When did God last answer one of your prayers? When was the last occasion when something happened and you knew without a doubt that it was God at work in response to your prayers?
Or let me ask a different question. Are there some things you don’t bother to pray about at all – maybe you’ve given up asking for those things or maybe you never started asking for them – because in all honesty you just don’t expect God to answer those particular prayers?
For many Christians, if not most of us, there is a great big gap between what we believe about prayer in theory and what we experience in our own prayers in practice. We believe in a God who answers prayer, but we don’t see that many answers to prayer and so we don’t pray enough in the first place.
But Jesus invites us to pray. He inspires us to pray. He encourages us to pray as He teaches his disciples about prayer and about faith. He points us first of all to:
The kind of prayer which God answers
Mark 11:22-24
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Jesus is encouraging his disciples to make specific requests to God. And Jesus places NO limits on those requests. “Whatsoever you may ask for,” He says, “It will be yours.”
This seems to be a different level of prayer, almost a different dimension of prayer to that on which most Christians and most churches operate. But these promises which Jesus Himself made are just as much for us as any other parts of His teaching are. Many of us are getting excited about the new things God is going to do among us in 2013, and the starting point for these things will be prayers offered in faith. Jesus says almost the same thing in John 14.
“10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
There are some churches and some Christians who do genuinely experience miraculous answers to prayer like this. Doing even greater miracles than Jesus did. Whatever you ask in my name. …. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! These promises are not just for special Christians but for every Christian! But I am always aware how little we rely on God and how much we do things in our own strength. How little we ask of God in prayer and how little we expect from God in prayer. So many of the activities of churches rest on our own human efforts and human skills and human experience. Christians leave so little room for God to be God and to act among us in Sovereign power. We steer our lives and our churches around situations where we would have to rely on God to act – because we are scared of looking foolish if God did not act. When we pray, true faith should involve going out on a limb for God, confident that He will act and that He will answer our prayers.
It was Martin Luther who said, “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness.” God is much more ready to answer our prayers than we are ready to ask. We say we believe that God answers prayer – yet we pray so little.
The kind of prayer which God answers, says Jesus, is prayer offered in faith.
John 14 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Mark 1124 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
We need that kind of faith.
Faith which moves mountains
Mark 1122 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
So many preachers and commentaries and books water these promises down. They talk about mountains of difficulties, insurmountable problems, enormous obstacles which God helps us to overcome. Not many talk about physical mountains moving. I’m always thrilled to see prayers about difficulties and problems and obstacles being answered. But I see no reasons to think that Jesus was not talking here about real physical mountains moving, not just symbolic or metaphorical mountains. I am sure the Almighty God who created everything from nothing and who parted the Red Sea to bring His chosen people out of slavery in Egypt would be able to work a miracle of moving a mountain if He chose. Nothing is impossible for God. But we don’t have enough faith. Faith without a shadow of doubt, truly believing that we have received whatever it is we ask for. Matthew records this saying in another form.
Matthew 17 20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
This promise Jesus made makes us feel uncomfortable. It shows up how little faith we have. It shows how little faith the church throughout the ages have had. With faith like a mustard seed NOTHING will be impossible for you, Jesus says! I haven’t got that kind of faith – yet. But we shouldn’t give up until we find that kind of faith!
The first Christians did have that kind of faith.
James 5 14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.
In the first century Jesus built His church on the prayers of His people. They asked and they received because they trusted in God to act. They prayed for hours, even for days. In the Old Testament Elijah prayed for YEARS. And these believers received what they asked for because they kept on praying until they received what they asked for. They persisted in prayer. They wrestled in prayer. They agonised in prayer – and God answered those prayers.
Praying with faith means trusting God. Taking God at His word, relying on Him, and having confidence that He will keep His promises. But for many Christians there are two obvious reasons why we have problems trusting God completely. We don’t know God well enough and we don’t know our Bibles well enough.
We need to get to know God better. I don’t mean just knowing more ABOUT God, although that would be a start. I mean we need to deepen our personal relationship with God. That is what prayer is all about – conversation with God, expressing our relationship with Him
1 John 5 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
“Confidence” is not the best word to describe how most Christians approach God in prayer. We don’t know God well enough to be truly bold as we approach our Heavenly Father. We don’t know Him well enough to be certain what his will is in many situations. It’s no surprise that we find it hard to ask things which are in accordance with God’s will when we don’t know God well enough to know what His will is. Often the problem is we spend too little time in prayer or we are half-hearted in our praying. Knowing God and spending time in prayer come too low down in our priorities.
Jeremiah 29 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
We spend too little time with God and so little effort in seeking Him. The kind of praying in faith Jesus invites us to takes hours each day, not minutes.
We need to know God better and then also we need to get to know God’s word better. We may feel we have a sound grasp of what the Bible teaches, but we haven’t really understood God’s word until it has released God’s power into our lives.
John 15 . 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
What a wonderful promise. Ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you. But it comes with a condition – that we abide in Christ and that His words abide in us. The more time and attention we give to abiding in Christ, the more we will find God answering our prayers. The Bible is full of so many great and precious promises God has given us to claim!
In Mark 9 there is a story we didn’t dwell on of a boy who was possessed by a demon. His father came to Jesus and said this.
Mark 9 22 “… if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” 23 “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
All things are possible for him who believes. We need to ask God to increase our faith. “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Somebody has said that the best way to increase our faith is to attempt something so impossible that, unless God is in it, it is doomed to failure. Perhaps that is the kind of new thing God is going to do among us this year!
Before we finish, there is one further condition which Jesus puts on answers to prayer here. Did you spot it?
Mark 11 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Prayer with forgiveness.
The Bible points to a number of possible hindrances to prayer. Some are inward and private. Unconfessed sin. Greed. Idolatry. Pride. Self-centredness. But other barriers to prayer come from poor relationships with other people. If we are not living in love and forgiveness, God does not answer our prayers.
One reason for this is obvious. All answers to prayer are gifts of God’s grace. They aren’t rewards for good behaviour. God doesn’t answer our prayers because of any merits in us whatsoever, but only on the merits of our Saviour Jesus Christ. But we can’t claim to be receiving God’s grace and forgiveness through Jesus is at the same time we are refusing to forgive others who have hurt or upset us. The grudges we hold on to are a denial of the grace we need to receive. As somebody has said, “Whoever refuses to forgive another, burns the bridge over which he himself must pass.”
Jesus made so many wonderful promises about prayer. Matthew 18 19 “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
“Agreeing in prayer” is so powerful. It only takes two to agree in prayer and Jesus promises , it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. Here is the power of praying together. That’s why prayer meetings and Home Groups and praying in pairs or in threes is so important. But that is also why praying with forgiveness is so important.
25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
We have heard this morning about the power of prayer. The kind of prayers that God answers. Faith that moves mountains. Praying with forgiveness. Twenty promises that God will answer prayer and a dozen of those from the lips of Jesus Himself. May God help us to discover this amazing power of prayer for ourselves!
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”