah

2 Kings 20:1 HCSB

In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Put your affairs in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’ ”

2 Kings 20:5–6 HCSB

“Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of My people, ‘This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the Lord’s temple. I will add 15 years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for the sake of My servant David.’ ”

Moses spared the lives of Israel and His Brother Aaron after God said they would die for idolatry.

Deut 9:7-28

King David spared His people by repenting because God was going to destroy Jerusalem for His sin. 1 Ch. 2

These prayers were all done in private, with humility and selflessness.

Note: Hezekiah was a righteous man who loved God and looked to obey Him.

2 Kings 18:3; 5-7 “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel; not one of the kings of Judah was like him, either before him or after him. He remained faithful to Yahweh and did not turn from following Him but kept the commands the Lord had commanded Moses. The Lord was with him, and wherever he went he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.”

2 Kings 20:3 HCSB

“Please Lord, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly and have done what pleases You.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Application

James 5:16 HCSB

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

If we want to petition God in prayer we must position ourselves in righteousness.

A prayer like this is a prayer is pointed at the person of God not what He can provide.

Do you have prayer resentment? Sometimes God doesn’t move on our behalf, and when we don’t understand why it can create frustration and it can create resentment, and I know as Christians were not allowed to say that we’re not allowed to feel that, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t feel it even if we never say it and so I’m gonna say it. I’ve been , I’ve experienced firsthand Prayer resentment prayer resentment happens for a couple of reasons

1. We have unresolved sin in our lives. The blood of Christ has paid the penalty for all of my sins but if my heart longs for, seeks to protect, tries to minimize, or expect God to ignore sin, that I am unwilling to surrender my prayers will not be heard. If the lust of the eyes lust of the flesh and the pride of life for two great for me to want to surrender them, that I cannot expect God to move on my behalf. And that brings us back to the spiritual armor. The reason why I suit up with a breast plate of righteousness, a helmet of salvation, my feet, grounded, in the gospel, a belt of truth, and the sword of the spirit in my hand is so that I can wage war against the sin within me so that my prayer life can have an impact.

You’ve got to want God more than sin! You have got to want God more than in morality! You have got to want God’s favor and power to move in your life and open up the doors of righteousness more than you want to entertain and seek, and pursue the sins of this world. if you do not seek God above all of the things, your prayer life will not be heard and it is not his fault. It is yours, so resent yourself.

2. God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He does not always move in ways that we understand any more than a young child understands the value of learning a hard lesson from their parents at the time we shouldn’t question God‘s love or his motive we should trust his word that tells us he loves us, and he would die for us, and that he would give his life for us.

Private Prayer Changes Our Circumstances

This is where are are seeking the Lord to provide for us change to our situations.

God released Jonah fro the belly of a whale Jonah 2 .

Peter prayed and God raised a women back to life Acts 9 .

Elijah predicted a drought and God made it happen 1 King 17-18

Peter was in Prison when the chains literally fell off and an angel escorted him out Acts 12.

Argumentation

“God is not a lab rat”

Don’t get the idea that you can prove the power of prayer in a science fair demonstration. If you had a test group of 100 people praying for a certain situation you might come up with zilch. That doesn’t mean that God doesn’t answer prayers. It just means that he doesn’t want to be a part of your silly experiment. Faith plays a big part in prayer. If God’s actions could be predicted with the laws of probability, then prayer wouldn’t require much faith. God chooses, winning what he will do, and he wants you to believe in him, for who he is (not because you think he can be reduced to a mathematical equation or a scientific formula).

You might be praying for a

New job,

better relationships,

health problems,

family issues or

financial difficulties

These are the kinds of things that God specializes in, but he likes you to talk to him about them.

Illustration

I lay down on the gurney, and a nurse spread a thin blanket over me to keep me comfortable.

“You’ll have a short wait before we can do your ultrasound,” she said. She started an IV and then pulled a curtain around the little cubicle to give me some privacy. “Just try to relax until then.

When a recent colonoscopy had revealed a cancerous tumor, I wanted it out of my body as soon as possible. But the doctors first needed to develop a treatment plan based on the stage of the cancer. The endoscopic ultrasound that day would reveal how serious my condition was. What if the cancer had spread?

Covid restrictions had prevented my husband from keeping me company before my procedure. Once the nurse left, it was just me in that cubicle, all alone with my fears. And the Lord. Help me get through this, I prayed. And whatever comes next.

Worst-case scenarios ran through my head. What if surgery couldn’t help? What if there was nothing the doctors could do?

Then, out of nowhere, a feeling of peace descended. It settled over me like a blanket, covering me, smothering my fears. Looking down, I realized that my left hand was bunched up in an actual blanket—the one the nurse had spread over me.

I remembered a story in the Gospel of Matthew. The one about the ailing woman whose faith was so strong that she only had to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe to be healed

This must be what the hem of that robe felt like, I thought, rubbing the thin blanket.

The sensation of the fabric between my fingers calmed me and made the Lord feel even closer. By the time the nurse returned to take me to the procedure room for the ultrasound, I was ready to face whatever came next.

The ultrasound showed that my cancer had not spread. The tumor is gone now, removed by a surgeon. But I still remember the feel of that blanket in my hand and the peace it brought me.

Don’t get the idea that your problem is too big for God to handle and don’t think that he would consider your request trivial or insignificant.

Waiting for an answer to prayer is often part of the answer.

The greatest enemy to answered prayer is unbelief.

Warren W. Wiersbe

If something is important to you, then it’s important to God. Notice that Jesus doesn’t put any boundaries on the type of request that we can make to God:

Matthew 7:7 HCSB

“Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

Application

Do get frustrated if you are not getting the answer you want yet. Prayer puts you in the presence of The One who can calm any storm in your life. You can always find calm, peace and joy regardless of the circumstance.

God is wanting to be in the process of your life. Choosing to dwell with Him will change your approach to situations even if the situation doesn't change.

Transition statement

I may not be responsible for the situation I find myself in. But I am responsible my response. Pray centers my reaction to Jesus. Which leads us to the final point.

Private Prayer Changes Us

When you pray, it changes things but be prepared for prayer to change you. That is the best reason to pray.

James 4:8 (HCSB)

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

Illustration: The same way that VR sweeps you away from the reality of life, prayer immediately connects you to a whole new reality that only exists in the spiritual realm.

Prayer is an interruption of personal ambition.

Prayer is not

rubbing a genies lamp

making deposits into a spiritual bank to draw on later

it is not a religious experience.

Impressing God with vocabulary wizardry

Prayer is not the boiler room meeting where you sell your ideas to God through negotiations

The act of praying involves taking a break from pursuing personal goals.

If we are self-centered our prayers can reflect that. When we do the “Teach us to pray Powerfully” sermon, we’ll see how to overcome that.

Prayer is permission that God can search your heart and mind to refine our thinking, behavior and attitude towards the world and our circumstances

Psalm 139:23–24 HCSB

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.

IF we give God access to our personal lives this way he is going to engage us. We are not promised the same outcome if we just throw up a list of requests or have told God there are things off limits to him in our lives.

God is enthroned in heaven. How do I reach God from down here if He’s up there?

Hebrews 4:16 HCSB

Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.

Picture a large door between us and God. we can come boldly, but if there is a door how do you gain access? The twist is the the door is not to the King’s castle wall allowing you access to Him the wall is in your heart that gives Him access to you.

God wants all of us to have access to Him. He loved us so much that he died and came back to life just to have a relationship with you. If your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling or the door then its becasue you have not opened it to him.

Why do I close the door on God. Because of Sin. Many people feel they just pray words and they travel to God’s ears but that is not what the Bible teaches us.

Proverbs 15:29 HCSB

The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.

James 4:6–7 HCSB

But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.

John 9:31 HCSB

We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He listens to him.

How does a sinful person approach a holy God? There is only one way. Repentance Rom 3:22

Romans 3:22 HCSB

—that is, God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe, since there is no distinction.

When you repent of your sins and seek God’s forgiveness through Jesus’ death and resurrection you are washed clean of your sins and your heart is can be opened to receive Jesus

Revelation 3:20 HCSB

Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.

Application

My friend, God is patient to withhold His will of judgment with the hope that his forbearance would lead to repentance.

A prayer of repentance can change the will of God from allowing people to be damned for eternity due to their sins, and instead grant them grace and salvation.

God’s will is changed every-time salvation is extended. Yes, God knew you would repent but for you the truth is that you can go from a future of destruction to a life in personal fellowship, because of prayer.

What if God is using the difficult scenarios in your life to help you call out to Him?

That could also mean the quietness in your prayer life is because you are seeking sin instead of God.