The Word of Faith 2

Turn to . This passage tells us that we have a major problem in our prayer lives.

If anyone has a problem with prayer, raise your hand. If you are willing to admit that you need help with your prayer life, raise your hand right now.

If you raised your hand, this morning I am speaking to you. But I am primarily speaking to everyone who did not raise their hands.

Dr. Adrian Rodgers did that…I thought it was brilliant, so I stole it from him.

This morning, I am not going to tell you what to pray or how to pray. I am going to show you the problem we have in our prayer lives, and I am going to give you two things to focus on to fix the problem.

Does your prayer life mostly consist of that time right before a meal?

Do you struggle to know what to pray for?

Do you struggle with the point of prayer? If God already knows what you need...why ask Him for it?

If God already knows what you need...why ask Him for it?

Do you secretly hope that no one will ask you to pray out-loud?

When you ask God for something that seems unlikely, do you tack on a, “not my will but your will be done,” to make sure that you don’t feel shame in case God doesn’t answer your prayer?

Have you stopped praying consistently, because you never seem to get a “yes” from God? Does it seem like God tells you “no” more than He tells you “yes?”

If you know you are about to pray out-loud, do you get nervous and start planning out what you are going to pray so that others around you will be impressed and you won’t be embarrassed?

When prayer requests are asked for, do you automatically start thinking about who is sick, but never ask for prayer about spiritual things?

Do you thank God for high attendance at an event, but fail to grieve that few people are saved?

Do you tell someone you will pray for them, then forget to pray for them?

Have you ever prayed for an hour? Have you ever prayed all night? Have you ever fasted and prayed for an extended period of time?

Have you ever prayed all night? Have you ever fasted and prayed for an extended period of time?Are you sitting here right now and in your heart, you are forced to admit to God: I just do not pray like I should?

Are you sitting here right now and in your heart, you are forced to admit to God: I just do not pray like I should?

I suspect that if we are real with one another, we would admit that we observe some real problems with prayer.

Most churches call themselves a “praying church,” but they are not. Prayer meetings are poorly attended.

We don’t really believe that God will answer our prayers. If we did, we would spend a lot more time praying.

A lot of times we are like the sailor:

As the storm raged, the captain realized his ship was sinking fast. He called out, "Anyone here know how to pray?" One sailor stepped forward. "Aye, Captain, I know how to pray." "Good," said the captain, "you pray while the rest of us put on our life jackets - we're one short."

Our prayers are either a word of faith or a word of unbelief.

My hope is that will force you to confront your problems in prayer, cause you to repent, and draw you into a deeper, more intimate, more fulfilling, more abundant relationship with Jesus.

I want you to leave this place today crying out to Jesus as the disciples did: Lord, teach me to pray!

When I explain prayer this morning, I want you to understand that you cannot separate Bible Reading and Prayer. They are inseparable. So I am not just talking about

For many people, God seems to say “no” to their prayers with a very rare “yes.”

I want to answer the primary question this morning: Why does it seem like God is saying “no” to us so often when we pray?

Mark 11:12–14 CSB

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.

The next day, Jesus and the disciples pass by this same fig tree…notice what happens:

Mark 11

Mark 11:20–26 CSB

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.”

Here is where we are going. We want to answer this question: Why does God tell us “no” so often?

I want to show you from this text that we have two problems in prayer:

We struggle to GROW our faith in God.

We struggle to GET God’s ear.

We struggle to GRIEVE over our sin.

One reason God says “no” to us, is that we don’t have faith—meaning, we don’t know who He is.

We expect God to do things He hasn’t promised to do, and we don’t expect Him to do the things He has promised.

mark 11 22

Mark 11:20–22 CSB

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.

Peter is amazed that the fig tree has withered!

Jesus’ answer to Peter is: you don’t understand prayer…and your first problem in prayer is that you don’t have faith! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND GOD.

Why do we struggle to GROW our faith in God?

Why would it be astounding that the God who created this world would have the power to wither this tree? Why would it be astounding to you that I can say to this tree: you are now cursed, and the tree wither overnight?

Jesus says to Peter: You don’t have faith! This is a loaded declaration from Jesus! What is He telling the disciples? What is this text teaching us?

We struggle to think rightly about God. But Why?

I see one glaring principle here. Jesus routinely withdrew from everyone to get alone. He would spend all night in prayer routinely! Peter did not.

The Scripture tells us that Jesus routinely withdrew from everyone to get alone. He would spend all night in prayer routinely!

There was an intimacy with God that Peter knew nothing about, because he was not spending enough time in prayer.

If you are one of those Christians that say, “I don’t have any special time of prayer…I just pray as I go,” listen up! Of course this astounded Peter! He wasn’t thinking about God rightly! Prayer was not yet the center of his life.

Jesus is telling Peter: you are not GROWING in faith. Seriously, Peter…if this astounds you, you don’t know who God is!

APPLICATION:

It seems that in our culture we don’t have time for getting to know God in an intimate way…Correction…we don’t MAKE time to get to know God.

There is a big difference in us spending time listening to other people talk about God and us spending time with God ourselves.

We don’t have time for getting to know God in an intimate way…Correction…we don’t MAKE time to get to know God.

We don’t have time for getting to know God in this way…Correction…we don’t MAKE time to get to know God.

We don’t have time for getting to know God in an intimate way…Correction…we don’t MAKE time to get to know God.

In Scripture, you cannot separate prayer from Bible study. The reason Peter is lacking in faith is because he is not spending the time required in prayer and Bible Study to know God.

I am not saying that there is a magic formula for prayer…that if you stay up all night praying like Jesus did you will get what you are asking for.

I AM SAYING that there is a formula for growing in your intimacy with God…time with Him in prayer and Bible Study! This shows up in our prayer lives…or our lack of a prayer life.

God says, who do think I am? Do you think I am going to wave a magic wand over you and supernaturally give you knowledge? You do not know me! God home and study!

We pray: God please let my neighbors get saved.

God answers: who do you think I am? Do you think I am going to wave a magic wand over your neighbors and cause them to repent? You do not know me! Go read the Bible. I have already commanded you to share the gospel with them!

Story about the church planter in China.

I sat down with a pastor from China while I was in Moscow. I asked him: How are you planting so many new churches so quickly?

I was looking for his strategy. I thought he was going to give me a plan that I could use in Russia.

Instead, he answered me: We routinely have all-night prayer meetings. We spend all night reading God’s word together, and praying according to what we read. We spend all night begging God to strengthen us to obey Him.

Like Peter…I was astounded! It had never crossed my mind to gather anyone together for an all night prayer meeting!

Could it be that the church in China is growing so rapidly not because they had some magic formula or church growth strategy…but because they are spending enough time with God in prayer and Bible study to know Him and therefore are drawn to obey Him by sharing the gospel with everyone they meet?

Prayer is the center of our lives as Christians.

If you are not making time to get to know God through prayer and Bible study, don’t be fooled into thinking you know God. Don’t be fooled into thinking that your faith in God is growing.

If you don’t know God, you might find yourself like Peter…astounded when God actually says ‘yes’ to someone else’s prayer, because you are so used to God telling you ‘no’.

WHAT HAVE I SAID:

Peter is astounded that the tree withered.

Jesus tells him, it is because he doesn’t have faith.

ONE REASON Peter wasn’t growing his faith in God: He wasn’t spending the kind of TIME necessary to grow in intimacy with God.

Why does God tell us ‘no’ so often? One reason is that we struggle to GROW our faith. We don’t take the time necessary to know God intimately.

Mark 11:23–26 CSB

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 11:23–26 CSB

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 11:26 NKJV

26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Mark 11:23–25 CSB

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 11:22–25 CSB

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 22-

Mark 11:23–24 CSB

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.

Wow! What is Jesus saying here? What does He mean with this mountain thing? And what does me forgiving others have to do with my prayer life?

Let’s handle the mountain thing first:

Jesus is not telling us to start destroying mountains. It would be cool though wouldn’t it?

I tried this while we were in Gatlinburg earlier this week…nothing happened…I think it was because there wasn’t a sea close by.

No…Jesus is saying that we should go into the landscaping business…He is saying that we struggle in prayer because we struggle to GET God’s ear. We have a sin problem.

God wants to say yes to you every time! If there was no sin problem, you could even do something crazy like say to this mountain; be lifted up and thrown into the sea!

APPLICATION:

I want to prove this to you! Look at these promises concerning prayer:

Listen to these promises concerning prayer:

Look at these promises concerning prayer:

CSB13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

CSB7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.

CSB14 This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Jesus says: God wants to say “yes.” Even if you ask something crazy like throw this mountain into the sea. Even if it is something crazy like heal this person, or heal me.

If you feel like your prayers are hitting the ceiling…it might be because they are!

The problem in our prayer is not that God wants to say “no.” It is that we have failed to get His ear. There is a sin problem somewhere.

You may be lost. If you are not saved, there is only one prayer God wants to hear from you…a prayer of repentance.

Isaiah 59:1–2 CSB

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.

You may be saved, but living in sin. There is only one prayer God wants to hear from you…a prayer of repentance. He will not listen to anything else.

Isaiah 59:1–2 CSB

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.

is 59

John 9:31 CSB

31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he listens to him.

John 9:32 CSB

32 Throughout history no one has ever heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind.

Do you believe that God wants to tell you “yes” when you pray?

CSB13 Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

CSB7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.

CSB16 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.

CSB24 What the wicked dreads will come to him, but what the righteous desire will be given to them.

CSB22 and receive whatever we ask from him because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight.

CSB14 This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Jesus says: God wants to say “yes.” Even if you ask something crazy like throw this mountain into the sea. Even if it is something crazy like heal this person, or heal me. The problem in our prayer is not that God wants to say “no.” It is that we struggle to GET or understand His will.

James 4:2–3 CSB

2 You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

james 4

James says: God keeps telling you “no” because you have the wrong motives.

You are like the child.

The father says: clean your room.

The child doesn’t clean their room, but asks the Dad for $20, because the child says: I want to go out to eat with my friends.

The father says: No, you didn’t do what I asked you to do. Go clean your room.

Later the child says: Dad please buy me a tv so I can watch my favorite show in my room.

The Father says: No, you didn’t do what asked you to do. Go clean your room.

So what is Jesus pointing out with this mountain thing?

Isaiah 59:1–2 CSB

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.

If you feel like your prayers are hitting the ceiling…it might be because they are!

Now let’s deal with the forgiveness statement. What does me forgiving others have to do with my prayer life?

Isaiah 59:1–2 CSB

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.

When we pray for God to heal sick people without doing what He commanded us to do, we get told “no” more often then we get told “yes.” —because we sin in the way we are praying.

When we do this, we are hurting the testimony of our Lord and keeping the people we are praying for from submitting to Jesus by faith.

14

James 5:14–16 CSB

14 Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

Mark 11:25–26 CSB

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.”

When we take prayer requests, we list out all the people who are sick…no one ever comes before the church and says: I am a sinner, anoint me with oil in the name of Jesus and pray for me!

mark 11

Mark 11:26 NKJV

26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Now…not every sickness is sent from God because the person has sinned, but sometimes this is the case.

If we are not doing what God instructs us to do, we are basically just praying that their medicine works, we ought to direct them to Scripture and obey it…right? Pick a lane.

Think about this: Lost people who are sick and never repent and never have anyone praying for them take medicine and get better.

9 times out of 10, when Jesus teaches about prayer, He adds this principle. If you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you.

Ok…in a crowd this size…someone or several people just heard that and immediately rejected it…be careful…I am not speaking my opinion…I am explaining the word of God.

Mark 11:25 CSB

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

9 times out of 10, when Jesus teaches about prayer, He adds this principle. If you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you.

We struggle in prayer, because we struggle to understand how closely God relates our prayer life to our sin.

I want you to hear me on this…from God’s perspective;

Our greatest need is not that we recover from our sickness. He wants us to recover from our sin and live eternally with Him with no suffering.

Our greatest need is not that we get that new job so that we can make more money or escape a bad environment. He wants us to recover from our disobedience problem so that we can receive the matchless, unbelievable, glorious, inheritance He has promised us in glory!

We can’t ask God to get us out of the trouble we are in…and tell Him that we refuse to obey Him.

We can’t ask God to fix our problem while we tell Him that we are not going to obey Him.

We tell God all the time that we want Him to do something for us…but by the way God…I am just too busy to read the Bible. I am not going to share the gospel with anyone today…I want you to do this big thing for me…I want you to say ‘yes to me, but I have all kinds of excuses why I am saying ‘no’ to You.

Because we have this attitude toward God, Jesus makes this forgiveness statement:

Jesus reminds us that God is not going to forgive us if we do not forgive others, because He wants us to never loose sight that our greatest need is forgiveness for our sins.

Jesus wants us to grieve over our sin! He wants us to agree with Him about our sin!

Nothing helps us remember that we are sinners and that our sin grieves God and should grieve us, like remembering the people who have wronged us and forgiving them.

Jesus reminds us in this text that we are sinning in our prayers if we want HELP from Him and don’t desire FORGIVENESS from Him even more.

So what have I said?

God wants to tell us “yes” every time we pray. He tells us “no” for two primary reasons:

We have failed to GROW our faith in God. We are simply not taking the time necessary to know God intimately.

We have failed to GET God’s ear. There is a sin problem somewhere.

Your prayers should be a word of faith…not unbelief.

Where is the hope in this? Joel, you have just basically said that the prayer thing is incredibly difficult because of our sin. No…that is not what I have said…that is what Jesus is declaring in this text.

I want to give you some hope in this.

Don’t be too devastated by this text. The disciple spent 3 years with Jesus and they still had problems in prayer.

Here is how you can fix your prayer problem: (2 things)

1. God knows our sinfulness and our weakness. We are promised that the Holy Spirit is helping us, because we don’t know what to pray for.

Romans 8:26 CSB

26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings.

2. Sometimes we think God is saying “no,” but He is only saying wait for me to say “yes.” (2 examples)

The parable of the widow and the unrighteous judge in .

Jesus told His disciples that sometimes a demon will only come out through fasting and prayer.

Just because God doesn’t say “yes” immediately, doesn’t always mean He is saying “no.” He might be telling you just to wait until He says ‘yes’.

So you say…well how do I know if God is telling me “no” or if He is telling me to wait until He says “yes?”

focus on two things: (I told you I was going to tell you the problem we have in prayer and give you two things to focus on to fix the problem)

Focus on GROWING your faith in God. Spend time with God in prayer and Bible Study. If you are sinning in your prayer, God will let you know and show you how to fix it. In the meantime, the Holy Spirit will pray for you!

Focus on GETTING God’s ear. Learn to grieve over your sin. Remember, your temporary relief from pain is not God’s primary concern for you…your sin is His primary concern.

Focus on GRIEVING over your sin. Remember, your temporary relief from pain is not God’s primary concern for you…your sin is His primary concern.

Pray…Pray…Pray.

INVITATION

Will you commit to spend the rest of your life praying?

Now, if you are willing to say to God right now…Lord teach me to pray! I will grow my faith to know You more intimately. I will get Your ear by grieving over my sin…say AMEN. ..that should be all of us.

Spend a few moments now saying that to God. When you are done praying, we will sing together.

Do you need to

I am here at the front if you need help in any way.

The Word of Faith 2

Introduction

Questions:

BIG IDEA:

The Text

We struggle to GROW our faith in God.

We struggle to GET God’s ear.

We struggle to GET God’s ear.

APPLICATION:

We Struggle to GRIEVE over our sin

RESPONSE