To What Kind of Prayer Does God Answer Yes?
1 Thessalonians 1: Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; 3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and [a]steadfastness of hope [b]in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father,
I. The Humble/Repentant have answered prayer.
II. The Scriptural have answered prayer.
A. Pray for what God has already ordained
B. Search the Scripture
C. Pray as you read
D. Don’t take Scripture out of context
E. Be specific
1. In your repentance
2. In your request
III. The Righteous have answered prayer.
IV. The Fervent have answered prayer.
V. The Selfless have answered prayer.
VI. The God exalting have answered prayer.Why are we studying the Bible in regard to prayer?I remember a preacher I listen to referring to a series of sermons out of a Bible book. He was preaching expositionally out of Ephesians if I remember correctly. And when he finished the series, he talked about how that study had revolutionized their church. Think about that for a minute. A Bible study fundamentally changed a church. How does that happen? It could only have happened because the preacher and the people, as they studied the Scripture, made Scriptural changes to their lives. For, example, if they heard a sermon about forgiveness, they took actual steps to forgive and reconcile with people they were alienated from. If the heard a sermon about home life, they made changes in their homes, adding the Word and prayer, getting rid of worldly influences. If they heard a message about working hard for their employer, they began to do so. That’s how Bible study revolutionizes lives; by Christians choosing to obey its instruction through the power of the Holy Spirit.The Bible is an agent of change. Revolutionary. Here are some passages that tell us that.
Romans 12:1-2: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed (Can everybody say, “I can be transformed.”) by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18: Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed (Can everybody say, “I can be renewed.”) day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.2 Corinthians 3:18:And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, (Can everybody say, “I can be transformed into the image of Jesus,” “with ever increasing glory.” which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.We study the Bible because it is God’s way to change us, transform us, renew us day after day.Since the Bible is an agent of change, and that is why we study it, that leads us to two questions about our sermons on prayer; Prayers that receive a “yes” answer. Do you believe that God can so radically change your prayers, and mine, such that He can revolutionize our lives and our church? Is it possible, that if all of us, most of us, some of us, or even just one of us radically changes their prayer life, that we can see mountains moved? We can see God hold back the rain, or bring the rain? We can see miracles of salvation in people who we had given up on? We can see a dying church sprout new life? We can see 10 righteous people chase away 1000 enemies, and 100 chase away 10,000? If you believe that can happen through changed prayers, then the second question comes; will you join me in seeking that kind of radical change to our prayer lives?D.L. Moody, the famous revivalist of the late 1800’s has this quote attributed to him.“While in England he heard evangelist Henry Varley say, “The world has yet to see what God can do through a man who is totally yielded to Him.” Moody was captivated by these words and resolved, “By the Grace of God, I will be that man!”I could alter that statement to say, “The world has yet to see what God can do through a praying church totally yielded to Him.” Are we willing to say and commit, “By the Grace of God, we will be that church?”prayerSo, last time I was in the pulpit I talked about praying Scripturally. This time I want to complete that thought by getting more specific about what we should pray Scripturally and specifically regarding our church. Next weeks service is the “Hays Family Singing.” But the worship is ordered around prayer.There are many things that are scriptural that we could pray for our church, and for each other. For example, anything that Paul prays for the churches he writes, or promises the churches he writes, we can pray for each other. He prays for Grace and peace in almost all his letters.Romans 1: 7 to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as [d]saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.1 Corinthians 1:3 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.He prays for Comfort from the Lord2 Corinthians 1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in [b]any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ abound to us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 2 Corinthians 13: 11 Finally, brothers, [g]rejoice, [h]be restored, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.He promises that we have every spiritual blessing.Ephesians 1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,So, as I said, there is a long list of things we could pray for ourselves and each other that are Scriptural; they are promised in Scripture, and are therefore God’s will for us, and therefore we can be assured that God will answer “yes” when we pray for them. But for the purposes of this sermon series we are only going to look at three promises today. Three things that Paul desires for the church, three things he prays for the church. I am going to share with you today, three Scriptural prayers that we can pray for our church. We can pray for faith, for love, and for hope.Just as Paul often opens his letters with the same greeting to churches; “grace and peace to you, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ,” so he also often prays for those same congregations to have three gifts from God; faith hope and love. He expresses all three together.
1 Corinthians 13:13 But now abide faith, hope, love—these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father,
1 Thessalonians 5:8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
Sometimes they are not all three together in one verse, but he will group one or two of them.
Faith and hope
Colossians 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly grounded and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
Faith and love
Ephesians 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being firmly rooted and grounded in love,
Love and hope
2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace,
And of course, each of these, faith, love, and hope are mentioned multiple times standing alone. Faith; 160 times in Paul’s letters alone, love 107 times, hope 49 times.
So, it seems obvious that these are qualities, gifts, attributes, or attitudes that God wants for us. Faith hope and love. And so we are safe in praying for them to abound in ourselves and in each other. But today we are looking at two passages in 1st Thessalonians.
1: 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; 3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and [a]steadfastness of hope [b]in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father,
Here he is saying to the Thessalonians that he prays for them continually, and that he recites before God that they already have faith; their work of faith, they already have love; their labor of love, they already have hope; their steadfastness of hope. But then we move forward to chapter 3 and read this.
1 Thessalonians 3: 10 as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?
11 Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you, 12 and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you, 13 so that He may strengthen your hearts blameless in holiness, before our God and Father, at the [a]coming of our Lord Jesus with all His [b]saints. (hope)
He is praying for them an ever-stronger faith, an increasing and abounding love, and an ever-present growth in their hope in the return of the Lord. He is praying that these qualities overflow in them. And we can pray that they overflow in us.
But before we pray for them to overflow in us, we had better fully understand what they are. That’s what we are doing today.
I. Pray that we have an ever-stronger faith. A faith that keeps strengthening day after day.
1 Thessalonians 3: 10 as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?
Faith
“Faith is the ability to trust the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”
To be truthful about it, the definition of faith is muddled in the minds of many Christians.
A. Colloquial definition: it used to be about God. But today it has come to mean “faith in yourself.”
Let me tell you something about me. I don’t believe I can do anything I want. I don’t believe I ought to do anything I want. In fact, I know that I can’t and shouldn’t do anything I want. But I believe God can do anything. And if He wants me to do something, He will empower me to do it. But it’s not me. The key is that I have to know what He wants me to do, what He said that He will empower me to do. So, what is faith? If it’s not about me, what is it?
B. Scriptural Definition
1 Thessalonians 3: 10 as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith?
“Complete what is lacking in your faith.” Fill up what is missing in your faith. What does that mean? It’s like Paul is saying that we have a puzzle in front of us. We have all the pieces from the box put in place. We can recognize the overall picture. But there are quite a few puzzle pieces missing. They are not in the box or on the table. Paul is saying to the Thessalonians, “I have the rest of the pieces with me, I am anxious to come and help you complete your faith. To finish the puzzle. So, let’s go back to our definition of faith.
“Faith is the ability to trust the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” What do I mean by the truth? There are two worlds that exist all around each of us. There is the visible world. These are the things that can be known by our five senses. We can see, hear, taste, touch, or smell it. Biblical faith is not the ability to believe in what you can see or discover by your five senses.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
You see, there is not only the visible world around you. There is also the invisible world. And we’re not talking about tiny microbes, or miniscule things that are only observable by using a high-powered microscope. We’re not talking about planets and stars that can only be seen with a colossal telescope. Those things can still be seen with the proper instruments. We are talking about the invisible world; the spiritual world.
Here are some things that exist in that spiritual world.
The Bible tells us that each of us has a spirit that will live past physical death into eternity. We can’t see, hear, taste, touch or smell that spirit. It is not discoverable by experimentation. We are also told in Scripture that there are spiritual beings in the world; angels, and demons. We can’t see them. We are told that God’s Holy Spirit is present inside of every believer and working in the hearts of unbelievers to convict them and convince them of sin and righteousness. But we don’t hear with our ears an audible voice of the Spirit. The Bible also tells us that God is holding all His creation together by His power. That without Him, all that we see would crumble. But we can’t measure that power with a scale or scientific instrument. All these things, and more are a part of a very real invisible world.
So, what is faith? It is the ability to trust the totality of unseen truth around us. And not just believe it, but to trust it.
We trust that God is in control. We trust that heaven is real. We trust that the Spirit of God is in us directing us. We trust that the death of our Lord Jesus Christ cleansed us of all sin. We trust those truths.
Now what did Paul mean that he wanted to come to them to complete their faith? Here’s where many Christians get confused. They have come to understand that their faith is in God. But they think that faith is like juice in a battery. And to fill up faith, to them, means to get more juice; charge the battery. I need more faith. I need to believe harder. Look at what Jesus told His disciples.
Luke 17:5-6 New American Standard Bible
5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 But the Lord said, “If you [a]had faith [b]the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would [c]obey you.
Faith is not some battery juice that needs filling, it is a completed 1000-piece puzzle, with all the pieces present and in their proper place. So, what are the pieces? They are pieces of the truth of the unseen world. So, what was Paul saying when he said,
10 as we keep praying most earnestly night and day that …. may complete what is lacking in your faith?
I want you to have all the pieces in place. All the truth. All the knowledge of God’s invisible world. How it works. Who is in charge. How it is moved. Where it is going. He wants them to have all the pieces, all the truth.
Now, where do we find out what that truth is? Where do we find the truth that we must trust in order to fill in the missing pieces of our faith? We have to discover that unseen truth by the Word of God.
So, faith is really taking the Word, at its word. Believing and trusting in what is revealed in Scripture that we can’t see. And “completing what is lacking in your faith” means teaching you all the truth of the Word of God. Faith is the ability to trust in the whole truth of God’s Word, and nothing but the whole truth of God’s Word. Faith not straining to believe harder. Faith is striving to believe and trust more of God’s revealed Word. How do you know if you are growing in faith? Faith cannot be separated from a love and passion for knowing, believing, learning and following the Bible. Faith is completed by our learning more and more of the unseen world, as revealed in Scripture, believing it despite the fact that it is unseen, and obeying it.
What passes for faith today is so empty of this basic element. Do you want to grow in faith? You grow in faith by spending time in studying, praying over, memorizing, loving, listening to and obeying the Word. You don’t get more faith by loud music, ecstatic experiences, beautiful mountain retreats, or repeating pithy positivisms. You don’t get more faith by having hands laid on you, speaking in unknown tongues, or being slain in the Spirit.
Faith is the ability to trust the truth of the Word, and nothing but the truth of the Word. And if there is a Scriptural prayer that you can pray, and be assured of a “Yes” answer, it is the prayer for an ever-growing faith. Pray it for yourself, pray it for your church. Now, before we move on to love, let me answer a final question regarding faith.
C. What would a Christian full of faith look like?
John MacArthur https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/52-12/a-pastoral-prayer
“Now how do we know if our faith is growing? Hmm? How do I know if my faith is growing? Let me give you a little list of things, just quickly. Number one, my knowledge of the Word of God is growing. My knowledge of the Word of God is growing and if it is, my faith is growing. Two, I find a greater confidence in God. Three, I have a higher trust in His sovereignty. Four, there is a definite increase in obedience. As I apprehend more truth and trust more truth, I live more truth. That's obedience. Here's another one, I find joy in my trials. What does that mean? That means I have a large faith. Why? See, I know that my trial produces perfection. Since I trust that truth, I have the faith to go through that trial joyously, right? See, as I know the truth and trust the truth, I find a growing faith. Those are the things that indicate your faith is growing. You know more of the Word. You have a greater confidence in God. You trust in His sovereignty. There's an increase in obedience. You have joy in your trials. That's proof that the foundation is being enlarged. You're trusting in that foundation. That's a growing faith.”
That’s a Christian full of faith. So, when we pray for each other, and our church we can pray that we all will be full of faith, that we will come to a full knowledge of the Word and obey it in faith.
Wouldn’t it be great to be a church known to be people of the Word who know it, and obey it?
What else can we pray scripturally that we know God will answer “yes?”
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