Praying That Sustains Transformation

Aligning our lives with God’s Eternal Purpose

We will become fully formed followers of Jesus who live intentionally seeking to share Jesus and invite others to join us in becoming fully formed followers of Jesus.

A personal confession (which isn’t much of a surprise): I often begin projects that never quite seem to finish.

No excuses. However, I serve a God who always finishes what He begins!

As we ‘finish’ this series of messages I want to challenge us - including myself- to think biblically about the role of prayer is beginning and sustaining the transformations I believe mark a fully formed follower of Jesus.

Transformations:

Transformed Heart

Transformed Mind

Transformed Affections

Transformed Will

Transformed Relationships

Transformed Purpose

Matthew 7:7–11 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. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

In the original language of the NT the verbs Jesus uses: ask, seek, knock, are in a form which means they are to be done continuously - without ceasing.

I want to share a few important truths from this text and then invite you to join me this summer in a new pattern of praying.

There are two important underlying truths Jesus states:

God Wants to Give More Than We Want to Ask

Matthew 7:9–11 HCSB

What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

The capacity of God is unlimited. Paul explained this promise like this:

Ephesians 3:20 HCSB

Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us—

God’s Answers Always Align with His Kingdom Purposes

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, notes this in his personal journal:

The end (goal) of your prayer is not to inform God…but rather to inform yourselves; to fix the sense of those wants more deeply in your hearts, and the sense of your continued dependence on Him who only is able to supply all your wants. [Prayer] is not so much to move God who is always more ready to give than you to ask, as to move yourselves, that you may be willing and ready to receive the good things He has prepared for you.

Quoted by Rev. Dr. Andrew J. Taylor, ‘Light the Fire Again: Daily Prayers for the Next Great Awakening (unpublished paper version), p. 51.

God’s purposes will not be thwarted. You and I have been invited to join Him in His work. We have been called and equipped to participate in His global purpose of making Himself known to the ends of the earth.

If we choose not to participate, His purpose will not be thwarted.

Answer Every Ask

The promise Jesus makes here - and elsewhere - is that God answers prayer.

Even Jesus knew the frustration of unanswered prayer.

When He asked God to remove the cup of suffering He was about to experience, God’s answer was - No. It was for that veery purpose God sent Jesus!

Most of the time when we feel that our prayers are unanswered it is not because God hasn’t spoken. We feel that we have the best answer, and until God’s answer lines up with ours, we conclude He is being silent.

Paul prayed for a ‘thorn’ in his flesh to be removed on at least 3 occasions. Finally, God answered and said, No. Rather than remove this ‘thorn’ Paul was given a deeper appreciation of God’s grace and power.

Reward Every Search

The case of Hannah from 1 Samuel is a powerful illustration of this truth.

If Hannah’s prayer for a son had been answered at the time she set for herself, the nation might never have known the mighty man of God it found in Samuel. Hannah wanted only a son, but God wanted more. He wanted a prophet, a ruler, and a saviour for His people. Some one has said that in this instance “God had to get a woman before He could get a man”. This woman He got in Hannah precisely by delaying the answer to her prayer, for out of the discipline of those weeks and months and years there came a woman with a vision like God’s, with tempered soul and gentle spirit and seasoned will, prepared to be the kind of a mother for the kind of a man God knew the nation needed.

James Hastings, The Christian Doctrine of Prayer (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1915), 340.

Hannah’s constant striving and searching was rewarded - though not in the timely fashion she had hoped.

Open Every Door

Paul asked at least one of the churches he planted to pray with him.:12-13The follow up could be Philippians 1:12-13

Philippians 1:12–13 HCSB

Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the advance of the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is in the cause of Christ.

REFLECT AND RESPOND

So, what kind of prayer sustains the transformation we all seek to experience?

I know I’ve pointed to many passages this morning, but let me call attention to one more that I believe speaks to our church in our present circumstance:

Acts 4:23–30 HCSB

After they were released, they went to their own people and reported everything the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they all raised their voices to God and said, “Master, You are the One who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them. You said through the Holy Spirit, by the mouth of our father David Your servant: Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers assembled together against the Lord and against His Messiah. “For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that Your slaves may speak Your message with complete boldness, while You stretch out Your hand for healing, signs, and wonders to be performed through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

This may be the longest prayer recorded in Luke’s account of the birth of the church we call ‘Acts.’

By the way, the birth of the church was while God’s people were in a prayer meeting - not listening to a message, not while studying a passage of Scripture - but while they were praying.

What can we learn about praying for transformation in this prayer that can give shape to our prayer life this summer?

a). this prayer is saturated with Scripture.

They quoted from Psalm 2, but almost every phrase in the prayer is rooted in OT words and phrases.

I’m speaking in August from John’s gospel. I intend to read it is many times as I can between now and August. I also intend to copy the Gospel of John - verse by verse, - by hand into a small notebook.Will you this summer agree with me to devote more than a normal amount of time to simply reading God’s Word?

this prayer is the result of an ongoing meeting devoted to prayer

What do you imagine believers did when they saw Peter and John arrested (Acts 4:1-2)?

Write letters to their representatives? Make posters demanding the release of Peter and John? Seek out influential political and social leaders to intervene?

No - they gathered and prayed.

When I return from my trip to New Orleans I intend to share a schedule of prayer times - some in person, some via Facebook, and so on.

Will you commit with me to join one another as often as possible to pray together?

this prayer actively seeks the power of God to be displayed

They didn’t name names, but everyone in that gathering knew from whom the threats came.

Later this month I will share with you a resource called ‘Bless Every Home’

(www.blesseveryhome.com)

that will enable you to pray for a specific number of neighbors BY NAME.

I hope you will join me in this endeavor this summer.

In the meantime, let me suggest that we often are not bold enough in our prayers.

God desperately wants to answer us…are we willing to get desperate enough to ask?