Powerful Prayers - WK 1 - Hezekiah

There are some powerful prayers in the bible

HEZEKIAH:

About hezekiah:

He was the 12th king of Judah, after Israel and Judah separated.

Judah had a bunch of bad kings. They had a few good ones, but a lot of bad ones. Israel at the time was much worse.

Hezekiah’s dad was a pretty bad character. But Hezekiah was known for two bigger things -

1- trying to turn the country around in terms of their religious beliefs and practices

2 - defending judah from being conquered by Assyria.

VERSE CONTEXT

King Sennacherib had threatened Jerusalem, to depose the king and take away all his people. but he was trying to demoralize them as well.

Hezekiah repented, tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, went into the temple He spoke with Isaiah, who encouraged him.

Sennacherib was not just threatening Jerusalem - he was also insulting God. Taunting Hezekiah, saying that it was foolish to believe that God could rescue him.

2 Kings 19:15–19 NIV

And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: “Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God. “It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, Lord, are God.”

Hezekiah brought a few different priorities to this prayer worth mentioning.

He wanted to see God be given more glory

And not in the sense of, ‘Do something great for me, and if you do, i’m sure people will praise you more’.

Hezekiah was faced with these threats, his life was being put on the line. But Hezekiah heard Sennecharib making fun of God Himself, and when he prayed, he showed his hand. He asked God to act in order to defend God’s own glory and reputation.

I’m sure Hezekiah cared about his own safety - but when he came to that altar, he cared more about God.

Even in bringing his requests, Hezekiah cared more about seeing God benefit than himself.

John 9:1–3 NIV

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We have this concept of, ‘if we get healed, or we get the answer we want from prayer, we’re MORE righteous than a person who didn’t’.

But jesus says here - him giving out healing, miracles, it’s about displaying God’s work.

We’re not the center of attention in our life story

God is. BIBLE - the treasure of knowing God, and seeing God move in our lives - God puts it in us - frail, broken, fragile jars of clay.

2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

In every answer to prayer, God loves us, and He has a plan for every one of our days.

But we need to love Him back. We need to say, ‘God, my life is yours to do with as you see fit’.

And Hezekiah knew that. And He believed it. And God answered him.

2 Kings 19:32–36 NIV

“Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: “ ‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord. I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’ ” That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

CRAZY answer. God delivered the israelites - and he did it in miraculous power.

Jesus taught the same thing.

Matthew 6:9–10 NIV

“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Hallowed = Greatly revered or honored.

Jesus starts off teaching us how to pray by saying, ‘Father - YOUR name is great, YOU deserve reverence, YOUR kingdom is what matters, YOUR will is what matters.

Powerful prayers lift up God - even when we feel put down

How do we practice this?

Take your concept of success out of the picture - and make God getting the benefit your priority

Two things -

God absolutely wants to answer prayer. He loves to heal, to deliver. Jesus taught us to constantly pray. PERSISTANT WIDOW PRAY SO MUCH we seem annoying in our own eyes.

And God absolutely doesn’t need our help to be successful. We don’t benefit him in any sense of the word.

But when we make this choice to say, ‘This isn’t about what I think I need, or how I think this should go - it’s about God, and Him getting more glory and recognition’, THEN we unlock a key part of the power of prayer.

This is the victory we receive in following God

People pitch this gospel that is all about us benefitting, us being the center of attention, us having the life that we want.

Luke 9:23–24 NIV

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

In Christ, when we want to follow Him - we give up our own lives. But the great paradox of God - and the amazing thing about powerful prayer - is that when we give up our lives, then we truly have a chance to be saved.

That’s what we invite you to as a church - PRAY WITH US - Come and talk to me in the lobby afterwards, or leave a comment on the video, or send me an email after the fact.