THE HOLY SPIRIT AND PRAYER: When God Seems Silent

Memorial Drive 4/7/19 WHEN GOD SEEMS SILENT Various Texts “People of the Book” & “People of Prayer” … Both are critically related to the filling of the Spirit! What If Scripture Hasn’t Addressed a Matter … What About “Unanswered Prayer” … … WHY IS GOD SOMETIMES SILENT? • When The Heavens Are Bronze: Head’s Or Tails? God Tells Us That We Can Cause Him To Be Silent … “The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, IF you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today …” (Deut. 28:13-14) “The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron.” (Dt. 28:23) The downside of disobedience is experienced both in their inward prayer lives and in their outward life experiences as well! • When God Keeps His Own Counsel God Shows Us That Sometimes He Is Silent and Doesn’t Tell Us Why … “Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, YEAR AFTER YEAR; and DAVID SOUGHT the presence of the lord. AND THE LORD SAID, ‘It is for Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.’” (2 Sam. 21:1) “… AFTER THAT God was moved by prayer for the land.” (2 Sam. 21:14) God eventually told them the “Why” of the famine, but as far as we know, He never told them the reason for three years of silence! The fact is, sometimes God is silent simply because He is moving within the secret counsel of His own will! “The SECRET THINGS BELONG TO THE LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” (Deut. 29:29) “We must begin by recognizing that as long as God is God and we are his creatures, there must be some unanswered prayers. This is because God keeps hidden his own wise plans for the future, and even though people pray, many events will not come about until the time that God has decreed.” (Grudem) “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but THE THINGS REVEALED BELONG TO US and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.” (Deut. 29:29) In the midst of NOT UNDERSTANDING all that God is doing, we can still respond to what God HAS revealed to us! • When We Lack Wisdom (and God wants us and invites us to come to Him for wisdom) God Invites Us To Seek Wisdom For His Will … “If you abide in Me, AND MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, ask whatever you will, and it hall be done for you.” (Jn. 15:7) “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.” James 1:5–8) • When We Need To Grow In Faith God Wants To Conform Us to the Image of His Son … “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9) “Never-the-less, not my will but yours!” I cannot learn genuine submission until God brings me to a point of a powerful collision of wills! “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!” I cannot learn genuine trust of God until God allows my spiritual legs to dangle in the air of His silence and my uncomfortable uncertainty! • When As Husbands We Are Inconsiderate Of Our Wives God Wants Us To Live Sacrificial Lives Toward Our Wives … “You husbands … live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.” (I Peter 3:7) “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her …” (Eph. 5:25) Failure to live with our wives like this will damage our prayer lives and quite likely, such disobedience to God will result in God’s being silent when it comes to our prayer life! There are any number of reasons why God may “go silent” on us! Failure in this discipline of prayer will have a marked impact upon our ability to experience the fullness of God’s Spirit!