back to indexWomens Retreat Session #3
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We looked at to whom do we pray, we talked about who God is, his power, his ability 00:00:37.000 |
We talked about the fact that he's our father and so he has the desire to effect change 00:00:43.520 |
And then this morning we looked at why we pray, the relationship that we have with God 00:01:03.960 |
and how we pray, and how the Bible has so many wonderful examples for us of prayer, 00:01:30.080 |
whether it's in the Old Testament and the Psalms or looking at Jesus in the Garden of 00:01:35.480 |
Gethsemane or the outline that he gave his disciples to use in their prayer. 00:01:42.080 |
And so now we come to session three which is does prayer have an effect? 00:01:49.480 |
I think all of us have heard at one time or another the slogan "Prayer changes things." 00:02:00.840 |
Is it biblical to think that prayer changes things? 00:02:06.680 |
Well James chapter 5 verse 16 says, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." 00:02:15.480 |
Yeah, the Bible teaches us that prayer does change things. 00:02:27.240 |
I'm going to look at just a few and I have to admit at one point I had about twice as 00:02:36.080 |
many notes and you should be very thankful that I cut it in half. 00:02:40.360 |
But it's so hard to choose which examples to use because the Old Testament is so full 00:02:47.760 |
of examples of men crying out to God and God answering and God making change happen. 00:02:56.920 |
So the few we're going to look at, one is Moses. 00:03:01.960 |
In Exodus 32 he has led the people out of Egypt. 00:03:10.320 |
We talked about how God showed his mighty power in delivering the Israelites from Egypt 00:03:21.160 |
He brings them out to the wilderness to Mount Sinai and he calls Moses up to the mountain 00:03:26.720 |
and Moses is gone for 40 days up on that mountain talking to God, receiving from God the covenant 00:03:38.880 |
And as Moses is coming back down the mountain, the people have not been idle. 00:03:45.920 |
They have taken their gold and their silver and they have melted it down and made a golden 00:03:56.600 |
It's mind boggling when you really step back and think about this. 00:04:01.320 |
Here God took them out of hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt. 00:04:06.180 |
He showed his incredible power to them in the 12 plagues that he afflicted Egypt with. 00:04:14.080 |
He literally split the sea open and had them walk through on dry land. 00:04:21.360 |
And they come to the mountain of God and they see the thunder and the rumbling as we talked 00:04:25.760 |
about it was such an awesome sight that the people said, "Moses, you go talk to God because 00:04:33.000 |
And as they are seeing all of this, they're sitting at the bottom of the mountain hearing 00:04:38.360 |
the thunder and the rumblings and they go, "You know what, maybe we need something we 00:04:49.920 |
And so they make an idol, not out of wood, but out of gold. 00:04:55.200 |
And they're worshiping this idol and God becomes angry with the people. 00:05:01.160 |
And he tells Moses, "I'm going to destroy this people. 00:05:05.480 |
I'm going to destroy them and I'm going to make a nation out of you." 00:05:09.440 |
You would think Moses, who's put up with some grumbling already about water, about food, 00:05:30.680 |
You go ahead and punish them and you can start over with me. 00:05:36.120 |
And we see in Exodus 32, verse 11, that Moses pleaded with the Lord, his God, and said, 00:05:45.200 |
"Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people whom you have brought out of the 00:05:50.560 |
land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?" 00:05:55.240 |
And then he talks to God and reasons with him about how the Egyptians would say, "Well, 00:06:00.200 |
God just brought them out to the wilderness to kill them. 00:06:04.440 |
But in verse 14, it tells us, "So the Lord relented from the harm which he said he would 00:06:13.440 |
Moses cried out to God and God heard him and God relented. 00:06:25.600 |
The prayer of a righteous man or woman avails much. 00:06:32.520 |
Another example we have in the Old Testament is the prophet Elijah. 00:06:37.560 |
There were some pretty amazing things that God did through Elijah, but he was a prophet 00:06:42.880 |
for Israel during a time where there weren't repentant kings like King David. 00:06:48.760 |
I'm sure Elijah wishes he lived in the time of the prophet Nathan where he would have 00:06:56.440 |
Instead, Elijah was a prophet of God during a time when the kings were very, very wicked 00:07:05.440 |
And we see here that Elijah has been dealing with Ahab and Jezebel. 00:07:11.680 |
Even today, most of us know the name Jezebel. 00:07:14.760 |
Even if you're not a Christian, you've probably heard of, "Oh, that Jezebel. 00:07:26.960 |
She has done everything she can so that Israel will no longer worship Jehovah. 00:07:44.960 |
And in James 5, verse 17 and 18, and this is in fact right before our verse in James 00:07:57.320 |
5, verse 16 that talks about the prayer of a righteous man avails much. 00:08:02.520 |
This is right after that and they use Elijah as the example for the fact that our prayers 00:08:09.800 |
In verse 17, it says, "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours." 00:08:15.280 |
How often do we kind of put Bible characters in a different class? 00:08:34.680 |
And so it tells us that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly 00:08:47.520 |
It did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 00:08:52.960 |
Verse 18 tells us, "And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced 00:09:02.520 |
Elijah prayed to God to close up the heavens and it did not rain on his country for three 00:09:14.040 |
Even in California we get more rain than that. 00:09:20.360 |
This was God choosing to listen to the prayer of Elijah and close up the heavens so that 00:09:26.200 |
there was no rain for three and a half years until Elijah prayed again and asked God to 00:09:43.680 |
It wasn't that he knew how to pray better or he knew all the magic words. 00:09:49.560 |
He was an ordinary man that served an extraordinary God. 00:09:55.280 |
A God who was powerful and a God who heard his prayers and answered them. 00:10:09.520 |
King Hezekiah was a good king in the sense that he loved God and sought to serve him. 00:10:15.800 |
He wasn't always the smartest king and Israel suffered because of that at times. 00:10:22.760 |
But it tells us that in those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. 00:10:36.760 |
And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 00:10:43.720 |
set your house in order for you shall die and not live." 00:10:47.920 |
This is not a message you want to hear from the prophet of God. 00:10:52.440 |
In the Old Testament if a prophet gave a false message, he was stoned to death. 00:10:58.840 |
So you know that if the prophet of God comes to you and says, "Thus saith the Lord," he's 00:11:04.120 |
pretty confident that that's what God has told him. 00:11:07.680 |
So this prophet Isaiah comes to King Hezekiah and says, "Yeah, you're sick. 00:11:12.720 |
God says you're so sick that you're going to die. 00:11:14.720 |
So get your affairs in order because you are going to be facing your maker face to face." 00:11:25.680 |
In verse 2 it says that Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed to God saying, 00:11:32.920 |
"Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before you in truth and with a loyal 00:11:40.080 |
heart and have done what was good in your sight." 00:11:48.600 |
And it happened before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court that the word of the 00:11:54.240 |
Lord came to him saying, "Return and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'Thus 00:12:00.200 |
says the Lord, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer. 00:12:11.440 |
On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.'" 00:12:16.360 |
I'm sure we all wish that all of our prayers were answered this quickly and with such a 00:12:21.960 |
He's told by God, "You are sick and you're going to die. 00:12:31.880 |
He turns his face to the Lord and he cries out to him. 00:12:39.760 |
It says that before the prophet had even gotten to the middle court and unless Hezekiah had 00:12:43.880 |
a huge chalice, this was within a few minutes, God speaks to his prophet and says, "Go and 00:12:56.240 |
And three days from now, he is going to be fully recovered and walking into the courtroom 00:13:07.960 |
He saw his sorrow and his pain and he responded to his request and healed him. 00:13:20.440 |
Again, these are only a very few examples that we see in the Old Testament. 00:13:29.880 |
You have Joshua calling out to God and the sun stands still in the sky. 00:13:39.320 |
But the sun stopped moving, which means the earth stopped moving. 00:13:56.280 |
The earth opened up and swallowed wicked men. 00:14:00.600 |
Our God is a God who is powerful and He hears our voices when we call out to Him and He 00:14:20.160 |
Jesus is talking to His disciples about prayer and in John 14, He makes a pretty incredible 00:14:28.920 |
In John 14, starting in verse 12, Jesus tells His disciples, "Most assuredly," so very, 00:14:38.600 |
very truly, this isn't a casual statement, this is a very serious statement that you 00:14:42.800 |
can take, "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, 00:14:57.680 |
The works that Jesus did, if you believe in Him, you will do also. 00:15:08.000 |
"And greater works than these He will do because I go to my Father and whatever you 00:15:13.920 |
ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 00:15:23.000 |
If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. 00:15:28.760 |
If you love me, keep my commandments and I will pray the Father and He will give you 00:15:34.560 |
another helper that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world 00:15:40.400 |
cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells 00:15:53.800 |
Jesus tells His disciples that anything you ask in my name, I will give to you. 00:16:03.800 |
Does this mean that any request we make will be given to us? 00:16:10.560 |
It kind of starts to sound like a genie in a bottle, doesn't it? 00:16:15.840 |
What about when we ask for those things that are not good and not helpful for us? 00:16:23.360 |
In James chapter 4, starting in verse 1, we're told, and this is James speaking to the church 00:16:30.400 |
that is scattered abroad, he says, "Where do wars and fights come from among you?" 00:16:52.080 |
Why is there conflict and friction when there should be unity in Christ?" 00:16:57.920 |
He goes on, "Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 00:17:09.840 |
You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. 00:17:15.260 |
You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. 00:17:23.680 |
Believers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with 00:17:29.960 |
Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." 00:17:40.840 |
He says, "You guys are envious of each other and the things that you have. 00:17:46.320 |
I want what she has because you don't have because you don't ask. 00:17:51.280 |
But even when you ask, God doesn't give it to you because you're not asking out of a 00:18:07.480 |
Friendship with the world is enmity against God. 00:18:12.520 |
Remember that verse we looked at this morning where he said, "Such were some of you." 00:18:18.060 |
We were in the world, we were rebelling against God as we were living for the desires of the 00:18:27.080 |
We didn't desire any kind of relationship with God and he made us alive in him and changed 00:18:33.000 |
our hearts, put a new heart within us so that now we're to desire the things of God. 00:18:38.780 |
He says, "You're not desiring the things of God. 00:18:41.720 |
You're still desiring the things of the world. 00:18:45.180 |
And when you ask for those things, God says, "No, because that's not good for you." 00:18:54.300 |
When Jesus is talking to his disciples, there's a really important phrase in that verse. 00:19:01.700 |
A lot of times we like to look just at whatever you ask, I will give you. 00:19:06.940 |
Well, we left out a little piece there, didn't we? 00:19:11.720 |
Whatever you ask in my name, I will give to you. 00:19:16.820 |
And this doesn't just mean that we close our prayers with, "In Jesus' name, amen." 00:19:26.500 |
When we're told that whatever we ask in Jesus' name we will receive, it means that our requests 00:19:39.420 |
find their source in the character and the person of Jesus. 00:19:46.140 |
The things we're asking for are the things that will bring God glory. 00:19:54.240 |
In Psalm 37, verses 3 through 5, we're told, "Trust in the Lord and do good. 00:20:01.340 |
Dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness." 00:20:05.180 |
Verse 4 says, "Delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of 00:20:16.460 |
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. 00:20:18.860 |
If you want something, go delight yourself in the Lord and he's going to give it to you. 00:20:25.860 |
It's not saying go to God and do a certain number of good works and that's going to earn 00:20:38.620 |
This goes right back to what we talked about this morning, doesn't it? 00:20:50.580 |
As we sit and we meditate on who he is, as we are saturated with the truth of his character 00:21:01.300 |
Do you ever notice that those you spend the most time with, maybe a good friend. 00:21:10.060 |
I had a friend that was from the East Coast and she talked kind of different. 00:21:15.020 |
What was really scary is the more time I spent with her, the more I started to talk like 00:21:25.660 |
But because of the time that I spent with her, as we talked together, I just kind of 00:21:31.460 |
absorbed parts of who she was and I started acting like her. 00:21:37.580 |
How much more does that happen to us with God because we're not just sitting and absorbing 00:21:45.460 |
His spirit is within us and we're told that we are being conformed into the image of Christ. 00:21:55.860 |
And so as we sit and we delight ourselves in the Lord, he gives us the desires of our 00:22:02.740 |
But that doesn't just mean he grants our requests. 00:22:04.260 |
It means that the desires we have in our hearts as we sit and delight in God, those are the 00:22:12.900 |
Our heart becomes a reflection of his heart as we spend time delighting in him. 00:22:18.700 |
And so then when we pray, the prayers we are giving to God are things that he desires for 00:22:25.740 |
us because we are absorbed in his presence and we delight in the things he delights. 00:22:36.140 |
And that changes the things that we desire in our lives. 00:22:41.700 |
So when we talk about asking in Jesus name, it's asking according to what Jesus would 00:22:51.500 |
There is a slogan, it's still around I know, but for a while it was super, super popular. 00:23:02.500 |
What if we think of this as what would Jesus pray? 00:23:05.780 |
Do you ever ask yourself that when you're praying? 00:23:14.580 |
When something happens, how would Jesus respond to that in prayer? 00:23:23.220 |
Anything you ask in my name, we talk about being ambassadors for Christ. 00:23:29.460 |
We're told that we are ambassadors for Christ. 00:23:32.740 |
Well, an ambassador is a representative of a country, right? 00:23:36.900 |
So for us, that means being representatives of Christ. 00:23:40.060 |
In a sense, as we come before the Lord in our prayers, we say we are coming in the name 00:23:53.020 |
And when we do that, we will receive our requests. 00:24:01.220 |
So if we're asking in Jesus name, we're delighting in the Lord. 00:24:10.500 |
Will there ever be a time that we make a request? 00:24:22.420 |
When we talked a little bit about Job this morning, and I'm kind of assuming you guys 00:24:31.420 |
But at the very beginning of the book of Job, you have Satan coming into the throne room 00:24:40.780 |
And God says to Job, he says, "Have you seen my servant Job? 00:24:47.060 |
And Satan, and I am so loosely paraphrasing this, Satan says to God, "Well, you think 00:24:56.980 |
he loves you, but really he just loves all the things you do for him. 00:25:02.980 |
He's rich, he's famous, he has all of these children, all of these lands. 00:25:09.620 |
If you took some of that stuff away, he wouldn't love you anymore." 00:25:15.620 |
And God gives Satan permission to afflict Job. 00:25:26.220 |
Satan says, "If you took all his stuff away, he wouldn't love you anymore." 00:25:30.700 |
God says, "Okay, I give you permission to take away the possessions of Job." 00:25:38.300 |
And in one day, all of Job's possessions are gone. 00:25:44.420 |
Marauders come in, fires, it's a miraculous destruction. 00:25:52.940 |
This man was very, very rich, and everything he had was taken away. 00:26:03.900 |
And so Satan goes, "Well, I bet if you took his family away, then he'd see you for who 00:26:12.580 |
And God says, "Okay, I give you permission to take his family." 00:26:20.580 |
And in one single day, I think he had like 12 children. 00:26:38.860 |
I can't imagine losing one child, much less all three of my children, much less if I had 00:26:47.660 |
And in one single day, they're all gone, inexplicably, for no reason. 00:27:04.980 |
At this point, Satan has to be getting pretty frustrated. 00:27:13.740 |
He goes to God and he says, "Okay, well, if you let me afflict Job, if you let him suffer 00:27:32.540 |
He says, "You can't kill him, but you can afflict him." 00:27:46.100 |
He's sitting in the dust, taking broken pottery and scraping his skin. 00:27:55.180 |
The only family member he has left is his wife. 00:28:00.340 |
And she tells him, "Job, just curse God and die." 00:28:04.220 |
Not the most encouraging thing she could have said. 00:28:08.260 |
And there's part of me that thinks she was so horrified by the pain that Job was going 00:28:17.140 |
Whatever she meant by it, can you imagine having your spouse tell you, "Just curse God 00:28:25.280 |
And Job is sitting there in the dust, and the only friends that come to him are those 00:28:29.580 |
that are telling him, "Job, you must have done something wrong. 00:28:33.500 |
God must be punishing you for some terrible, horrible sin that you've done." 00:28:40.100 |
And Job sits there and goes, "There's nothing. 00:28:48.500 |
I don't understand why he is letting this happen. 00:28:54.660 |
Job, as each of these things occurs, as his possessions are taken away, he goes, "I don't 00:29:07.540 |
His children die, and he cries out to God in pain and says, "God, why did you let this 00:29:19.900 |
And he cries out to God and says, "Why are you letting this happen?" 00:29:31.260 |
As he sits here and he suffers, and then his friends come and tell him, "What is it you've 00:29:40.540 |
It isn't until Job starts to question the goodness of God and saying, "Why does God 00:29:52.980 |
allow this?" that God comes and puts Job in his place. 00:30:00.580 |
And I think it's incredible because even at this point, God is not comforting Job. 00:30:07.380 |
He tells Job, "Who do you think you are to question Almighty God?" 00:30:15.420 |
In chapters, I don't have it here, it's towards the end, I think it's like 38 and 39, God 00:30:31.420 |
And he says to Job, "Where were you when I made the foundations of the world? 00:30:40.540 |
And as we saw this morning, when God's finished with Job, Job says, "Even if you slay me, 00:30:49.820 |
At that point, God still hadn't done anything to change Job's circumstance. 00:31:01.220 |
At the very end of the book, Job's suffering ends. 00:31:09.380 |
God blesses him, again gives him possessions, gives him many more children. 00:31:16.300 |
But there was a long time in that book, in the story of Job, where he called out and 00:31:23.380 |
And even in that, he chose to trust in the faithfulness of God. 00:31:38.500 |
We see another example where a godly, faithful man calls out in prayer and does not receive 00:31:51.900 |
And the Son of God is on his knees, tells us he was in such agony that he was sweating 00:32:09.940 |
The agony that the human body has to be under in order for blood to come out of your pores 00:32:17.540 |
That is the agony that Jesus was in as he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:32:25.060 |
And he cries out to his Father and he says in verse 35 that he fell on the ground and 00:32:34.820 |
prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 00:32:40.180 |
And he said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. 00:32:50.140 |
Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will." 00:32:57.380 |
Apart from the physical suffering that Jesus went through on the cross, I think something 00:33:04.460 |
that was far more on his heart in this moment was the fact that when all of our sin was 00:33:11.300 |
put upon Jesus when he was hanging on the cross, he was separated from the Father. 00:33:27.020 |
Never ever had Jesus been separated from the Father. 00:33:32.620 |
The agony of that, that break in fellowship that we can so flippantly deal with sometimes 00:33:42.100 |
caused Jesus such agony that even though he knew that the reason he came to earth was 00:33:47.740 |
to die on the cross, when that hour came, that caused him such agony that he cried out 00:33:54.980 |
and said, "Daddy, if there's any other way, take this away from me. 00:34:19.580 |
And that in itself is such an affirmation that as Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, 00:34:27.420 |
There is no other way that God could save mankind apart from the death of his Son. 00:34:34.820 |
If there was, this loving Father would have taken that cup from his Son. 00:34:43.180 |
Sometimes when God doesn't give us the answer we want, we think, "Maybe I didn't pray right. 00:34:57.060 |
Let me tell you, you will never be good enough. 00:35:05.980 |
Not only did he never ever sin against the Father, he also always did everything that 00:35:13.940 |
He never saw something and said, "Oh, I should really do something there, but I'm really 00:35:23.060 |
And here he is in more agony than probably any of us will ever endure, asking one thing 00:35:38.020 |
There are times when God gives us a response we don't want, and he has a good reason for 00:35:52.460 |
But we can trust and submit because we know to whom we pray. 00:36:00.700 |
It is our Father in heaven, the God of the universe, that when we cry it says he holds 00:36:14.980 |
There is never a moment that you're going through pain and you cry out to God and he 00:36:20.900 |
Or, "You know what, five minutes ago you really offended me." 00:36:24.140 |
That's never how God responds to our prayers. 00:36:28.500 |
If we have cried out to him and he tells us no, he has a very good reason for it. 00:36:37.620 |
And it isn't even just his glory, it's also for our good. 00:36:44.060 |
God tells us that all things work together for the good of those who love him. 00:36:52.460 |
Every single thing he allows in your life is for your good. 00:36:57.460 |
Every single thing that he denies you in your life is for your good. 00:37:07.980 |
It has been freely given to you because of the work that Jesus did in the garden, on 00:37:21.380 |
And when God hears our prayers, it is with that favor, it is in the name of Jesus that 00:37:30.100 |
And he views your petitions as if they are coming from his son Jesus. 00:37:37.420 |
Hebrews 5, verse 7 and 8 says that Jesus, who in the days of his flesh, when he had 00:37:43.340 |
offered up prayers and supplications with vehement cries and tears to him who was able 00:37:49.620 |
to save him from death, was heard because of his godly fear, though he was a son, yet 00:37:56.260 |
he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. 00:38:10.020 |
We will not always get the answer we want, but it will always be an answer that is given 00:38:16.580 |
by a loving father who is never incapable of helping us or unwilling to help us. 00:38:27.100 |
So when he gives us, know it's for a very good reason. 00:38:32.740 |
So how do we respond when we don't get the response that we want from our prayers? 00:38:40.460 |
We have to fall back to remembering who we're praying to. 00:38:49.780 |
Psalm 55, verse 17 says, "Evening and morning and noon will I pray and cry aloud and he 00:39:00.340 |
Down in verse 22 he goes on, "Cast your burden on the Lord and he shall sustain you." 00:39:07.940 |
He shall sustain you, whether he chooses to deliver you from the situation you're in or 00:39:13.460 |
he chooses to have you go through it, he will sustain you. 00:39:18.940 |
He doesn't just say, "I'm sorry, you have to go through this." 00:39:22.700 |
Even in the garden it tells us that angels came and ministered to Jesus and strengthened 00:39:29.820 |
God will sustain us in whatever he chooses to have us go through. 00:39:35.900 |
Isaiah 55, verse 9 says, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways 00:39:41.380 |
higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." 00:39:46.620 |
This really reminds me again of our story in Job. 00:39:55.900 |
His thoughts, his ways are beyond our understanding. 00:40:00.900 |
And so understanding and trusting that even though I don't know what the goals of God 00:40:06.540 |
in this situation are, I can still trust him. 00:40:13.100 |
C.H. Spurgeon said this and one of our sisters shared it with our women a couple years ago 00:40:24.400 |
and it has just stuck in my mind and it's brought to my remembrance so often. 00:40:30.580 |
He said, "Remember this, had any other condition been better for you than the one in which 00:40:39.460 |
you are, divine love would have put you there." 00:40:47.980 |
Had any other condition been better for you than the one in which you are, divine love 00:40:58.580 |
That means that if there were any situation that would be better for you, more for your 00:41:03.340 |
good, more for your glory than where you are right now, God would have put you there. 00:41:10.980 |
Which means that wherever you are right now, whatever situation you find yourself in, good 00:41:21.660 |
It is not an accident that you are where you are right now. 00:41:36.420 |
Jude 1 verse 20 and 21 says, "Beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying 00:41:46.900 |
in the Holy Spirit, keeping yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of 00:41:58.380 |
We need to keep ourselves in the love of God. 00:42:02.220 |
He never lets us go, but sometimes our mind and our heart is elsewhere, isn't it? 00:42:10.460 |
Even though our position is secure, we're not living in it. 00:42:19.660 |
We're looking to the things of the world to give us pleasure. 00:42:23.540 |
We need to keep ourselves in the love of God. 00:42:32.100 |
Remember how we talked about the foundation of our faith, that it isn't just enough to 00:42:37.380 |
One, it needs to be something worthy of believing in, but it needs to be truth that we find 00:42:43.100 |
And so when we come to Him and we pray, understanding the truth of who God is and the fact that 00:42:48.260 |
sometimes for our good He's going to say no, that's important for us to know and to remember. 00:42:56.580 |
Because if we do, then in those trials, in those times when things happen that aren't 00:43:02.540 |
comfortable, that are painful, that we want to go away and God's not changing it, we're 00:43:10.380 |
okay because we remember who God is and that He loves us. 00:43:17.740 |
Paul had a situation in his life and we don't know exactly what it was. 00:43:23.940 |
Some think it was enemies that were getting in the way of him sharing the gospel. 00:43:30.820 |
But it was something that continued on and on and on and just was not going away. 00:43:35.020 |
And he tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, starting in verse 8, Paul said that concerning 00:43:43.420 |
this thing, this trial, this pain in his life, concerning this thing, I pleaded with the 00:43:48.540 |
Lord three times that it might depart from me. 00:43:52.900 |
And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in 00:44:01.180 |
Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of God may 00:44:08.700 |
Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, 00:44:16.260 |
in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong." 00:44:24.380 |
Paul says, "I would rather go through difficult circumstances so that I can see God's strength 00:44:39.380 |
He asked God over and over and over again to take it from him. 00:44:49.780 |
Lean on me for strength in the midst of this. 00:44:58.140 |
You need to rely on my strength in the midst of this." 00:45:13.100 |
He accepted the fact that God's mind and God's purposes were different than his. 00:45:27.220 |
I would rather continue to suffer so that God is glorified in me, that as I am weak, 00:45:48.180 |
Timothy Keller said, "Your prayer must be firmly connected to and grounded in your reading 00:45:55.700 |
This wedding of the Bible and prayer anchors your life down in the real God." 00:46:02.020 |
Sometimes we lose sight of the real God and we start to make him in the image we want 00:46:09.980 |
It's important that we are anchored in truth. 00:46:15.020 |
Mr. Keller continues, "Without immersion in God's words, our prayers may not be merely 00:46:20.740 |
limited and shallow, but also untethered from reality. 00:46:26.780 |
We may not be responding to the real God, but to what we wish God and life to be like." 00:46:34.700 |
It's so important that we remember who our God is. 00:46:41.780 |
He is all-powerful and able to accomplish his purposes. 00:46:46.620 |
And there are times that we have to accept that his purposes are not our purposes and 00:46:58.380 |
But even in that, Philippians 4 verse 6 tells us, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything 00:47:06.420 |
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 00:47:14.500 |
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and 00:47:28.500 |
When our understanding of God is tethered in the reality of his word, when we come to 00:47:36.060 |
him with our petitions, with our supplications, we can do so with thanksgiving, and God's 00:47:44.820 |
peace will guard our hearts from fear and anger and frustration because we are trusting 00:47:57.980 |
David says in Psalm 62 verse 8, "Trust in him at all times. 00:48:13.860 |
We've talked a little bit about it, but he had some very dark times as he was being wickedly 00:48:27.260 |
He doesn't just say, "Trust in God sometimes." 00:48:37.900 |
Even as he causes you to walk through a trial, he is still a refuge in the midst of that 00:49:02.060 |
When we trust in God and his peace is ruling in our hearts, it changes the way we feel, 00:49:12.460 |
Bowne said it this way, "Trust is faith become absolute, ratified, consummated. 00:49:21.260 |
There is, when all is said and done, a sort of venture in faith and its exercise. 00:49:32.820 |
Trust is a conscious act, a fact of which we are sensible. 00:49:39.300 |
Trust like life is feeling, though much more than feeling. 00:49:44.420 |
An unfelt life is a contradiction, and an unfelt trust is a misnomer, a delusion, a 00:49:55.700 |
It is in all feeling, and it works only by love. 00:50:01.060 |
An unfelt love is as impossible as an unfelt trust." 00:50:08.100 |
If you say that you love someone, but there's no feeling of love in your heart, is it really 00:50:18.460 |
Trust is that peace and that rest, emotionally as well as intellectually, that we have as 00:50:25.100 |
we recognize who God is, that he's worthy of our faith, and then we rest in him. 00:50:34.260 |
We trust in him because of who he is and what he has done." 00:50:42.420 |
Even as we trust him, when it seems like our prayers aren't being answered, sometimes 00:50:53.340 |
part of the reason that God lets us go through those things is to bring us to our knees, 00:51:00.020 |
bring us to him because he wants to accomplish something, not in our circumstance, but in 00:51:09.660 |
Sometimes God lets us go through difficulty and pain to draw us near to himself. 00:51:19.540 |
Second Corinthians 4, verse 16 says, "Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward 00:51:26.220 |
man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 00:51:32.300 |
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us far more exceeding 00:51:42.300 |
While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, 00:51:47.700 |
for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 00:51:55.100 |
Sometimes the work that God is doing is inside of us. 00:52:02.140 |
We're not to look to the things that are seen. 00:52:06.180 |
It's so much easier to look to the things that are seen because they're right in front 00:52:28.940 |
So that even if in this life, and this light affliction that Paul's talking about is not 00:52:45.740 |
He considers those light afflictions that are working for him a far more exceeding weight 00:52:59.780 |
Do we see them as an opportunity for God to work in us? 00:53:06.740 |
Whether it's through building our faith and our trust in him by seeing him work mightily 00:53:11.420 |
on our behalf, or whether it's teaching our hearts to trust, to rest, to wait patiently 00:53:18.420 |
on him, to trust that in the midst of our difficulty, he is our loving father. 00:53:27.100 |
And if there were any better place for us to be, he would have put us there. 00:53:33.380 |
Do we trust in the love and the power of our father? 00:53:49.980 |
Sometimes it's going to be our circumstances. 00:53:52.180 |
As God responds to us as he did to Hezekiah and heals him, sometimes he's going to respond 00:53:59.980 |
as he did to Jesus, where he strengthened him and sustained him through it. 00:54:15.340 |
First Peter 1, verses 6-9 says, "In this you greatly rejoice." 00:54:20.700 |
So not a little bit of joy, but greatly rejoicing. 00:54:24.740 |
"Though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials. 00:54:32.220 |
That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, 00:54:37.260 |
though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation 00:54:44.340 |
of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love. 00:54:49.580 |
Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full 00:54:55.220 |
of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 00:55:01.860 |
So whether God changes your circumstances or whether he uses your circumstances to change 00:55:17.020 |
So as we close, I just pray that we remember as we approach prayer that our Heavenly Father 00:55:35.140 |
Wherever ever is he thwarted, that prayer is more than accessing the throne room when 00:55:51.700 |
It is our opportunity to spend time with our God, to explore the relationship that we have 00:56:01.540 |
with him, to get to know him better, to delight in his presence. 00:56:07.900 |
And so important that when we pray, it's informed by the word of God. 00:56:17.660 |
When we pray, it has to be from the truth of what God has shown us in his word. 00:56:25.900 |
And be so very confident that when you pray, it makes changes. 00:56:45.420 |
There's a hymn, you don't hear it very often anymore, it's called "What a Friend We Have 00:57:05.700 |
I am not familiar with Joseph Scriven, I can barely say his name. 00:57:12.180 |
But I can imagine what went on in his life that gave him the confidence to write these 00:57:17.260 |
words and the regret of the times that he did not avail himself of prayer. 00:57:25.460 |
He says, "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. 00:57:32.020 |
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. 00:57:36.500 |
Oh, what peace we often forfeit, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry 00:57:58.020 |
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? 00:58:38.860 |
Father, we thank you that we can come boldly into your throne room, that the welcome there 00:58:49.220 |
will never change because it has been earned through the blood of Jesus. 00:58:56.740 |
Father, may we exercise that privilege of prayer so much more than we have before. 00:59:08.540 |
May we recognize more the richness of that privilege. 00:59:18.220 |
And Lord, in those times where as our Father you say no, I ask that you would help us to 00:59:33.580 |
May we see our affliction as light and temporary. 00:59:38.460 |
Something that is working for us an eternal weight of glory. 00:59:44.740 |
And may we never ever forget that whatever situation we're in, we are there because you 01:00:06.580 |
I ask that you would continue to go before these women, Lord, as they spend their time 01:00:11.940 |
in small group, as they go home again to the everyday. 01:00:17.180 |
May your words continue to dwell in their hearts, to affect their hearts and their lives. 01:00:28.500 |
Lord, we thank you that you prayed to the Father and that you have sent the Spirit into 01:00:42.180 |
We ask these things in the name of your Son, Jesus.