14. More Answerable Prayer

LONNIE: Welcome to Exploring the Word. This is a time when we can explore the riches of the Bible together.

JEANNIE: It’s been a great journey so far.

LONNIE: We’ve covered a thirteen-week period, Jeannie, and looked into some of the most important truths in Scripture. But there’s much more ahead in our next thirteen weeks. And we’re starting with something very practical.

JEANNIE: I think there are a lot of people out there who’ve been disappointed in prayer---one way or another. They hear about miracles, about acts of providence, about prayer warriors. And they wonder, “What about me? Why doesn’t God answer my most important requests?” People really are looking for answers.

LONNIE: Jeannie, I believe there are specific things we can do to make our prayers more answerable. They are keys to answered prayer that Jesus Himself lays out.

By the way, today’s topic is also covered in our Discover Bible Guide number fourteen: “The Secret of Answered Prayer.”

It’s my conviction that answered prayer is the birthright of every believer. No, God is not going to answer our every petition exactly in the way we wish. We’re not all-knowing. We don’t always pray for what’s best. But I believe we can see God respond in ways that inspire us, instruct us, and reward us.

Prayer is much less a shot in the dark than many people have concluded. Answered prayer isn’t just for specialists, for a few high-flying saints. No, Scripture tells us there are specific things we can do to make our prayers more effective. We can develop skill in prayer with a little careful attention and the right kind of practice.

So get your Bibles ready. We’re about to discover the three basic secrets of answered prayer.

How can we make our prayers more answerable? Jesus teaches us how. He emphasized certain principles about prayer. And we’re going to explore exactly how we can put these principles into practice.

I’d like you to listen to some phrases Jesus used over and over in His ministry. There’s an unmistakable theme here.

“According to your faith will it be done to you.”
“Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.”
“Go your way, your faith has made you well.”
“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
“Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.”

Jesus Christ threw a spotlight on faith. That was the key to a petitioner’s answer.

But what happens when we claim a promise, believing—and our petitions are apparently unanswered?

We don’t want to reduce faith to some magic formula. So how do we have faith—in a healthy way? What kind of “believing” did Jesus have in mind? He shows us over in Matthew chapter 8. Starting in verse five we find the story of a Roman centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus offered to go to the man's house. The centurion replied that this wasn't necessary, if the Master would just be good enough to utter a word, that was sufficient.

How could this soldier say that? Because he understood power and command. He knew he had the authority to order the troops under him to do his bidding. So he applied those facts to Christ. There was abundant evidence that this Man could perform miracles; wide testimony affirmed that Jesus could indeed heal. So he decided to trust. He decided to believe that a word of command from Jesus could result in healing.

Look at Jesus’ response in verse 10: “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.”

What’s great faith? It’s simply this: to look at the evidence, and to stretch out your trust.

In this case the centurion acknowledged Jesus’ power to heal and was rewarded.

When we pray in faith, we affirm something true about God. We claim a promise. We focus on His abilities. We're not just whistling in the dark, we're praying toward the light. We're not just knocking on wood, we're knocking on the door of our Father's house.

Promises open us up to possibilities.

They help us focus in the right direction. Do you want to make your prayers more answerable? Make God bigger than your problems. Don't go on and on moaning about how terrible your situation is and begging God to help. Instead go on and on about how wonderful God is and express confidence in his ability to help. This is a healthy, logical perspective. When you ask, believing, you open up your eyes to more possibilities. You widen your gaze. You’re better able to see what God has up His sleeve!

Now let’s move to the second great principle of answerable prayer.

Christ once told his disciples a rather unpleasant story about a widow and a judge. It’s found in Luke chapter 18. The poor widow had to keep pestering this indifferent judge, demanding justice against the person who had wronged her. The judge finally consented--just to get the woman off his back. Luke informs us that the point of the parable is that, verse 1, we “always ought to pray and not lose heart.”

Clearly, Jesus threw a spotlight on persistence as a key to answered prayer.

We need to keep praying for an answer.

But remember this: We are urged to persist in petition because God is so eager to give. The Father is eager to give us good things. That’s what the New Testament emphasizes.

And you’ll also see that persistent prayer has two companions: joy and thankfulness. Paul, for example, prayed persistently—and he prayed joyfully. You can see it in all his epistles.

This is how we persist in a healthy way. We pray joyfully.

Paul prayed joyfully because he kept expressing His confidence in grace, His confidence in God’s plan, His confidence that God is eager to give. His persistence in prayer was a way to keep affirming that.

And what’s more, Paul kept praying about, positive goals. He was aiming at a positive target. He prayed that his friends’ faith would grow, that their love would keep abounding, that their grasp of divine grace would deepen. Paul was focused on the good things God could accomplish, not on the bad things that might happen. We can pray joyfully, and keep doing it, when we aim at a positive goal.

Remember that praying in faith is stretching out your trust, drawing the right conclusions about God. Well, persistence is simply an extension of this kind of trust. God wants us to persist because He wants us to keep on gazing in the right direction. It's healthy to keep our focus of attention on what He can do.

That’s why we’re asked to persist in prayer. Not because God has to be talked into something. No, it’s because it’s good for us to keep looking in the right direction, aimed at a positive target, praying joyfully.

Now let’s move to the third foundational principle of answered prayer. We find it in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:23 and 24. Jesus is talking about how we come before God.

“Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”

Bringing a gift to the altar was a way for the Hebrews to come seeking God’s favor, God’s blessing. And Jesus says, “Look, if something’s bothering you; if there’s something you need to make right, then go do it; take care of it. Then come to the temple to gain a hearing.

Human sin is undeniably a part of the problem of unanswered prayer. The prophet Isaiah made the point quite clearly. Isaiah 59:2:

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that he will not hear.”

Sin turns our prayers into noise. Sin short-circuits God’s power.

But wait a minute. The plain fact is we’re all sinful. If only the prayers of the sinless were answered, God would have hung up the phone after Jesus said His last Amen. But according to wide testimony, He’s still very much on the line.

So what kind of sin is the problem? The words of Jesus about going and making things right suggest an answer: unconfessed sin, something we are convicted about, something we feel guilty about—but refuse to deal with.

James zeroes in on what we need to do. James 5:16:

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

Confession. Laying it out on the table. That’s the third key to answerable prayer. That’s what a righteous man who “avails much” does. Confession. That’s also spotlighted as a key to answerable prayer.

One reason confession is important is that sometimes God has to change something in here, before He can change anything out there. Sometimes we have to become aware of how much our own choices are interfering with God’s answers.

Confession means we stop pretending it’s everybody else’s fault. We admit our mistakes. We lay it all out before God, before the God who is all-seeing.

What the all-seeing God wants from us is simply honesty. He wants us to pray honestly.

Honesty empowers our prayers. Spiritual power is about the state of your heart right now. So let’s review

You pray in faith when you stretch your trust toward the evidence God gives you.

You pray in faith by claiming promises that open you up to possibilities.

You pray with persistence, a healthy persistence, when you acknowledge that God is eager to give. And you do this by praying joyfully.

You pray with confession when you acknowledge that God sees everything; God inspires you to pray honestly, transparently.

Friends, that’s how your prayers can become much more answerable.

JEANNIE: You know I never quite realized how specific Jesus was in telling us about what makes prayer more answerable. He really did emphasize some key principles.

LONNIE: And the thing is, these are all doable; they’re accessible. We can pray honestly. We can pray joyfully. We can focus on God’s promises. It’s not something lofty and complicated.

JEANNIE: You know Lonnie, one thing has made prayer much more answerable for me.

A few years ago I began visualizing Jesus—seeing a real person, standing in front of me with his arms open, smiling at me with warm eyes.

And I “pack up” whatever concern I have and put it in a box, a gift-wrapped box, and I place that box at His feet. It’s a way for me to really express my faith that Christ can indeed take all my problems, all my burdens.

LONNIE: Jeannie, I think you praying about your father over the years also had a big impact on your life.

JEANNIE: When I was a little girl, my father left the church. He was a very bitter, angry man and he swore he’d never go back. I was just crushed. But my mother urged me to pray for him, to keep praying, and to never give up.

So I did over the years. I claimed Bible promises for him, promises about God bringing back those who wander off.

LONNIE: And Honey, you and your family prayed for 22 years. That’s perseverance.

JEANNIE: Well I was bringing that “gift box” to Jesus.

And finally something happened. We began to see small changes. He was softening. And then the day came when he turned his life over to God. My father became a transformed man. I had two wonderful years with him toward the end of his life.

When I've shared this story, people have come up to me in tears and said, "But my dad is an alcoholic; he shows no interest in coming to Christ.” And I just tell them, Please keep praying, please persevere. Never give up.

LONNIE: Jeannie, seeing what happened to your dad really strengthened my own faith.

And friend, I hope your faith has been strengthened today. Jeannie and I would like you to experience the joy of seeing God act in response to petition.

JEANNIE: Because that’s a way for us to get to know Him better.

LONNIE: So let’s include prayer in our journey together. Let’s make it a regular habit. Let’s resolve to pray in faith, to pray persistently, and to pray honestly. Let’s resolve, above all, to know God Almighty, on our knees.

LONNIE: Father, thank You for opening up the lines of communication. Thank You for Your promises. Thank You that we can come boldly, in faith, to receive what we need.

JEANNIE: We resolve to come each day, seeking Your face, seeking to know You more intimately. Please don’t let the busy-ness of life get in the way. Please don’t let all the other noises drown out Your voice.

LONNIE: Keep us talking. Keep us listening. Keep us close. In the name of Jesus, amen.

JEANNIE: It’s time to jot down your assignment for next week.

LONNIE: A little bit of homework so you can prepare to really Explore the Word with us in our next program.

JEANNIE: Lonnie is going to be talking about the Law of God, what it can do and what it can’t do. And so we’d like you to read one psalm from the Bible, Psalm 119.

LONNIE: It’s actually the longest chapter in the Bible, but you can get through it easily in a week by just reading 25 verses each day. Psalm 119 is a unique celebration of the Law of God. That’s something we don’t do much these days. But please read this chapter and allow yourself to think about God’s moral principles in an entirely new way.

JEANNIE: Remember read Psalm 119 and you’ll be all set for our next program.

LONNIE: Until next week, God bless you. Never stop exploring the Word, and remember, God really does love you.