A Prayer Life That Is Too Small

Turn in your bibles tonight to 1 Kings 3…

Tonight I want to begin by talking about prayer and then we will go into our time of corporate prayer together.

I want to focus on one thing tonight and that is the idea of God’s desire for us to pray for anything in His name and His willingness to give it to us.

Lets read verses 3-15...

God, God came to Solomon and said, “ask what I shall give you”. And what Solomon asked for was pleasing to God.

Q- Why was what Solomon asked for pleasing to God?

Because of what he asked for and in the way he asked for it.

Solomon asked for wisdom.. not to be the smartest person, not to get ahead in life, not to escape danger, but wisdom so that he could know how best to govern the people of the Lord. It was to God’s glory, to further HIS kingdom and honor HIS name.

Now fast forward to chapter 8 with me…

Follow along with me as I read verse 12-61.

What a prayer… I will not disect these verses tonight, but I will call you to meditate on them. Go back and look at the content. It is not give me give me give me… It is great adoration for who God is, it is repentance of sin both great and small, personal and national. It is overall a cry and a plea for the Lord to look upon them and walk with them. Hold this prayer up to your prayer and ask God to give you grace to mature your prayer life…

Look at the Lord’s reponse yet again…

Someone read Chapter 9: 1-9…

God heard the prayer of Solomon and he blessed them because of it. Solomon’s prayer was essentailly that God would dwell with them and not turn away from them. And God said, My name will be in this house forever. And then gave Solomon an admonishment and a warning as he had done in the past.

Now come with me to Matthew 7… Someone read 7:7-11…

Q- Does Jesus mean what He says?

Come with me to John 14:13-14… And further John 16:23-24…

Q - I ask again, did Jesus mean what He said?

Let us ever keep in mind and never for one moment allow ourselves to doubt the statement that God means what He says in all of His promises. They are His own words. His glory is at stake and God cannot lie.

My friends, consider Solomon again. How did he pray? Not in the way James says the worldly Christians he writes to prays... with hatred in their hearts and to spend what they desire on their own wordly passions… Solomon prays with a humble and contrite heart.

With a desire to glorify God rather than himself. To do the will of God rather than his own will. He was submitted to God as the highest authority. Prayer in itself is a submission to God. Prayer offered with a humble and contrite heart is in and of itself, no matter how short, or how long, a recognition that we need God.

This is a part of your inheritance as Christians. You have the ear of your Father in Heaven, you have the right to approach His throne and talk with Him. This is the God who created and sustains the entire earth, the God who caused light to come out of your dead cold heart. Because of the blood of Jesus, because of our belief on Him, we have this privledge and inheritance.

Furthermore, as your Father, He is not just expecting you to pray, He is willing and ready to answer your prayer and give you what you ask for.

However, I know it all too well that it is hard to believe this... I am learning this even in myself. When something goes wrong, I turn into mr fix it… I immediately rush in to trying to make it better or worrying about well what if this, well what if that… Go back and look at the New Testament scriptures I gave you. Do they not mimic what God said to Solomon? Ask ANYTHING. Anything, big or small in my name and I will give it to you…

So, when I have a tractor issue last year, instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off for hours in the 90 degree heat, and trying and trying to lean on my own undertadning to fix this tractor I should have stopped and prayed and asked God to help me, been still, and trusted Him to lead me.

I’ll be serious with you right now, remember how I said a couple Sundays ago that we as a church are not meeting our budget this year? Our church is very behind in the budget. And when I first took notice of this trend in February I was concerned, but when it continued on in April I was worried. The elders would tell you, I was anxious… Yet God has dealt with me. The Spirit reminded me, Seth, Philippians 4:4—6

Philippians 4:4–6 ESV

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Does God mean what He says? Is He faithful to answer the prayers of His children that have been saved by grace through faith? Does He desire to answer our prayers and glorify His name among the earth? Absolutely… So pray! and He will act according to His will. Pray and He will give an answer that to those who trust Him and believe that Jesus works all things together for our good and His Glory will comfort and sustain them.

Tractor problems? Money Problems? Those are small potatoes… What about praying for people to be saved? What about praying for the gospel to be effective? What about praying for the word to be preached and explained in boldness and power?

E.M Bounds points out that in 2 Thessalonians 3 Paul told the church to, “pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men” (2 Thess 3:1-2)…

He, E.M., goes on to say, “The gospel moves altogether too slowly, often timidly, idly, and with feeble steps. What will make this gospel go rapidly like a race runner? What will give this gospel divine radiance and glory and cause it to move worthy of God and of Christ? The answer is at hand… Prayer, more prayer, better prayer will do the deed. This means of grace will give fast going, splendor, and divinity to the gospel.”

So, tonight as we close in prayer together, and as we leave and ponder our personal prayer life, let me ask you, is your prayer life too small? Are you trusting God through prayer and laying your cares down at His feet? Ask God for specific things… Don’t be so general. Be specific, go to your Father with a humble heart, seeking His glory on earth, trusting Him in love and remember that He has promised you, “ask anything and you willl receive it”.