The Prayer Experiment wk 2

Prayers that Accomplish

Tonight we are going to explore how prayer brings about things that only God can do.

We are going to look at five things about how God works in response to prayer.

1. God responds in Show Time

The term “show time” is not suggesting that God is in the entertainment business, only that he is in the God-business - doing things that only he can do, showing that he alone is God.

I think of when Elijah faced off against the Baal prophets and called down fire from heaven.

God can do more in five seconds than we can do in a lifetime.

The Christian life is not about what we can “pull off” but about what we will allow God to do in us and through us.

1 Chronicles 4:10 NASB95

10 Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested.

Jabez prayed, Oh that You (meaning God) would bless me indeed.

The key is the word indeed, which means “no doubt.”

God alone is in the spotlight.

He is the star performer.

God alone is to be credited; therefore, we must always be careful that we do not mistake what God does for what we have orchestrated or manipulated.

We need to keep in mind it is all about God, not us.

The only part that we play is to obey and pray that He will work in our lives.

2. God Responds on Time

Jabez wanted God to act or do something.

He desired his life to be an arena of God’s activity.

Was there a catch?

Well, in a way, there was - and there still is for those of us who want to see God do something for which we are praying.

We, like Jabez have to wait on God’s timing.

To run ahead of God means we are trying to make it happen, and to lag behind God means we are disobedient.

When we know God has lead us to do something, we must act in God’s timing, we must trust that God has it all under control.

Timing is everything when it comes to waiting on God.

There are examples in Scripture that shows when people did not act when God led them to, such as, the Israelites when they got to the Promised Land the first time, they did not put their trust in God and go in and take their promise, and then had to wander in the desert for 40 years.

Jonah did not go to Nineveh when God told him to, and he ended up in the belly of a whale for three days.

But on the other side of that, King Saul acted to quickly and King Saul was to wait on the prophet Samuel before leading the troops into battle, Saul got impatient and took matters into his own hands, and because he was not obedient and waited for God’s timing, God declared Saul’s kingdom would not be established over Israel forever.

God’s standard timing is that time when He choses to act, not when we decide we are launching forward.

Part of waiting on God’s perfect timing is to learn more about Him and about ourselves.

The Christian life is not just about the end results, it is about a process of becoming more like Jesus Christ.

3. God Responds in the Zone Time

Jabez prayed for God to do not just anything, but something.

He had a specific “something” in mind.

You have probably heard of end zones, comfort zones, and twilight zones.

Zone is a location or spot with specific boundaries.

Jabez wanted to be in the God-zone, the specific place where God was at work.

He didn’t pray in generalities but in specifics.

The God-zone is entered through total obedience to His will.

The boundaries of God’s blessings are defined by God’s will.

It’s not God’s place to be in the right place at the right time; rather, it’s our place to stay within “the zone,” the location where God is doing a work.

We are not to get ahead of that zone, or lag behind the zone, but be right in the center of the zone, that is right in the center of God’s will.

4. God Responds Beyond Time

Jabez prayed for God to do something “so” beyond anyone’s dreams or wildest imagination in his life.

He was not content with just being among the crowd.

Status quo was not an option.

We should not want to be just in the status quo, but in God’s perfect will and time.

That is working with God, not in front of Him or behind Him, but with Him.

As Richard Blackaby said in Experiencing God, find where God is working and join Him.

We should not settle for average, as average is often an attitude that accepts things as they are.

Too often we may have been told just to accept something, because -

that is just the way it is.

or It will just have to do.

or it cannot be changed.

or It will never work.

or There is no need to waste your time.

or There is nothing you can do about it.

That is not God’s way of thinking, and therefore should not be our way of thinking either!

God delights in those who will dare to believe that when you add the God-factor, anything is possible.

Now is the time for every Christian to let God have some “beyond time” - that is, time that is lived -

beyond belief,

beyond imagination,

beyond other’s opinion,

beyond what works on paper,

beyond what is logical,

beyond what makes sense,

beyond expectations,

beyond what has never been done before.

God intends the Christian life to be the beyond life because He is a beyond God.

I think of Daniel when the law was made that no one should make a petition or prayer to any god or person besides the king.

This was made because officials of the kingdom were jealous of Daniel and they knew he prayed three times a day.

The law was made and given to all the people, but Daniel continued to pray, knowing the penalty was he would be thrown into the lions den.

The jealous officials caught Daniel praying and forced the king to throw Daniel in the lions den.

Daniel was not afraid, but trusted that God would take care of him and everything would be ok.

Daniel 6:20–22 NASB95

20 When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel spoke to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.”

We must trust in God, He is a beyond everything, and can do anything, but we must trust in Him and be obedient.

5. God Responds Big Time

Jabez wanted God to do something big.

Therefore, he dreamed big, believed big, and prayed big - not big in the sense of size but in the sense of God being the One doing it.

1 Chronicles 4:10 NASB95

10 Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested.

Jabez prayed enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me.

Jabez wanted his influence for God to grow.

Big can be God using us to share our faith with someone.

Big can be God orchestrate a circumstance to meet a specific need in your life.

Big can be God giving you a peace about the next step.

Big can be God using you to encourage someone who has lost hope.

Big can be God using you to influence your world for Him.

Since God desires to be involved in our daily lives, we should expect God to do things only He can do.

That is daily events that can be labeled, “Only God.”

Any time God does something, it is a big deal, no matter how small it may seem.

Ephesians 3:20 MSG

20 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

Do you have a desire to see God do “bigger things” in and through your life?

J. Hudson Taylor said, “The power of prayer has never been tried to its full capacity. IF we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failures and disappointments, let us answer God’s standing challenge, found in Jeremiah 33:3

Jeremiah 33:3 NASB95

3 ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

Someone said, Nothing lies beyond the reach of prayer, except that which lies outside the will of God.

Lord, bless me indeed

Do something so big in my life that it is obviously from you.

Increase my influence and opportunities for you,

And give me a sense of your continual presence and direction.

Protect me, and keep me from falling into Satan’s traps. Amen.