Faith Filled Prayer and Intercession

Faith Filled Prayer

Series in 1, 2 & 3 John. 6^th in the series.

As presented by Rev. Jonathan Mills, Pastor at Kanata Baptist Church.

2008-11-09

Subject: Reflections on prayer. Moving into praying God's will based on a relationship with Him.

Scriptures¹:

1 John 5:13-21

 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 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.

    16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

    18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

    21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

Hebrews 4:14-16

 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, ^[e] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Introduction

There was a Sunday School class who had taken on a project to write letters to their Missionary partners overseas. The teacher said that it would be very encouraging to them if the children wrote and told them that they were praying for them.

The teacher thought for a moment and realized; she didn't want the students disappointed if the missionaries did not write them back—so she said; “Please remember that these Missionaries are very busy people, and might not have time to answer your letters.”

So, the students wrote out their letters, and these were collected and put in the mail.

In Africa, one Missionary opened a letter which said:

Dear Rev. Smith:

We are praying for you, but don't worry, we're not expecting an answer.²

A) Assurance that Leads to Prayer

John's Conclusion ... and Post Script on Prayer

Today we get to the conclusion of John's first letter.

The climax of John's first letter occurs in verses 11- 13.

11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

This wonderful declaration is the peak of John's encouragement to the Christians in the church in Ephesus.

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Then, after this bold declaration, he concludes his letter with a few final thoughts – mostly about prayer.

vs 14-15 “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.

Prayer Comes Naturally

This is such a compelling vision of prayer–such a great promise:

We ask God in prayer ... he hears us ... and whatever we ask ... It happens.

This is the way we would like prayer to always happen: we ask God, and it happens.

//

Newsweek did a cover story a number of years ago entitled, “Talking to God.” They reported on a Gallup poll which indicated that 91% of women and 85% of men say they pray regularly. 57% of Americans say they pray at least once every day.

This survey went on to say that 32% of the people who pray, report that praying gives them a deep sense of peace; 26% said they sense the actual presence of God in their prayers.³

But we don't need statistics to confirm for us what we already know; that it is a universal human inclination to cry out to God in prayer.

I was talking with someone just this week who told me about a time in his life when he was going through a very rough time. Even though he was not a committed Christian at the time, he spontaneously cried out to God: “Oh God, if you're up there, please help me out. If you do, I will do something for you...”

Prayer is Also a Great Mystery

But while prayer is a natural human inclination – it is also a profound mystery.

When you peel back the immediate, human response to lift our concerns to God in prayer and begin to consider what is actually taking place when we pray – it's a little hard to work it all out.

This past week, during the Presidential Election in the United States, I am quite certain that many sincere Christian men and women prayed earnestly for their candidate to be elected to the White House. Some were praying for Obama – others were praying for McCain.

In this kind of circumstance, does God handle it in much the same way as an election? Find out how many are praying “for” and how many are praying “against” and a simple majority wins?

//

Take it a step further.

Are we saying, that when we pray and we ask God to do things ... that He does them? The Sovereign creator of all things – the one who holds the world in the palm of His hand – who is all knowing and all-powerful – this same God ... listens to each humble human being ... and does what we ask Him to do?

Who is the servant of whom?

The more you turn that over in your mind, the more difficult it is to reconcile.

//

On the surface, prayer seems very simple: we just ask God, and he hears our prayers and answers. But clearly, it is a subject which runs deeper than that ... much deeper.

And if we probe even deeper, at a theological level, we might ask: if we know that God has a plan and a purpose ... and the whole world is inexorably moving toward the ultimate fulfillment of His will ... then how is it that we can preserve the integrity of God's sovereignty while at the same time allowing for the free will of human beings.

What happens if we pray for something that isn't in the plan? Is it possible that our innocent prayer might lead God to answer – and thereby set into motion as chain of events which undoes the plan of God?

If our prayers are answered by God, then it would seem possible, if not likely, that somewhere along the way we would interfere with his plans, albeit inadvertently.

This is probably one of the most fundamental questions of theology—and ... a question well beyond the scope of this sermon today.

B) Prayer's Conditions

Condition 1: Selfishness

While it sounds wide open and almost 'too good to be true” that we will receive anything we ask for in prayer, we find that Scripture does place some limitations upon prayer.

Take, for example, James 4:2d-3 “You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”

It only makes sense that the person who prays selfish prayers will not receive everything that they ask for from God—that would just feed their selfishness.

Here's a great cartoon from Calvin and Hobbes.

-Dear Santa ... attached is my Christmas list for this year.

-last year I did not receive several items from my list.

-For your convenience, I have grouped those items together on page 12. Please check them carefully, and include them with the rest of my loot this year

-[to Hobbes] That's the problem with this guy. He's gotten sloppy without any competition.

Now, if you were the parent of Calvin – would you buy him everything on his list for Christmas?

No. selfishness and self-interest are clearly at cross purposes with what God is trying to accomplish in our lives—and it's right for him to refuse to answer selfish prayers.

Condition 2: God's Will

Another limitation is found here in 1 John chapter 5, in verse 14;

1 John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Clearly, when we pray, if it is not within the scope of God's will, then we should not expect that that prayer will be answered—at least not the way we expect.

We see Jesus model this when he prayed on the Mount of Olives.

Luke 22:41-42 He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

While John encourages boldness in bringing our prayer requests to God, he also acknowledges that they must remain within the confines of his will.

Third Condition: the Recipient of the Prayer

John also presents us with a statement which seems to suggest another condition that can be placed on prayer – a limitation based on the state of the intended recipient.

16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

A distinction is made between regular, garden variety sin – and “a sin that leads to death.” We ought to pray for our brothers and sisters who commit a sin-- so that God will restore them.

But we don't need to pray for those who have committed a “mortal sin.”

John doesn't really explain what this means exactly—and many theories have been suggested. We don't really have time to go into all these this morning – but given the context, I would suggest that this refers to someone who was previously living as a disciple of Christ – but who has now fallen away and is living as an enemy of the Lord.

It seems to have a parallel in Jeremiah 7:16 where God says; "So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.”

The people of Israel, in this case, had betrayed God so completely that they had crossed a line and there was not turning back. It seems that these people that John refers to in verse 16 had similarly committed a sin so great that they were told that it wasn't even necessary to pray for them.

//

I'm not sure I would feel qualified to make such a judgment ... so I would personally prefer to pray for the salvation and restoration of all.

But these are a few qualifications that are placed upon prayer in the Scriptures; No selfish motives; pray in God's will; understand that some people might be too far gone...

C) Diligence in Prayer

From “To Do's” to God's Will on Earth

While all of this is helpful, I think that we need to think about prayer very differently.

//

Perhaps the real problem with prayer is that we come at it from the wrong point of view. Maybe it's just our modern, Western mind-set that prevents us from perceiving things as they ought to be.

For instance, we tend to think of prayer as a list. It's kind of like a 'to do' list. Our view of prayer might resemble a flow chart from David Allan's book, Getting Things Done.

Here's our list. And here's how we are going to work through it until we have prayed for everyone and everything.

But this approach is just so characteristic of our crazy, hectic lives!

Approaching Prayer from the Point of View of Relationship

What if we change the paradigm.

Instead of thinking about prayer as a to do list, why not think about it more from the point of view of a relationship. Prayer is 'time with God.'

When we think of it this way, the nature of our communication changes.

It's less of a shopping list, and more of a conversation.

//

Relationship is written all over these verses: vs 20

We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 1 John 5:20

A conversation with God shouldn't be about us convincing God to do what we think ought to happen ... you know; imposing our will on heaven ...

It really ought to be about how we can discover God's will ... and ask God to make His will take hold on earth.

Does that sound familiar?

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” [Mt. 6:10]

God's already accomplishing his Will in heaven. When we pray, we are seeking his will ... here ... among us.

The Opening Up of God's Will

Earlier we were talking about limitations on prayer—conditions which qualified whether our prayers might be answered or not.

And we identified God's will as a “limiting factor.”

//

What if it's the other way around.

Many times, we have a tendency to think that the will of God is the way in which our earthly life is limited by God. As if there is this narrow band in our experience that constitutes his will – if we stray too far to the left or to the right, we risk wandering outside that one singular path which is God's will for us.

I see it very differently.

Instead of creating limits for my life, the will of God actually expands the bandwidth of what God brings to my earthly life. Living in God's will produces a far fuller and richer life than I could ever imagine – and it is better than my greatest and best hopes, should I have the wisdom to desire it.

What if God's will is so vastly superior to anything that we could envision ... that our job is to spend time in an intimate relationship with God, in order to discern his will ...

... and then bring our requests before God ... to see what might be possible in everyone else's lives if they also were to open themselves up to the fullness of God's will for them.

//

Conclusion

Well, prayer is a subject that challenges us to further consideration, and more importantly, it moves us toward a deeper reliance on God.

Whatever our thoughtful reflections on the subject, the fact remains that we—as the people of God—are called to prayer.

And as John reminds us; [14-15] This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

//

I. Howard Marshall writes; “We do not always know what is God's will for us or for the people we pray for; but we have the joyful assurance that whatever is God's will for us will be done.”⁴

Shadowlands

In the church library there is a DVD of a movie you should consider watching some time – it's called Shadowlands.

The movie tells the story of C. S. Lewis – one of the greatest Christian minds of the 20^th Century.

It is the true story of Lewis and an American writer, Joy Gresham. They met in England, and became friends. Joy wished to become an English citizen, and so Lewis agreed to marry her in a civil ceremony—simply as a marriage of convenience.

They continued to live separate lives.

Then one day C. S. Lewis received the terrible news; Joy had cancer. He visited her in the hospital, and gradually he came to realize that he was in love with her.

After a while, Joy's cancer went into remission and they were able to leave the hospital.

During this time, Lewis met with an Anglican priest, and they talked about prayer. The priest said; “I know how hard you've been praying. And now God is answering your prayer.”

Lewis responded: “That's not why I pray, Harry. I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God, it changes me.”⁵