Divine Subsidies

Luke 11:5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves,6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

God is ready to answer his children

As children of God there are privileges. We are in covenant.

and one of the greatest priv. - he is ready to answer our prayers

even more than our parents? Parents think on that for a moment.

As Christians we have a tactical advantage… the ear of God.

Disney says “when you wish upon a star… it makes no diff who you are.

well. idk about stars, but I do about God. When you talk to God, whether or not you are his child makes a difference.

WHAT KIND OF DIFFERENCE?

have you heard “be careful what you wish for?”

what does that mean? Well, the things you desire may have unintended consequences. Many a movie or TV plot has worked out that way.

But in covenantal pryaer - you don’t have to be so careful...

why? (not careless, but carefree)

OUR FATHER IS SOVEREIGN - history has already been ordered.

AND EVERYTHING has already been ordered FOR YOUR GOOD

“all things work together for the good of those the love him and are called according to his purpose”

down to the molecule.

SO WE”RE ROBOTS? no. Within God’s sovereign plan, he has placed prayer… prayer as an intentional mechanism to advance his plan.

but you need not fear that your prayers will somehow override the will of God. Not possible.

*withcraft story*

SO - Our Father is SOVEREIGN - so we are FREE to pray and then to trust.

NEXT - Our father is omniscient.

Meaning, he knows everything, as well as all the potential pitfalls along the way.

In other words, you don’t need to carry the pressure of “praying for the wrong thing” or “the wrong way”

NEXT - OUR FATHER IS GOOD

He’s a good father that ONLY gives good gifts. His first priorities? His Glory and your ULTIMATE GOOD

Rom 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Paul asked for healing from the thorn in his flesh, but God didn’t do it. Paul asked persistently, still nothing…

Paul thought it would be good for him at the time, but it wouldn’t be good for him, and God knew, so he didn’t grant it.

He prayed carefree. He prayed for what he wanted, what he thought was best, and God did what was ACTUALLy best.

And Paul realized this, the threat of personal pride was greater than the need to be free from the thorn.

In other words, following our text, Paul asked for what he thought was an egg, but it was actually a scorpion - and God knew all along.

AND NOT ONLY THAT - but God is so good that he won’t grant our lustful prayers. He won’t turn us over to our old idols. He will protect us, even from our old selves.

So … how should we pray?

Carefree. Ask your dad. You’ve got nothing to lose. If it’s according to his plan and your good, you got it. Ask. Freely. And watch.

Alright then… let’s get to work.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...”

Well now… that’s quite the task.

Go, and make disciples of Louisiana… St Landry… opelousas.... still big.

And if we think about it - we don’t have the resources.

We don’t have the money, the man power, the time… we don’t even have our own building.

And this is by design. In the story of Gideon… if they had more troops they wouldn’t rely on God...

same for us. We don’t rely on our skills, our resources, o ur marketing, or any of it. The Lord must do it. THEREFORE - we must ask.

To put it literally:God’s callings take money - we don’t have money - so we pray for a heavenly subsidy - a stimulus.. ha.

except, one that won’t wreck our economy.

But there is a subsidy available… from God… through prayer.

Illustration: Our local elections are broken. (OR local economy, or casino…)

People vote mostly because of a letter next to someones name, or a well funded campaign, or because someone leverages (or buys) the right connections.

How do I fix this? It’s so much bigger than I am… I can’t re-educate the entire public. I can’t take down an entirely broken political system by myself. I don’t have the influence. I don’t have the connections. I don’t have the money.

It’s too big for me. What can I do? - Oh. I can pray.

and meanwhile? look for opportunity. and act.

The world looks to technology to increase our options. to therapy - science, politics, power, money.... and these are all tools we may use. BUT!! THEY ARE NOTHING compared to PRAYER>

And none of those tools, in and of themselves, have any real power. They may, by God’s grace, provide relief temporarily, but there is only one power unto salvation. unto victory unto “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” and that is prayer.

And when you can’t do it… sometimes we turn to sin to get what we want.

teacher turned meth cook...

APPLICATION:

It seems like our time at the Delta has run it’s course. Things break often, setup is getting tedious, we only have access to the space one day a week, and it’s a shared space under semi-construction… complications abound.

but if we had a space… with classrooms… offices… that we could maximize all week long...

But.. we don’t have the cash to buy or build much of anything… honestly.

and everything that seems available or attainable would take us out of the city center… which is where we’ve wanted to be.

So… what do we do? We pray. We ask for kingdom expanding opportunities, wisdom, and then we wait.

We pray for the holy spirit to give us the wisdom, the resources, and present the opporunities.

and then we pray some more.

CONCLUSION

So. We need to identify our callings.... then what we need for our callings… and then? START A CAPITAL CAMPAIGN!!

DO A SWOT ANALYSIS

DO A STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSION

WRITE FUNDRAISING LETTERS

No. You need to pray. And ask for the Spirit.