For God’s Sake

Prayer Time…

What are you thankful for this week? What can you praise God for?

What is Stressing you? What are you worried about?

What do we need to pray about for your church?

Daniel 9:3–18 “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.”

God answers our prayers for his Own Sake….

?What prayers has God answered for you?

The heart of humanity longs to be the center of something

and the long journey to being like jesus slowly helps us to realize that only when God is the center of everything will we be satisfied.

our goal is to be SATISFIED IN HIM and who he is!!!

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him" - John Piper

finding ultimate joy and satisfaction in God honors Him more than trying to obey out of duty…

We must remember that he is the Center of everything!!!

Romans 11:36 “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

Colossians 1:16 “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

? Is he the center of our lives? ? Are we satisfied with Him??

The phrase “for god’s sake” has become an oath, a curse uttered in frustration.

It is a vulgar cloaking of an eternal truth: That all things including answered prayer, are for the Glory of God!! not the glory of humanity.

Everything that God does, he does for His own glory and purposes.

Isaiah 46:10 “declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’”

Everything we do should also be for him.

1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

The only reason this concept offends and unsettles us is because at our core we want to be the center of the universe….

The sanctification process is a long lesson in embracing jesus as the center

John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”

1 Thessalonians 4:3–7 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.”

We must learn to approach prayer for God’s sake…. (Will/ Desire)

Lord’s Prayer Matthew 6:10 “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

What is God’s will?? and how should we pray for his Sake…

1 Timothy 2:3–4 “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Daniel said it well: “We do not present our supplications before you becuase of our righteous deeds, but because of your great mercies” (Dan 9:8)

If we merit answers to our prayers, the answers are for our sake.

If we are completely undeserving of deliverance, the answers are for some reason other than our merit, and the only possible reason is to glorify God.

Romans 3:23–24 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”

Romans 3:10–12 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.””

Isaiah 64:6 “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

We must approach prayer knowing that any answer is for the sake of the supplier, not the supplicant….

This is a difficult lesson for us:

to make prayer God- Centeric in answer as well as in petition. We see a widow in need, a child with cancer, an impoverished people in darkness, and we pray as if they deserve deliverance….!!

When we make the needy person the focus of the answer, we subtly shift God out of the center of answered prayer and insert ourselves, because any person in the equation ultimately represents us…

??? What do our prayers sound like??

?? Are we praying for God will or our will??

?? Have we shifted Gods will out of the equation and have made our needs the center of our prayers??

God Revives us for his own sake. He heals that he might be glorified

He supplies that he might be worshiped.

He forgives that he might be exalted.

He delivers that he ight be adored.

He meets us that we might magnify him

He acts to bring honor to his divine self, not to exalt man or woman.

Let us stop approaching God for answers on behalf of ourselves.

Let us learn to approach him for the defense of His honor, for the Glory of his name. Let us seek answered prayers for His sake.