The Fervent Prayer
Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We have been spending the last several weeks studying prayer. Prayer is a very important part of a Christians life. Some have compared it to breathing, as they have compared studying the Word to eating. You have to do both, eat and breathe, to live. You have to pray and study the Word to Spiritually live.
And not only is prayer important because it sustains our Spiritual life, it is important because it is powerful. Since prayer is so important. And since prayer has such tremendous power. We need to dedicate ourselves to praying as God directed. Somebody once said, “Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of omnipotence.”
So we have been studying prayer. And more specifically we have been considering “answered prayer.” And what we meant by “answered prayer” is, when God grants us our request.
Many of us who have been in the church for a long time know that sometimes God answers “yes” to our requests, sometimes He answers “no.” And sometimes He answers by telling us to “wait.” But we want to know how to get more “yeses” don’t we? So, we’ve been looking through Scripture to see when He answers “yes.” And we’ve noted certain times that Scripture tells us that the answer was “yes.” God answers “yes” to humble prayers.
The publican in a story Jesus told, humbled himself before God, not even lifting his face to heaven, and said “God be merciful to me, the sinner.” And Jesus said that that man went home justified. I’ve prayed many humble prayers. Prayers where I approached God knowing that I didn’t deserve the least of His mercies. We have had financial problems. And the problem wasn’t because God didn’t provide, but because I wasn’t frugal, or I took on too much debt. But God answered that prayer, not because I was righteous, or because of any promise in Scripture, but, I believe He answered because He took pity on me.
God answers yes to Scriptural prayers. When we pray for His will as revealed in Scripture. I’ve rested in this many times. Jesus said that we shouldn’t worry about what we wear, or eat, because God knows what we need, He clothes the grass of the field, He feeds the birds. So, He said to “seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to us.” He’s talking about providing our basic needs. And often Denise and I have found ourselves with a need; not clothes or food, but something that was a necessity. We’ve prayed about transportation siting this verse. In our world, you have to have a car. And God has answered “yes.” Now, maybe under different circumstances He would have sent me to the bus station, but He provides.
God answers the prayers of the righteous. There have been occasions when I was right in the middle of God’s will. And I prayed for myself, or for my kids, or someone at church, and God answered. And sometimes He answers speedily.
Now, having said all of that, I know that many of you may be thinking, “Yeah, but, that’s not been my experience.” We feel like the “no’s” come more frequently than the “yes’s.” I have felt the same way. I have felt very distant from God. I have felt that God doesn’t care. That reminds me of what the disciples said to Jesus when they were in the boat in the middle of the storm, frantically trying to row to shore, while bailing out water to prevent them from sinking. And what was Jesus doing? Sleeping. And it says that they woke Jesus up saying, “Master, don’t you care that we are perishing?”
Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and the wind, storm and sea immediately calmed.
But we feel like that. “Lord, don’t you care that I am perishing?” And even more sobering than that question is this one; the disciples had to conclude that if Jesus had that kind of power in the middle of the storm, He had the same power before the storm. Why did He allow them to go through the storm to begin with?
We ask that question. We know that the Lord can “fix what ails us” at any time. So, we have a double-barreled question; “Why did you allow this to happen to me?” “Don’t You care?”
And since many of us here today, despite hair dye, have more gray hair than brown, black, red, or blond, we’ve prayed many prayers. And we’ve been through many storms, and we’ve peppered God with many, many questions. So, when we spend some time again, in the Word, encouraging each other to pray, we can lose heart.
That really brings us to the next kind of prayer that God answers “yes.” It is the fervent prayer.
James 5:16 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.
So, this passage not only says that we must consider our righteousness as we pray, but we must consider our fervency, or vigor as we pray. Our prayers can become limp and lifeless over time. They can become mechanical, memorized and heartless.
But He often answers “yes” to fervent prayers. Last week, we looked at a parable of Jesus that illustrated fervency in prayer. This week we want to consider what that will look like. Three things describe fervency: persistence, passion, and pleading.
Prayer
What does it mean to be fervent? Fervency means persistence.
I. Persistence
A. Definition
firm or obstinatecontinuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.
The passage I sited a moment ago about “fervency” said that the fervent effectual prayer availeth much. In the next verse James gives an example of that fervency. He says,
17 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.
The Greek there for “earnestly” is actually the same word used for prayer. It just repeats two different forms of the same word for prayer. It literally says that, He prayed with prayer. That was a Hebrew way of putting emphasis on the intensity of the verb. He was praying with prayer. He was earnestly praying. He was putting his heart and fervor into his prayers. And it can have to do with his dedication to prayer, and its repetition.
Fervent prayer is by nature going to be repetitious. Because we pray fervently for things that are consuming our thoughts at the moment. So we keep going back to God, again and again. And God is not displeased with that repetition. The only time in Scripture that we find God displeased with repetitious prayer is if it is a “vain” or empty repetition, or if He has already given you the answer, but you keep praying for it. Moses kept asking to go into the promised land after God had already told him that he would not because of his disobedience.
Deuteronomy 3: 23 “I also pleaded with Yahweh at that time, saying, 24 ‘O Lord Yahweh, You have begun to show Your slave Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? 25 Let me, I pray, cross over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, [w]that good hill country and Lebanon.’ 26 But Yahweh was angry with me on your account and would not listen to me; and Yahweh said to me, ‘[x]Enough! Speak to Me no more of this matter.
I can’t think of another time that God was angry for a repeated prayer. In fact Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus that they were to
Ephesians 6: 18 praying at all times [g]with all prayer and petition in the Spirit, and to this end, being on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
B. Other Scripture1 Chronicles 16:11 Inquire of Yahweh and His strength; Seek His face continually.
Psalm 88:1 O Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before You.
Psalm 119:147-149 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words.
1st Thessalonians 5:17 pray without ceasing;
Well, I wanted to give you a tangible, Biblical example of what that kind of persistent prayer looks like. The example that came to mind was when Abraham prayed concerning the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. You remember that Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain were wicked. They were carried away with sexual perversion and violence. And God revealed to Abraham that He was going to destroy the cities and all their inhabitants. Well, Abraham knew that his nephew Lot and his extended family and their servants had moved into Sodom. So, he is anxious to save his kin. So, Abraham talks to God about it, requesting that God not destroy the cities. And frankly, Abraham seems rather forward with his request. He, at best can be called persistent.
C. Biblical example: Abraham
Let me just read this. Genesis 18
23 Then Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not [r]spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do [s]such a thing, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do justice?”
This is astonishingly brash. Abraham is lecturing God about fairness, justice, righteousness, and wickedness! And what is more amazing is that God answered him favorably!
26 So Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will [t]spare the whole place on their account.”
Now, most of us, if we had successfully gotten this answer, might have stopped. Surely there are at least fifty righteous people in this large of a city. Surely Lot has led his family and household servants to follow the Lord. But Abraham does not stop there. He asks again.
27 And Abraham answered and said, “Now behold, I have [u]ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes.
I love this phrase, “Now behold, I have [u]ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes.”
Because it illustrates a previous point we made about answered prayer. Answered prayer comes to the humble. Abraham is saying, “I don’t deserve to even be speaking with you Lord.” But…
28 Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?”
I love Abraham’s logic. He doesn’t go straight to asking about, “if there are just forty-five righteous,” he says, “what if the fifty righteous are lacking five?” It’s like going to the convenience store to buy a coffee. And you go to the cashier, they say, “that’ll be a buck seventy-five.” And you say, I’m short a nickel. You’re not going to refuse me the coffee over a nickel are you?”
How audacious of Abraham! He’s talking to God! Would you ever think to talk to God this way? Well that wouldn’t be fair Lord. You aren’t going to be that petty are you?
But again God answers saying, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Is Abraham done? No, he’s persistent.
29 Then he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.”
This is amazing to me. The Word of God says that prayer is powerful and effective. But if we think about what we know about God. God already knows everything. He knows the beginning from the end. He knows the past, present and future. He knows the end of the story. So, what difference does Abraham’s prayer make? So, why does He even entertain this discussion with Abraham? Well, we don’t know the complete answer to that. But here is a partial answer. God does know the end of the story. God has ordained His purposes ahead of time. But God has not only ordained the end, He has also ordained the means to the end. God ordained that our prayers are a powerful part of the story. God ordained that Abraham’s persistent prayers would make a difference. So He has given us a powerful part of the equation. So Abraham continues.
30 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?”
Now he gets more bold. He jumps down by ten people, instead of five.
And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
I also love it that God is well aware of what Abraham is doing. Abraham is talking about five and ten. God responds with the actual number of righteous people required to save the city. Abraham says, “what if it’s five less, or ten less. God says, “if it’s 45, or if it’s 30, I’ll spare the city.
31 And he said, “Now behold, I have [v]ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” 32 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.”
And that’s where Abraham stops. It’s a beautiful example of God answering persistent prayer. But, you might say, “God still destroyed the city!” “Abraham didn’t get his “yes” answer. Yes, he did. There were not 10 righteous people in Sodom.
But here’s a question for you. What was Abraham really praying for? He was praying for the protection of his nephew Lot and his family. And despite the fact that God had said that He would destroy all of the city, and its inhabitants, God sent His angels to literally drag Lot, his wife, and his two daughters out of the city before destruction came. God gave Abraham what he never asked for in his prayer. God gave Abraham what was in his heart.
33 And as soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham, Yahweh departed, and Abraham returned to his place.
God gave him what he never asked for, but that which was on his heart. That’s how God answers prayer.
Why did God do that? One could argue that God saved Lot for no other reason than that Abraham desired it.
Genesis 19: 29 Thus it happened, when God destroyed the cities of the [y]valley, that God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
God answers fervent, persistent, humble prayer. Sometimes we give up, we don’t persist.
I read this this week.
I look at a stone cutter hammering away at a rock a hundred times without so much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the 101st blow it splits in two. I know it was not the one blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
Reader's Digest, Jacob Riis.
You may ask, “but why doesn’t He answer “yes” the first time. Why do I have to persist. Well, as we’ve talked about before, your prayers are as much about changing you, as changing circumstances.
Fervent prayer isn’t just persistent, it’s passionate.
II. Passion
A. Definition
strong and barely controllable emotion.
The emotion can be grief, or joy, it can be boldness. Our emotions express the deepest desires and beliefs of our hearts. We can often say words to God in prayer, but He can see the unbelief, anger, or pride of our hearts. The words are right, the heart is sinful. It is the passion or emotion that really tells where our heart is.
Two kinds of emotion: boldness and sorrow
B. Scripture
We began today with a Scripture reading out of Hebrews.
Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things like we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We approach God, in our prayers with confidence. This is further defined in Hebrews chapter 10.
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a [h]sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 11: 6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who draws near to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Fervency is the passion of the boldness of faith. Two kinds of emotion. But can also be extreme grief.
Psalm 88:
O Yahweh, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and
throughout the night before You. 2 Let my prayer come
before You; Incline Your ear to my cry of lamentation! 3 For
my soul has been saturated with calamities, And my life has reached Sheol.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am
like a man without strength, 5 Released among the
dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom You remember no more, And they
are cut off from Your hand. 6 You have put me in the
pit far below, In dark places, in the depths. 7 Your
wrath lies upon me, And You afflict me with all Your breaking
waves. [c]Selah. 8 You have removed my acquaintances far from
me; You have set me as [d]an abomination to them; I am shut up
and cannot go out.
9 My eye has wasted away because of affliction; I
have called upon You every day, O Yahweh; I have spread out my [e]hands to You.
Psalm 130:1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications.
Does the Lord hear?
Psalm 116:1-2 I love Yahweh, because He hears My voice and my supplications. 2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.
So, fervency is passion. Now, I am not implying by this that you need to somehow muster up some fake tears when you go to God in prayer. We can’t “fake it” before God. What I am saying is that when you go to God in prayer, you need to search your heart for where the true passion is.
Have you ever been in the middle of praying, and realize they you are being dishonest with yourself, and therefore also with God? You are confessing sins that you have no intention of stopping. You are asking for things with a heart full of doubt. You don’t believe God will either give them, or that it is in His will.
Those are times in my prayer life that I have a gut feeling that I am holding something back from God. I am not opening up my whole heart to Him.
I think that God wants you to tell Him all that is on your heart. He already knows, but He wants you to talk to Him about it. The anger, the frustration, the grief, the doubt, the joy, the audacious boldness. And when we open ourselves up to God in that way, we have a fervency to our prayers. And those are the kinds of prayers that God answers “yes.” When we just lay it all out before Him.
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You guys are aware that in some churches, a branch of the Christian church denomination, they don’t believe musical instruments should be played in worship. Do you know where they get that? Let me show you some verses out of Amos.
Amos 5: 21 “I hate, I reject your feasts, Nor do I [m]delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. 23 Remove from Me the tumult of your songs; I will not even listen to the melody of your harps. 24 But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
6: Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; 5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;
But the thing they are missing is that God didn’t hate the harps and singing and offerings because He doesn’t care for musical instruments etc. He hated them because they were fake. They sang songs of praise and obedience, they lived lives of disobedience bringing shame on the name of the Lord and His people.
He hated their worship because it was fake. He was saying, “I don’t want to hear it.” And may I be so bold as to say, “God hates fake insincere prayer.” He wants to hear from the depths of your heart. He answers that kind of prayer.
I was thinking about a biblical example of
that kind of prayer. I thought of the
story of Hannah in the Old Testament. Let’s
just read it.
C. Biblical example: Hannah
1st Samuel 1: 1 Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 Now he had two wives:
Our story is about Hannah. And here is really the first trouble in her heart. She is one of two wives of her husband. That is a situation fraught with peril.
the name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah;
And here is the second circumstance that causes Hannah anguish.
and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
A woman’s value was all wrapped up in her producing children. I say that, not because it was right, but because that’s the way that it was. In this case, she felt no sense of worth, because she had given her husband no children.
Now here’s the third issue that caused her distress.
3 Now that man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to [a]Yahweh of hosts in Shiloh. ….
4 And the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, and he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; 5 but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but Yahweh had closed her womb. (The husband played favorites; that’s inevitable. But listen to what came of this rivalry.) 6 Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her because Yahweh had closed her womb. 7 And so it would happen year after year, as often as she went up to the house of Yahweh, she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat.
We don’t know the nature of the provocation. Maybe it was little snide comments from Peninnah like; “Hannah, could you move over some more in the wagon, we need more room for my children.” Or “Hannah, I see our husband has given you double to eat that he has given me. If you can’t eat it all, I’m sure one of my children would finish it for you.” And Hannah may have been able to avoid Penninah somewhat in the day to day work at home, but now they were on a journey together to Shiloh for an annual feast. She is stuck with this woman, and her kids.
Then she has a fourth disturbing reality. An obtuse husband.
8 Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
Need I say more? His way of comforting her is to say, “Having me as a husband is better than having 10 sons, isn’t it?
9 Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh. 10 And she, bitter of soul, prayed to Yahweh and wept despondently.
Here is her passionate prayer to God.
11 And she made a vow and said, “O Yahweh of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a seed amongst men, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.” 12 Now it happened, as she multiplied her praying before Yahweh, that Eli was watching her mouth. 13 As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart; only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. 14 Then Eli said to her, “How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you.”
Prayers were usually spoken out loud. But when Eli the priest sees this woman praying. She is distraught. She is mumbling under her breath. The emotion of her prayer was affecting her physically. Maybe bent over, sobbing, trying to hold it in, lips moving. He thinks that she is drunk.
15 But Hannah answered and said, “No, my lord, I am a woman [b]oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before Yahweh. 16 Do not [c]consider your maidservant as a vile woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great complaint and [d]provocation.” 17 Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant-woman find favor in your sight.” So, the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
She was overwrought with her grief. Now she is no longer sad. This is what some have called, “praying through.” Praying through the grief. Praying until you get a peace in your heart. That doesn’t mean that you’ve prayed until you know in your heart that God will grant you your request. Rather, you’ve prayed until you’ve expressed all your grief and pain, and you’ve come to a place of trusting God. You don’t know what’s going to happen, but you place your trust in God, that He will do what is best.
This is fervent prayer. It is persistence and passion. Lastly, we look at pleading.
III. Pleading
A. Definition
LAW
a formal statement of the cause of an action or defense. When we think of pleading, we thinking of irritating begging for something. That’s not what I’m talking about here. As I’ve said previously effective prayer is not vain repetition. Prayer is not begging, begging, “Oh, please; oh, please; oh, please do this, and if you only do this and – this.”
My use of the word pleading is like our use of entering a plea in court. When you go to trial, being charged with a crime, you have to make a plea. You can say “guilty,” “not guilty,” or “no contest.” Now, when we pray, we are asking the judge of the universe to consider our case. We are laying out our circumstances before the Lord.
B. Scripture
Deuteronomy 9:25-29 “So I fell down before the Lord the forty days and nights, which I did because the Lord had said He would destroy you. I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin.Psalm 40:1 I hoped [a]earnestly for Yahweh; And He inclined to me and heard my cry for help. And He inclined to me and heard my cry for help. 2 He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the [b]miry clay, And He set my feet upon a high rock, He established my steps. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear and will trust in Yahweh.
C. Biblical example: Jesus
Matthew 26: 36 Then Jesus *came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and *said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38 Then He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” 39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” 40 And He *came to the disciples and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? 41 Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” 43 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. 45 Then He *came to the disciples and *said to them, “[k]Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Get up, let us go; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”
IV. Does persistence equal always getting what you want?
Matthew 7:7-12 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? ...
God wants what is good for you.Isaiah 65:24 says - great statement - “And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer. And while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” God’s already sending the answer before we’ve even gotten the prayer off. It works immediately sometimes.
Psalm 37:7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.
The author of Hebrews is here comparing the circumstances of the Nation of Israel that came out of Egypt, but because of their unbelief, many never entered the promised land, the land of Rest. But, in Christ, we have entered that rest.
To the Jewish people, God was cold, distant, and angry. But, by comparison, the author of Hebrews is saying that we have a high priest, in Christ, who is sympathetic. He has endured temptation. And so we can approach God in prayer, without passion, because we believe God is unapproachable.