James 5:14-19, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”
I once heard a beautiful illustration about prayer that forever changed my prayer life. Two preachers were once sharing a conversation about prayer. The one preacher was still young and naïve, and the other preacher an older and wiser man of God. As the young minister rambled about the virtues of prayer long prayers, the elderly wise preacher interjected the $64,000 question—“Young man, you don't expect to receive big answers from God in response to your little prayers do you?” The young preacher replied: “No, of course not!” The elderly preacher wisely replied: “THAT is why you don't receive BIG answers to prayer!”
Dear reader, without faith we cannot please God. Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Faith is trusting God! Faith is the cause of why we do the things we do for Jesus Christ (Hebrews 11:1). By God's grace, I have labored diligently night and day for the past 19 years since 2002, spending literally tens of thousands of hours working on my website ministry for Christ. I often am reminded, and tell all my web visitors, that this is not my own ministry, IT IS GOD'S WEBSITE. I have seven websites total, which are listed here. And then there's my music website, which is also a ministry that I use to preach the Gospel to musicians. Praise the Lord, for without Jesus I can do NOTHING (John 15:5).
THE TRUTH is that you CAN pray LITTLE prayers, and receive BIG answers from God. What saith the Scripture? ...
Matthew 6:5-8, “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”
Our blessed Creator, God and Savior already KNOWS what our needs are. Nothing ever occurs to God. There is no “oops!” with God. The Lord doesn't need a calendar like I do. He doesn't need to set reminder alarms on His mobile phone like I do. God does not need email reminders sent to Him, to remind Him to pay His bills on time each month, and go to His doctor's appointment on schedule. God doesn't get sick, doesn't grow tired and never needs a vacation from a stressful environment like we humans often do.
Our blessed Savior PROMISED that we need not pray long repetitive prayers, or spend extended time (hour upon hour) in prayer, because He already knows what we need from day to day. That is a remarkable teaching in the Scriptures. I think it is very common for saints, especially those who have been saved for decades and are very familiar with the Word of God, to not really pay attention to the details and rely upon the Scriptures as we ought. I had known all my adult life that God already knows my needs, because I was familiar with this passage of Scripture in Matthew 6:5-8. Yet so often I still feel like God won't answer my prayers unless I get down to business, by spending quality time in prayer.
Now, please don't misunderstand me. We should spend quality time in prayer. I dare say that less than 2% of Christians spend quality time in prayer. I would consider “quality time” in prayer to be at least 30 minutes to an hour a day, where we give God our undivided attention. If you are like me, then you have a bad habit of what I call, “Drive-By Praying.” When I lived in Chicago most of my adult life, we had the unfortunate and unpleasant reality of “Drive-By Shootings,” which were nearly always related to street gangs and the money they made from selling illegal drugs. In fact, at the time in 2004 when I finally moved away from Chicago, the city's dozens of different gangs were operating an astonishing $500,000,000 a year drug empire! So I picked up the term “Drive-By” from having grown up in the big city.
Sadly, I think many of us are guilty as God's children of “Drive-By Praying,” that is, praying on the go as we pass by hurriedly rushing about our busy day. Granted, we are commanded to pray throughout the day, all the time as things come to our mind. 1st Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” Pastor Jack Hyles' (1926-2001) dear mother, Mattie Coystal Hyles was born in Illinois on December 13, 1887. She graduated from this earthly life at age 96 in 1984 in Indiana. Dr. Hyles' mother's favorite Bible verse is Psalms 103:14, “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” I love that verse too!!! God knows our weak human frame, He remembers continually that we are made from the mere dust of the earth. It is important that we always keep this wonderful truth in mind, knowing that God is very patient and understanding toward our short comings, weaknesses, faults, failures and sin.
David Brainerd (1718-1747) was a Gospel missionary's in New York to the native Indians. Brainerd loved the Indians so much, that he was purported to pray at length until his knees left imprints in the wooden floor beneath. Wow! That is love my friend. The Bible does teach IMPORTUNITY in prayer for others! Pastor Jack Hyles has authored a helpful book on prayer, called: 'Exploring Prayer With Jack Hyles.' in which he address this issue of importune prayer in chapter 49 called: “THIS KIND.”
When Jesus' apostles could not heal the little boy possessed of a devil, Jesus told them that they lacked faith. But the Lord also made it clear that “THIS KIND” requires PRAYER AND FASTING. Matthew 17:21, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” So there will be times in our life, for the sake of OTHERS, when God will require sacrifice in prayer if we are to help them. It is important that we differentiate between our personal needs, which the Lord doesn't want us spending a lot of time praying about (Matthew 6:5-8); as versus spending quality time in prayer, out of a heart of LOVE for others. God wants every believer to GET OUT OF THE SELF LIFE!!!
“Give yourself to prayer, to reading and meditation on divine truths: strive to penetrate to the bottom of them and never be content with a superficial knowledge.” —Missionary David Brainerd (1718-1747)
James 5:14-19, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”
Dear reader, yes, you most certainly CAN receive BIG answers from God in response to LITTLE prayers. There are no “little” prayers!!! The Bible exhorts us in Philippians 4:6 not to be careful (anxious) about anything; but rather, to take EVERY THING to God in prayer...
What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
And what a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer
Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer
1st Peter 5:7 is one of the most amazing Scripture passages in the Bible, which is so often overlooked, and few believers think it is true—“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” I admit that there have been multiple times in my life, when I earnestly prayed to God for His help, but didn't visibly see any results in the months and years to follow. So I became discouraged and quit praying. That is the worst thing we can do!!! There is a wonderful little nugget of gold tucked away between verses 6 and 8 of the following beautiful passage:
2nd Corinthians 5:6-8, “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”
I love that! Verse 6 says while we are at home in our physical body, we are ABSENT from being in Heaven bodily with our blessed Savior. And then in verse 8 the Apostle Paul reminds us as believers, that the blessed day is coming when we WILL BE ABSENT from the body, and we'll be present with the dear Savior. Tucked right in between those TRUTHS, we find the lovely phrase—FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT. Dear reader, we ought not look for visible answers to our prayers. God doesn't do things our way, nor in our time frame, nor according to our desires. What saith the Scripture? ...
Isaiah 55:6-9, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Many proponents of the Devil's lie of Calvinism, misunderstood repentance and “Lordship Salvation” misinterpret this passage of Scripture. Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) wisely says that as a general rule, we should never use an obscure passage of Scripture to contradict a clear one. I fully agree! This passage is obscure, which is often used in a foolish attempt to require people to turn away from sinful ways to be saved. That is not the free grace Gospel.
We are taught in Genesis 15:6 that Abram (Abraham) believed the Lord and it was counted unto him for righteousness (Romans 4:4-7). Habakkuk the prophet said in Habakkuk 2:4 that THE JUST MAN SHALL LIVE BY HIS FAITH. Salvation has ALWAYS been by faith alone in Christ. Acts 10:43, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” ALL the prophets, Old Testament and New, gave witness that remission of sins comes only through faith in Christ.
The prophet Isaiah exclaims in Isaiah 55:7-8 that God's ways are not our ways, and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. One of my favorite sermons by Pastor Jack Hyles is titled: 'Either Let Me Do God, Or Do It My Way.' We are ALL somewhat guilty of this sin! We are all guilty of sometimes wanted God to let us do things OUR WAY, and if God refuses, then we want God to do it OUR WAY. Dear friend, God not only knows what provisions we need from day to day, He also knows what we need spiritually in our life. No believer wants to suffer, but the Bible teaches that God has called every saint to suffer!!! Philippians 1:29-30, “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”
2nd Corinthians 5:7 says, FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT. We must keep this TRUTH continually in mind, lest we become discouraged when we don't SEE God's hand at work in response to our prayers. I have learned and found sweet peace in my soul, to just settle it once and for all that God loves me (Ephesians 2:4; 2nd Thessalonians 2:16), cares about me (1st Peter 5:7), knows what is best for me (Romans 8:29)), and He hears my every prayer as His child (Hebrews 4:14-16). If it is God's will to answer, He will. I am 100% convinced that God always answers my prayers, but usually NOT in the way I want Him to, or when I want Him to, or where I want Him to. Prayer is a matter of FAITH. Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to TRUST and OBEY.
Yes, you can receive BIG answers to prayer from God, for just LITTLE prayers. That is because the basis upon which our prayers are answered is not a matter of how much we sacrificed to earn God's response; but rather, it is a matter of FAITH alone. We are saved by faith. We walk by faith. We pray in faith. We do all that we do for God by faith. The works we do as saints are by faith. Works don't prove our faith to be genuine, but they show that we love God (John 14:14).
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.