The God who Listens
Notes
Transcript
Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
pray without ceasing,
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,
James 4:2 (ESV)
You do not have, because you do not ask.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Everyone in here who is a Christian says they believe in prayer, believes that if they prayed more things would be better, believes prayer is a key pathway to spiritual growth, growth of your loved ones, growth of your church, believe it’s a path to personal peace and contentment. What is your prayer life like?
Piper “One of the great uses of Social Media will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time
My Dearest Wormwood. . .how to bring him into this temptation, how to cause his anger, or lust, get him way from church, what to do when he starts living morally, what to do when he starts looking upward, how to handle his feelings about the war, off his knees..
Screwtape Letters in 2023 “Forget all else I said, just get them to download social media and the rest will take care of itself”
It is easier to avoid prayer than it has ever been before. You are capable now of being entertained from the moment you wake up to the moment you fall back asleep. You reach for your phone when you’re stuck at a redlight for those boring 14 seconds. What are you supposed to do? Think? (Me too)
Who knows how different the world would be, your heart, this church, your family if our prayer time matched our screen time.
The God who Listens
The God who Listens
Not a Deity who is distant, or one who must be cajoled into paying attention to humanity, the Jewish God, the Christian God, listens!
We know prayer is often difficult (Duty to Delight), but we are given many examples in Scripture of what prayer can and should be.
“Pour out your Soul” in Prayer
“Pour out your Soul” in Prayer
But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord.
Psalm 62:8 (ESV)
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
When you are Joyful, Angry, Jealous, Idolatrous, Thankful
Pray in RESPONSE to God
Pray in RESPONSE to God
Close your eyes and see if you can hear a voice like Morgan Freeman – HE HAS WRITTEN TO YOU, HE HAS SPOKEN, respond
“I wish God spoke to me like he spoke to Abraham and Moses and those guys” . . . HE HAS!
God decreed that the prophets would speak for Him, that once a prophet received God’s words, they could be written down and can be effectively read as God’s speech when the prophet is absent or after he is gone.
“Well we just need some more prophets!”
Hebrews 1:1–2 (ESV)
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son
You don’t need prophets anymore! God has and does express himself perfectly in Christ.
We long to hear like Abraham and Moses, when really, we have something far better than just that! Keller says we have “an incalculably clearer expression of God’s character.” You know God far better than Abraham did or Moses did, WHY? because God has said MUCH more to you.
God has always acted through his Words. “Let there be light” – Heb 4:12
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
He is acting no less through his Word in you still. – 1 Thess 2:13
And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.
The way to have God dynamically active in our lives is through the Bible. The Bible is the way to actually hear God speak and meet with God himself.
You want more variety in your prayers? Read God’s Word and know that it is Him speaking to you and let your heart respond.
Follow Paul’s Example - Ephesians 1:16-19, 3:16-19, Phillipians 1:3-11, Colossians 1:9-12
Follow Paul’s Example - Ephesians 1:16-19, 3:16-19, Phillipians 1:3-11, Colossians 1:9-12
I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
This is the way Paul prays for those he loved. Isn’t it crazy that Paul doesn’t pray for their circumstances to change. They lived in and were about to be in some of the worst persecution of the church, they faced oppression, disease…
Why do you think that is?
Both good AND bad circumstances can pull you to God or away from God.
Screwtape Letters – I have made him ill and poor! You fool! . . .
That doesn’t mean it’s wrong to ask for those things, Jesus says to pray “Deliver us from evil,” Paul tells them in 1 Timothy 2 to pray for peace, good government and the needs of the world, rather we just see what Paul asked for much more frequently, what was most important in his eyes that God could give them.
K.N.O.W.N.
Follow Christ’s Instruction
Follow Christ’s Instruction
The Lord’s Prayer may be the single set of words spoken more often than any other in the history of the world, yet is an untapped resource, partially because it is so familiar.
Christians in the second century prayed the Lord’s Prayer morning, mid-day, and evening
Pray and think through the Lord’s prayer, each line being massively deep
“Our Father, Who Art in Heaven”
Before we do anything, we are to first remember our situation and our standing in Christ. We can approach God as our Father because of Jesus. He who could say APPROACH ME AS JUDGE . . .
We are immediately reminded of the gospel upon entering prayer.
“Hallowed by Thy Name”
Hallowed means Holy and to be seen as Holy, Above, Separate, Different, Better, Transcendent – May your name be Holy to me and to all those you’ve given me
Thy Kingdom Come
In this, we ask God to extend His royal power over every part of our lives- emotions, desires, thoughts, commitments.
Thy Will Be Done
ML “Grant us grace to bear willingly all sorts of sicknesses, poverty, disgrace, suffering, and adversity and to recognize that in this your divine will is crucifying our will.”
We can only really say this if we truly believe that He is our Father.
When you were young and your dad was driving the car, you didn’t worry about if you’d make it to your destination
If we can’t say, “Thy will be done” from the bottom of our hearts, we will never know any peace. We will feel compelled to try to control people and control our environment and make things the way we believe they ought to be. Yet to control life like this is beyond our abilities.
The beginning of prayer is all about God
Adoration and Thanksgiving come first, why? It heals us of our self-centeredness
Give us This Day Our Daily Bread
“Daily Bread” is a metaphor for our daily needs, not luxuries.
If we were to begin prayer here, we would likely come in to it anxious and arrogant, telling God what has to happen today. Now, however, many things we would have otherwise worried and agonized over, we can now ask for without desperation.
Forgive Us Our Debts as We Forgive Our Debtors
This is a challenge to our pride, we must admit that we have debts and flaws.
Also, Jesus tightly links our relationship to God with our relationships with others. If we have not seen our sin and sought forgiveness from God, we will be unable to forgive and to seek the good of those who have wronged us.
So unresolved bitterness is a sign that we are not right with God. Woah.
It also means that if we are holding a grudge, that we should see the hypocrisy of seeking forgiveness from God for sins of our own.
Listen to this:
“If we retain feelings of hatred in our hearts, if we plot revenge and ponder any occasion to cause harm, and even if we do not try to get back into our enemies’ good graces in whatever way we can, by this prayer we entreat God not to forgive our sins.”
Lead Us Not Into Temptation
The way Jesus phrases it, He is asking for God’s help to not give into temptation.
Deliver us From Evil
Or Deliver us from the Evil One
“Lead us not into temptation” is really a call to deliver us from the evil within us, this one is really a call to deliver us from the evil outside of us.
For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory Forever
After descending into our needs, troubles, and limitations, we return to the truth of God’s complete sufficiency. We begin and end in this way. Here our hearts can end with tranquility in the remembrance that nothing can ever snatch away the Kingdom, power, and glory from our Heavenly, loving Father.
OUR Father, Give US our daily bread, Forgive US as WE forgive….
Keller closes by pointing this out and saying that we are to live the Christian life and to pray together, and that we cannot come to a full knowledge of God without doing so with other believers.
Let us pray, and live as Christians together, so that we may know Christ better together than we ever could know Him apart.
Pray Always in Jesus Name
Pray Always in Jesus Name
There is no right way to pray that will make sure God hears your prayers, In Jesus Name aren’t magic words like Abra Cadabra, the only way your prayers are ever heard is because of Christ.
To pray in Jesus name means to come to God in prayer trusting in Christ for our salvation and acceptance and not relying on our own credibility or record. It is, essentially, to reground our relationship with God in the saving work of Jesus over and over again.”
Preacher R.A. Torrey was about to speak in Australia one day when he was handed a note before he walked onto stage that asked him to address the problem of unanswered prayer.
Dear Dr. Torrey: I am in great perplexity. I have been praying for a long time for something that I am confident is according to God’s will, but I do not get it. I have been a member of the Presbyterian Church for thirty years, and I have tried to be a consistent one all the time. I have been Superintendent in the Sunday school for 25 years, and an elder in the church for 20 years; and yet God does not answer my prayer and I cannot understand it. Can you explain it to me?”
“This man thinks that because he has been a consistent church member for 30 years, a faithful Sunday school superintendent for 25 years, and an elder in the church for 20 years, that God is under obligation to answer His prayer. He is really praying in his own name.”
Often we go to God because we have been good that day or that week and think he will listen because of it, no, he listens because of Christ and Christ alone.
Prayer is to Treat God as God
Prayer in Jesus Name is to declare again to the world and to yourself the Gospel.
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