WAITING AND THE CHRISTIAN

Sometimes we as humans are emotionally, physically, and mentally overwhelmed. Maybe you have a full prayer life and maybe you do not. Maybe you pray with expectation and the authority of heaven. Maybe you struggle sometimes with prayer. Have you ever thought or said “I don't feel like praying?” “What’s the point, God’s not listening.”

I remember going through a period of time when I simply stopped praying. I thought, in my infinite wisdom, that God was ignoring me, so I was going to ignore God. I learned something during that time. God does not think the way we do. God does not react the way we do. God did not say “Fine Bob, you are going to ignore me, so I am going to ignore you!” God relentlessly pursues us no matter how we feel or what we do!

When I stopped stomping my feet, pouting,and I stopped pointing my finger at God, because that's what we do (COME ON GOD, COME ON ABBA!), I realized it was not Him that needed to change, it was me. It was hard for me to come back to communion, communication, or prayer with the Almighty. I was embarrassed and I was ashamed.

Almost any honest believer will tell you that they have thought or felt a similar way at times in their walk.

Most of those same seasoned believer will tell you that waiting in prayer will build in us the very characteristics that Christ lived out.

Let’s take a look this morning at what happens when we develop the prayer life that God so earnestly seeks with us corporately, and individually.

First, let’s look at a Biblical definition of prayer.

PRAYER Communication with God, primarily offered in the second-person voice (addressing God directly).

How awesome is that! Through the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus, we go directly through Holy Spirit into the presence of God! Speaking directly with Abba Daddy.

May include petition, supplication, thanksgiving, praise, hymns, and lament.

Petition - To make a request

Supplication - Earnest and humble plea

Thanksgiving/Praise - We thank and praise God for all God has done and continues to do in our lives and in the lives of others.

Hymns - We lift our voices to God. Worship music, singing along, that is a form of prayer!

Lament - Bringing our sorrow and grief to the LORD.

You may find what I am going to say offensive, for which I do not apologize: There is a wrong way to pray. It is holding back from God, in our personal prayer lives, when God sent and gave His only begotten son that we may come boldly to His throne room with all things. Do not hold back from God. It is for your benefit, not His.

What is the result of waiting in prayer?

STRENGTH/PERSEVERANCE

Isaiah 40:31 NLT

31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

So often when we talk to God we do all the speaking and we do not allow God to speak. God is a God of action! It is like we go before God with our arms crossed, stomping our feet and saying “GIMME it and GIMME it now!”

When we trust in the LORD, we build strength and perseverance. We wait with expectation. God works through His people, our circumstance, our happenstance, and His divine intervention.

Our prayers do not fall on deaf ears of an uncaring God. Our prayers are heard by the one who is greater than all of creation. It is our impatience, our desire for the quick fix, our need for immediate resolution that blinds us to the glorious works of the Father!

This is an often misunderstood verse. The use of the eagle was metaphoric poetry. As an Eagle cares for and protects its young, God cares for and protects His people.

Learning to be patient in prayer, builds strength and it builds dependence on God. An active prayer life protects us from ourselves and our own deceitful hearts.

STEADFAST

Steadfast - Resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.

James 5:17–18 NLT

17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.

If you have never read 1 Kings, I would encourage you to read 1 Kings. King Ahab was a bad King. The first go-around with Ahab was when Elijah prayed for no rain to prove that God was the one true God.

James is reminding us that we must remain steadfast in prayer. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah prayed for God to send rain. It was not just once, but seven times he prayed for rain. What I find really interesting is that on the word of God, Elijah told Ahab the rain was coming before Elijah began to pray!

There is power in prayer, but that power belongs to God. Elijah was called to be a prophet, but he was no different than you or I. He struggled terribly with fear, doubt, pain, and grief at times. Yet he recognized the need to remain close to God in prayer. He had to wait at times to see or to hear God speak.

Have you ever found yourself praying the same prayer during the day? Or every day? Remain steadfast in prayer. Prayer is not a matter of parroting something we have heard or memorized. It is not talking to hear ourselves talk. It is sharing our hearts with God so that we remain focused on God.

When we stop talking long enough, and listen, we will see God move. Like Elijah, we must be prepared to move in the direction in which God answers our prayers. Otherwise, we are saying “If it be my will Father, then I will follow.”

As our hearts are transformed into the likeness of Christ, we develop something else in our prayer life:

SYMPATHY

Sympathy: feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune.

Do you all realize how many times humans have broken God’s heart? It’s like when you tell a child “Don’t run, your going to get hurt.” “Don’t run, your going to get hurt.” “Don’t run, your going to get hurt.” Then the child falls, and gets hurt. That is an incredibly familiar theme throughout scripture, and in many of our lives!

Over the past decade, I have found myself growing increasingly angry at what I see around me. I do not know when it happened, but the LORD changed my heart. That anger has manifested itself into feelings of sorrow and a heart that grieves for others.

Abraham developed sympathy for others. Abraham stood in intercessory prayer for Sodom and Gomorrah because he started seeing things through God’s eyes.

Genesis 18:23 NLT

23 Abraham approached him and said, “Will you sweep away both the righteous and the wicked?

When we read Genesis 18:20-33, Abraham says “LORD, you surely will not destroy these cities if there be 50 righteous people, or 45 righteous people, or 40 righteous people, or 30 righteous people, or 20 righteous people, or 10 righteous people.” “Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

I am fully convinced that God was allowing Abraham a taste of the sorrow and continued rejection that God experiences to this day! Often by His own people!

Abraham felt sorrow for those who loved God and where in the path of what was coming. Abraham was seeing things through God’s eyes. Throughout the intercessory prayer, he stood firm. The prayer was not for Abraham’s benefit, but for the benefit of others.

When we stop looking at things through our eyes, and begin looking at them through God’s eyes, we will experience sympathy for others.

Pray Selflessly not Selfishly

We should pray for ourselves, bring all things before the LORD. When our prayer life goes from praying just about ourselves or selfishly to praying selflessly for others, that anger that we harbor, that hurt we do not let go of, begins to dissipate and it is replaced by the heart of Christ.

Abraham’s prayer was probably not answered the way he wanted it answered. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. At Abrahams request, he was able to get his nephew, Lot, and his family out of the city. No amount of prayer is going to intrinsically change a persons free-will. Abraham remained willing to listen and follow God’s path rather than his own.

The point is this: We must develop a prayer life, continued communication with God. Bring it all to God!

We must remain patient in prayer and allow God to speak when and the way God is going to speak.

Develop the heart and the mind of Christ in prayer. Allow the indwelling Spirit to speak to you and to show you His ways.

Worship Team to Stage

James 5:16 NLT

16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

God is listening, He wants us to share our hearts with Him. The question is, are you listening for God?