OPEN: Charlie Brown. Lucy. Schroeder. Snoopy.
Where do we know those characters from?
(The cartoon series: Peanuts)
And who was the artist who created “Peanuts”?
(Charles Shultz)
Charles Shultz was something of a theologian. He tried to communicate his view of God through his cartoons. And he gained much of his inspiration from those around him… especially his family.
One day, his younger daughter Jill explained to him her theory of how prayer worked:
“If you fold your hands upside down, you get the opposite of what you pray for.”
APPLY: Children often pick up their theology about God from us.
It’s only natural that this little girl would think that there was a formula behind how prayer worked, because there are people who think that there is a formula for powerful prayer that has to do with:
How they speak (mostly “Thees” and “Thous” in KJV language)
How they hold their hands
Or how they stand
ILLUS: How many of you have cell phones?
I’ve had mine now for about 3 years and I have found it very useful. But every once in a while I find it’s difficult to get good reception. I’ll find that I need to move to another part of a building, or turn my head just so in order to avoid breaking up and loosing a connection.
When Larry (one of my friends in our quartet) calls me from Grissom Air force base, he’ll often encounter bad reception and have to move just a little to clear up our connection. When that happens I tell him that what he ought to do is stand on one foot while tipping his head to the side and flapping his free arm wildly to one side. (acted it out)
I tell him it works for me!
Throughout the Bible we’re told of different way that people “held” themselves while praying.
· Some kneeled
· Some lifted their hands in praise
· Some sat with their heads between their knees
· And some lay prostrate on the ground.
And I’ve tried most of those of those positions in prayer and they do help. I found that helped me focus more on what I was wanting to pray.
But – does how I STAND and how I SAY my prayer have an impact on whether God hears me or not?
The past three weeks, we’ve been dealing with prayer.
The first week we dealt with Outgoing calls – how to pray TO God.
The 2nd week we talked about Incoming calls – how to rec’ answers FROM God.
And last week we discussed “The Dead Zone” - the negative effect sin can have on our prayers. We discovered that sin (doing wrong) can cause God not to hear our prayers.
This week, we’re going to talk about another reason our prayers may not be heard.
Unlike last weeks sermon that dwelt on wrong doing, this week we’re focusing on wrong thinking.
In fact, when it comes to whether or not God will hear me when I pray:
“How I position my body is far less important than how I position my mind”
Wrong thinking can “interfere” with my prayers.
It create “bad reception” between me and God.
What kind of wrong thinking could hurt us like that?
The 1st kind of wrong thinking is this:
Not being earnest in our prayers.
Many people pray almost lackadaisically.
It’s not that they don’t understand the power of prayer
It’s just that they just don’t approach with much intensity.
ILLUS: Charles Spurgeon once said,
"Prayer pulls the rope down below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God.
Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly;
others give only an occasional jerk at the rope.
But he who communicates with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously with all his might."
ILLUS: Larry Davies once asked one of his classes:
"Does God answer prayers?"
A lot of enthusiastic voices spoke up:
"Of course.” “Yes.” “Always,".
Then Davies asked:
"Then, why don’t we pray more frequently?"
There was a long uncomfortable silence for the next few moments. Finally, the excuses began pouring out:
"No time."
"I’m too busy."
"God’s too busy to listen to me."
"I don’t know what to say."
"I’m not worthy."
"I don’t know how."
(Heartlight Magazine - online)
These were folks that believed in prayer – but who didn’t want to spend the effort to use it
Now, by contrast, in Psalm 28 David prayed:
“To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit.” Ps 28: 1
David was praying as one who understood what is at stake.
He prayed earnestly.
He really believed that if God remained silent, his life would be empty and without purpose.
David wasn’t faking this.
He wasn’t putting on an act in front of God.
Because earnest prayer isn’t about form, it is about substance.
So – that’s the first kind of wrong thinking – not praying earnestly.
The 2nd kind of wrong thinking is this:
Praying for OUR will to be done rather than God’s.
In James we read:
“When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” James 4:3
Why does James say these folks don’t get what they’re praying for?
They prayed with “wrong motives.
They prayed so they can receive God’s power to spend on their agendas.
Now that does seem a bit odd.
I mean, if praying TO God you’d think I’d asking God to have His way in my life.
But most people don’t think that way.
Most people think – God loves me.
If God loves me then He’ll want what I want for my life.
AND if God loves me…
He’ll want to give me what I want, when I want it, the way I want it.
ILLUS: Some time ago I was at a gathering where there were a few kids from our children’s youth group. These kids know me and trust me. And they enjoy being around me.
One of the little girls came up to me and asked if I could give her a couple of quarters for a game she wanted to play there. She asked politely and I had the quarters – so I gave them to her.
Seeing this, one of the little boys came up to me and asked me for some money. I said I didn’t have any but after awhile I’d get some change and give him some. But he kept pressing me, thinking I might have been holding back.
Now, I’m not sure why he did what he did next, but he began to reach into my pocket to see if he could find any quarters I might have overlooked!
Now I like this kid.
And if I’d have had a couple of quarters at the time – I’d have given them to him. But there was something uncomfortable about what he did.
This kid came to me thinking:
“He likes me… he’ll give me what I want… when I want… the way I want it.”
But I wasn’t comfortable with the way he asked.
He wasn’t even my own kid for pity’s sake
But even if he had been my own child, I wouldn’t given it to him because he was approaching it all wrong.
And that’s what James is saying about our prayer life
James is telling us that God won’t answer us if we approach God wrong - if we come to Him with the wrong attitude.
What’s the WRONG attitude?
The wrong attitude is coming to God asking for OUR will to be done.
Smart pray-ers don’t do things that way.
Smart pray-ers listen to the advice of the Apostle John when he said:
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to HIS WILL, he hears us.” 1 John 5:14
In other words, the first thing I need to ask myself before petitioning God is this:
“Why should God WANT to answer my prayer?”
Now… that’s how David prayed here in Psalm 28.
In verse 2 he says: “Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.”
Notice he asked for “mercy”.
He was saying: I don’t deserve this… I’m looking to you for mercy and help.
Then in vs. 5 he says he wants God to deal with his enemies because “… they show no regard for the works of the LORD and what his hands have done”
In other words: Deal with my enemies… because those folks don’t respect you like I do.
Then in verses 8 and 9 he pull it all together:
“The LORD is the strength of his people,
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one
(who’s the anointed one? David is)
Save your people
(who’s God’s people? David is)
and bless your inheritance
(who’s God’s inheritance? David is)
be their shepherd and carry them forever”
In just a few short verses David has declared 3 reasons why God should answer his prayers:
1. I come to you in humbleness asking for mercy
2. But my enemies don’t respect you like I do
3. And - Hey! I’m one of your people, your anointed one! And I could use some help down here!
Throughout the Bible, we can read the prayers of great men and women of faith. And they almost all have a part where they address this question:
Why should God WANT to answer my prayer?
Sometimes they’ll quote a promise God has made.
And I’ll let you in on a secret here:
If God has made a promise - that’s His will.
ILLUS: That’s why most parents, when dealing with a request from their children, will say something like: “Well, I’ll think about it… but I’m making no promises.”
Why would a parent say they weren’t making a promise?
Because the moment they say “I promise” the kids will hound them to death until that promise is kept.
Kids know that when we give a promise, we have declared that that is our “will” for their lives.
If God has made a promise – it IS His will.
If God made a promise He intends to keep it.
His promises are a record of what His will is.
And guess what?
You’ve a got a whole book full of promises: THE BIBLE
So the best way to know what God’s will is for your life:
… is to read this book
… study it,
… apply it
… and obey it.
Then, when you approach God in prayer you’ll know what kind of requests He’d honor.
So, the first 2 wrong ways of thinking - that can give your prayers “bad reception” are:
1. Being lackadaisical in your prayers
2. Seeking your will rather than God’s.
The third kind of wrong thinking that can effect your prayer life is this:
Praying without believing.
In Psalm 28, David prays believing.
Look again at verse 6
“Praise be to the LORD, for he HAS HEARD my cry for mercy.
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
MY HEART TRUSTS IN HIM, and I AM HELPED.
My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.”
(capitals – other than LORD - are there to show my emphasis)
ILLUS: English is perhaps the most difficult languages on the planet. We have something 36 tenses in our language. But the Hebrew, in which David wrote Psalm 28 is a very simple language.
They only have 2 tenses: Complete and Incomplete.
Something is either decided (complete) or undecided (incomplete).
When David writes this Psalm he is telling us that he knows God had already decided the outcome of his prayer.
“He HAS HEARD”
“I AM HELPED” and therefore
“MY HEART TRUST IN HIM”.
These things are not undecided.
They are not “up in the air”.
He is praying for help - but even while he is praying
David is declaring that he thoroughly expects God to act.
He is confident in God.
There is no doubt in his mind.
The outcome has already been decided.
And David prays this way because he has seen God do it before… and he knows God will do it again.
James tells us that this is a critical element of successful prayer.
“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. But when he asks, he 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 is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” James 1:5-8
When I pray, I must believe in God’s faithfulness
I must believe He cares enough to act on what I’ve prayed.
But if I doubt then I’m telling God I really don’t trust Him
I’m telling God I don’t think He really cares.
God wants to give us the desires of our hearts.
But He wants to make sure we understand the value of what we’re receiving.
Otherwise, He’s just throwing His gifts to you away… and they’ll mean nothing to you.
ILLUS: Let’s say your child/ grandchild (etc) comes to you and asks for $5000.
And let’s say you have it and that you’d like to give this money to them.
But you’ve seen how they’ve treated your gifts before.
They are unstable in how they handle money you’ve given before
And they end up spending your gifts almost before they leave your hand.
Now - knowing how they’ve treated you before - and how they continue to view you with distrust and distain - do you think you’d feel comfortable giving them another $5000?
I wouldn’t.
If I approach God in doubt and disbelief when I pray
I’ve basically telling Him that I’ll mishandle the gifts He gives me.
And James says, when that happens, God doesn’t give us what we ask.
Now, let’s revue
If I don’t want my prayers to suffer from “bad reception” I need to realize that there are certain attitudes/ wrong ways of thinking that I need to avoid.
1. Being lackadaisical in my prayers
2. Seeking my will rather than God’s.
3. Praying without believing
ILLUS: Tony Evans, a popular black preacher from down in Texas, spoke of being on an elevator in a high-rise building. He said he’d never been particularly comfortable on such elevators. There was something about riding up and down in a little box several hundred feet off the ground that has never sat well with him. He worried that something would go wrong.
One day it did. The car he was riding in got stuck in between floors way up in the higher floors.
He noted that some of the people in the car became frantic.
They began to beat on the door hoping to get someone’s attention.
Others began to yell in the hopes that their voices would get someone on the surrounding floors to come to the aid.
But nobody heard their noise or their cries.
Then Evans quietly made his way to the front of the car, opened a little door in the wall and pulled out a telephone.
Immediately he was connected with someone on the outside.
He didn’t need to beat on the wall to get their attention.
He didn’t need to speak loudly in the phone to receive their help.
He could have whispered and they would have heard him.
Evans said that - in this world, we’re going to get “stuck” in places we aren’t comfortable with.
Some people begin to beat against the walls, others cry out in dismay.
But the person who trusts in the power of confident prayer knows there’s someone on the other end who hears their call and comes to their aid.
Hebrews 10:19ff tells us that we now can have “boldness” (KJV) to enter into very presence of God because of the blood of Jesus. We can think this way only because Jesus has opened the way for us to approach God’s throne and earnestly ask whatever we desire according to His Will.
