The Word of Faith 1
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Jesus teaches the most shocking thing about prayer
Jesus teaches the most shocking thing about prayer
12 The next day when they went out from Bethany, he was hungry.
13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to find out if there was anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season for figs.
14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And his disciples heard it.
mark 11
The next morning, they pass by this same fig tree and the tree has withered. We cannot fail to understand how Jesus uses this event to teach us about prayer:
20 Early in the morning, as they were passing by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.
21 Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
22 Jesus replied to them, “Have faith in God.
23 Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
24 Therefore I tell you, everything you pray and ask for—believe that you have received it and it will be yours.
25 And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing.”
mark 11 20-
Prayer is the at the center of the Christian Life
Prayer is the at the center of the Christian Life
If you are going to follow Jesus, prayer is fundamental—it is central to your relationship with Jesus.
Jesus demonstrated this:
Jesus demonstrated this:
16 Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.
12 During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God.
23 After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone.
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and made his way to a deserted place; and there he was praying.
36 Simon and his companions searched for him,
46 After he said good-bye to them, he went away to the mountain to pray.
j
mk
15 Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
With the passage of time many attempts to teach on prayer have produced some CATCH PHRASES. We say:
There is power in prayer.
Prayer unlocks the power of God in our lives.
If we want to receive a blessing from God, we need only to claim that promise through prayer.
I feel your prayers.
That person prays beautifully.
You don’t have to dedicate a special time for prayer, just pray throughout the day.
Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes the one who prays.
YOU GET THE IDEA.
These statements all have some truth in them, but they all also have some falsehoods in them. They are dangerous statements, because none of these phrases really define prayer or help us identify with the example that Jesus gives us in prayer.
This morning, my goal is to shock you in the area of prayer. I want to help each of us contrast what we think about prayer, how we practice prayer, and what we are motivated in prayer against what Jesus says about prayer.
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, prayer is EVERYTHING! Paul says it like this:
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God.
18 Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.
eph 6
If you want to take a quick measure of your relationship with Jesus—if you want to see how you are doing following Jesus—just take the temperature of your prayer life.
There is no one activity that reveals our sinful state before God like prayer.
There is no one activity that reveals our sinful state before God like prayer.
no other activity accomplishes the task of revealing our sin like prayer.
Jesus’ overarching message to the disciples while He was with them for three years was this:
You sin in the way that you pray. We do too:
We sin in the way that we think about prayer.
We sin in the way that we participate in prayer.
We sin in the way that we live in light of our prayers.
Central Question:
Central Question:
If we sin in prayer, how do we sin? How do we correct this problem?
The Bible says that God wants to say “yes” to us. So why does God tell us “no” so often?
Answering these questions:
Answering these questions:
There are 4 primary ways that we get prayer wrong. Here are 4 core truths about prayer that expose our wrong thinking:
There are 4 primary ways that we get prayer wrong. Here are 4 core truths about prayer that expose our wrong thinking:
If you do not pray, your relationship with Jesus is shot.
If you are lost, there is only one prayer that God wants to hear from you.
If you are saved, but living in sin, there is only one prayer that God wants to hear from you.
1 Indeed, the Lord’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear.
2 But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.
31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he listens to him.
4. If you pray, God requires you to:
know WHO you are praying to
know WHAT you need to ask for
know WHY you need to ask for it
It is this last area that we are going to focus on for the next few minutes.
Our Problem in Prayer
Our Problem in Prayer
We sin in prayer, because we are sinners.
Sin is our desire for anything that replaces the authority of God.
Sin is our desire to have anything or anyone but God rule our life.
We have a problem in prayer, because we are sinners. This is how James articulates this problem:
3 You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
james 4 3-3
Do you see what James is saying?
We think about God wrongly. We are helpless in this. We need help in this. We need help to know God rightly. We have a problem in prayer, because we pray without recognizing that we need help discovering or knowing who God is.
We want the wrong things. We are helpless in this. We need help from God to want the right things from Him. We need help knowing what to ask for.
We have the wrong motivation for wanting what we want. We are helpless in this. We need help from God to have the right motivation for the things we want from God.
BIG IDEA:
If you are accustom to God telling you “no” most of the time, it is because you are a sinner. You need help in one of these 4 areas.
The good news is that Jesus wants to help you!
God wants to say “yes” all the time!
John 14
13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.
john 15
24 What the wicked dreads will come to him, but what the righteous desire will be given to them.
pr
22 and receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.
1 jno 3 22
14 This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
1 john
Our sin causes three problems in prayer. In this FIG TREE EVENT, JESUS EXPOSES THESE THREE PROBLEMS:
let’s look closely at 20-26
Who are you praying to?
Who are you praying to?
We are helpless in this. We need help in this. We need help to know God rightly. We have a problem in prayer, because we pray without recognizing that we need help discovering or knowing who God is.
We think about God wrongly. We are helpless in this. We need help in this. We need help to know God rightly. We have a problem in prayer, because we pray without recognizing that we need help discovering or knowing who God is.
Peter notices that the fig tree has withered and he is blown away! Look how Jesus responds to him:
22 Jesus replied to them, “Have faith in God.
mark 11
Jesus’ response to Peter’s amazement is this: you are not thinking about God rightly.
Why is this important to God when we pray?
We tend to ask for things we think are possible. So we don’t even think to ask for things from God, because we limit God to what we think He will or will not do.
Also, we tend to ask God for things that we don’t think he will do, but we are too ashamed to admit to Him that we don’t think He will do it and we feel more spiritual by asking for it.
We want the wrong things. We are helpless in this. We need help from God to want the right things from Him. We need help knowing what to ask for.
We have the wrong motivation for wanting what we want. We are helpless in this. We need help from God to have the right motivation for the things we want from God.