Spirit of the Living God, we thank you for this house of prayer in which you bless this portion of your people on its journey. We come here this hour seeking your presence. Our minds cannot understand you, yet our hearts cry out for a living relationship with you. Our eyes cannot see you, yet without you there would be nothing to see. Our way ahead is hidden from us, but we are learning to trust that you have prepared a way for us. Help us, O Lord, to receive your answer to our prayers in your way, in your time, in your power, and for your purpose. In Jesus’ name we ask it. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Word of the Lord for us this day.

It is really good to see you again today. Some of you know I have been gone for a week or two. My wife, Jan, makes me go to the mountains. It is this family thing we do in Estes Park. It was her idea to go out and to sleep on the ground. I can get down on the ground fairly well. It is getting up off the ground that is a little bit testy. 

 

The past two Sundays we have missed church, which means we have done some fun things, had a great time, hung out with a few heathens. You know how that goes. But we missed you. 

 

That little children’s song came to mind this week, “I am the church. You are the church. We are the church together. All God’s children all around the world; we are church together.” It is really good to see you. It is good to go, and it is good to be back. 

 

If you are with us for the very first time today, we have been working on a series of messages related to prayer – Christian prayer – and we have held to the notion and to the fact, the proposition, that prayer can change your life, and not only can change your life, but prayer can change, transform our life here in this community of faith as we consider our ministry and mission for the future. 

 

The first week we talked about the four purposes of prayer. The second week we talked about the five conditions of prayer. The third week we talked about the key steps that the Bible teaches us in praying about very difficult kinds of problems and situations. Today, we are going to deal with four basic attitudes that I think might help those of us who pray receive answers to our prayers. 

 

You may have heard the old story about the Sunday School children who were encouraged by their teacher to write a letter to one of the church’s missionaries. Evidently the kids had been told in class that the missionaries love receiving letters from back in the states. They love getting messages of support and love, but to please not request a response, because the missionaries were very, very busy. So this is what the children came up with.

           

I think that pretty well summarizes the prayer life of most Christians. We are praying, but we do not expect an answer. My question today is, “Why? Why don’t we expect an answer?” 

 

I think most of us really want to receive answers to our prayers. So what I want to do today is try to discover some of the basic biblical attitudes that might help us shape our expectations. You know… I think the reason we don’t pray much as a people, or as individuals, is because we don’t really have expectations. I think the Bible will help us shape our expectations. 

 

Attitude Number One that I want to share with you today is: when you pray as a Christian, you really need to know that you need to be willing to let God answer your prayer in God’s own time. That is very, very hard for people in this room to accept. We have a need. We have a want. We have a desire, and we want it now. We want it yesterday. You have sort of grown up in that kind of culture, but the Bible teaches us something different. 

 

The Bible says that God has God’s schedule, and God’s timetable, and God’s purposes, and they don’t always match. They don’t always match with your schedule, with your timetable, with your plans, or with mine. Indeed, the fact is, according to Scripture, God often, not always, but often delays answers to our prayers. Did you know that? You have experienced that? 

 

Today’s text is a perfect example. Zechariah, the priest, and Elizabeth, his wife, according to the text today, are two wonderful, upright, faithful people who wanted children, wanted to have a family, wanted to build a family, prayed for years for the blessings of children, but had none. They didn’t have John Cassels to be their consultant, I guess. John is around today, and he will be glad to meet with you later on. He is right there. 

 

One day, however, Zechariah, according to the text, was on duty at his church burning incense at the altar when an angel of the Lord appeared to him. It scared the dickens out of him, I suppose. You can just imagine going to church, doing what you do. It must really shake you when an angel appears. I don’t know. I have not had that experience. Evidently, it did for Zechariah. Anyhow, Gabriel, the angel, calmed Zechariah down, told him not to be afraid, and said he had some good news for him. He said, “Your prayer has been answered.”

 

What prayer? “Your prayer for a child. Your wife, Elizabeth, is going to have a baby. You are to name him John. He will be a joy and a light to you. Many will be rejoicing because of his birth. He will be great in the sight of the Lord. Zech, Zech, Zech.” 

 

Folks, I have a feeling. I would be willing to bet that Zechariah and Elizabeth gave up that prayer for a child a long, long, long time ago. Listen to Zechariah’s response. It is great. “But I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.”

 

That’s called diplomacy. “Well along in years.”   What he is saying here translates as, “Look, guy, we gave up that old prayer a long, long time ago.” 

 

Principle Number One: God often delays answers to our prayers. Indeed, God’s answer seems to be, according to Scripture, in God’s own time, and that is very, very difficult for us. Indeed, I am coming to see that the mark of Christian maturity seems to be this: how long can you wait? How long can you wait? Infants in the faith have to have things today, have to have things immediately. Mature Christianity has an ability to wait. Did you know that? 

 

A legitimate question, though, is, “Why does God delay answers to God’s people’s prayers?” Of course, anybody with any degree of honesty would say, “We don’t know.” God does what God does when God chooses for reasons that are often hidden at the time. But one answer I would offer to you today is that God delays, because God needs to prepare us for something first. God needs to prepare us sometimes before God can answer a prayer. And that is very frustrating, because we usually think that we are ready, way before God believes we are ready. 

 

I talked to a person not long ago who said, “You know… I tried prayer. I prayed everyday for two whole weeks.” (Really?) “Nothing happened.” (Wow, surprise.) “I am done.” 

 

No, they are not done.   They just haven’t learned to wait. Waiting is hard. Waiting is really the hard part. Have you ever been in that kind of situation?

 

“How long, how long, O Lord, how long are you going to let me, or let someone I love and care about go through what we are going through? You see what is going on. You tell us in your Word that you care. I believe that you have the power to help me and others get through. What’s up? What’s up?” 

 

That is a legitimate question. And often times the answer is, “You know… What I hear you saying is that you want me to change the situation. You want me to change the circumstances, and what I want is to change you. You want me to fix your spouse and your marriage. I want to change you in your marriage. You want me to change a problem you are having in your work environment. I want to change you in your work environment. You want me to bring an end to the war and bring peace to our land and elsewhere, but I want to change you. I want to change the people of this land so that the world, so that this country, could actually live in peace if it were granted.” 

 

You see… God wants to change our attitudes, and after we have learned that right attitude, it seems God seems willing to provide what is needed to go to work on the problem. But there is usually, not often, not always, but there seems to be a delay. So, how do you pray when the answer to your prayer is being delayed? 

 

Well, I suggest you keep on praying until one of three things happens: 1) You get the answer and then it is obvious, you are done; 2) You get some assurance, you get some sense, there is something in your heart that says, “You know… It is just going to happen.” And so you stop asking and you start thanking God for it, and you start acting on it even though you haven’t received it yet. That is assurance. You believe in advance; 3) The obvious, God reveals to you that your request is not in God’s will.

 

I remember years ago getting ready to go to seminary. I was just a kid from the beach, and I didn’t have much money, but I got a letter from the dean of Bright Divinity School saying that there was a scholarship available. I didn’t wait for the check to arrive before I packed my bag and got a ticket. I got on an airplane and flew to Ft. Worth. I had never been to Texas before in my life. But, I did so with the assurance that what I needed, and what was going to be offered, was going to be there waiting for me. I acted on faith before it happened. 

 

So, you keep praying until 1) you get an answer, 2) you get some assurance, or 3) the obvious, God reveals to you that your request is not in God’s will.  

 

How do you know when something is not in God’s will? You usually, number one, become very uncomfortable praying about it. That is a pretty good clue.  Or secondly, you don’t have much peace about it. That is another good clue. And if that happens, that is usually a good time to stop that prayer, or to change that prayer, or to update that prayer. Either way, the Bible says, “God answers our prayers in God’s own time.”

 

Number Two: we must be willing to let God answer our prayers in God’s own way. That means, however God thinks is best. For God’s ways are always better. They are usually more extensive, usually more substantial than our ways. 

 

Isaiah 55 says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on the Lord while he is near, for my thoughts are not your thoughts and neither are your ways my ways. Indeed, my ways are higher, says the Lord.” 

 

Another reason God may delay answers to our prayers is because God intends to answer in a way that is bigger than you originally thought. 

 

Look again at today’s text. It is a great illustration. What if Zechariah and Elizabeth had a baby immediately? It would have been a beautiful Jewish child. It would have been loved. It would have been cherished. They would have done a wonderful job raising that child, and that would have been a wonderful thing. But God, in this text, delayed that request, and then when God acted, God gave them John, the one who was the cousin of Jesus. Remember? The one who was the announcer of the coming of the kingdom, the one who was the forerunner of the Christ. What a role this person played in God’s dramatic creation of the new covenant, the New Testament, the new way that the Creator was going to relate to his creation. Now, they had no way of knowing that, of course, but in God’s delay, Zech and Elizabeth birthed and raised none other than John the Baptist. It was the right time in the right way.

 

Now, most of the time, I suggest, our problem is two-fold. Number one, we either ask too little, or we want it too quickly. We don’t pray big enough. We aim way, way, way too low. 

 

Ephesians 3 says, “But God is able to do exceedingly more than we are even able to think or imagine.” 

 

Question today, how is your prayer life coming in relationship to the future of this community of faith? I don’t know this, but my guess is that most of you, like me, sometimes have been thinking only in terms of my own personal spiritual needs, spiritual needs for myself, spiritual needs for my family, my children, my friends, which means, of course, I aim way, way too low – much lower than it needs to be.

 

Tell you what, folks… It is good for me to leave town once in a while because when I am here, I spend a lot of time with church people. When I leave here I don’t spend much time with church people at all. I hang with a bunch of heathens. It is amazing. It is amazing to me. I just need to get into that arena every once in awhile. I am amazed at the shear number of wonderful, fun loving, good people who have no faith, who have no community, who have a hodge-podge of core values. They are everywhere. 

 

So, what are we going to do? What are we going to do with our Christian spirituality in this expanding, growing secular world? This goes way beyond your personal spiritual needs.

 

Number three: You must be willing to let God answer your prayers in God’s own time, in God’s own way, and in God’s own ability, in God’s own power. 

 

Folks, if you can get what you want and what you need in your own life, in your own way, in your own power, just do it. That is the slogan of our culture, “Just do it.” You don’t need to pray. Just do it. The secular world does that every day and every night. I don’t know about you, but the result of that type of doing is becoming painfully and disturbingly clear. But if you happen to be one of those persons who is trying to get in your life what God wants, if you are one of those persons who is trying to seek in your life God’s way, or maybe you are dealing with something that is way, way over your head, way beyond your powers and your abilities to solve, the witness of the faithful for 2,000 years is, “Pray.” The witness of 2,000 years is, “Ask.” If you are going to ask, don’t ask and then run out and try to do it all yourself. 

 

Be ready, sure, to do whatever God guides you and leads you to do, but have the attitude that believes and accepts and affirms thatGod answers God’s people’s prayers in God’s own time, in God’s own way, and in God’s own power. 

 

That is what makes answered prayer in your life and mine, what the Bible calls, a miracle. A miracle is pretty hard for us mainline folks to grasp. A miracle is simply this: it is not something you will into being. It is not something you plan. It is not something that you arranged. It is not something you made happen. It is something, instead, that you have received. It is something that is highly improbable, usually extraordinary, and for which you are extremely grateful. That is the biblical definition of a miracle. The Bible says a miracle exists and is given in the world for basically, primarily, one reason. Do you know what that reason is? Miracles happen, in the Bible, so that faith gets built. The people who experience miracles, the people who observe miracles in the lives of others they know, that they love, that they care about, their faith is enhanced. It is built up. It is developed. 

 

The fact is, it seems God is willing to delay answered prayers to certain kinds of prayers, and sometimes it seems it just goes to the point of being impossible. It reaches the point of being hopeless. It is sort of beyond the point of no return, and then God, in God’s power, answers a person’s prayer. 

 

Now I have a warning for you very quickly here. You need to know that if you start to pray about certain kinds of problems and certain kinds of concerns, don’t be surprised if the situation gets worse before it gets better. Praying about a problem in your marriage? Watch for your spouse to get more hostile. Praying about a financial problem? Watch the money situation to get harder. Praying for someone to get well? Watch for someone to get sicker. Praying about the ministry and mission of the future of this church? Watch and expect more questions than answers to arise and people to feel confused. You want to pray about peace? Expect more people to die, to be injured, and another gazillion dollars to be spent. 

 

When you pray, know that things may well get worse before they get better. But, when God answers such prayer, you will know that it was not you. You will know it was not your doing. You will know that something took place that was beyond your ability and power. Indeed, you will know, in your heart of hearts, that God, acting in God’s ability in God’s power, is what it is all about. All who witness what they experience will see their faith, their trust, their confidence in God strengthen. Be willing to let God answer your prayers in God’s own time, in God’s own way, and in God’s own power.

 

Fourth and finally today: Be willing to let God answer God’s prayers for God’s own purposes. The entire Scriptures can be summarized in two basic sentences and statements about prayer. God answers our prayers for your growth, for your gain, for your blessing. God wants to bless God’s creation. That is only one side of it. The second side, in the Scripture, is that God answers prayers in ways that lead to God’s glory, to God’s splendor.

 

There is something about the Creator of all that is that wants to be known, that wants to be related to, that wants to be acknowledged and loved and revered, one that is worthy of worship and praise. It is called, in the Bible, God’s glory. Now when you try to figure out what the opposite of “glory” is, it is usually when God is unknown. When God is unknown, the results tend to be ugly, obscene, dull, miserable, foul, profane, crude – the story of the Scripture. Six-thousand years of Judeo-Christian history with the story of God answering the prayers of God’s people in ways that serve the purposes of God in this world. You can name them. There are many. 

 

My question today is, how about you? What about your prayer life? What are you praying for? Are you willing to let God answer your prayers in God’s time, and in God’s way, and in God’s power, and for God’s purposes? And why? Why are you praying what you are praying? If you are praying for health, what are you going to do if that health is given to you? If you are praying for financial freedom, what are you going to do when those resources become available to you? If you are praying for peace and sanity in our community, our country, our world, what are you going to do if that peace were granted? 

 

I want to ask you to pray a prayer with me today. I think it is one of the best prayers we could ask for. I would ask you to bow your heads for just a moment and let me offer this prayer for us, and certainly for me.

 

 

And we all say together… “Amen.”

 

 

Listening Lord, thank you for hearing our prayers. We do pray for your will to be done. We, your faithful people, pray for your leading, ministry, and mission. May what we ask and imagine, joyfully reflect your hopes. Amen.