A Man of Prayer

Intro

We are on the eve of Resurrection Day and a big day at our church...

We want big numbers in service tomorrow...

But why?

So we can boast of the amount of people we got to come to our building?

Tens of thousands of people will gather in sports stadiums...

Tens of thousands of people will gather in concert arenas...

Tens of thousands of people will gather in movie theatres...

But God is not necessarily pleased with any of those things...

What is the goal? To please the Father...

How? To glorify Him… MAGNIFY Him, show how large and great He truly is...

If tomorrow comes and goes and we have a record number of people in service, but God was not magnified, glorified and exemplified, than it was:

a waste of money

a waste of electricity

a waste of time

We need to be praying men… Not just praying for things we want, but praying for things God wants...

God is delighted when we ask Him:

Proverbs 15:8 KJV 1900

8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: But the prayer of the upright is his delight.

Pastor Caviness - if you are just going to ask for yourself then you will have great difficulty getting things from God. James told us, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3). God wants his people to be channels, conduits if you will, of His grace and blessings to others. He does not want us to be a reservoir where it all stops.

1. God Can Work When We Place Full Reliance on Him

1 Kings 18:36–37 KJV 1900

36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

a. He was outnumbered

Elijah vs. 850 prophets of Baal

The odds of victory were not in his favor...

But God never works off of odds… He puts an entire problem in the realm of odds-making because He doesn’t work off of odds...

Elijah had to place full reliance on Him...

It was now or never for Elijah...

If that fire doesn’t fall, what now?

Is God still God whether fire falls or not? Yes or no? No...

Should Elijah’s belief in God waiver whether fire falls or not? Yes or no? No...

Is God required to answer my prayer simply because I have a great need? No...

2. God answers prayers where our motive in prayer is for God to be glorified and magnified more

1 Kings 18:36–37 KJV 1900

36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

3 Examples:

Elijah:

Prayer: Fire from Heaven

Motive: ...that this people may know that thou art the LORD God...”

Answer: Fire from Heaven

Hezekiah:

2 Kings 19:14–19 KJV 1900

14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth. 16 Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God. 17 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, 18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 19 Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only.

Prayer: save us from the Assyrians

Motive: ...that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.”

Answer: God sent an angel to destroy the Assyrian army (all 185,000 Assyrian soldiers)

David:

1 Samuel 17:45–47 KJV 1900

45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 46 This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands.

Prayer: For God to defeat Goliath

Motive: “...that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”

Answer: Defeated Goliath

God Can Work When We Place Full Reliance on Him

God Answers Prayers Where our Motive in Prayer is God to Be Glorified and Magnified

Why?

1 John 5:14–15 KJV 1900

14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

John 14:13–14 KJV 1900

13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

James 4:3 KJV 1900

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

Why are we asking God for a big Easter Sunday?

So more people would know who Jesus is and what He did for them

So Christ would be magnified and glorified in everything that is said and done