Teach Us To Pray

(Part 2)

The people of Israel are out in the wilderness, before they enter the Promised Land of Canaan. Moses, their leader, sets up his tent outside the camp. In that tent Moses meets God each day. The Book of Exodus gives us a description of that time:

“When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise and bow down, all of them, at the entrance of their tent. Thus the Lord used to speak with Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” Exodus 33:9-11

Wouldn’t it be great if we could have that kind of intimate communication with God and that kind of a prayer life! Moses says to God, “You’ve told me to bring the people into the Promised Land, but you haven’t let me know who you’re going to send with me.” God says, “My presence will go with you”. Moses says, “If you don’t go with us, don’t take us up from here!” The narrative continues: “The Lord said to Moses, ‘I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.’” Wouldn’t it be terrific if our prayers were answered like that!

This is the second sermon in this series on prayer. Today I want to look at some of the prayer promises the Bible gives, and what are some hindrances to having our prayers answered.

Let’s turn first to John 15, verse 7. Jesus says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” This is a great prayer promise! Ask for whatever you wish and it will be done for you! But notice the condition placed upon this promise: If you abide in me and my words abide in you.

The first condition is that we abide in Christ. In other words, we have to be a believer. We must be in Christ - He abides (or remains) in us and we abide in Him. The Bible is full of promises. But many of these promises are written specifically for believers. Sometimes someone will read something in the Bible and claim what it promises. Then if it doesn’t happen, the person may say, “The Bible isn’t true.” What this person may not realize is that that particular promise was given for Christians, not just for anyone. It’s kind of like reading someone else’s mail, like we would walk over to a neighbor’s mail box, take the mail out of the box, and read it. It wasn’t meant for us! So, the first condition of this promise in John 15:7 is that we abide in Christ.

The second condition is this: His words must abide in us. Do we know what Christ’s words are through reading and studying the Scriptures? Is our mind and inward being saturated with Christ’s truths and teachings? See, if we abide in Christ and His words are ingrained in us, we’re not going to ask for foolish, selfish things. We will want to do what He says. Actually, when we look at this promise in John 15:7 we should read further on to the next verse: “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples” (John 15:8). Here it seems Jesus is talking about praying for things that will glorify God and make us fruitful, effective disciples.

This brings up another point. Prayer promises are for those who pray for things that will glorify God. In John 14:12-14 Jesus says, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” (Again, keep in mind that these are words spoken to Jesus’ followers). Jesus gives an amazing promise, that disciples will do works Jesus did and even greater! Then He says He will do whatever followers ask so that God the Father will be glorified.

When we ask for things, and the underlying reason is that our own ego can be satisfied, or that our own designs and purposes furthered, that’s the wrong motivation. For instance, it’s one thing to pray that we can reach out to the neighborhood and share the gospel so people can discover new life in Christ. But if the motive is that our attendance will increase and it will make the church look good, that’s the wrong goal. When we pray for people to be healed we should not just pray that people will get healed so they feel better, but that through the healing God will receive honor and glory. Sometimes we don’t get what we ask for in prayer because we ask for selfish things. James 4:3 says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” John 14:13-14 also mentions about asking for things “in Jesus’ name”, and we will look at what that means in just a minute.

So far we have said that prayer promises are for believers, for those who have Jesus’ words in them, and for those who ask for things that will glorify God. Turn now to another prayer promise found in 1 John 3:21-22. “Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.”

These verses say that we receive from him whatever we ask. Who is the “we” here? It refers to believers. But the verse says more. We receive whatever we ask because we obey His commandments and do what pleases Him. We can be a Christian, but not be living a life very pleasing to God. A Christian woman left her church when she prayed for certain things and didn’t get them. Someone had the boldness to ask her if she was living in obedience to God at the time. She said “no”. She straightened things out and became active in the church again. See, the Bible didn’t fail. She failed.

Perhaps you are thinking, “Harry, are you saying that if we are breaking God’s commandments that this will hinder us from having our prayers answered?” I think so! There are Scriptures that tell us that sin in our life can hinder our effectiveness in prayer.

Proverbs 28:9 says, “If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law (of God), even his prayers are detestable.” God said this to His people Israel through the prophet Isaiah: “When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood"(Isaiah 1:15). Because of their sin God did not hear the prayers of His own people! The prophet goes on to tell them to turn from evil and do good to remedy the situation.

Proverbs 15:29 says, “The Lord is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.” 1 Peter 3:12 is similar: For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

There is today a rather common, sentimental notion that God listens to everybody’s prayers, no matter how we live. And we can expect God to hear us and answer us. But I think the Bible teaches something quite different. Continuing in willful, unconfessed sin separates us from a healthy relationship with God and hinders our praying.

Well, you may say, is there anyone who is without sin? Nobody will have prayers answered if we have to be completely free of sin. That’s true! I think a key here is our attitude towards our sin. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” Notice it says, “If I had cherished sin…”. Where we grieve over the evil that we do, where we strive to confess our sin to God and live differently, that’s a different story.

We have already looked at Proverbs 15:29 and 1 Peter 3:12 that says God hears the prayers of the “righteous”, but not the wicked. This is where Jesus enters the picture and praying in Jesus’ name comes into play. None of us, in ourselves, is righteous before God. All are sinners. We have no right to come before a holy God and ask God for anything. But Jesus, God’s perfect Son, died for us on the cross - the righteous (Him) for the unrighteous (us) - that we may have access to God’s holy presence. We can approach the holy God in prayer because of Jesus, when we come in His name.

We looked earlier at Jesus’ words in John 14:12-14. Notice again verse 14: “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” A lot of times when people pray they tack on to the end of the prayer “in Jesus’ name”. Or, on the other hand, there are people who pray and do not mention “in Jesus’ name.” Is it important to pray in Jesus’ name? What does it mean?

In the Bible, a person’s “name” often reflected that person’s character. To pray in Jesus’ name means we ask for things consistent with His nature and character. For example, in certain places of employment, if we want a tool or supplies, we may have to get our supervisor to sign and approve our request. To have his or her name on the request means that the supervisor approves of what we ask for. So, to pray “in Jesus’ name” means that we pray for things of which He would approve, things consistent with His nature and character as revealed in the Scriptures. To pray that we win the lottery, or to pray that something bad will happen to that neighbor we just can’t stand are certainly not prayers we could pray in Jesus’ name! A little girl was misbehaving, so her mother sent her to her room to think things over. After a while she came out of her room all smiles.

“I thought and I prayed” she said. Her mother said, “That’s fine. That should help you to be good.” “Oh, I didn’t ask God to help me be good” the little girl replied. “I asked God to help me put up with you!” I wonder if that’s a prayer she could pray in Jesus’ name!

We have looked at some of the wonderful prayer promises in the Bible, but also said that they have conditions attached. We must be a believer and have Christ’s word ingrained in us. We should keep His commandments and do what pleases Him. We pray for things consistent with Jesus’ character and will, and for things that will bring glory to God.

Maybe by now you may be feeling a sense of disappointment. “I thought you’d tell us how to get our prayers answered, and all we’ve heard about are these conditions that have to be met.” You see, a lot of people think of prayer as a genie and a magic lamp. If we just learn to rub the lamp in the right way, a genie will come out and give us whatever we want. Or we think of prayer as coming to Santa Claus with an I-want-this-for-Christmas list. I’ve even seen advertisements in magazines that beckon us, “Learn to get your prayers answered”. It’s like if we just learn some trick, some prayer formula, God is obligated to give us what we want.

If this is our attitude, we misunderstand prayer. Prayer is not getting God to give us what we want, but allowing God to do through us what God wants. The Bible doesn’t give any promises to those who just want to use God to get what they want, but the Bible gives tremendous promises to those who want what God wants!

In the things we ask for, do we want God’s will to be done? Do we want God’s purposes to be furthered in us and others and the world? Do we want what will glorify God? If so, there are tremendous promises when we pray! Jesus says ask in my name and I will do it! You will do greater works than I did! Ask for whatever you wish that will help you be a more effective and fruitful believer and it will be done for you.

God our heavenly Father is not a begrudging, stingy God! God wants to give His children good things. Take your Bible and read Matthew 7:7-11. Jesus says there that if we who are evil know how to give good things to our children, how much more will our heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him. How many of us who have children or grandchildren just love to give them things that delight them. Jesus said that if we, evil as we are, love to give our children good gifts, how much more does our heavenly Father want to give good things to those who ask. Let’s not be bashful in asking our Father for things that will bring us joy, and also honor Him and further His kingdom on earth.

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