Greg Laurie - What Every Christian Needs to Know about Prayer (10/28/2017)
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Pastor Greg Laurie teaches on prayer as an essential for growing Christians, explaining it as communicating with and listening to God. He covers why we pray (Jesus commands it, it obtains things, overcomes worry, prepares for Christ's return), how to pray effectively (align with God's will, confess sin, persist), using the Lord's Prayer as a model, and invites people to begin or restore their relationship with God through Christ.
Opening Prayer and Crusade Update
Father, we're so thankful to be here tonight. And we love you and we love your word and we love how relevant it is to our lives. And we pray that you will speak to us through it now because we want to be growing, productive, thriving followers of you with passion and commitment and that level of obedience that would bring honor to your name. So would you speak to us as we open your word now and we ask that in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right. Well, it's good to be back again. And I took a little time off after the crusade. By the way, speaking of the crusade, how many of you came to the crusade one of the nights? Okay, that's good. How many of you came all of the nights? Well, you guys are diehard. I love that. I love that. Well, I think you've already heard the numbers. They're very impressive. God really answered our prayers for sure. Dropped a piece of paper. We had a total of, let's see, 12,791 people make a profession of faith to follow Jesus Christ. So that's amazing. Now, actually, the numbers are still coming in because in addition to that, another 1,425 people made a profession of faith to follow Christ watching online. That's almost 1,500 people. And there's even more numbers that we're still gathering right now. Plus, it went on television, on God TV, live around the world. Later, it's going to be on TBN. And so this is going to be an event that just keeps on impacting people for time to come.
Upcoming Film and Series Overview
But we have an amazing movie that we've put together that we're going to show this coming Sunday before I speak. It's like sort of a mini documentary film that's directed by Dwight Thompson Jr., who does all of our films like Lost Boy and Hope for Hurting Hearts. I mean, this thing is beautiful. It's a beautiful film. But it's a story of lives that have been changed and behind-the-scenes stuff from the crusade. You're going to love this film that we're going to show before the message on Sunday. And you'll get a sense of really what God did in this great time.
And Mike's already mentioned we have Harvest America coming up. But just a word about what we're doing here on Thursdays. We're going through a series called Essentials. So tonight, we're going to talk about prayer, what every Christian needs to know about prayer. Next Thursday, we're going to talk about the importance of the church. You know, in the church, it's not about me. It's about we. It's about us. It's about being a part of the church. And there are so many blessings for the believer to be an active part of the church. And of course, we all encourage and help one another. And sharing that message is going to be our junior and high school pastor here at Harvest, Adam Eaton. Many of you already know Adam. But I'll tell you what. Listen, if you can command the attention of junior high kids, you have a gift from God. Because they have the attention span of a gnat. Okay? So Adam is gifted. And he actually spoke at one of our all-staff meetings. We get together once a month with all the staff of all campuses and meet in Riverside. And he shared a message. I said, oh man, you've got to bring the message next week.
Upcoming Topics in Essentials Series
Then we sort of shift gears in our essential series. And we're going to talk about eschatology. Who knows what eschatology is? It's a fancy theological word for the study of burritos. Now, let me explain. No, it isn't. It's a study of end times events. And so we're going to talk about those things that people seem to have endless questions about. The rapture, the antichrist, the tribulation period, the second coming. Whenever I do the Pastor's Perspective show on Wednesdays, Wild Wednesdays as they call it. I didn't name it that, by the way. But it seems like more than half of our questions are about these very topics. In fact, for one of these little times we're going to have on Thursday in this particular section of Essentials, I'm going to bring Don Stewart in. Don and I do the program together. And we're going to set up that big desk that we use sometimes. And we're going to have a discussion about last day's events. And you'll be able to text your questions to us. And so we'll answer some of those questions. And it just seems like people always want to know so much more about this topic. And so they should. And so that will be coming up. So next Thursday we're going to talk about the church. Then we're going to talk about the end times. So it's going to be pretty cool. So we'll look forward to that.
Focus Tonight: Prayer for Growing Christians
But again, as I said, tonight we're talking about what every growing Christian needs to know about prayer. Now, I'm having some serious contact lens issues. I usually wear a contact lens and this eye. But that didn't work out so well. So I'm going to wear glasses. All right. So turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 6 and Luke chapter 11. Both of those chapters. Ephesians 6, Luke chapter 11.
I mean, how can you not rejoice over 12,000 plus people making a profession of faith to follow Christ? But, you know, it's not enough to walk forward. You need to also go forward spiritually. And this is why we never describe these people that respond in these events as conversions. Because we don't know if they're conversions yet. Time will tell. But we do know they are professions of faith. Because every believer has to go forward in their spiritual life. Job 17:9 says, The righteous keep moving forward and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.
Why Some Christians Thrive and Others Struggle
We can ask the question, Why is it that some succeed in the race of life and others fail? Why is it that some Christians just get stronger with each passing years and others are always struggling? Here's a simple answer. Because of choices that we make. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of choices we make every day and every week. We make our choices and then our choices make us. But if you want to know what it takes to be a strong Christian, it comes down to a word a lot of us don't like. It's a word called discipline. Who likes to discipline themselves? You know, you use discipline when you say no to that dessert. You use discipline when you get up and go to that workout. You use discipline when you say no to temptation. You use discipline when you open up the Bible each and every day. If you want to grow strong spiritually, you need to apply yourself.
Now, I'm not suggesting it all comes to human effort. Remember, God is the one that changes us, but God works through us. The Bible says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Then it goes on to say, for it is God that works in you, both to do and the will of his own pleasure. So the idea is, you work out your salvation, not work for your salvation, but work it out. You know, the apostles, John and Paul, once said, we can work it out. The Beatles. Okay, forget it. But, you know, so you work out what God has worked in. In fact, the word work out there, as Paul uses it, speaks of going into a mine and pulling out the gold or the silver or whatever is in that mine. So you work it out. But God will work through you, but you have to apply yourself. There's God's part and there's our part.
You show me a believer who is successful in their Christian life, and I will tell you, they have discipline. You show me anyone who has succeeded in any field in life, and there's probably discipline applied on a regular basis. I heard about a concert violinist in New York's Carnegie Hall. She was asked how she became so skilled. Her answer was interesting. She said, it's planned neglect. She planned to neglect everything that was not related to her goal. And her goal happened to be to be a great violinist. And our goal is to be a strong Christian. And 2 Timothy 2 says, run from anything that stimulates youthful lust, follow anything that makes you want to do what is right. Pursue faith and love and peace and enjoy the companionship of those that call on the Lord with a pure heart. Notice, there's things I run from and there's things I run to. So, I run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. And by the way, you don't have to be youthful to have youthful lust. You ever heard of a dirty old man? Or a cougar? There are people that are well on in years that are acting like adolescents still. Youthful lust. It can be an issue throughout life. Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust. So, run from that. But follow righteousness, faith and peace, along with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Essentials for Spiritual Growth
Okay. So, what do I need to do to grow spiritually? Well, we've already talked about one of these things. Pastor Mike dealt with it last week. If I want to grow spiritually, I need to read, study, and love the Word of God. Let me say that again. If I want to grow spiritually, I need to read, study, and love the Word of God. Joshua 1:8 says, This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you'll meditate in a day and night and observe to do according to all that is written in it. God says, Then I'll make your way prosperous, and you'll have good success. Now, this is not true of some Christians. This is true of all Christians. A smart believer will take time to study the Word of God and memorize the Word of God. And by the way, you don't outgrow this. It's not like you reach a plateau in your life spiritually where you say, Yeah, I used to read the Bible, but I'm kind of beyond that now. No, you're not. That would be like somebody saying, Yeah, I used to be into the whole eating thing. You know, every day I would sit down and put food in my mouth and chew it and swallow it, but I've moved beyond that now. No, you can't move beyond that, or you will not live very long. Yeah, I'm over the whole breathing thing. I breathe with the best of them, but I don't do it anymore. Then you're going to be dead in about four minutes, okay? And you don't outgrow these things either.
Prayer: Essential for Every Growing Christian
All right, so number two, and this is really our focus. To be a growing Christian, you must have a prayer life. Now, what is prayer? Prayer is communicating with and listening to God. Prayer is communicating with and listening to God. Ephesians 6:18 tells us that there are different kinds of prayer. That's why I had you turn there. It says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. There's different kinds of prayer. You can pray publicly. You can pray privately. You can pray verbally. You can pray silently. You can pray kneeling. You can pray standing. You can pray lying down. And you can even pray driving. Just keep your eyes open. You can pray with your eyes open. And you can pray with your eyes closed. Somehow we may think that the proper way to pray is to fold our hands and to close our eyes and bow our heads. And that's a wonderful way to pray. And the reason that's a great way is it shows reverence toward God. And it also, by closing our eyes, sort of seals out the distractions for a few moments. But you can pray with your eyes open.
Have you ever been praying and everyone has their eyes closed and you open your eyes up and you're looking around and then somebody else opens their eyes and you see them? And you feel like you're cheating? Oh! So awkward, you know. We were praying for a meal the other day with the grandkids and so we said to the kids, okay, everybody close their eyes and bow their heads and all the kids are praying. And so I'm looking around watching. And Stella, one of my granddaughters, is eating a French fry but she has her eyes closed the whole time. So it's really cute. But the main thing is to pray. Because we can get hung up on it. Oh, you need to kneel to pray. You need to close your eyes to pray. No, you can pray. You can pray on your run or your walk. You can pray wherever you are. In fact, the Bible tells us that I can pray in any position, at any time, anywhere.
Prayer Anywhere, Anytime
You know, sometimes I may feel as though God would hear my prayer more if I was in a church sanctuary than if I were on a street corner or in some other place. But that's simply not true. Think of the places people prayed from in the Bible. Daniel, where did he pray from? A lion's den. And David, he prayed out in a field. Peter prayed on top of the water and under the water. First it was, Lord, if it's you, tell me to come. And then it was, Lord, you know, underwater prayer. Speaking of underwater prayers, Jonah prayed from the belly of a whale or a great fish. And God will hear you wherever you are. The main thing is you are, as Ephesians 6 says, praying always. And by the way, the word all speaks of the frequency of prayer. The frequency of it. It's not like you just do your token prayer in the morning and you're good to go. No, you're praying throughout the day. You're praying in the morning. You're praying in the afternoon. You're praying in the evening. And that's what it means when the Bible says that you are to pray without ceasing. For this is the will of God and Jesus Christ concerning you.
I think we all remember the story of the prophet Daniel. He was raised up to a position of great influence in the kingdom there. And he had some enemies. And they wanted to bring him down. But the problem was, Daniel lived a scandal-free life. He was a man of integrity. There were no skeletons in his closet. So his enemies surmised if they could bring him down, it was going to have to be concerning him and his God. And they knew that Daniel had a habit. Not to be showy, but this was his habit. Daniel prayed three times a day in his house and he would open up the windows and do this so everyone could see. So these guys got the king to unwittingly sign into law a decree that no one could pray to any God but him. And if they prayed to another God, that was a violation of the law. So what did Daniel do? When he found out this law, he had been passed. Daniel 6:10 says, when Daniel learned the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room with his windows open toward Jerusalem. And he prayed three times a day as he always had done giving thanks to God.
Do your enemies know that you pray? You can pray anywhere. I think it's a beautiful thing when a Christian family or even an individual bow their head in a restaurant and give thanks for a meal. Right? I love that. When I see people praying in a public way. 1 Timothy 2:8, Paul writes, I desire that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Everywhere.
Examples of Prayer in Scripture
Now, it would have made sense to me if Daniel's prayer would have been, God help. You know what this threat is. Get me out of this. Don't let me be thrown into a prison or a den of lions. But it's interesting. It says he prayed as he always had. And he gave thanks in his prayer. Gave thanks? For what? Did he know about the law that was passed? Sure he did. But he knew about a God that was more powerful than any law passed by any man. And he knew God was in control. So that's an important thing for us to remember when we pray. We are to give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endures forever. Just give thanks. Not because you feel good. Not even because things are going well. But because God is good. And God is in control.
And we also have the story of Nehemiah. He was a Jew living in Babylon in captivity. He was in a position of close proximity to the king. He was a cup bearer. Which meant that he would try the food before the king ate it. So if he dropped dead, the king would pass in that dish. But it was more than a cup bearer. He would become a counselor and a confidant of the king. So it was a very significant position. But as I said, here is a Jewish man. And he hears about the plight of the Jews in Jerusalem and how the city is lying in rubble. And he was burdened about that. And he knew he had access to the king. And he was thinking about what he could do to help his fellow Jews. And one day, the king noticed Nehemiah was sad. And he asked why. And here is what the Bible says. Nehemiah 2:5 with a prayer to the God of heaven. Nehemiah says, I replied, if it pleases your majesty, and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried. I love that. The king asked him a question with a prayer to the God of heaven. See? You know, sometimes you might get that call to go to the principal's office. Or the boss's office. Or the oval office. Who knows? And you don't have time to go into your prayer closet. You don't have time to have a long prayer. So you just pray as you're on your way. God, give me wisdom. Lord, give me the right words to say. It's a consciousness or an awareness that wherever you go, you are with God and God is with you.
That is what gave Elijah, the prophet, the boldness to go into the court of Ahab and say, as the Lord God lives before whom I stand, there will not be rain, but according to my word. But the point is, even though he stood in the presence of the king, he knew he stood in the presence of the king of kings. And when you kneel before God, you can stand before any man.
Why Should We Pray?
So why should I pray? If you're taking notes, here's something to write down. Why should I pray? Simple answer, because Jesus told me to. I could stop right there. Jesus said in Luke 18:1, men ought always to pray and not to give up. And by the way, Jesus himself was a man of prayer. He left us a model to follow. He was constantly praying. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is praying, calling on the Father and saying, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. On the cross, Jesus is praying. First, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And then later, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And when Jesus was raising Lazarus from the dead, he first spoke to the Father in John 11. It says, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me. And then he shouted, Lazarus, come out. When Jesus fed the 5,000, before he did it, he looked up toward heaven and asked God's blessing on the food. Then there was a time the mothers brought their children to Jesus so he would lay his hands on them and pray for them. So if Jesus felt the need to pray, certainly you and I need to pray.
Number two, the reason I should pray, this might seem self-serving, but understand what I'm saying. The reason I should pray is because prayer is God's way for obtaining things. Prayer is God's way, appointed way for obtaining things. Because I'm told over in James 4:2, you have not because you asked not. That's a very interesting passage. You have not because you asked not. So you might be saying, man, I want to know God's will for my life, but I don't know what his will is. Well, have you prayed about it? Well, no. Oh. Maybe you have not because you asked not. Man, you know, I can't make, you know, financial ends meet here and I'm always struggling and I don't know what to do. Have you prayed about it? Uh, no. Hey, you have not because you asked not. Hey, I'm really sick and I'm just getting worse and I don't know what to do. Well, have you prayed about it? You have not because you asked not.
Now, I'm not suggesting that whenever you pray, you'll always know the will of God. Or whenever you pray, you'll always have more money than you need. Or whenever you pray, you'll always be in perfect health. Because there are times And God will allow difficulties in our life to cause us to trust in Him all the more. But my point is, there are times when the reason we don't have what we need in life is simply because we have not asked the Lord about it. So we should pray.
Prayer Overcomes Anxiety and Prepares for Christ's Return
Okay, here's another one. Prayer is the way by which God helps us to overcome our anxiety and worry. Prayer is the way by which God helps us to overcome our anxiety and worry. It's up there on the screen if you're taking notes. You know, listen, man, life's full of problems and challenges. And we're all concerned about our health and our safety, especially with all that's going on in the world right now and this terrorist threat from this force known as Isis. And we turn on the news and there's so many scary things. So what am I supposed to do? One thing I can do is I can pray. Prayer is the way that God helps me to overcome anxiety and worry. It's been said, if your knees are shaking, kneel on them. Here's a good verse that every believer should memorize. Philippians 4:6. Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. Let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God that passes all human understanding will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
So, how many of you ever worry? Raise your hand. That's pretty much... How many of you never worry? Raise your hand. You're a freak, man. No, you aren't. You're not a freak. No, you are. But here's the thing. We all have moments of worry. Now, some are worry warts. They worry all the time. I heard about one guy that always was worrying. It just drove him crazy. And he found a solution. A friend of his came up to him and said, Hey, you know, you don't seem to be as stressed out as you normally are. He goes, Yeah, you know what? I found a solution to worry. His buddy said, Tell me. He says, Well, I hired someone to worry for me. What? Yeah. I hired a guy to worry for me. What do you pay a guy like that? I pay him $500 a day. Hey, you don't make that kind of money. How are you going to pay him? He says, That's for him to worry about. You might try that. That's all you're going to remember from this message. Remember that joke? Don't worry about anything. Pray about everything. So turn your worries into prayers. So the next time you're gripped with a worry, Oh, what if they get... Prayer. Turn it right up to the Lord. Hey, but... Yeah, I know. Lord, I bring this before you right now. Lord, here's another one for you. And here's even another, Lord. And he just turned them into prayers.
Here's what the Bible says. Don't worry, but pray. And if you do this, the peace of God that passes all human understanding will keep your heart and your mind. And by the way, the word there for keep is an interesting word. It means mount to guard. The suggestion is of sort of a Roman guard standing there. And so God will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. We do that through prayer.
Prayer is the way, also, that we make ourselves ready for the return of Jesus Christ. Prayer is the way that we make ourselves ready for the return of Christ. Luke 21:34, Jesus says, Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that day come upon you unexpectedly. He's referring to the day of the Lord. Watch, therefore, and pray always. Then speaking of His coming, Jesus said in Mark 13, But of that day and hour knows no one, not even the angels, nor the Son, only the Father. Take heed, watch, and pray, for you don't know when the time is.
So as you can see, prayer is not an option for a believer. If you want God to speak to you, if you want God to provide for you, if you want God to help you to not worry, if you want to be ready for the return of Jesus, you need to pray.
When God Says No, Slow, Grow, or Go
But there are times when God does not answer our prayers in the way that we would like. We'll even say, God doesn't answer my prayers. Wait a second. No is as much of an answer as yes is. Why don't you just say you don't like the answer? Here's a way to look at it. If the request is wrong, God says no. If the timing is wrong, God says slow. If you are wrong, God says grow. But if the request is right, and the timing is right, and you are right, God says go. It's all up there on the screen, if you're writing that down. Want to hear that again? No. Okay.
So how can we have our prayers answered more often in the affirmative? And hear more yeses instead of noes? Well, that brings us to Luke chapter 11. And we're going to read a few verses that give to us what we often refer to as the Lord's Prayer. Now, just a word about this before we read it. Again, the Bible never calls this the Lord's Prayer. We'll call it that because that's how we remember it. This was an answer of Jesus to the request of His disciples when they said, Lord, teach us to pray. They didn't say, Lord, teach us a prayer. As in, Lord, teach us a killer prayer. You know, one to pull out in case of an emergency. The mega prayer. Though I don't think there's anything wrong with praying the Lord's Prayer verbatim. It's a beautiful prayer. And if it comes from your heart, it's a powerful prayer. But it wasn't just a prayer. It was a template for prayer. It's a model for prayer. They said, Lord, teach us to pray. And then, of course, He begins with the words, After this manner, therefore, you should pray. So He was saying, don't just pray this prayer, but follow this pattern in your prayer as well.
The Lord's Prayer: A Model for Prayer
Okay, so with that in mind, let's read Luke 11, verse 1. Now it came to pass, He was praying in a certain place. When He ceased, one of His disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught His disciples. And He said, When you pray, say, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Now I want you to notice that before a word of personal petition is offered, I must consider who I am speaking to. It starts with, Our Father, who art in heaven. Too often we cut to the chase. And by that I mean we go straight to the grocery list. Okay, Lord, here's what I need from You. There's nothing wrong with that. There's a place for that. But it's not necessarily the first thing we should pray for. I begin with prayer. I mean, I begin my prayer, rather, with worship, adoration, and an acceptance of His will. By the way, when we worship, you know what we're doing? We're praying. That's prayer. It's prayer set to song. That's all it is. It's prayer with melody. So I think, to come in late when worship is going on, why would you want to do that? I mean, not to mention the fact that we have a killer worship band. I mean, that's kind of the understatement of the century. But more than that, more than that. Because let's just say they were really lousy, okay? Still, they're leading us in prayer, but they happen to be really good. But the point is, they're leading us in prayer set to song. So when we sing these songs, I'm praying. And then we bow our heads, and we might bring petitions before the Lord and so forth. But the point is, is I'm contemplating the greatness of God.
Have you ever noticed that when you see God in His power and His glory, you see your problems in a different way? Maybe you come into church burdened with things you're concerned about. They're real concerns. And you go out with those same problems, but your perspective changes. Because when you have a big God, you will see that you have small problems. But if you have big problems, do you have a small God? Maybe you need to see God for who He is. So Jesus says, After this manner, therefore pray, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Principle 1: Pray According to God's Will
So just think of the awesomeness of God, the power of God. And that brings me to principle number one. If you want your prayer answered in the affirmative, pray according to the will of God. If you want your prayer answered in the affirmative, pray according to the will of God. Jesus teaches us to pray, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. Again, our Lord modeled this in Gethsemane. Remember when He said to the Father, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but what? Yours be done. So He was saying, All right, Father, as I contemplate the horrors of the cross and taking the sin of the world upon myself, if there's any other way to do this, let's do that. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And so it's a submission to the will of God.
Listen, the primary objective of prayer is to line my will up with God's will. Prayer does not change God's mind. Prayer changes my mind. Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It's taking hold of His willingness. By my praying, I'm instructing myself more than Him. The objective of prayer is not getting my will in heaven. It's getting God's will on earth. You could illustrate it this way. Let's say you're in a little boat and you're trying to get to the dock so you take out your rope and you throw it and you pull yourself. Now, are you pulling the dock to your boat or are you pulling your boat to the dock? Well, you're pulling your boat to the dock. And that's our prayer is. I'm not grabbing hold of God saying, come on, God. No, I'm pulling myself toward Him. The objective is to get in alignment with God's will. Because I'm told over in the book of 1 John 5:14, here's the confidence I have in Him. If I ask anything according to His will, He hears us and we have the petitions desired of Him.
Listen, nothing lies outside of the reach of prayer except that which lies outside of the will of God. So, what is God's will? Here's an amazing promise from Jesus. He says, If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Here's an expanded translation from the Greek. Jesus speaking, If you maintain a living communion with Me and My words are at home with you, I commend you to ask it once for yourself whatever your heart desires and it's yours.
Now we hear a statement like that and we think of a genie in a lap. Yes. Whatever I want. Yeah, whatever you want. God will give you a carte blanche. Really? Yeah, whatever you want. Ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. But don't miss the first part. It's a conditional promise. What's a condition? Jesus says, If you maintain a living communion with God and His word is at home with me, I'm not going to pray for stupid stuff. I'm just not going to. I'm going to start praying crazy prayers like, I want you glorified through this, Lord. Prayers like, I want your will even more than my will though it may be more difficult, Lord. You see, you begin to understand that your Father knows better than you know. So start your prayers with an awareness of the awesomeness of God, our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed be your name. Your objective is to get your will aligned with God.
Principle 2: Bring Petitions After Worship
Number two, when I bring my petitions before God, this is something that I do after I've acknowledged the greatness of God. I mean, Jesus says, okay, now pray. Give us this day our daily bread. Do you find it an amazing thing that this all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent God who created the entire universe has an interest in you and me personally? But the Bible says He does. God's concerned with the things that concern me. Why would He care about my daily bread? I don't know. Job even asks, Job 7:17, what is man that you make so much of Him? Why do you give Him so much attention? Here's a simple answer. Why does God care? Because He loves you. Why does He love you? That's a good question. But He does. He does. He loves you with an everlasting love. In fact, Jesus said, fear not, little flock, it's your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Do you know that God loves to give stuff to His children? Maybe an easier way to understand it is thinking of God as a grandfather instead of a father. Now, I know it's addressed as Father in Heaven, but you know when your parents, you know, you're careful with your kids. All right, no, we're not going to give you that. No, you have to do your chores first. And you have to do this, and you have to do that. When you ask a grandfather, yeah, I'll get it for you right now. Yes! It's kind of our privilege as grandparents to spoil our grandchildren. See, the way we look at this as grandparents is this is our reward for putting up with you as our children. And this is your punishment for all the things you did to us. But there's just a love and a desire to just bless your kids. And I'm not saying parents don't have this. Clearly they do. But this is the picture. God loves to do these things for us. He's not reluctant to do it. In fact, Jesus said, you parents, if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone? If they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not. And if you give good gifts to your children, despite the fact that you're sinful people, how much more will your heavenly father give good gifts to those that ask him?
Principle 3: Confess Sin Regularly
You know, if you're a little toddler comes up, Mommy, I'm hungry. Can I have a piece of bread? Here's a rock. Can I have an egg for breakfast? No, but here's a live venomous snake. You would never do that. Unless you were, I don't know who you would be to do that. But you wouldn't. So the Father loves to bless us. Here's another secret to answer prayer. This is answered prayer. This is really important. You must confess your personal sin. Jesus teaches us to pray, forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us. This word sin can be translated trespasses, shortcomings, things that we've done that are wrong. Notice this is something I should do on a regular basis. After this matter, therefore pray, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Guess what? You sin every day. Now maybe you'll look back in this day and say, I think you're wrong on that, Greg. I don't think I sinned today. You just sinned. It's called pride. No, but seriously, there are sins of commission and omission. Right? A sin of commission is doing what you should not do. A sin of omission is not doing what you should do. So you might be priding yourself on the fact that you did not have a lustful thought today and you didn't lose your temper today and you didn't scream at anybody today. But then at the same time, you were so proud of how well you did, you thought, I'm better than anybody around here. And in reality, that very arrogance is a sin. Or maybe the Lord led you to share your faith with someone and you flat out said no. Or God told you to pray about something and you said no. There's a lot of things that really are sins in our life. So the best thing to do is just every day say, Lord, forgive me of my sin. Known and unknown.
The Bible says in 1 John, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Paul wrote in Philippians 3, I don't mean to say I've already achieved these things or I've reached perfection. Dear friends, I'm still not all that I should be but I'm focusing my energies on this one thing, forgetting what's behind me and looking forward to what lies ahead. If you don't see the need for regular repentance then you are not really walking with God. sin in the awareness of sin within. And listen to this. If you have unconfessed sin in your life your prayers aren't going anywhere. I mean you can pray piously, you can pray loudly, you can pray impressively but if you have a sin in your life you've not confessed before God your prayer life is going to come to a screeching halt. Because as Psalmist said, if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me. And the word regard means cling on to or hold on to. So maybe there is something in your life and the Lord has been saying to you that is a sin and you need to stop. And you say no, I am not going to stop. But I pray for this right now. The Lord is saying sorry, I can't hear you. Now technically he hears you but he is not going to respond to that prayer because that is willful disobedience. So there needs to be that confession. Forgive me my sins as I forgive those that sin against me.
Principle 4: Avoid Temptation
Here is another secret of answered prayer. as much as possible stay out of the way and the place of temptation. Verse 4, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. Now you can't completely remove yourself from temptation. Even if you left the planet you would still get tempted. Here is what we are saying. Lord, don't let me be tempted above my capacity to resist. I think we have all seen that bumper sticker that says lead me not into temptation. I can find it myself. Right? We do a pretty good job of that, don't we? And the problem of course with temptation is how we can rationalize it. How we make it seem okay in our life. Have you ever noticed that it is easier to find sin in other people's lives than in your life? Oh, they shouldn't do that. That's wrong. But somehow in my life. I rationalize it. In other people's life that sin looks so stupid and foolish but in my life it's a little bit different. And you know what that is? That is exactly what Jesus was talking about when He said how can you pick out a speck in your brother's eye when you have a telephone pole in yours? That would be a modern update. Like you are so quick to nitpick in somebody else's life. maybe there is something worse in your own life.
Here is what I think. I think the people that are the most nitpicky that are always harping on things and coming down on others are usually struggling with greater sin in their own life. So I am not surprised when I hear somebody that is always condemning others and jumping down the throat of others and putting others down then one day it turns out they are guilty of some crazy sin. Yeah, that is why they were doing it. Don't you understand? So let's be very careful about these things. because these things can trip us up. Here is a little test to apply if you are not really sure if it is an enticement to evil. Pray about it in the clear light of the presence of God. So this thing you are going to do pray about it. I don't know if I should go to that thing. Okay, just pray about it. You will know really quick. Lord, bless us as we go to this party to get drunk. Yeah, I am not going to pray about that. See, you already have the answer. Hey, Lord, this guy I am going out with that is not a believer and you know. .. Yeah, you know what? You already have the answer because it doesn't pass a basic litmus test.
Here is another thing to ask. How would it seem if you saw somebody else doing that? You know, you say it is okay for you. What if you saw another Christian brother or sister doing that thing? Here is something to remember. If you cannot write Hallowed Be Thy Name over what you are doing, don't do it. So what are you going to do? We are going to go out to dinner. Can you write Hallowed Be Thy Name over that? Yeah? Good. Go for it. Enjoy yourself. Now we are going to go to church. Can you write Hallowed Be Thy Name over that? Absolutely. Now we are going to go I'll do this other thing. Can you write, Hallowed Be Thy Name over it? Yes, I can. Then go for it. Well, I don't know if I can write, Hallowed Be Thy Name over going to that movie, then don't go to it. I don't know if I can write, Hallowed Be Thy Name over that music, then don't listen to that music. You see?
Principle 5: Persist in Prayer
Here is another one. And this is the last secret of answered prayer, if you will. Don't give up. Let's read a few more verses and we'll close. Verse 5. He said, Which of you, if you have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has come in from his journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And he will not answer from within and say, Don't trouble me. The door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can't rise and give it to you. I say to you, though, he will not rise and give it to him, because it's his friend, yet because of his persistence, he'll rise and give him as much as he needs.
So here's the real kicker. So I say to you, ask and it shall be given you. Seeking you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. Don't give up in prayer. This is really important. Sometimes we pray for something once and nothing happens, and we say, Well, God said no. Lord, save the world. Amen. That covers it. That's a worthless prayer. Hey, Greg, I've been praying for my non-believing husband for 10 years and nothing has happened. Well, keep praying about it. Hey, I've been praying for my prodigal child for a long time, and I don't see them coming back yet. Well, you keep praying for them. Hey, I've been praying for a revival to come to the United States of America, and it hasn't come yet. Well, you keep praying about that. Hey, but I've been praying that the Lord would heal me of this problem, this sickness, this illness, and I'm not healed yet. Well, you keep praying about that. That's okay. Asking it shall be given. Seeking you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened.
Now, this is kind of a hard scene for us to understand, but back in this culture, you know, everybody lived in one house, okay? And usually they all slept in one room. So, getting everyone to sleep was a big ordeal. So, here's mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and Uncle Harry and Aunt Matilda and the brothers and the sisters and the cousins and a dog or two, and you're all laying on this floor here, and you're all, you know, tucked in for the night, and some crazy guy starts banging on your door. What? I need some bread. Someone came to visit me. Yeah, go get your own bread. But he keeps pounding on the door. Well, if this guy doesn't get what he wants, he's not going to leave you alone. So, you step over Uncle Harry and step on your cousin, and, you know, and you step on the dog's tail, and you give him his bread so he'll go away.
Now, Jesus is saying, if you would do that for a persistent person, how much more will the Father do it for you? Because he wants to do it for you. And by the way, the Lord's language is unusually compelling because of three verbs that he uses. Ask, seek, and knock. Ask, seek, and knock. There is an ascending intensity. First of all, ask implies a request for assistance. We realize our need. We ask for help. Kind of low-key. Father, we bring this need before you right now, and we're asking for this in Jesus' name. It's kind of like when you're in a restaurant, and you want some more coffee, and you're looking for a server. Why do they disappear, and where do they go, you know? You know, at certain points, they're everywhere, constantly, you know. They're wiping your mouth. Oh, I'm good, I'm good, you know. And they're interrupting, and so, okay. And now, now when you need them, they're gone. They've left, and we don't know where they've gone to. And so, you're looking for someone. Excuse me, excuse me. Hi, can I get a little more coffee? Excuse me, can I? So, you're asking. You're being polite about it. So, that's the idea here. You ask.
But seek is different. It denotes asking, but adds action. So, this doesn't just mean I'm asking, but I'm asking pretty aggressively. Okay, now we come to knock. This includes asking, plus acting, plus persevering. It's like that person pounding on the closed door. Sort of a, I'm not going to take no for an answer. So, going back to our restaurant analogy. First, you're asking, excuse me, excuse me. No one answers. Then you find someone. Can I get some more coffee? Can I get some more coffee? And now, finally, you're just going to go up and get the coffee. You pour it yourself. They don't like it when you do that. But that's the idea here. I'm taking matters into my own hands, okay. I'm not suggesting with God we're taking matters into our own hands. But what I'm saying is, when we believe something is the will of God, we don't give up.
And listen to me. When you're praying for the salvation of a loved one, don't give up. And I'm telling you, you don't give up as long as they're alive on this earth. You know, I prayed for my mom for years and years and years. I came to Christ and tried to bring her to faith. And she didn't want to have anything to do with it. And she was hard against God for almost her entire life. And then at the end of her life, she finally made that commitment to Christ. I mean, I prayed for her for well over 40 years. That was a long time to pray for something. But God answered my prayer. And there's other people you pray. Boom! They just respond. It's great. But you know, don't give up. And when we look at our country right now, we know we need a spiritual awakening in America. That's a whole message unto itself. But we just look at the state of our country right now. What's it going to take to wake this nation up to its need for God? So we shouldn't give up on America. And that's why we're so committed to doing these evangelistic events. Because we believe that America needs to hear the gospel. So ask, seek, and knock, and you shall receive.
Much of our prayer has no power in it because there's no heart in it. So don't back down.
Closing: Learn to Pray from the Heart
Okay, so let's wrap this up. We've talked about praying. Do you know how to pray? Maybe you say your prayers. Sometimes parents will say to their kids, No, say your prayers before you go to sleep. Say your prayers. I don't think we want to teach our children to say their prayers as much as we want to teach them how to pray. Because you can say little prayers and never be heard by God. And Jesus told the story of a Pharisee and a publican. Not a Republican. A publican. He says they both went into the temple to pray. And the Pharisee prayed, God, I thank you I'm not like other men. And I fast twice a week and give tithes of everything that I possess. And I'm not like this guy here. You know your prayers are messed up when you say something like that to God. And then the publican wouldn't even lift his eyes up to heaven. He just said, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus said, guess whose prayer was heard by God? And we think, oh, the Pharisee, the religious guy. No, no, no. God didn't hear his prayers. He heard the other guy. Because it was an honest, heartfelt prayer. And the other guy, effectively, was just praying to himself.
So you can pray your little prayers and never have your prayers go anywhere or you can learn how to pray. And that only comes through a relationship with God because you will never be able to pray effectively as long as there's sin in your life. And every one of us have sinned. And every one of us continue to sin. And that is why God took such drastic measures and sent Jesus Christ to come to this earth and walk this planet. And he breathed our air and he lived our life and then he died our death. And he paid the price for all the sin that we've committed. And if we'll tell God we're sorry for our sin and ask Christ to come into our life, he will forgive us. And we can start this wonderful prayer life and know that we're heard by God, our Father who art in heaven.
The only way you can come into this relationship with God where you call him Father is by becoming his son or his daughter. And the only way to become a child of God is through adoption. I was adopted by a man named Oscar Laurie. He gave me his name, Oscar. No, Laurie. But the point is he adopted me and we're adopted into God's family. And he will adopt you right now. And you'll know that you have a Father in heaven if you'll turn from your sin and ask him to forgive you. And if you haven't done that yet, I'm going to give you an opportunity to do it as we close in prayer.
Invitation to Receive Christ
Okay, let's all bow our heads. And Father, I pray for everyone here, everyone listening, everyone watching, everyone hearing. If they don't know you yet, Lord, help them to see their need for Jesus and help them to come to you now and believe. So work for the power of your Holy Spirit in the hearts of each one. Now I want our heads to bow and our eyes are closed and we're praying. How many of you would say tonight, Greg, pray for me. I want to know God in a personal way. I want to know him as my Father. I want my sin forgiven. I want this relationship with him. I want to know that I will go to heaven when I die. Pray for me. If that's your desire, if you want God to forgive you of your sin, if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want that peace that he offers, would you raise your hand up right now and let me pray for you. Raise your hand up so I can see it. God bless you. God bless you. Anybody else? Just raise your hand up if you would. God bless you too. God bless you. God bless you over there in the side, there in the back. You want his forgiveness. Raise your hand up. Let me pray for you. God bless you. God bless. God bless all of you. Praise the Lord.
Now I'm going to ask that every one of you that have lifted your hand, if you would please, I want you to stand to your feet. And I'm going to lead you in a prayer right where you are. Just stand up. All of you that raised your hand, stand up right now. Right where you are, stand up. I'm going to lead you in a simple prayer. Stand up. Even if you did not lift your hand, but you want to make this commitment or recommitment to Jesus, stand up now and we're going to pray together. Anybody else? God bless you that are standing. By the way, others are standing, so you won't be alone. Anybody else? You want to make this commitment, a recommitment to Jesus Christ? Stand to your feet now. God bless you. One final moment. God will forgive you of that sin, but you have to ask Him for it. He's ready to forgive you now. One final moment. Anybody else? Stand up and we'll pray. God bless you. God bless all of you.
Now, all of you that are standing, I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me. This is a prayer where you're asking God to forgive you. You're asking Jesus Christ to come into your life. Again, as I pray, pray this out loud after me. Okay? Pray this out loud after me.
Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner, but I know that You're a Savior, and You died on the cross for my sin. Amen. I turn from that sin. I turn from that sin now. And I choose to follow You from this moment forward as Savior and Lord, as God and friend. Thank You for calling me and accepting me and forgiving me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.