Faith For Answers -Prayer Can Change Your Life Series (#4/4) - Pastor Kenneth Woolf

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HOW TO RECEIVE AN ANSWER FROM GOD

Faith For Answers

Prayer Can Change Your Life - Part 4 of 4

Luke 1:5-23

Rick Warren

We're in a series of messages on "Prayer Can Change Your Life". The first week we talked about the four purposes of prayer. The second week we talked about the five conditions of prayer. Last week we talked about the six steps in dealing with prayer for a difficult situation or problem.

Today I want to talk to you about how God answers prayer or "How to Receive An Answer From God." There are four attitudes I believe we need in order to have answers to our prayers.

I heard a story one time about a young girl who wrote a letter to a missionary. It was a prayer letter and she was trying to lend her support to the missionary. Evidently she'd been told not to request a response to her letter because the missionaries were very busy. So the missionary got a kick out of her letter. It said, "Dear Mr. Missionary, we are praying for you. But we are not expecting an answer."

I think that little girl summarized the prayers lives of most Christians. We do a lot of praying, but we don't expect an answer. Why doesn't God answer? We're going to look at that today. How does God answer? We need four attitudes in order to receive an answer from God.

1. You must be willing to let God answer in His own time.

That means according to His schedule, His timetable. In other words -- whenever God thinks it's best. The fact is, God often delays answers to prayers. He doesn't answer everything immediately. Why? Why does He wait? Why does He withhold the gift sometimes for a period of time?

I think that was the reason Zacharias was so skeptical. Sometimes I have a hard time believing God's going to answer my prayers. But I believe if God sent a special deliverer angel to meet me face to face and say, "Rick, I'm here to tell you, God has answered your prayer." I think I'd be convinced. I think I would be pretty certain it was going to happen.

Zacharias was an amazing guy. An angel comes and says, "God sent me here. I am Gabriel, the archangel and you're going to have your prayer answered." Then Zacharias says in v. 18 "How can I be sure of this?" He's the ultimate skeptic. Why didn't he believe it?

Because he had stopped praying that prayer years before. If you read the passage casually it looks like "He went into the temple. He prayed. And the angel came and said, `Your prayer’s been answered.'" But the fact of the matter is, they had given up on this prayer years earlier. Zacharias said, "I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." (That's diplomacy!) He says, "We gave up on that prayer a long time ago."



The fact is, God often delays. And the first principle is you've got to let God answer in His own time. v. 13 "The angel said to him, `Don't be afraid Zacharias, your prayer had been heard'" The tense of the word "heard" literally means it's already happened. It happened a long time ago.

God answers our prayers immediately, but sometimes there's a delay in the giving of the gift. He hears it immediately. There's no problem with it taking time for your prayer to get to God. It is there instantly. But sometimes He delays the giving of the answer for a period of time and that is one of the hardest things we have to learn.

As a parent, the hardest concept for my kids to learn is this. They don't understand the difference between "no" and "not yet". It's hard for them. They'll say, "Daddy, can I have a cookie?" Not yet. They might go into a fit like I'm never going to give them a cookie. Why? Because immature people don't understand the difference between "no" and "not yet". The mark of maturity in the Christian life is this: How long can you wait? That's a mark of maturity in life. Babies always have to have it immediately. But a mature person can wait.

I talked to a person once who said, "I tried prayer. I prayed for two weeks and nothing happened so I've given up on prayer. I've lost my faith in prayer." No, you haven't lost your faith. You've lost your patience. You spell faith -- PATIENCE. Faith is patience.

Why does God delay our answers to prayer? Usually it's because He needs to prepare us first. He needs to get us ready. He wants to bless us and in order to give that blessing to us, He has to prepare us for it. My little girl comes to me and says, "Daddy, can I drive the car today?" She's a four year old! I say, "Not today. Someday you'll get to drive the car. When you grow up and you're mature and you've learned how to drive, then you'll get the request answered. But not yet, because you need to grow up." God waits many times to answer our prayer for us to grow up.

The frustration we have is we usually think we're ready before God does. We think we're ready to receive the answer and He's waiting for us to mature. Sometimes I kind of feel like Habakkuk. Habakkuk's big question was "Why?" "How long, Lord?" he says. Have you ever said that? "How long are You going to let me go through this?" You wonder, "If God sees everything I'm going through and if God really cares about what I'm going through and if God has the power to help me get out of what I'm going through, what's up, God? Why aren't You working?" That's a legitimate question. If He sees and He cares and He's got the power to do something about it, why doesn't He? Why doesn't He work it out?

The answer is, He usually wants to change you first. He wants to change your attitude. After you've learned the right attitude, then God's free to go to work on the problem. But God is more interested in making you mature than He is about making life easy.

So He starts by saying, "You get your life changed and then I'll help you work on the problem." Instead of going out and saying, "Lord, change this situation!" you start by saying, "Lord, change me." "Lord, change me in this marriage and not my spouse." "Lord change me in this job problem." Once you're in line, then God can go ahead and answer.

Do you have a financial difficulty? Maybe what God's saying is "I want you to learn the right attitude about money first and then I can help you out." Is there a problem in your marriage? Maybe God's saying, "First you need to change your attitude and then I can start working in your marriage."

The fact of the matter is this: God is never late. His timing is perfect. We may think He's late but He's never late. God's delays are not God's denials. "Not yet" does not mean "No".

What do I do? How do I pray when prayer is being delayed? I've prayed and it's not been answered immediately, what do I do?

You keep on praying until one of three things happens:

1. You get the answer. When you get it then you can stop praying. Obvious.

2. You get the assurance that you're going to get it. And sometimes God does that. He says, "I'm going to give you this" and you're sure of it and you stop asking God for it and you start thanking God for it and you start acting on it. Mark 11 says, "When you pray believe that you've receive it, and you'll get it." You believe it in advance.

When I was in high school, I got a letter one day that said I had received a four-year scholarship to college. I didn't wait for the money to come in to start acting on it, I started getting ready. I bought some new clothes for college, got my van in shape. I got ready and said goodbye to my friends and I took off. I acted in faith. I had the assurance that it was coming. We can act that way with God.

So you keep praying until you get it or until you get the assurance.

3. You keep praying until God reveals to you that it's not His will. When you figure that out, you become uncomfortable praying about it and you don't have any peace so you stop praying.

So in order to receive an answer from God, one, we must be willing to let God answer in His time.

2. We must be willing to let God answer in His own way.

Not only whenever He thinks best but however He thinks best. God's ways are always better and usually bigger when He answers. The Bible says in Isaiah, "My ways are not your ways." My ways are higher, God says. The reason God often delays an answer to prayer is so He can answer in a way bigger than you thought originally.

What would have happened in this story if God would have answered Elizabeth and Zacharias' request for a baby immediately? What would they have gotten? A little Jewish baby. And they would have loved him or her. They would have cherished the baby and it would have been great. But God delayed the request for a number of years and then when He answered He gave them John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus Christ. The last Old Testament prophet, the only prophet able to see the prophecies of Jesus fulfilled, the forerunner of the Messiah. John the Baptist was like the announcer. He was the forerunner saying, "Here He is!" and is pointing to Him. Because God delayed the request, He didn't just give them any old baby. He gave them a John the Baptist.

God delayed Hanna's request for a son many years. But when He finally gave her a son, He gave her a Samuel, the greatest Old Testament prophet. God does this.

Our problem is two fold: We ask too little and we want it too quick. Instead of letting God work in His time, in His way to do something big. We don't dream big enough. We don't pray big enough. We don't think big enough. We aim too low. In Ephesians 3:20 "But God is able to do even exceedingly above what you are able to think or imagine." You think of the greatest thing in your imagination and God can do bigger than your imagination. That's amazing!

Sometimes I believe that verse and I try to claim it. I pray, "I'm going to believe You for something impossible" and I think of the biggest thing I can pray for and think, "This is really going to impress God." I pray for it and wait for the Wow! from God. I get, "Son, can't you do any better than that? Where's your creativity? Where's your imagination? I can do that with no problem! Believe Me for something big! I can do something above what you can imagine."

We've prayed and asked God for 20,000 members in our church. But we don't want them overnight. We want them a little at a time as the church grows over 20, 30, 40 years. The way God does it, is like the way He gave the land of Israel to the Israelites. When they were led across the Red Sea and got to the Promised Land and God said, "I'm going to give you this land, but you're only going to get it little by little. I'm not going to give it to you all at once because it'd overwhelm you."

If God really gave you all the requests you ask, it would overwhelm you. John D. Rockefeller said, "I'd never give anybody a million bucks. It would ruin him. They couldn't handle it." God said "I'll give the land to you little by little and you can take over the land a little at a time."

Let God answer in His own time and you let God answer in His own way. If God had answered some of my prayers exactly as I'd asked them, I would have gotten short-changed. His answer was much greater than what I asked for. I'm thankful that God hasn't answered all my prayers. Some of them would have been a disaster!

God says, "Let me answer in My time and My way." You're praying about a job. You want to get this job change and all of a sudden it falls through. Don't sweat it! God's got a better idea. You're praying about a situation. All of a sudden, it doesn't work out. Don't worry about it. God's got Plan B. Actually it is Plan A -- yours was Plan B! Let God answer in His time and His way. Sometimes the worst thing in the world for us is to get our requests answered.

The prodigal son. What did he say? "Give me my inheritance!" He got it and it ruined him.

I remember when Kay and I got married, we got a wedding card from a guy named Leonard Ravenhill. It said, "God always gives His best to those who leave the choice to Him." Let God answer in His time and let God answer in His way.

3. You must be willing to let God answer in His own power, in His own ability.

Don't try to help out God. Don't ask for it and then you go out and try to work it out on your own. Let God answer in His own power. That's called a miracle. And God says, "Let Me do it in My own power."

There's an important truth in this story about Zacharias and Elizabeth. The fact is this: God often waits until the situation is humanly impossible before He answers. When did God give Zacharias and Elizabeth a baby? After they were beyond childbearing years. They said, "We're too old!" They were physically unable to have kids. Then God answered.

Why? Because when God answers an impossible situation, who gets all the credit? Who gets all the glory? It's a greater miracle.

The same thing happened to Sarah and Abraham. One day God came to Abraham and said, "You're going to be the father of a great nation." Abraham said, "I don't have any kids, but that's great!" So he waited and waited... All of a sudden Abraham is ninety-nine years old and still nothing's happened. In the meantime, he has decided he's going to help God out instead of letting God do it in his own power. So he goes and gets a second wife and has a child by her. God says, "That's not My plan! Let Me do it in My time, My way and My power." So at age ninety-nine and His wife is ninety, an angel comes to him one day and says, "Abraham, you're going to be a Father." Romans 4 says, "Abraham staggered not." I think I'd have staggered if I heard that at ninety-nine. He goes to his home and says, "Honey, you're never going to believe what I just heard. You're going to have a baby." That's got to be the first time in history that the man knew first. What was Sarah's reaction? She started laughing. We know she didn't believe it because she laughed. A ninety-year-old woman who hears she's going to be pregnant would not laugh, she'd cry if she believed it. She laughs. Then God gives a child.

The point is that God waited until it was humanly impossible, hopeless, then He answered the prayer with a miracle.

Warning about prayer: If you start praying about something, particularly a problem, do not be surprised if it gets worse before it gets better. You're having problems in your marriage and you start praying, and your mate gets more hostile, or you're praying about a financial problem and all of a sudden it gets worse, or you're praying for somebody to get well, and they get sicker.

Why? Because sometimes God will let things get to the point of hopelessness in order that He might gain the most glory out of it. Let God answer in His power. His plan is to let the thing get out of our control and when you're about ready to give up hope, that's an opportunity for a miracle.

There's a beautiful story in the Bible that illustrates this. The story of Mary and Martha. They were sisters. They had a brother named Lazarus. One day Lazarus got sick and so Martha and Mary sent for Jesus to come for Him to be healed. They sent a message "Jesus, come quick. It is an emergency situation. We need You right now. Our brother is sick. You've got to come right now!" They were frantic. A lot of times we pray that way. "God, You've got to do something now! It's urgent. Do it now!" But nothing happens.

In the story about Mary and Martha, Jesus intentionally delayed. He was just a few miles away from their home but it took Him three days to get there. You look at it from an outsider's viewpoint and it looks like Jesus was callous. It looked like He didn't care, just impervious to the situation and didn't care. He waits three days. Then after three days after this request, He turns to His disciples, "Let's go." He goes to Lazarus' home. By this time Lazarus has died and Mary and Martha come running out and they both said the same thing, "Jesus, where have You been? If You had been here when we called You, this wouldn't have happened. We called four days ago. You delayed and our brother's dead." They're rebuking God.

We do the same thing. We say, "Why, God? Why are You doing this? What are You doing? Why haven't You answered? It's still lousy."

Jesus just calmly looked at them and said, "Mary, Martha, if you'll just believe, you will see the glory of God. You'll see a miracle." He walks up to the cave, because they buried them in caves. They moved the stone out of the way and Jesus says, "Lazarus, come on down! Come forth!" Somebody has said that it's a good thing that He said, "Lazarus" because if He had just said, "Come forth", everybody who was dead would have come forth. That was a rhema. It was a specific word, to a specific man, at a specific time. He says, "Lazarus, come forth." He never said that to every other dead person in the valley. He just said it to one man and that man came forth.

The point is, Jesus waited until the situation was humanly impossible and then He bailed him out. He did it in His own power.

Which gives God the most glory? Raising the dead or curing a sick person? God always does it in a way that gives Him the most glory.

Another story in the Bible. Jarius had a twelve-year-old daughter who was sick, dying. One day, he comes to Jesus in a crowd and says, "My daughter is dying, she's very sick. Please come." So Jesus starts walking and as he's walking, there's another lady who had a problem -- there is also the twelve years. The daughter was twelve years old and this woman had been ill for twelve years. She had a hemorrhage in her body and she could not stop bleeding and it had bothered her for twelve years. She comes up behind Jesus and touches Him on the back in the crowd. Jesus is walking to Jarius' home and stops and turns around and says, "Who touched Me?" The disciples are saying, "What do You mean, `Who touched Me?' You're in a crowd." But He felt this woman's touch.

What would you do if you were Jarius? Your daughter's dying and Jesus says, "Who touched Me?" -- "Jesus, who cares who touched You. My daughter is dying. Get on the stick! Let's move it. There's everybody all around You. Let's go." Jesus stops and hears the woman's story and He heals that woman right there on the spot!

That means there was a delay. He starts up again after this interruption and Jarius' servants come from the home and tell him, "Forget it! It's too late. Send the Master back. The girl's died. It's too late." Jesus turned around to Jarius and says, "Jarius, don't worry about it. Just keep on believing." And He goes in and raises the girl from the dead.

The point of that story is this: While you are waiting for God to answer your prayer, keep your eyes open to see confirmations of God's power in other people's lives. Jarius got a living example. It didn't matter if the girl were alive or dead. Jesus was going there. He turned around to the woman as if to say, "Jarius, hold your horses! Watch this. You ain't seen nothing yet." And He heals the lady.

When you are waiting for a prayer that's been delayed, you keep your eyes open to watch God at work in other people's lives and it will build your faith.

Do you want to have an answer from God? Be willing to let God answer in His own time. Be willing to let God answer in His own way. Be willing to let God answer in His own power.

4. Be willing to let God answer for His own purpose.

Not only whenever He wants, however He wants, but also for whatever reason He chooses. Why does God answer prayer? What are His reasons? The entire Bible summarizes why God answers prayer in two statements: For our growth, and for His glory. That's why God answers all prayer. First, for our growth, for our gain, for our blessing. Two, for His glory. He answers a prayer when He can be glorified in that answer. Then He answers.

Why did God answer Elizabeth's and Zacharias' prayer for a son? Because He needed a John the Baptist. He had a purpose for that little boy. He knew that Elizabeth and Zacharias would raise him well.

Remember the story of Joseph in the Bible? God said to Joseph in a dream, "You're going to be a ruler one day. You're going to be the ruler of a great county." Then what happened? Joseph was promptly sold by his brothers into slavery. He goes as a slave into his master's home, his master's wife tries to seduce him, he would not give in, so the wife has him put in jail. That's not exactly the way to build a political career. Sold into slavery and then maligned and put in jail. His whole career is downhill. But God made him second in command in Egypt in His own time, in His own way, with His power -- Joseph had nothing to do about it -- for His purpose.

I think the greatest example of what I'm trying to say we can see in the life of Paul. Romans 1. Paul was willing to let God answer his prayers in His own time, in His own way, in His own method, His own power, for His own purpose. Romans 1. This is a letter that Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, which was the capital of the Roman Empire at that time. v. 7 "To all who are in Rome who are called by God called to be saints." He says he's been praying for them -- v. 10, "In my prayers at all times and I pray now that at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you." v. 15 "That is why I'm so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome."

Paul's desire, his one motive in life, his ultimate goal, his dream was to preach in Rome. "I want to go to the most significant city in the world. I want to preach to the movers and the shakers." I can imagine what his dream was. "I'm going to go to Rome. I'm going to rent the coliseum for three nights. I'm going to pass out flyers. I'm going to get a great PA system and a good Christian rock group to back me up and we're going to have one great crusade. Nero's going to get saved...." He had visions of preaching in Rome.

Romans 15 is Paul's great prayer. He lived and breathed his desire to go to Rome. v. 20 "It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation." That's been a life verse of mine. v. 24 "I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there and I have enjoyed your company for a while." He wants to come to Rome. Then he says, "Pray that I'm going to have a prosperous journey." Did God ever answer Paul's prayer? Yes, but notice how He did it.

Acts 28:16 Luke says talking about Paul "When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with a soldier to guard him." That's not exactly what Paul had in mind -- house arrest. Paul went as a prisoner to Rome. That's how he ended up getting there. He had been put through the Roman court system and he ends up in Rome as a prisoner in a house chained to a Roman centurion. That's not exactly his plan. He had written, "Pray for me that I might have a prosperous journey." What kind of journey did he have? He was in a shipwreck, in chains, in the middle of winter, and he got bitten by a bunch of snakes. It's not exactly your typical Mediterranean cruise. It would never make it on Love Boat. It wasn't our opinion of a relaxing way to Rome. He gets there as a prisoner and then is kept in house arrest.

The point is this. Paul made it to Rome. But he was willing to let God work it out in God's way. How did Paul get there? Through Felix and Agrippa and Caesar -- Roman leaders. Point: Sometimes God answers our prayers through the most unlikely people. He'd probably never imagined that Felix, Agrippa and Caesar were going to be the answer to Paul's prayer to get to Rome.

Second, God answered in His own time. No telling how many times Paul packed his bags and tried to head off for Rome. It was in his blood. He wanted to do it more than anything else. The fact of the matter is, God is never in a hurry. You study the Gospels, and read about Jesus' work, how many times did He say, "It's not time yet." He was never in a hurry.

Then God answered for His own purpose. Paul wanted to go to Rome to preach. Why did God want Paul in Rome? To write. While Paul was in Rome under house arrest, he had a lot of time on his hands. What did he do? He wrote a bunch of letters to different Christians all over the Mediterranean. They put them together and it's now called the New Testament. We got the New Testament because Paul was allowing God to answer in His own way, His own time, for His own
purpose. Paul was such an activist the only way God could get him to slow down and write the New Testament was put him in jail.

Paul's real desire was that he might make an impact for Christ on the world. He thought the best way to make that impact was to preach in Rome. Sometimes God denies our original request to give us what is really the desire of our heart. What made a greater impact, preaching in Rome for a three-day crusade or writing the Bible? Obvious.

Summarize: When you pray and the request is not right, God says "No." When you pray and you're not right, God says, "Grow." When you pray and the timing is not right, God says, "Slow." When everything's in place, God says, "Go." He gives the green light and you're able to move.

Prayer:

What about your prayer life this morning? Are you willing to let God answer your prayer in His way, anyway He sees fit? In His time, whenever He sees fit? Whatever way He thinks best? In His power? It may mean that things don't go all as planned for a while, and they may get worse, so God can do a miracle when the situation becomes humanly impossible. Are you willing to let God answer your prayers for His purpose? What is His purpose? Your growth and His glory.

Why are you praying what you are praying? What's your motive? If you're praying for health, what are you going to do with that health in your body once you're got it? If you're praying for financial freedom, what are you going to do with all that money once you've got it? If you're praying for a new job, what are you going to do with it? Will God get any glory out of it? Are you willing to let Him answer in His time, in His way, in His ability, for His purpose?

Would you pray this prayer in your heart? "Lord, help me to know You better. Help me to realize how much You love me. Help me to know Your plan for my life. Help me to cooperate in that plan. Jesus Christ, I ask You to come into my life. Make me a Christian. Make me a new person inside. I want to know You personally, not just as a religion but in a relationship. Make Yourself real to me this morning. I want to believe in You. I do believe in You. Thank You for loving me. Thank You for dying on the cross for me. Help me to understand it more."

If you prayed a prayer like this, a prayer of commitment, God brought you here for a purpose today. This is a new beginning for you. I made a decision like this a number of years ago and it was a turning point in my life. I didn't understand it all but just like you, I prayed a simple prayer. The purpose of our church is to help you grow.

Lord, thank You for Your word. Thank You that it's practical and relevant and it applies to our lives. Help us to let You answer our prayers in Your way, in Your time, for Your purpose, in Your ability. We know that Your ways are always better and usually bigger. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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How To Pray About Your Problems - Prayer Can Change Your Life Series (#3/4) - Pastor Kenneth Woolf

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HOW TO PRAY ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS

Prayer Can Change Your Life - Part 3 of 4

Romans 10:17

Rick Warren

Romans 10. We're in a series called "Prayer Can Change Your Life". The last two weeks we talked about the reasons for prayer or the four purposes of prayer. Last week we talked about the five conditions for answered prayer. There are five things God says you must do in order to have an answer to your prayer.

One of the conditions that we had to answered prayer is you have to have faith. You must believe. Faith is the key that unlocks the door through prayer. But sometimes the situation is so big and the problem is so overwhelming it's hard to have faith. The question is how do you get faith in a faithless situation?

Romans 10:17 tells us where faith comes from. "Consequently faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ." The word there is rhema in Greek. It says we get faith by listening to the word of God. If you want to build faith, it's simple. Fill your life with the Bible. The more Bible knowledge you have, the more faith you're going to have. The less you know about the Bible, the less faith you're going to have. It's a specific kind of word of God. It's the rhema.

How do you pray about problems and difficult decisions? The keys to prayer in the Bible are the promises of God. There are over 7000 promises in the Bible. They're like blank checks, gifts waiting to be received. If you want to have a dynamic prayer life, you get a promise to claim onto, grab onto, and you can have your answer to prayer. There is a verse for every need, for every problem, in the Bible. The more promises you know, the more powerful your prayer will become.

The question then is why don't the promises always work?

I was reading about a man who was a diabetic and he read the verse, "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." John 14:14. So he said, "God, I'm going to ask that You cure me of diabetes," and he threw away his insulin and three days later he died. What happened? God promised. Why didn't it work?

A number of years ago, when I was a brand new Christian, I knew this principle of praying the promises of God but I didn't fully understand like I'm going to talk to you about today. I remember driving back in a van from Northern California to Southern California at about 1 a.m. in the morning. On Hwy 5 in the middle of Bakersfield, the van blew up. I remember sitting there along the side of the road thinking, "God says ask for anything in prayer." Jeremiah 33:3 says, "Call unto Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not." I prayed, "God, I believe You're going to heal this van. You're going to make the motor work. It's blown to smithereens but I believe You're going to make it work." I prayed and I believed and I had tremendous faith and an hour and a half later I was still sitting there. What happened? Why didn't it work? Why don't the promises of God always work?

What I ended up doing was calling the one person I knew in Bakersfield who I had met just occasionally. He came over, picked me up, towed the car to his house, I spent the night there, we fixed it the next day and I went on home. One side benefit was that man had five teenage daughters, which was a nice treat at that age. You never know how God's going to work.

Why didn't it work? Why didn't the promises of God work?

The fact of the matter is there's a misconception people have about the promises of God. It's this: You cannot automatically claim a promise that's been given to somebody else in the Bible unless the Holy Spirit gives it to you.

To understand what we're going to talk about today, you must understand that God speaks to people two different ways.

1. Universally -- to everybody.

2. Personally -- to individual people, specific messages for specific situations at specific times.

The New Testament was originally written in Greek. In the Greek there were two terms used for the term "word". "Logos" and "rhema". Whenever you hear the phrase, "the word of God", sometimes it's the logos of God and sometimes it's the rhema of God. The logos is the word of God to everybody. That's the Bible -- everything from Genesis to Revelation, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the Twenty-Third Psalm. It is God's word to everybody. It is the foundation for the second type of word of God which is the rhema. The rhema is the word of God to you personally, a specific word, a promise, to a specific person in a specific period of time, for that time only. We can only claim a promise when it is a rhema to us, when it's the specific word to us. I'm going to share with you how you get that.

Sarah was Abraham's wife. One day God came to Sarah and said, "Sarah, you're going to have a baby". There's nothing unusual about that except she was ninety years old and her husband Abraham was ninety-nine years old. That's incredible! It was a specific word to her. God didn't say, "The whole nation of Israel, every woman when she reaches ninety is going to have a baby." It was a specific rhema, a word of God to her and not to anybody else. Just to her.

Getting a personal promise of God like that is the key to miracles. It's the key to answered prayer. When God speaks to you personally, then you can act on it. Not when He uses it for everyone and you say, "He used it for that person so I'm going to claim it for me." That's why last week we look at John 15:7 that said, "If you continue to abide in My word, then you can ask for whatever you want and then it will be yours." It says, "If you continue in my rhema not logos... If you continue in My specific word to you, then you can have answered prayer.

Remember the story of Peter walking on water? Peter's out in a boat with all of the disciples. It's night. Jesus comes walking across the water and Peter says, "Lord, Call me and I'll come!" Jesus gives Peter a rhema, a specific word for one man in a specific situation. He says, "Peter, come on!" Peter gets out of the boat and starts walking across the water. Notice that no one else was anxious to get out of the boat besides Peter. Why? Because it wasn't a word to everybody. It was a word to Peter in a specific time. It wasn't a universal word, either. The next day, Peter didn't get up and say, "Let's go fishing, but we don't need a boat today. Let's just walk on water and catch fish." No, it was a one-time thing.

You don't read the book of Mark and read about Peter walking on water one day and figure you can walk across your swimming pool. Don't work on a rhema given to somebody else. We get into trouble when we try to force a general promise to everybody to work as a personal promise to us without the Holy Spirit telling us to do it.

For instance, I talk to people who read a verse in the Bible on healing. They'll say, "God healed them, therefore God must heal me." So they pray and believe and have tremendous faith but even in spite of their faith nothing happens. Then they get mad and say, "God! Why didn't You heal me. It's in the Bible. You said so. You have to do it." And you argue. No. They didn't have a personal word from God for this particular thing. It was a general word.

Satan tried to do this with Jesus one time. Jesus was out in the desert and Satan came and said, "Jesus, why don't You jump off the temple because the Bible says God will take care of You." That wasn't faith. That was presumption. It was a general promise. "God will take care of you." That's like reading the verse, then going home, getting some arsenic and drinking it. God hasn't promised to take care of me if I drink arsenic! That was a general promise.

In order to understand how prayer works, you must understand that God speaks two ways. He speaks generally, to everybody, the word of God to everyone -- logos. He speaks personally, to individuals about a personal thing and that's rhema. That's how you get answers to prayer.

How does God speak to me personally?

John 14. The principle I'm trying to share with you today is such a powerful process, it is the key to miracles in life, it is the key to understanding God's will, it is the key to difficult decisions, it is the key to having faith in a hopeless situation. How does God speak to us personally? The Bible says it's the Holy Spirit's duty to take the Bible and make it apply to us personally, make it come alive.

John 14:26 "But the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." The job description of the Holy Spirit is to teach us and to remind us.

John 16:13 "But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth." So in these two verses, God, Jesus Christ says the Holy Spirit is to do three things in our life: teach us, remind us, and guide us. It is the Holy Spirit's job description to make the Scriptures apply to our lives personally in a dynamic way. In other words, He takes the logos and turns it into rhema. He changes it. It's called illumination. It's His job, His duty.

There is nothing mystical about what I'm talking about. This happens all the time. It happens to you. Have you ever been in a church service where the preacher, the pastor is speaking and all of a sudden you feel like he's speaking directly to you? You feel like there's nobody else is in the room. You wonder, "How does that guy know? How does he know I've got this problem? How does he know that's exactly what I needed at that time?" The number one statement people say to me after church is, "How did you know that was exactly what I needed?" My human nature would want to say, "It's just because of my superior knowledge of human behavior." But I can't claim credit for it. The fact is, I simply get up and deliver the logos to you and the Holy Spirit takes it and says "Bingo! That's what it means to your life." I say something to you here but sometimes it may relate to you in a totally different area. God takes a general word that I say to everybody and makes it specifically apply to you. He gave you a rhema. The Holy Spirit illuminated it.

Have you ever been counseling with somebody, talking with somebody about a personal problem -- a friend or a neighbor -- and you're thinking, "I wonder what I should say to this guy," and all of a sudden a Scripture verse pops into your mind? Just at the right time. Just exactly what you needed to say. How did it happen? God gave you a rhema. The Holy Spirit gave you a specific word, for a specific time, in a specific situation.

Have you ever been worrying about a major decision or a problem and struggling with an issue and all of a sudden you remember something that was said in a sermon three months ago. It fits perfectly and it applies. God gave you a rhema. He spoke to you personally.

That's the way God works in our lives. The Holy Spirit takes the general word of God and makes it come alive.

How do you know when it's God giving you those impressions?

1. It always will agree with the Bible. God never contradicts what He's already said. So if God gave you an impression with something that doesn't square with the Bible, you can be guaranteed it's not from God.

I had a guy come to me one time and said, "I believe it's God's will for me to have an affair." He was married and had four kids. I said, "I can guarantee you that's not God telling you that." It couldn't be because God never contradicts His word. It's a violation of a Scriptural principle.

You know when it's God because it always squares up with the Bible.

2. All of a sudden the Scripture becomes alive. It takes on new meaning. It becomes dynamic, exciting.

Illustration: Let's say I was to say to you, "I love you," and that is true. I love our church. But that is a general word to a large group of people. My wife's sitting over here in the front row and she's part of that group and when I say, "I love you," does that include my wife? Yes. But it didn't do anything for her. Big deal! It's a logos -- a general word to everybody. However, if I were to walk over to my wife, lean down close and whisper, "I love you," all of a sudden I get a different reaction. Her eyes light up, her heart starts pounding (I hope). All of a sudden a logos became a rhema. I didn't say anything different. I said, "I love you". Was she included in the
first one? Yes. But all of a sudden, it got personal and took on new meaning. This is a secret to answered prayer. Get this. It became a rhema -- a word to her specifically.

That's what happens when we're converted, when we become Christians. How many times did you hear before you became a Christian that God loves you? I must have heard it a hundred times. "God loves you!" and it was like water on a duck's back, it just rolled off. Then one day, all of a sudden, God burned that truth into my life and I realized, "God loved me!" Wow! All of a sudden it hit me. Rick Warren, with all of his hang-ups and all of his faults and all of his habits that are bad and weaknesses, frailties, fears and problems, God loves me! And it changed my life and I was born again. I was converted. All of a sudden, God's word to everybody in general became very personal. I realized it. I'd heard it many times but all of a sudden it came alive and made a difference in my life.

One of the results of getting a word of God, a personal promise of God, a personal rhema is that it builds tremendous faith in your life. It always produces faith. Faith comes by hearing the rhema of God, not the logos of God but the rhema of God. Faith comes from hearing God speak to me personally. All of a sudden I've got confidence.

Have you ever had a quiet time, a devotional time, when you get alone with God, sit down and read the Bible and maybe you've read the verse a hundred times, but all of a sudden the verse just jumps out at you, and you think, "I've never seen that before!" Or all of a sudden you see a new way to apply it, and at the end of the day you find out it was exactly what you needed for that day. That's a rhema. God's Spirit took a general word to everybody and applied it to you in a personal and practical way.

Steps on How To Pray About A Problem, a difficult decision. Six things. What do you do when you're in a situation and you don't know? How do you know the will of God? You've got to get a rhema.

1. Confess any known sin in your life.

You say, "God, I don't want anything to be blocking our relationship. Is there any bad attitude I've got? Is there any thing I'm doing that You want me to stop doing? Is there something You've been telling me to start doing that I haven't been?" You stop and get your life all cleaned up, a kind of spiritual washing. The Bible says in 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us." Just confess it and make sure the channel is open to God.

2. Commit the decision to Christ.

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will bring it to pass." You don't go out and try to figure it out all yourself. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will bring it to pass."

Put yourself in neutral gear. That may take some time. You say, "God, about this problem I'm facing or this decision, whatever You want is what I want." Put yourself in neutral gear and keep praying until you can get that way about the situation. You say, "Lord, whatever You want is fine with me. If You want it, I want it. If You don't want it, I don't want it." The attitude is the attitude that Christ had in the Garden of Gethsemane before He went to the cross and He said, "Not My will be done, but Thine be done." You say, "I don't know. This is a difficult problem I'm facing and I don't know what to do with it so whatever You want." Put yourself in neutral gear and commit it to the Lord.

3. Ask God to reveal His will by giving you a desire.

After you've got your desire out of the way and you can honestly say, "God, I'm willing to go either way," then the third thing you do is say, "God, help me to know what You want by giving me a desire one way or the other." Some people don't want to do that because they think if they desire it, God must be against it. Some people think that -- if you desire it then God must not want it. That's not true. A lot of times God is in our desires. He can direct us with Spirit-controlled desires -- Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." If you're really trying to do what's right, your desires are going to be in line. Mark 11:24 "Whenever you pray, whatever you desire, believe that you've received it and you shall have it."

How do I know? James 1:5 "If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask God and God will give it to him generously." You say, "God, You give me the right kind of desire." That's what you pray. "Lord, give me the desire to do the right thing." You're facing a difficult decision, a problem. First, you confess your sins -- Get right with God, make sure everything's in harmony. Then you commit the decision to the Lord and keep praying until you get in neutral about it -- God, I'm willing to go either way. Three, ask God to reveal His will by giving you a desire -- "Lord, give me the desire to do the right thing." Why? Philippians 2:13 "It is God that works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure." He can give you the desire.

How do you know if the desire is from God? One good test of a desire is time. One way if you can tell if a desire is from God is to sit on it for a while and say, "God, if this desire is from You, make it stronger. If this desire is not from You, take it away." Ask God to do that. It's a legitimate request.

4. Compare your desires with scripture.

Now that you have a clear desire, start reading the Bible and see if it's in tune with what the Bible says. God's Spirit never leads us contrary to the Bible. He won't contradict this. If my desire feels opposite to this book, I know it's not right. It's been called scriptural screening. It's like you make a grid of the Bible and then you pray and check it out to see if it squares with Bible teaching. If you don't know the Bible, how are you going to do that? That's why it's important to know the Scriptures. If you don't know the Scriptures that well, just check it out with one of
your pastors. Say, "This is my desire. What does the Scripture have to say about this?" Check it out. See if there are any conditions, any restrictions on it.

In James 3:17 we have eight tests that you can apply when you want to know if an idea is from God or not. And this is just one of a number of tests you can apply. "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first pure, peace loving, considerate, submissive [to God's will] full of mercy, full of good fruit. It is impartial and it's sincere." These characteristics you can check out. Is this idea right?

Confess it to God. Get yourself in neutral gear and ask God to reveal it through your desires. Take those desires to the Bible and say, "God, does this square with the scripture?" If you don't know the Scripture that well, get a godly person who does know the Bible and ask him, "Am I violating any principle?"

5. Listen for God to give you a personal promise, a rhema.

Listen for God to speak to you. You don't just go to the Bible and pick out a promise at random. You've heard me tell before of the guy who did that. He said, "God, what's Your will today?" He opened the Bible and put his finger down and it said, "Judas went out and hung himself." That couldn't be right, so he tried again and it said, "Go thou and do likewise." But that couldn't be right, so he tried a third time. "What thou doest, do quickly." That's the kind of results you get when you dip and skip through the word and try to force a verse to apply to your situation.

Listen for God. Prayerfully read the word of God and wait for God to speak to you.

The rhema, the personal word that God gives you about your situation will come in a variety of circumstances or ways.

It might come just through Bible reading. You're reading the Bible and all of a sudden a verse applies in a new way. I remember when Kay was in college and was trying to make a difficult decision whether to stay at a Christian college or transfer to a new state school. She didn't know which. One day reading a verse that she had read many, many times -- it was a verse talking about there are many, many people in the world who still don't know God. The problem isn't that they don't want to come to Christ. The problem is Christians aren't willing enough to share with non-Christians. She read the verse she'd read many times and all of a sudden it jumped out at her and it was as if God was saying, "I want you to go to a school where there aren't a lot of Christians so you can share My love with those people."

That wasn't a word to everybody. It was a word to her. And for one specific time. She went the next semester to a state school and as a result a number of friends she made at that school became Christians. That was in God's plan. She shared her faith with them and they became believers. She got a rhema. How? Through the word.

It may come in a church service. You're sitting in a church service and all of sudden something the pastor or somebody says hits you. It may just be a word in a song. And God says, "That's for you! That's your answer."

It may be in a Bible study group. That's why you need to be involved in Bible study, because you get more of the word. Your prayer life is never stronger than your understanding of Scripture.

It may be on a tape. It may be a radio program. Or you turn on the TV and there it is. I've had things happen to me... I've got rhemas off of records. One time I was discouraged and praying, "I don't know if it's wrong to be discouraged or not. Would You tell me if it's wrong to be discouraged or is it ok? Should I just accept it?" I was looking through some books in a pastor's library and pulled out a record labeled, "How to Double Your Sunday School attendance." I thought that would be an interesting record to listen to. When the pastor came in, he accidentally put it on the opposite side. There was a sermon on "Discouragement" by Jerry Falwell. One of the first things he said was, "The Bible says, `Don't be weary in well doing'". It was like an arrow to my heart. I sat there weeping. Here's a record answering a question I just mentioned to God a few minutes earlier when I was really in despair. It was a rhema.

You never know where it's going to come in. It may be a friend. A friend may say a word that they don't even realize.

Confess to God. Get in neutral gear. Then say, "God, reveal Your will to me through my desires. Give me the desire to do the right thing." Then check the desire out with the Bible and then you pray and wait and listen for God to give you a personal word. Ninety-five percent of Christians never hear God speak to them personally because they're too busy, in a hurry. We want God to give us an answer in five seconds! And God takes longer because He wants to prepare us. He wants to change us, get us ready. God speaks to the person who is willing to take the time to listen. If we're in a hurry, "I need to know whether to move or not and I need to know in the next thirty seconds!" God says, "You've basically made the decision yourself."

Are you willing to wait, to listen? Wait until God speaks to you. Don't get impatient. Listen for God to give you a personal word.

After you've got the verse and it will pop out at you, come to you somehow, someway, in due time and after you've got that assurance, then ...

6. Claim the promise with confidence.

Claim it, believe it, know it's going to happen. You can pray very specifically. You can start thanking God in prayer because the promise is the answer. Start thanking Him.

Remember during school, the math books that had the answers at the end of the book? You could work out the equation, figure out the answer, then go back and check it in the back. No. What you did was go back and find the answer and knowing where you were supposed to end
up, try to figure out how to do the equation. You know where you're going to end up, so you try to figure out how to get there.

That's the way prayer works. God gives you a promise and says, "Yes, I'm going to answer." So you know how it's going to end up and you go back and wait in the middle time while it's all being worked out.

Let's say you were to go to Alaska next week and call your husband/wife back home and say, "It's really cold up here, even though it's burning up in Orange County. I'm freezing to death. Would you please send me a coat like I wrote you in the letter?" She/he answers, "I got the letter and it's already on the way." You can thank them because you know it's on the way. You don't have any doubt about it. It's on the way.

That's how it is with prayer. God gives you a promise to claim and you can say, "Thanks, Lord! I haven't gotten it yet but I know it's on the way because You said it. You've given me a rhema. You've spoken to my heart and I know it's going to happen. It's simply a matter of timing."

Often God will send little confirmations by circumstances during that waiting period. After you've already made the commitment and you've already taken the step of faith, He gives you little confirmations.

I remember moving to the Saddleback Valley, the confirmations that we got. Kay and I prayed for God to show us where to go and start a new church. After praying for a period of time, we really felt God saying to us a rhema -- go to the Saddleback Valley. There was a real peace in our hearts about it. We felt confident. So we took the step. After we made the decision to make the move, there were all kinds of little confirmations.

One thing, I'd written a letter to a man in charge of directing churches in these areas telling him I was going to come and he at the same time was writing me a letter asking me to come. We didn't know about each other’s letters.

We got here in January of 1980 and a man called me up one day, a total stranger. He said, "My name is Bill Grady. I live in Fullerton. We've never met before but I understand you're starting a new church. I feel like God wants me to support your ministry for the first two months for $1000 a month." What happened? I got a confirmation of support for something I'd already stepped out and done.

We got here and didn't know anybody. The first person we met was Don Dale and he became our very first member. That was a confirmation. I hadn't been here three hours and I already had a member. God said, "That's to let you know, I'm going to do some exciting things in this church."

You claim the promise given to you.

7. You move into action when God says, "Go."

Not when you think so, but when God says, "Go." When God gives an idea, He gives it in three parts. First He says what He's going to do, then He says how He's going to do it, then He gives you the timing -- when? The biggest mistake that people make is we get the first part of the idea and forget the other two. We get the idea and say, "God told me what He's going to do," and we go out and try to do it as if He doesn't care how it's done. We try to do it in our way and we usually fall flat. We don't know the timing so we try to rush things.

How do you know God's timing? Things start falling into place. It's obvious. Wait for God's timing.

Three years before we started this church, I tried to start another one. I was in Riverside and God had spoken to my heart that I would start a church. I got the right idea but I had the wrong time and wrong place. I went to Anaheim Hills and said we're going to start a church in a month. I rented Canyon Hills High School and didn't know anybody. I was getting ready. About a month before I was going to start it, God said, "Right idea but it's the wrong place and wrong time. Don't do it because I'm not in it." So I canceled it. I went back to Fort Worth and worked on a master's degree for three years. Then God said, "Now, here's where you going," and He put me in the Saddleback Valley. Right idea, but the wrong time and wrong place.

God says wait on Him and when He says, "Go", you move into action. At that point you have to take a step of faith. It's like Peter walking on water. It was a tremendous miracle. If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat. You've got to take the step, take the risk.

Some of you are facing some big problems. You've got some difficult decisions on your mind. In 1975, I had some major health problems. They had sent me to both a heart specialist and a neurosurgeon. I was very upset by it and very fearful of what might happen. I remember we took some time off and went to Northern California. One morning a man called up. Two times in my life, I've had total strangers call me. This was one of them. I don't even remember his name but he was from Escondido. Somehow he traced me down, "I don't know you but I understand you're having some health problems." That morning I had been through some real discouraging times, depressed. I was really afraid of what was happening in my life. Full of fear. He said, "I called up because I really feel like God wanted me to share this verse with you." It was 2 Timothy 1:7. He had no idea what that was going to mean in my life. In fact, I feel this morning that it is a verse for some of you who are facing some difficult problems right now. You're kind of uptight about it, fearful. The promise is this, "God has not given to us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind." All of a sudden it hit me and I was filled with peace. God said, "My spirit is not one of fear. You don't have to be afraid or anxious. I'm going to fill you with love, I'm going to fill you with power. You have a right to a sound mind. You're not going crazy! I'm working in your life." It was a rhema.

Prayer:

God wants to work in every one of our lives. That's a logos. He wants to work in your life with a rhema. Does God still do miracles today? You bet He does. But He does them in His way, according to His conditions and His sovereign will. Some of you are facing difficult problems right now in your marriage, at work, business decisions.

Today God brought you here to hear this. The starting point is confession. Maybe you'd say, "God, is there anything in my life that's hindering You? Is there a sin that You want me to admit to You? an attitude to confess? a habit to give up? a difficult thing I've been doing that I need to stop doing? or something You've been telling me to do and I've been putting it off?" Ask for forgiveness. Then would you ask God to put you in neutral gear about that situation. Say, "God help me to want what You want. Thy will be done. If you want it, I want it. If you don't, I don't. I'm willing. Thy will be done." Maybe you need to get involved in a Bible study. Your prayer life is never stronger than your knowledge of the word. Rhemas come from the logos. Then would you say, "God, I just want to be quiet and listen to You, til You speak to my heart and give me an assurance about this decision. Any way You want to give it." Maybe some of you had an assurance listening to this message. Then you can claim that promise and when God says, "Go!" you move. Today, God is saying to some of you, "God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound mind." God wants to fill you with His love and power and give you mental and emotional and spiritual stability.

Would you pray this prayer in your heart right now? If you've never invited Jesus Christ into your heart, today is your day. God is saying, "I love you." Not the person next to you, but you!" You're not here by accident. God knew even 1000 years ago you'd be here. Would you pray this in your heart, "Jesus Christ, I don't understand it all, but I realize something's happening in my life. Jesus Christ, I want to become a believer in You. I want You to be number one in my life. Be the manager, the director. Jesus Christ, I want to see miracles in my life. I want to be the kind of person You want me to be. Help me to understand it more. Thank You for loving me. As best I understand, I'm opening up my life to You today." This is the decision of Christianity, the foundation point. It's what the Bible called being born again. It means beginning a new lifestyle with God at the number one control in your life instead of self or anything else. Today, maybe you've recommitted your life. Maybe it's the very first time you've made this decision.

Father, thank You for Your word; that it's practical and relevant. I thank You even on a warm day like this, you brought us here for a purpose and that You had something in mind for us that we might learn how You might speak to us. Help us to become intimately acquainted with Your Spirit, that we become best friends, and are sensitive so we can know Your will with clarity and with ease. Thank You. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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5 Conditions to Answered Prayer - Prayer Can Change Your Life Series (#2/4) - Pastor Kenneth Woolf

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THE FIVE CONDITIONS OF ANSWERED PRAYER

Pastor Kenneth Woolf

Prayer Can Change Your Life Series - Part 2 of 4

John 15:7 & Selected

Rick Warren

John 15. We're in a series of messages called "Prayer Can Change Your Life". Last week we talked about the four purposes of prayer. You've probably had people say to you, "I tried prayer and it didn't work. I had a need and prayed about it. After I'd prayed for a while, nothing happened and I didn't see any results. I'm disappointed and I don't believe in prayer." If we were honest we'd probably all say there are thousands of prayers that go up but there are very few answers that come down. Why is that? What causes that? Is prayer a farce, a superstition, something we just con ourselves into and pretend that it works but it really doesn't? What is prayer?

There's a deeper question than that. Does God promise to answer everyone's prayers?

No. It's very clear in scripture that God completely ignores some people's prayers. In fact, the Bible says that God has laid out some conditions to answered prayer. Five, to be specific.

I want us to look at those conditions because until you meet the conditions for answered prayer, you're wasting your breath.

What are the five conditions for answered prayer?

If you meet these conditions you have every right to expect that what you ask for will be answered in prayer.

1. John 15:7 - you must have an honest relationship to God. "If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, you can ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you." That's a beautiful promise. But in Scripture every promise has a condition or every promise has a premise. The promise here is, "I will give you whatever you ask in prayer if you remain in Me." In other words, "...if you have a honest relationship with Me."

How do you remain in Christ? The next sentence tells it. By my words remaining in you. In other words, God says if we fill our minds with the Bible, the word of God, then we will be in Christ. We will be abiding in Him. God requires that we listen to Him first before He listens to us. If I don't pay attention to what God says to me in His word, why should He pay attention to me when I talk to Him? If I ignore His word, why should He pay attention to what I say to Him?

The starting point is to have an honest relationship to God. How? Through the word of God. That's why Bible study is important. You say, "Are you saying if I don't study my Bible I won't have answered prayer?" No, what I'm saying your prayer life will never be more effective than how much you understand scripture. The more you understand the Bible the more you'll know how to pray affectively.

Three questions on how to evaluate if you have an honest relationship to God. 1 John gives us questions on how to evaluate ourselves on if we have an honest relationship to God.

1. 1 John 1. Do I or have I refused to admit things that I have done wrong in the past? The Bible says that's called unconfessed sin. It may be an activity, an attitude, a habit. When we go our own way, do our own thing, it breaks the connection between us and God. When we try to cover up things that we know are wrong from God then that honest relationship is broken. There's a falseness, a con, a fraud, trying to live two different lives at once -- live for God and live for myself. So the first thing I ask if I'm really being honest with God is have I admitted what I've done wrong.

Psalm 66:18 says that if I regard or cherish or try to hide sin in my heart the Lord will not hear. Isaiah 59:2 says our sins, our wrongness, separates us from God. Proverbs 28:13 says "He who tries to conceal his sins cannot prosper but he who admits them, confesses them, forsakes them will have mercy."

What do you do? 1 John 1:8 "If we claim to be without sin, we're just deceiving ourselves. The truth is not in us. However, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." What is confession? Confession is simply being honest with God. It's saying, "God, You're right. I was wrong. That jealousy or that impatience was wrong. Please forgive me." The first way we can tell if we have an honest relationship with God is are we being honest when we make mistakes. "God, You're right. That was a mistake. That was wrong. It was an error."

2. Am I currently in the present ignoring any of God's principles? In other words, when God tells me to do something, when I know I'm holding on to something that God wants me to let go of and I continue to hold on to it, that breaks the prayer chain, the connection with God. 1 John 3:21-22 "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us we have confidence before God and we receive from Him anything we ask [That's the promise] because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him. This is His command: To believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and to love one another as He has commanded us."

You say, “How can I keep all of God's commands. Nobody's perfect. How am I ever going to get any answers?" God does not demand perfection. He simply demands obedience. And obedience is an attitude: I want to do what's right. God doesn't expect perfection, but He does expect you to obey.

Example: I tell my four-year-old daughter, "Amy, go clean up your room." If thirty minutes later I go in and the room is half picked up and she's still got things falling all over the side -- it's not immaculate, do I get upset about it? No. She's only a four year old. But she did the best she could. She's not perfect, she did the best she could. But if I come in a half hour later and she's still watching TV, then do I get upset. You bet. Why? Because as a parent, I don't expect perfection but I do expect obedience, an attitude of "I want to do what's right."

So we ask, "Am I hiding something from God in my relationship? ... Am I doing what I know He wants me to do at this point?"

3. Do I really want God's will for my life? 1 John 5:14 "This is the assurance 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 then whatever we ask we know that we have what we've asked of Him." When we ask according to God's will then we have confidence in prayer and we know He's going to answer.

Most Christians make a big mistake in prayer. They go around constantly saying, "God, is it Your will that I ask for this?" over every little item. The real issue is not "God, what is Your will regarding this specific circumstance?" The real issue is "Am I in God's will as a person?" If my life is in harmony with God, then my desires are going to be in harmony with God.

St. Augustine said this: "Love God and do what you please." Why did he say that? Because if you really love God with all your heart, you're not going to want to do what displeases God.

So you don't have to constantly say, "Is it Your will?" You go down to buy a new car: "God is it Your will that I buy a brown Chevy or a gold Mercedes? ... God, is it Your will that I order the steak or the pork chops?" No, you don't have to ask God's will on every little item like that. You get your life in God's will and say, "To the best of my knowledge, I'm trying to do what's right, Lord. I want to live in Your will." Then you ask according to your desires. You get in God's will.

How do you know the answer to the question, "Do I really want God's will for my life?" How do you know if you really want it? Simple. How eager are you to read the Bible? Because the only way you can know the will of God is by reading the word of God. And God's word tells you God's will. So you want to read it, you want to study it.

So the first condition to answered prayer is this: You have an honest relationship to God.

2. Mark 11:24-25. He lays out another prerequisite for having your prayers answered. You must have a forgiving attitude toward other people. "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you've received it and it will be yours. Condition: And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him so that your Father in heaven may forgive your sins."

More than any other characteristic in the Bible except maybe faith, the number one thing related to prayer is forgiveness. Over and over again, every time Jesus talks about prayer He talks about forgiveness. Why? Because nothing will kill your prayers faster than resentment. When you hold a grudge, when you nurse an ill feeling, when you allow bitterness to grow in your life, it knocks off your prayers. Maybe you're praying and not getting an answer because you're holding a grudge against somebody.

In Matthew 5, Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount, He says when you go to church and you're going to offer a gift to the Lord and you remember that you've got something against somebody or they've got something against you, stop, leave the gift right there at the church, go out, find that person, get forgiveness or offer forgiveness, make harmony in the relationship, then come back and continue giving your gift to the Lord. Why? Because God says you can't say you love God and hate your brother. One of the primary reasons why people never see answers to prayer is because they allow bitterness to spring up in their lives.

Hebrews 12:15 (Living Bible) "Watch out that no bitterness take root among you for as it springs up among you it causes deep trouble, hurting many in their spiritual lives." Bitterness is like a poison, it will eat you alive. You can't have unforgiveness in your heart and have your prayers answered.

What do you pray every time you pray the Lord's Prayer? "Father, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." You're saying, "God, I want You to forgive me as much as I forgive everybody else." Do you really want to pray that? "God, You forgive me as much as I forgive everybody else." Why? Bitterness and resentment will block prayer.

1 Peter 3:7 says why sometimes you haven't had an answer to prayer. Peter is talking about marriage. Anyone knows that one of the easiest places to have resentment build up is in families. Family members hurt each other's feelings, husbands hurt wives, wives hurt husbands, parents hurt their children and vice versa. Bitterness and resentment are a common experience in family relationships. Peter has given the low-down to the women then in verse 7 he starts talking to the husbands. He says "Husbands, in the same way [just like he's talked to the wives in the previous verses] be considerate as you live with your wives and treat them with respect.... so that nothing will hinder your prayers."

Did you know that the Bible says that disharmony in the home blocks answers to prayer? That's why some people don't have answers to prayer. In fact the Scripture says how you treat your spouse influences your prayer life. That's pretty strong. In the Scriptures, when it lists the qualifications that a pastor must have in his life in order to be a pastor and the qualifications for a deacon, one of the qualifications of being a deacon or a pastor is he has to have a happy, peaceful home life. Why? Because if you're in tension at home, the prayers of those leaders of the church will be totally ineffective -- according to Scripture.

Sometimes there's been something I've really wanted to talk to the Lord about in prayer and I've just had an argument with Kay. I know I've got to get that right before God's going to hear the prayer. It's a nice motivation to get harmony restored.

How do you have answers to prayer? Five conditions: One, Have an honest relationship to God. Two, Have a forgiving attitude toward other people.

3. Proverbs 21. You must be willing to share the results. This is the principles, “What you sow you reap, Give and it will be given unto you. It's the principle of generosity, the more you give out, the more God gives to you.” If you expect God to bless your life you must be willing to bless other people's lives with the same benefits God has given to you.

Proverbs 21:13 "If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered." That's a fact of life. God says if you pay no attention to other people's legitimate needs, why should He pay attention to your needs? He wants us to be like Him. He says a pre-requisite for God to bless our lives is that we must be blessings to other people. If we ignore those who are in obvious difficulty around us, what right do we have to expect God to bail us out?

1 John 3:22. We've read the verse that says, "We receive from Him anything we ask because we obey His commands." What are His commands? The next verse: "His commands are believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ ... love one another as He has commanded us." He says one of the ways we keep commands is by loving other people. What is He talking about? v. 17 "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" One of the ways we prove that we have love is we're willing to be generous with other people. God blesses us so that we may bless others. This is the principle of stewardship. It's all through scripture -- that God blesses us in order that we might be blessings to other people.

We are a channel. I would not presume to ask God to bless my business if I were not willing to at least give back a portion of what He had blessed me with in a percentage, a tithe. You say, "I ask God for good health." What are you going to do with that healthy body after you've got it? Are you going to spend all the effort and energy on yourself or are you willing to help other people? One of the conditions for answered prayer is to be willing to help those less fortunate with the blessings which we are given.

James 4:1 "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but you don't get it. You kill and you covet but you can't have what you want. You quarrel and you fight. But you have not because you don't ask God...v. 3 gives us another reason why our prayers are hindered: When you ask you don't receive because you ask with the wrong motive that you may spend what you get on your own pleasures." He's saying motive is important in prayer. Why you pray is more important than what you pray for.

Is it possible to pray for the right thing with the wrong motive? Sure. It's possible to pray for the right thing with the wrong motive. Should you never pray for your own personal needs? I'm not saying that. Jesus says to pray for your own needs. He says to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." In Mark 11, He says you can even pray for your desires. But the motive is, are you willing to share your blessing with other people or are you going to horde it all to yourself?

God is not interested in simply satisfying our selfishness. The conditions of prayer are one, an honest relationship to God; two, a forgiving attitude toward other people; three, a willingness to share God's blessings, with other people.

This week I talked to a man who is literally a multi-multi-multi millionaire. He lives in another state. He's a fine Christian man. God has blessed his business. He had been bankrupt a number of years ago and now is a multi-millionaire. I began to talk with him. The interesting thing about this man is that he gives away 97% of his income and lives on three percent and still has a higher standard of living than probably any of us here today. Why? How? What makes the difference? How did you do this? He said when he was a young man he began to give from the blessings God had given him. He found that he couldn’t outgive God. He said the more he gave, the more God blessed him. He kept increasing his tithe -- 20% to 30% and now 90% -- and he's still a multi-millionaire.

If you want God to bless you, you must be willing to be a channel of blessing to other people.

4. James 1:5-7 "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him." He says, “If you need any wisdom go ahead and ask God; He'll give it to you.” He's not going to complain. You don't have to convince Him. v. 6 "But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord. He's a double-minded man unstable in all he does."

The fourth condition for answered prayer is you must believe that God will answer. You can't doubt. You must expect God to answer. There's only one kind of prayer that God answers: the prayer of faith. Mark 9:29 says, "According to your faith, it will be done unto you." What are you expecting God to do in your life? Hebrews 11:6 says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." You can't even please God if you don't have faith. It's the number one prerequisite in life. Have faith. It's such a major factor, we'll come back and talk about this in another session about how do you build faith and how do you pray for specific things and get answers.

What is faith? Is faith believing that God can do it? "I believe God can do it!" That's not faith. When you believe God can, that's just a fact. God can do it whether you believe it or not. "I believe God might do it." That's not faith either. That's hope. You hope He might.

"I believe God will do it." That's faith. Not believing God can do it, not believing God might do it, but believing God will do it. Faith.

Faith is not desire. Some people think, "I've got this tremendous desire. I've got these goals that I'm praying about -- family goals, spiritual goals, financial goals, health goals. I'm praying about all these goals. I really have a desire." Desire is not faith. Desire can lead to faith but it's not faith.

I honestly believe that if God actually answered some people's prayers they'd have a heart attack. An answered prayer! He probably hasn't answered some of them to keep them alive! "They don't believe I'm going to do it, so I might as well not." We see so little in our lives because we expect so little in our lives. The Bible says "According to your faith" not according to your ability, not according to your education, not according to how good a person you are but "According to your faith, it will be done unto you."

The fact is, if you have met the conditions of Scripture -- you have an honest relationship to God, you have, as far as you know, no unforgiveness toward anyone, you're willing to share the results with other people, and you're asking God in faith and expecting -- you have every right to expect
God to answer. If God doesn't answer, that's His problem, because you've done what the Bible says.

If I take a seed and plant it in the ground and in a few months it sprouts and I get a tomato plant from it, is that a miracle? No. I simply cooperated with the laws of the universe and it happened. When I pray believing and following the conditions laid out in Scripture and God answers, is that a miracle? No. It is simply in line with the universal laws of life that God has ordained.

Principles: Have an honest relationship to God. No unforgiveness. Be willing to share the result. Believe that God will answer.

5. John 14 "And I will do whatever you ask in My name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask Me for anything in My name and I will do it." The fifth condition for answered prayer: You must pray in Jesus' name. John 16:24 He says the same thing. "You've not asked anything in My name. Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete." The fifth condition for answered prayer -- you must pray in Jesus' name.

What is so special about Jesus' name? Honestly, for a long time, I had no idea. I'd hear everybody pray and they'd end their prayers, "In Jesus' name. Amen." I kind of thought it was a signal that the prayer was about to end. Like a spiritual sign off. CB sign off -- "Ten-four, good buddy." The Walter Cronkite of prayer, "And that's the way it is." Kind of a cut off.

Some people think "In Jesus' name" is kind of a mystical password that gets you into God. Like the secret word. "Here are all my requests. By the way -- codeword: In Jesus' name."

What in the world does it mean to pray "In Jesus' name"? What does it mean?

I heard a story once that illustrates it. A pastor friend I know took his young son and about fourteen of his son's friends to the carnival for a birthday party. He bought a roll of tickets and he'd stand at the front of every ride and as the kids came by -- his son and the fourteen friends -- he gave everybody a ticket. He was just handing them out. All of a sudden he looked up and realized there was a little boy with his hand out asking for a ticket that he'd never seen in his life. He stopped and said, "Son, are you with my son's party?" No. "Why should I give you a ticket?" The young boy turned around and pointed to the man's son and said, "Your son said you'd give me one." So he gave him one.

Here's the point. I don't have any right to get any answered prayers from God. What makes me think I should get my prayers to be answered? God doesn't owe me anything. I owe him a lot but He doesn't owe me anything. When I come and pray and ask God for requests, I don't ask on my own merit but I come on the merit of Christ. I come and say, "Father, I'm coming to You because Your Son said so. I'm coming because of what Jesus Christ has already done for me on the cross and He's promised and He said I can ask in His name. God, I'm coming in Jesus' name."

Jesus is the bridge between God and man. God came in the form of a man -- Jesus Christ. The Bible says there's one mediator, one bridge, between God and man. Jesus said it like this, "I am the Way. No one comes to the Father except through Me." He's the bridge to God.

Let's say I was to go to LA to Beverly Hills bank. I walk into the bank where I've never been before in my life and pull out my checkbook, write out a check for cash for $1000 and sign it in Richard Warren's name. I hand the check to the teller. She looks at it and recognizes that it's not from her bank and she says, "Mr. Warren, do you have an account at our bank?" I say, "No." She says, "I'm sorry. I can't accept this check. It's in your name but you don't have an account here." Let's say I've got a millionaire friend who's a rock star in Beverly Hills. We go in together. He walks up, puts his arm around her and says, "Give my buddy a good check here." He pulls out his checkbook, writes a check to Rick Warren and signs it in his name and hands it to her. All of a sudden we get some action. He's got a good credit line.

Jesus Christ has an excellent credit reference with the Father. Where I may be spiritually bankrupt, He's got plenty of dough, and plenty of pull. When I came to God and pray, "In Jesus' name" I'm saying, "God, I realize that You don't have any reason to give me this, but I'm coming in Jesus' name because of Him, because of what He's done."

Is it always necessary to say the word, "In Jesus' name" at the end of every prayer? I don't think it's necessary if you've got the attitude, but I think it's a good idea. I don't see anything wrong with doing it every time. Why? Because it reminds you why you have the right to pray. It is a constant reminder. You don't have to say it at the end, you could say it at the start. "Lord, Father, I'm coming to You in Jesus' name" and give your requests. You don't have to tack it on at the end. But I think it's a good reminder of the fact that the way we pray is in Jesus' merit, not our own. We are to pray to the Father, the Heavenly Father, through the Son.

Which of these conditions have you been overlooking? That's why you haven't been getting any answers to prayer.

Maybe you've been holding a grudge. Maybe you've been nursing a resentment and you have allowed bitterness to build up in your life and it's no wonder you don't have any answers to prayer.

Maybe you've been refusing to admit some wrong in your life. You've known it was there but you didn't want to go to God and say, "You're right, God, that's wrong. I admit it." We think Watergate was a cover up. It's nothing compared to some of the things we try on God. So we say, "God, I admit it. That was wrong. I shouldn't have lost my cool just then."

Maybe you've prayed but you've never really expected God to answer. If you don't expect God to answer, you're just wasting your time. Don't even pray. God says, "Why bother? If you don't believe that I'm going to do it, don't even make the effort." It's a condition.

Maybe you've been unwilling to share God's blessing with other people. Maybe you've been hesitant to give back to God a percentage of all the things He's been blessing you with. You must be willing to share the benefits with other people.

You haven't been abiding in Him. Abiding in His word. Reading the Bible, getting involved in a Bible study.

Have you been praying in Jesus' name?

You can't pray in Jesus' name unless you know Him as a friend, as your Lord, as your Savior, as the director of your life. The most important question is, “Do you have an honest relationship with God?” I'm not talking about church membership. I'm not talking about being religious. I'm talking about a relationship. God wants me to know Him personally. That's why He sent Christ to earth, so we could know what Christ is like. Jesus said, "I am the Way."

Prayer:

I would encourage you to follow me in this prayer I'm about the pray. It's a simple prayer. Maybe you’ve never before been certain about your relationship to God. You can settle it this morning. I want to make sure. I want to know God personally, that I'm a Christian, that I'm a believer, that I have Christ in my life. Just say something like this -- the words aren't as important as the attitude. "God, I realize I have a need for You in my life. And I admit that I've tried to go my own way or live my life without Your input. I ask You to forgive me for that. I believe You will forgive me. Thank You for loving me. Jesus Christ, help me to believe in You. I want to believe in You. I want You to be the manager of my life. I want to be the kind of person You want me to be. As much as I know how, I ask You to come into my life."

If you prayed a prayer like that, this is the kick off point of the Christian life, an initial commitment. You don't have to understand it all. It's simply saying, "God, I want You. I want to know You. I want to be on Your side. I want Christ in my life."

Others of you are saying, "I know I'm a Christian and I'm in relationship with God, but I have not been meeting one or more of these conditions and now I understand why I see such little results in my prayer life. Today I want to recommit my life to having a life of forgiveness, having a life of generosity, being willing to share, even being willing to give back to God a percentage of what God has given to me. I want to believe in faith."

Lord, I thank You for the Bible that it is so practical and relevant to our lives and that it helps us. Thank You that prayer is no big mystery but it is simply a communication with You. When we meet the conditions that You've laid for us we can see tremendous results in our lives. Thank You for the privilege of prayer. In Jesus' name we do pray. Amen.

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