Date: November 8, 2018 ()

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Prayer is your greatest weapon. How is your prayer life? Do you remember to pray every day? Do you think I have to have a formal prayer? I do not have time for it. Do you think God would not listen to me, who am I? Do you think that I do not have enough faith to pray like I ought to pray? God says that men ought to always pray and not faint. What does it mean to not faint? It means not get so discouraged from what is happening. That is our first scripture we are looking at today. Luke 18:1 says, “Men ought always to pray, always, and not to faint.” When you pray, you get the courage and the strength to keep going because God is listening.

Why do you think God listens to you when you pray? It is because He loves you so much. You are very, very special to God. There is not another human on the face of the earth from the beginning of time until the end of time that will be like you. God wanted you born. He made sure that you got born. I do not care what the circumstances were. He wanted you on this earth. He had something for you to do. If you want to have a life that is fulfilled and has meaning, it is very important to sell out to God completely. You need to pray, “What is it and I will do it,” and not “Tell me what it is and if I think I like I will do it.” No. “What is it, I am all yours. I will do anything.” The people who have the great joy of Jesus in their lives are not the people who sort of do it.

God wants to listen to you. Have you ever felt like the heavens were brass when you began to pray? Have you ever felt like your prayers hit the ceiling and went right back down? Why? You probably had some sin in your life. There was probably something God had told you not to do and you were doing it anyway. Maybe He told you to do something, made it real clear to you. You did not do it and would not do it. So He just lets you go on your way. Once you do it, God says, “Good, let’s go.” What is something you have been praying about for a long, long time and still have not seen the answer? Do you really think God will answer it? Have you given up? Remember that verse, “Men ought to always pray and not faint.”

(Look at these pictures. This is an Asian business man who is praying. He may be praying about his business. Next, look at this young girl praying. Somebody has taught her to pray from an early age, and she has been praying all of this time. Look at this last one. You can tell from this woman, I believe she has her hands wrapped around the Bible. I believe she is saying "Lord, I believe You and I am trusting You and I know You are going to answer this." A picture is worth a thousand words. Just from looking at these pictures, you can tell what these people are thinking and feeling. You know that 97% of what you communicate is nonverbal, not what you say, 97%. We can look at those pictures and tell what the people are saying and thinking.)

There are two elements that are the most important in your prayer life. One is faith and one is persistence. Can you have faith and can you be persistent? What in the world does it mean to have faith in your prayers? It is the belief that someone is really listening. When we go around talking, I pray out loud all of the time. I will be going down the street and saying “Now Lord” and just talking to Him. Sometimes I laugh in my car and wonder if people think I am crazy talking to myself. I do not care. I just talk to the Lord. I believe He is listening. Why? Because the Bible says He is. The Bible does not lie. God cannot lie. He says, “I want you to pray. I want you to talk to Me. I want to help you.” That is the other part of faith in your prayers. Not only that someone really is listening, but that someone really does want to answer your prayers and to help you. You have to learn to do that and that is prayer and faith. Let us look at the second scripture in James 1:5, “If you do not know what you are doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You will get his help and you will not be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believing, without a second thought. People who worry their prayers are like wind whipped waves. Do not think you are going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all of your options open.”

If you try to keep all of your options open, maybe this would not happen or maybe God would not do this, maybe this or maybe that, you are really not praying in faith. Be like a child and just say “Lord, I need this. I need that.” I can remember times that I have gone to the grocery store and said, “Lord, I only have this much money, would You help me buy my groceries.” I have come out with more groceries than I could ever imagine. God does not judge how spiritual you are by how high sounding your prayers are, how religious they sound. No, He judges it by your faith. It tells you right there. It says do not be wishy-washy. Do not have a lot of worry and call that faith. I can tell you that I see that a lot. They are not having faith. They are worrying. Jesus said that you will not get answers when you do not have faith.

Here is another important key in your prayer that many people miss. Look at this scripture in Mark 11:22, “Then Jesus said to the disciples, have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, may you be lifted up and thrown into the sea and it will happen. But you must really believe that it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything and if you believe you have received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are having a grudge against so that your Father in Heaven will forgive your sins too.” Faith is active. It is not static. It is very active. It is always moving. It says just believe and it will happen. Believe that when you ask God it will happen.

What happens if you get a different answer? There is a better answer. That is what it was. My brother taught me something one time. He said, “Betty, God’s no is always for a higher yes.” That has helped me a lot because you do get nos. We want all yeses, but that is not the way it is. Sometimes the answer is to wait. That is where persistence comes in. God wants to answer it, but there are other things involved. When you are praying, if you know there is something you are holding against somebody, then you have to get rid of it. You have to deal with it so God can listen to you. You probably did not realize that you were putting up something in front of God. He wanted to help, but you have blocked it because you have not forgiven somebody.

How do you start out praying in faith? Some of you watching are brand new Christians. Some of you are becoming believers right now. What I am saying to you is causing you to think, “Jesus, I really believe You are the Son of God. I believe the Bible is true. I want You in my life. I have never asked You into my life. I have heard about You. I could tell people things about You. I do not know You. Come into my life. I want to know You right now as my Lord. I want to know you as my Savior. Forgive me of my sins and come in right now, Lord. I receive You.” When you do that, faith comes in. It is deposited in you. It is wonderful.

How do you start praying? Start praying very simple prayers. Let me give you a guideline of what to pray about: if it is important to you, it is important to God. He is just like a parent. If something is important to their little child, do you not think that a parent wants to know all about it? When you talk to the Lord, He wants you to talk in normal language. You do not need to use highfalutin language, religious words or repeat words like a litany. No, He wants you to just talk to Him and say, “Lord, I need a new job. It is time, Lord, please do something. I believe you will, Lord. I will wait until You do it; and thank You for it ahead of time.” I think real faith is thanking God ahead of time, when you have not seen the answer and there is no hope of an answer. Real faith says God loves me and He is going to help me. This is a need in my life and this is important to me. If you notice also back in that verse in James that we read in the second scripture, it says “Pray boldly.” Do you do that? You can. “Lord you have to do this. It is a big deal, God. You have to help.” That is boldly and God does not resent that because you are not being obnoxious. You just know that God has to do something. It is a big deal.

The first prayer I ever heard anyone pray that really hit me hard was in a group, a couple’s Bible study. We were just going around the room praying, taking turns praying, and this man said, “Lord, help me to love Vicky the way she needs to be loved.” Vicky was his wife. It shocked me. I had never heard anybody pray a prayer like that. I thought, “You mean I have to learn how to love my husband the way he needs to be loved? What does that mean? I had never even thought about something like that. When I prayed this, do you know what the Lord said to me? “Put the salt and pepper on the table before he asks you.” Does that not sound simple? Does that not sound very common? I do not eat salt and pepper on my food. I use it when I cook, but I do not add it when I eat. However, my husband does. I never remembered to put the salt and pepper on the table. The Lord said to do that for him. God can show you how to do common things that help other people’s lives and make it easier.

I can also remember the very first prayer we ever prayed together as a couple. We had always said the blessing at the table. We have both been Christians since we were children. Both of us have grown up in church, going to church all of the time. We began to understand that God wants us to pray very simple, sincere prayers about our daily needs and what was really going on in our life. I remember hearing somebody teach us that, just like I am teaching you now. I thought, “What do we really need some help with?” It was that we were trying to buy some insurance as a young couple with very little money. We could not decide if this is what we ought to do or not. We agreed to pray together. We got on our knees in our living room and we prayed, “Lord, please show us what to do about this insurance. We do not know what to do.” Within a few days it was very clear to us. There was a very peaceful feeling about doing what we needed to do. That is how you can know God is answering your prayers. You see the answer or you have a peace about a decision you need to make. Since that time, we have both prayed a great deal in our lives about our children, finances, friends, our friend’s needs, our dreams, our hopes and our fears. We have prayed in faith believing that God loved us, wanted to help us and wanted to answer our prayers.

Do not forget that God is never too busy to answer our prayers. God is outside of time. Time does not affect God. Never make the mistake of thinking God is too busy running the world to try to take care of my little needs. It is not like that at all. The Bible does not even come close to saying something like that. In fact it says the complete opposite. Men ought to always pray.

What kind of heart do you have to have when you are praying in faith? You have to be open and honest. I have even gone to the Lord and said, “Lord, I know this is a bad attitude. I know I should not feel this way. I know I should not think this way but I do. I just need to tell you that I do. Please help me to get rid of it.” He did. He can do it for you. You have to be willing to be taught. Are you thinking that these are some things that you have not thought about before? Do you believe you could try to pray? You have to be willing to change. There is good book by Evelyn Christenson, “Lord Change Me.” It will help you in your prayer life. You can learn from others like I did. That man who prayed for his wife had faith, simple faith. You can learn to listen to God when He answers you.

Have you ever wondered why people who say they do not know God at all will say they prayed about something? They sent up prayers. Why? God plants a desire for Himself inside of people. There is just an inborn need in people when they get in trouble to pray. It is because you are so desperate that you have to do something. That is why they say there are no atheists in foxholes. If you get in a bad enough situation, you are going to be saying some words like “Help. Help me. Get me out of this. Do something. This is bad. Help.” That is why those godless people even pray then.

We are going to talk about the second most important attribute of prayer. First is faith and second is persistence. Why do I say persistence is the next? Not all answers come quickly. They may not come when you want them to come. They might be years in coming. Why? If God wants to answer you and you want this to happen, there are a lot of reasons why it may not come as quickly. One thing I have noticed is that right after somebody first gets saved, it seems like everything they pray for happens. It is just amazing. It is almost like a honeymoon and everything gets answered. As it goes along, God says we are going to develop your faith. Now we are going to strengthen you in your walk with me.

Who are some examples of people who prayed persistent prayers in the Bible? They are all the way through the Bible. You ought to notice them. As you read the Bible, notice people who prayed for something for a long time, who would not give up or who was persistent. The Syro-Phoenician woman who had the daughter who had the demon was like that. She would not give up. She was not Jewish. She was a gentile, but it did not stop her. She came from a distance and had to have her answer. That is in Mark 7:26. It seems like Jesus even put her off. She would not give up until she got that answer. She went home and there was her daughter in bed, whole, just like she asked for.

How about an example in the Old Testament? I love the Old Testament as much as I love the New Testament. I love to read both of them. Elijah, was a great man of faith. This prophet of God could call down fire from heaven that would burn up wood soaked in water. Think about that kind of faith. That is enormous faith. He prayed seven times for something else and it did not happen the first six times. He needed rain and he prayed and prayed. He would send his helper out and say, “Do you see anything out there?” He answered, “No.” Then Elijah would pray again. “See anything out there?” “No.” “We are going to pray again. See anything out there?” “No.” “We are going to pray again. Do you see anything out there?” “No.” “Let’s pray. Do you see anything out there yet?” “No sir.” “We are going to pray again.” The seventh time that he prayed, he saw in the distance, way far off, not up close, a cloud as small as a man’s hand, way off. His answer was coming. He began to move fast because he knew it was on its way and he had better get ready.

Another example of someone praying and there just does not seem to be any answer is the woman and the unjust judge in Luke 18:6. She nearly drove that man crazy. He said, “I have to answer this lady. She is driving me crazy.” He gave her what she wanted. God said, “If he was unjust, what do you think I am. I will do it.”

The hardest time I have personally gone through in persistence in prayer and not giving up was waiting so long on the ministry I am now doing. I waited a long, long time. Did I sit back? No, I was busy. When you have to wait and be persistent in prayer, do you just give up completely and go off and play dominos? No, you get busy doing whatever you can do right now. You never give up believing that God is listening and in His timing it will happen. He does have timing and it does not always affect just you. It may affect somebody on the other side of the world that you do not even know exists. God has to work on both of you and on the situation. Maybe it involves a government or it could involve a huge group of people that everything has to be put in place. I got discouraged. But God would send something to encourage me and then I would go again. Persistence does not mean that you always have total faith all of the time and you never give up. You can struggle, but what happens after the struggle. Are you back in there harder than ever? That is the persistence I am talking about. You are back in there harder than ever thanking God that it is going to happen and keep on going.

I look back now on my life and I can see a lot of things where I had to persist in prayer. One of the greatest has probably been praying for someone else to get saved, to come to faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. I know one person I prayed 37 years for. He is the father of a friend of mine. I met that man when I first got filled with Spirit at 26 and he just got saved this year. That is a long time. I need to be honest with you. There were times I just flat gave up and thought that I do not know why that man will not be saved. He had such a stubborn heart. He did not want to give up. He wanted to do it his way and on his terms. At the very end of his life, within weeks of dying, all of a sudden he did some thinking. He thought maybe it is not how I want it. Maybe I have not done it right. He said to his daughter, “ I want to be there, what do I have to do?” She said, “Daddy you have to trust in Jesus. You have to give it all to Him.” The man did. What is sad about this is that he went into heaven pretty empty-handed. He did not have a lifetime of serving Jesus that he could go taking all of the things that Jesus had told him to do to present to Jesus. Do you not want to do that? The Bible says some people get saved so as by fire, like somebody that runs out of a house that is on fire, they barely get out themselves. You do not want to be like that. Maybe your persistence in praying for someone who is like that, that may be the thing that does the trick. That may be what keeps that from happening in their lives.

Jesus commands us to persevere. Let me give you some verses to write down: Matthew 7: 7-11, “Ask, seek, knock, do not give up.” Luke 11:9 and Luke 18:1-8. You have to realize that in the book of Daniel, Daniel saw this great need to pray. It was very serious. He persevered in it and nothing happened. Finally an angel came and said, “Daniel, the Lord heard you the very first time you prayed but for 21 days I have been fighting a demon, the prince of Persia, to get to you.” Persia is modern-day Iran. It is pretty much an unbelieving country. That means there is a demonic spirit over it making sure that people do not believe.

What are the elements of persistence? You will not quit. You will not give up even if you are discouraged. You will not quit. You keep expecting an answer. You keep looking for an answer like Elijah did. You pay the price to change, even if you need to change in order to make that happen. We have the victory that overcomes the world. We have prayer and we have faith and persistence. Do it. You will be so glad.

QUIET TIME QUESTIONS

1. Why does God listen when we pray?
2. What are the two most important elements of prayer? What Bible verses help you with your understanding of faith and persistence in prayer?
3. How do you start praying?
4. What does it mean to have faith in your prayers?
5. Why is persistence in prayer important?

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