THE PATH OF PRAYER

-{Jeremiah 29}

-There was a dad who set up a treasure hunt for his kids in the large forest that was adjacent to their backyard. The dad gave them a treasure map, marked with all sorts of directions and hints and icons that would help them get to where he wanted them to go. He told the kids that he would be near to them in their search. During their hunt they could find him and ask him about anything that was on the map.

~So the kids set off, but it was soon apparent that they were not heeding the instructions. They didn’t follow the map and got lost. They spent a very long time going around in circles without seeking out their dad for help. And if one of them did ask the dad for help, it had nothing to do with the map or helping them on their journey.

-I use that as an illustration of the prayer life of most Christians. Here we are on this journey that will eventually lead us to eternal life. Our Heavenly Father has said that He will help us along the way if we would look to the map (the Word) for guidance and ask Him for help in prayer according to the map. However, we often go astray in two ways. First, we don’t seek His help. And second, when we do it’s with the wrong questions and motives. James describes this in his espistle:

James 4:2–3 LSB

2 You lust and do not have, so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

-You either don’t ask, or when you do you ask for the wrong things having wrong motives. I want to get us Christians out of those habits and tonight talk about the path of prayer as part of our series on the spiritual disciplines. There’s something that God says through the prophet Jeremiah that I want to us to consider tonight.

Jeremiah 29:10–14 LSB

10 “For thus says Yahweh, ‘When seventy years have been fulfilled for Babylon, I will visit you and establish My good word to you, to return you to this place. 11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘plans for peace and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. 12 ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 ‘I will be found by you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will return your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have banished you,’ declares Yahweh, ‘and I will cause you to return to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

-To give us a little background and context, Jeremiah is writing in this chapter during one of the first times of exile of the Jews to Babylon. There were several times that Nebuchadnezzar dragged Jews to his nation before the eventual destruction of Jerusalem. In this passage, Jeremiah is still in Jerusalem and God tells him to write to the the Jewish leadership that has already been taken into exile. God has a message for those that are in Babylon. In the part of the letter that we read tonight, we see three parts to the path of prayer within what God sent through Jeremiah. First it starts with:

1) God’s Plans

-The gist of the letter that God sends through Jeremiah is that while they are living in Babylon, they might as well make themselves comfortable and build up their lives. They’re going to be there a while so they might as well build houses and have families.

-But then we get to v. 10 and God tells them exactly what is going to happen to His people, the Israelites. He says that they will be in exile for 70 years before they are returned to their land. That is the plan of God. They probably read that in the letter and probably were not too pleased with that plan. I mean, here we are reading it 2600 years later and we don’t think that plan sounds great either.

-But at least it included the plan that the Israelites would return to their land someday—so at least there was that. And in the beginning of v. 11 God tells them I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU. There again, at least God has future plans for the people. Israel is His covenant people, and God has plans for His covenant people. The frequently mentioned Hebrew word CHESED reminds us that God is loyal to His covenants, and He has plans for those with whom He is in covenant.

-But something that we often need to be reminded of is the fact that these are God’s plans. God said in v. 11 I know the plans I have for you. God knows what is best and what is going to give Him the most glory. And whatever gives Him the most glory is what is going to be our greatest good.

-But what does this have to do with prayer. Well, this is the beginning of the path—God has plans and God answers prayers that are in alignment with His plans. God will not answer prayers that go against His plan—prayer is more about getting us on board with the plan rather than trying to force God’s hand into doing something. So, we sometimes need to remember that God’s saying NO to our prayer is actually what is best—or as the country song says THANK GOD FOR UNANSWERED PRAYER.

-So, here’s the thing to remember, the path of prayer doesn’t start with us and our needs, wants, and desires; it starts with God’s plans. But there is something that is coupled with God’s plans, and that is:

2) God’s Promises

-God has a plan, and it is filled with His promises. And we know that God always fulfill His promises. So, in this passage, He promises that the captivity will last 70 years. Now, if we fast forward a few decades, we get to Daniel chapter 9. And Daniel is reading Jeremiah’s words and he sees there the promises of a 70 year exile before they return to the land. Well, Daniel knows that it is about at that 70 year mark. So what does Daniel do? He begins to pray according to the promises given.

-so we see:

Daniel 9:2–4 (LSB)

2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, discerned in the books the number of the years concerning which the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet for the fulfillment of the laying waste of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years.

3 So I gave my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

4 And I prayed to Yahweh my God and confessed and said...

-And then it does into the prayer, and the prayer ends:

Daniel 9:18–19 LSB

18 “O my God, incline Your ear and listen! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any righteousness of our own, but on account of Your abundant compassion. 19 “O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, give heed and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

-It’s not that God forgot about the promise. It’s not that God doesn’t want to fulfill the promise. But somehow God accomplishes His plans and promises by the cooperation and partnership between the plan and promises He makes and the prayer of His people.

-In the Jeremiah passage we read, God promised 70 years and then promised that He had further plans for His covenant people that would be for their peace, to give them a future and a hope. God has promises that were according to His plans. And if we pray according to promises, we need to make sure that the promises we claim belong to us within their context. So, this then leads to our part, the third part of the path:

3) Our Prayers

-After God talks about His plans and promises, He says THEN YOU WILL CALL UPON ME AND PRAY TO ME AND I WILL LISTEN. YOU WILL SEEK ME AND I WILL BE FOUND BY YOU. Look at the order of things. First there are the plans and promises, then there the prayers. So, if we want to have an effective prayer life, we pray according to God’s plans and promises as found within His Word. If you want to know the plans and promises to guide your prayer, you find them in Scripture. That’s why praying Scripture is so beneficial—you pray according to God’s plans and promises. And you pray it by faith. But if you don’t pray, or don’t pray by faith, or don’t pray according to plans and promises there is little promise of blessing.

-Jim Cymbala, using the illustration of revivalist Charles Finney, wrote:

Charles Finney, a revivalist of the 19th century, maintained that a sure sign of approaching spiritual renewal is that people begin to pray fervently for God to pour out fresh fire as He has promised. Can it be any other way? Where in church history has the promise of spiritual blessing ever been granted except in answer to the prayer of faith?

-Or, to re-reference James that I read before, you do not have answers to prayer because you do not ask, and when you do ask you do so wrongly.

-There is a God who has a plan and promises for the universe and His people within the universe, and He delights in answering prayers that come to Him boldly based on those plans and promises. As pastor George Mueller said:

Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance. It is laying hold of God’s willingness.

I’ll close with this thought from Jim Cymbala, who wrote:

To sit idly by because a divine promise had been given would have constituted a misunderstanding of God’s intentions. This is precisely the kind of misunderstanding reflected in modern theology, which places little or no emphasis on prayer. Sadly, many churches live miles below their God-ordained potential because they waste time investigating every church-growth method except the one outlined in the Bible.

-Let that not be us. Let that not be a mark of Harvest Baptist Church. God has a plan for us, He has given His church many promises, so let us join Him there in prayer...