Answered Prayers of the Believer
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
In this series on prayer we have discussed what prayer is, and how we should pray. We have gone over how we have moved away from God - and how we are to move back to God. We looked at the model prayer, and the motives in which we must approach prayer. Last week, we spoke about appropriate things we should pray for. This week, we will look at the rejoicing over answered prayers.
I found reference to an old book entitled “Touching Incidents and Remarkable Answers to Prayer” by S. B. Shaw, printed in 1893. Rev. Shaw collected a great number of truly remarkable stories, including this one:
Many years ago, James Rogers of the Alabama Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church told the story of Annie Clayton of San Jose, California. As a child, she and her sister Vanie took a long walk one Saturday morning to collect some scraps of wood as fuel for heating their family’s home. As they returned, Vanie collapsed from the lingering effects of cholera and was unable to proceed.
Annie, who was only five years old, was helpless and they sat beside the road not knowing what to do. Finally Vanie said, “You know, Annie, that a good while ago mother told us that if we ever got into trouble, we should pray, and God would help us. Now you help me get down upon my knees, and hold me up, and we will pray.” So there on the sidewalk, the two sisters prayed earnestly for someone to come along to help them. Then they resumed sitting on the curb waiting to see how God would answer their prayers.
Far down the street, they spotted a man who walked out of a factory and looked curiously up the street, and the girls thought perhaps he was the one God would send. But the man went back into the factory. Presently he came out again, looked up the street again, and reentered the factory. Then man walked out of the factory a third time, wear his hat and walking toward them.
Approaching the children, the man said in a broken German accent, “O children, what is the matter?” When they explained the situation to him, the German hoisted Vanie up in his brawny arms and carried her all the way home.
Once the girls were safely delivered, the gentleman told his story. He was the proprietor of an ink factory, and he had been working hard on payroll checks for his men. Suddenly as he was pouring over his books his eyes had clouded up and his vision had blurred. He had a plain impression that someone on the street wanted to see him, so he stepped outside and tried to focus his eyes up and down the street. Seeing no one, he returned to his desk and tried to work.
The darkness in his vision was even worse, and the impression was even greater. So he walked outside again, puzzled. Then he returned to his work again, but his fingers would not grasp the pen. He found himself unable to write a word; moreover the impression on his mind was urgent. So he fetched his hat and walked up the street in bewilderment until he saw the girls who had prayed earnestly for someone to come along and help them.
We see a similar plight of the Israelites as they were under Egyptian bondage.
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
The story is one well known, starting with the sale of Joseph by his brothers. God provided him with wisdom and favor from the Pharoah, which led to the interpretation of the dream of seven good years of crops, and seven years of famine. Joseph oversaw the building of storage bins and oversaw the storage of grain in the good years so that there would be food reserves for the bad years. In turn, it allowed Joseph to provide for his family - as they came looking for food during the time of widespread famine. During this time, Israel settled in Egypt and all was good until Joseph died and there was a new pharoah. He saw the number and power of the Israelites, and was scared they would take over Egypt. He placed them in servanthood until the Israelites cried out to God for the condition they found themselves in. Even though it was not an immediate delivery, God heard them, remembered them and when the time was right delivered them.
There are a few points we need to consider when we view the answering of prayer.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.
God hears the prayers of believers, and as believers we can have confidence that He has heard our pleas, just as He did the Israelites. If we, like the Israelites, pray according to His will. Notice what the Israelites prayed for; what God had promised them through His promise to Abraham.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
God had promised Abraham that He would make a great nation from him, and that those who blessed Israel would be blessed, but cursed would be those who dishonored them. God knew that the nation of Israel could not be the great nation He had promised as slaves under the Egyptians. The cries from the Israelites (God’s chosen people) were within God’s will when they called out to Him, and reminded Him of the promises to them.
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.
Notice this verse - God does not listen to sinners. God cannot answer prayers according to His will if they are being asked by people OUT of His will. What is God’s will? 1 Timothy 2:4 tells us “That all would be saved and to come to know the truth”. SO, can God hear the prayers of the unsaved? Only the prayer of salvation.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
What is iniquity? Awah is often used as a synonym of chata˒, “to sin,”
What does it mean to cherish iniquity? Examining our heart and finding the condition of persistent sin. How is it we change this heart condition? By recognizing the one who can change our heart forever! Let’s examine David’s words in Psalm 116 as he speaks to God’s impact on his life.
God’s Love and Our Love of God
God’s Love and Our Love of God
I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
I believed, even when I spoke:
“I am greatly afflicted”;
I said in my alarm,
“All mankind are liars.”
What shall I render to the Lord
for all his benefits to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints.
O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
This chapter is intensely personal, speaking of physical deliverance giving us a glimpse of our salvation. When we repent and receive Christ, we are delivered from spiritual death. The Psalmist shares what God did for him - what it felt like to have a physical and spiritual deliverance from death. He did so through confession, acknowledging God’s goodness, and by placing his faith and commitment in God.
Confession
Confession
I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”
The psalmist starts with a proclamation “I love the Lord”. Why does he love Him? Because he heard his voice and pleas for mercy. The psalmist is speaking of the action of love - a feeling that results in action! God had not only heard him, but had mercy on him, and delivered him. As Christians, we too can call out and profess our love of God because of what He has done for us. When we call out to Him in confession of our sin, He mercifully hears our please and delivers us from eternal spiritual death! God hears the prayers of His people and, according to His will for our lives, answers our prayers, when we call upon the name of the Lord. Not only that, but in our every day lives we can have confidence that God will listen, will hear us fully, and will answer our prayers because He cares about the circumstances each of us face in our lives. Because of God’s love for us, we should also be willing to openly proclaim our love for the Lord! Mark 12:30 tells us we should love the lord with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength at all times, regardless of what we face.
God’s Goodness
God’s Goodness
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
Because of the overwhelming feeling the psalmist has towards what the Lord did for him, he expresses Gods goodness, and mercy, and righteousness towards us, a sinner. When he was in the deepest suffering, he called upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord was there. He protected him, and saved him from the lowest of lows. Through that, he had peace - his fears were gone and he had been delivered from death, fear, tears, and grief! When we are in the worst of our worries, when we are facing our worst fears, when we are wondering how we are going to make it, God can reach down and touch us - answering our prayer - and through the Lord’s faithfulness, it protects us from doubt and unbelief - it strengthens our faith and commitment in the Lord.
Placing Faith and Commitment in the Lord
Placing Faith and Commitment in the Lord
I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
I believed, even when I spoke:
“I am greatly afflicted”;
I said in my alarm,
“All mankind are liars.”
What shall I render to the Lord
for all his benefits to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints.
O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
Not only can we have confidence in our faith and commitment, but the psalmist says we ALL can trust the Lord! Three different times he extends the call to trust in the Lord. First, he invited the entire nation of Israel, second he speaks directly to the house of Aaron - the spiritual leaders, and last he invites all who fear the Lord to trust in Him. Who is all? The same “all” as Romans 10:13 13 For “all - everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” When God answers prayers, not only do we gain faith, but we learn to trust in the Lord completely and have the highest confidence He hears and acts on our behalf. When Satan tries to attack, having this confidence and trust in God gets us through these toughest of times. The psalmist gives us the feeling of his faith in God, and declares the Lord was going to bless His people. How? Because He created us, and is still looking out for our well-being.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Even when we face the most difficult situations of life, we need to speak in faith, never doubting God’s love or faithfulness to us. Because of this, we should renew the vows we make with the Lord. The psalmist gives us an outline in Chapter 116, we should: honor and praise Him for salvation, we can call on Him for anything and everything we need, we are to keep the promises and commitments we make with Him, and we are to present ourselves worthy to God because of the mercy He shows towards us.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.
Conclusion
Conclusion
God hears and answers our prayers.
Our faith and confidence grows as a result.
He will bless His people.
If we are truly grateful to God for our salvation and everything He has done for us, we will fully commit ourselves to Him. We will not take His deliverance and blessings for granted, as we see His answered prayers. As a result, we will serve Him faithfully and wholeheartedly. We will praise Him before all people, and encourage them to trust in Him as well. Today, are you willing to make this commitment to God?