Alderwood Community Church September 15, When God Seems Silent Keeping Company with God Part 6 Luke 11:1-4

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1 1 Alderwood Community Church September 15, 2013 When God Seems Silent Keeping Company with God Part 6 Luke 11:1-4 Big Idea: When God seems silent, trust him and pray He will be glorified. Intro: A faithful grandmother was dying of cancer. For many days her family gathered around her hospital bed to encourage her, remember better times, and pray. A Christian nurse, touched by the tender care of the family, asked if she could join them in their prayers. Without hesitation they include her As the young nurse listened, however, she grew concerned about the content of their prayers. The family called out in faith for healing. They told God they had no doubt that he who created the entire universe could re-create health in the body of their loved one. Occasionally a family member would remind God that he had promised in the Bible that if we ask him anything with sufficient faith, we will receive our request. The family called on God to be faithful to his promises by healing the cancer, and they assured the nurse, God will heal. The nurse wondered if it was right to demand that God do what human wisdom determined was best, but the family s prayers were so sincere and bold that it felt wrong to her to ask questions. Jesus does say in the Bible that if we believe and ask anything in his name, he will answer. Maybe the family was right to pray as they did. The nurse wondered how else anyone could pray and still show trust in God s promises.one day when the nurse was finishing her rounds; the cancer had completed its course. She walked into the hospital room shortly after the suffering woman had died. The family was still in the room, and the young nurse asked if she could pray with them one more time. She was not prepared for the response With a steely voice full of new bitterness, the woman s husband replied, God says to pray and he will answer. We did and he did not. So we re done with that. Something in us knows that he was wrong, but why wasn t he right to be disappointed in God or at least disappointed in prayer? If the Bible promises God will answer prayer and he does not, then something must be wrong. This is precisely why Jesus disciples asked him to teach them to pray. Contrast that attitude to prayer with this one Bryan Chapel in his book, Praying Backwards tells about another committed follower of Christ, his friend Eric, who was dying of a brain tumor. Months of fighting the cancer with chemo and prayer had seemed futile. In that yellowtiled room, lined with monitors and tubes that measured and maintained his life, Eric showed the treasures of an eternal life that was his greater reality and glory.his head had been hurting so much that he was dizzy with pain. He grimaced when he smiled to greet me that day. His wife smiled gratefully and rose to let me have her seat beside the bed. Seeing her vibrant, always exuberant husband in so much pain had been hard on her that day. She went into the hallway to cry and let go of the brave face that she usually kept in place for him.eric spoke earnestly in the few minutes that she was gone. Bryan, he said, please help my family not to hurt too much. I feel sorry for all of you. I will see Jesus soon, but you have to wait. I just pray that I can glorify the Lord through this. I continue to marvel at this faith in God s eternal provision, and I continue to seek the depth of faith evident in Eric s prayer. In the midst of great suffering, he offered a simple petition: In my life, Lord, be glorified. Of course, Eric desired the return of his physical health. Without question, he ached about the future of his young family. Eric put it all before the Lord in prayer, but Eric also ended his prayers, In Jesus name. That means that

2 2 this faithful believer s greatest desire was to have his life and, if necessary, his death honor the name of the Savior. Eric knew that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. (Rom. 8:18) God was revealing his glory in Eric, and that was precisely Eric s desire. Eric taught us all to pray, God, you know my needs and my wants. They are plain to you and I ask you to provide for them, but Lord, I love you so much that this is my ultimate prayer: Let my life be used to show the greatness and goodness of my God and his eternal love no matter what I face. Above all, I pray for the glory of Jesus name. A common problem with prayer, and the reason we experience angst when our prayers seem unanswered is our misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of prayer. For too many of us, if we are honest, view prayer as a vehicle to get what we want and when we don t get what we want, we wonder what went wrong. We can have the tendency to view prayer like a wishing well, or like a genie in a bottle. When we have this attitude toward God, our prayers might as well be: Star light, star bright, bring the wish I wish tonight. In Jesus name, Amen. When we pray with this attitude, we limit God by the wisdom of our wishes. If God were really obligated to do what we think should happen, then God would be tethered to the leash of our limited understanding. When we pray with this attitude, we are not living in reality. We live in a fallen world, Biblical prayer does not solve all our earthly problems, and God never promised it would. Instead Jesus said, In this world you will have trouble. (John 16:33) The godliest and most prayerful people know from experience the meaning of disappointment, grief, failure, rejection, betrayal, incapacity, and illness. In this fallen world you cannot avoid suffering; you can have peace in the midst of it. You cannot avoid trials; you can have confidence of their purpose. You cannot bind God by your prayers; you can guarantee his blessing. You cannot direct the will of God; you can pray according to his will and rest in the assurance of his love. You can pray knowing that God will marshal the powers of heaven to accomplish on earth all he knows is best for your eternity. So what do you do when God seems silent? What do we mean by that expression, when we say, God seems silent? For most of us, what we mean by that is that God has not answered our prayer in the way or in the time that we asked for it. When God seems silent, because he hasn t acted like we think he should have. Or because we by faith, believed he would act in a certain way, based on our understanding of the Scriptures, and he hasn t, 1. When we feel that God is not listening we tend to have these reactions: A. We come to the conclusion that God must not care about us. Even though all of our previous experiences and the many promises of the Bible tell us he does care, deeply. Yet, some of you still say, even if it s in your own mind, I know what the Bible says, but

3 3 Listen, our understanding is limited. God s understanding, God s wisdom is not. It is unlimited. Do you believe this? God s power and God s goodness are not limited, can never be exhausted and are not associated with your efforts, belief or unbelief! This is precisely, for times such as these that God inspired Solomon to write: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 Acknowledge him means to take notice of him, recognize him as sovereign God who sees all, knows all, is all-powerful, all-wise and as one who cares deeply about you as his child. B. We come to the conclusion that prayer does not work. So our prayers become half-hearted, anemic or sometimes we just abandon prayer, Why bother if he isn t listening to me? Stop and think Just because you don t understand what God is doing doesn t mean that prayer doesn t work. Prayer does work, absolutely it works. James tells us: The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16b Maybe it is not prayer that doesn t work, it s your understanding that is limited. Maybe it is your own misunderstanding, perhaps from teaching you have heard in the past that over-emphasized one aspect of prayer such as asking or even God s sovereignty, so you have thrown up your hands and have said, why bother praying! Why pray? I m glad you asked: (1) We are to pray for God s glory. 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. John 14:13-14 (2) We pray as a means of communication with, and because of our relationship with God as our Father. (3) We pray so that our perspective will be changed, so we can be granted the ability to see this life from God s perspective. (4) We pray so we can ask God to change circumstances, us and other people. C. We come to the conclusion that we don t have enough faith. After all, didn t Jesus say, If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to there and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. Didn t Jesus say, Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened? So what do you do, when God apparently isn t listening and you feel this way?

4 4 2. When you feel that God is not listening, consider these three things: A. Examine the lens through which you see prayer. (1) See prayer through the lens of your relationship with God as your Father. This alone, can have a profound impact on how you view prayer and God s responses to your prayers. (a) When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he told them to approach God as Father. (b) Whenever Jesus prayed or spoke about prayer, her referred to God as Father. (c) Our Father is generous and good to his children. If you, then, though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him. (Matthew 7:11) So, how do you respond to your children when they ask for things? Is your answer always yes? Do you always give them what they want, when they want it? How do you answer the requests of your children? Yes, No or not now. God is the same, but he adds a fourth answer, immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. (isn t that great!) (2) See prayer through the lens of God s will and God s glory, not yours. *Read Text: Luke 11:1-4 I want you to notice that while each part of the Lord s prayer has a specific focus, all of them have a common purpose. They all seek God s will. Each part of the prayer provides a way of saying to God in every circumstance of life, Your will be done. (a) Hallowed be your name This is more than a declaration. It is a request. By requesting that God honor his name, Jesus teaches us to ask God to make all creation recognize and revere his holiness, and of course, that includes us, the ones praying. By praying, Hallowed be your name, we make God s holiness our highest priority and ask him to promote his glory in, around and through us. (b) Your kingdom come Jesus emphasizes God s honor as our heavenly King. The words, your kingdom come ask God to rule that his kingdom s purposes are fulfilled on earth. When we pray, your kingdom come, we essentially say to God, May you have dominion. Rule over all things, great and small. Make your priorities determine the desires and acts of everyone in this world including me.

5 5 With this kingdom request, Jesus reminds us to look toward the day when he will return and perfectly redeem this fallen world, But we are not to simply pray for the future kingdom of God, but we are to express our desire to see God honored every day and in every way. By praying your kingdom come we are praying that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. (c) Give us each day our daily bread When we pray give us each day our daily bread we are asking God to provide for the necessities of life. Every breath we take, every meal we eat, every piece of clothing we wear is an answer to the prayer for daily bread. But the prayer for daily bread also reorients us to God s purposes. When we pray, give us this day our daily bread we are praying that God will provide all that is best for us and in so doing sustain our faith. The prayer for daily bread is really a petition for spiritual vitality to do heaven s work on earth. Yet there are times when believers have suffered even to the point of starvation. But suffering does not prove that someone has been faithless nor that God has failed to provide daily bread. Jesus assures us that those who follow him will sometime face suffering and death. In fact, until he returns, we will all die. God always answers the prayer for daily bread by providing our greatest needs. Those needs, are not always physical or material. Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Matt. 4:4) The most important things in life are those which nourish our relationship with the God of eternal life. The Christian who prays for daily bread asks God to supply the food necessary to further his eternal purposes it is essentially a prayer for God s will to be done. (d) Forgive us our sins When we pray forgive us our sins we receive God s mercy and grace, regardless of the degree or frequency of our sin. Jesus gave his life and shed his blood on the cross to pay the penalty for the sin of all who trust in him. Our prayers for forgiveness not only confess the weakness in our nature, but also declare and honor the grace in God s nature. Our prayer for forgiveness helps us focus and reflect on God s character, which in turn warms our heart and stirs a desire within us to please him. Jesus teaches us to approach our heavenly Father with the humility to ask, Lord, let me not only know your forgiveness but radiate it. This prayer is a commitment to forgive others just as Christ has forgiven us. You see, it too, is a prayer for God s will to be done. (e) Lead us not into temptation When we pray, lead us not into temptation we pray that God, who knows the capabilities of our hearts, would keep us from anything that Satan could use to overpower our ability to do God s will. It is essentially saying, Lord, keep me from acting in ways that would prevent me from honoring you. So you see, in every part of the Lord s prayer, the essential focus is that God s will would be done in our lives.

6 6 Illus: Before confronting the terrorists who had commandeered Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, Todd Beamer prayed the Lord s Prayer with a GTE Airfone operator. Surely Todd did not want to die. When he prayed with the operator on the ground, his heart must have longed for physical rescue. He must have wanted and prayed to see his wife and children again. But with the Lord s Prayer, he prayed for something greater. Through the prayer that had been resident in his spirit since his childhood days, Todd prayed that God s name would be hallowed, for God s kingdom to come, for daily bread, for freedom from temptation and for the forgiveness of himself and others. In essence, Todd prayed for God s will to be done. That s what he prayed in Jesus name Todd s wife Lisa explains, I don t think that Todd chose to die, but he did choose for God s will to be done in his life. Knowing that, he stepped into the aisle of the plane, trusting by faith that regardless of what happened; God would be true to his Word. Many in the world will not understand how God could be true to his word and let this faithful husband, father, and hero die. The answer is that God glorified his name in Todd. From his earliest days, Todd had trusted Jesus to forgive his sins and secure his eternity. Todd was able to risk his life for many, because he knew that his eternal life was secure with His Savior. What Jesus did for Todd, and enabled Todd to do for many, glorifies the name of Jesus Lisa adds, Todd was not a Hollywood hunk or a comic book superhero. He was an ordinary guy with ordinary faith in a great God. Todd did not get the answer to the prayer for physical safety that he must have offered, but he received precisely what his faith requested in the Lord s Prayer. Todd asked for God s will to be done, and in his witness to the world of the greatness and the goodness of His God, Todd fulfilled the greatest desire of his heart. He glorified the One in whose name he prayed. We pray believing that God is all-powerful, all-wise, and infinitely loving and that we are not. We tell God our desires for matters large and small, but always our greatest desire is that his will be done. Let God s will and God s glory be your focus! When God seems silent, let me suggest that you: B. Evaluate your requests of God. It can be disheartening when we pray in faith and we claim scriptures like the ones that tell us, Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. And nothing seems to happen. But when seeking to understand, remember this principle: Let Scripture interpret Scripture. There are a number of Scriptures that tell of conditions to prayer: (1) Your motive may be wrong (Selfishness) When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motive. James 4:3

7 7 (2) The timing may be wrong Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. James 1:2-3 Trials are never at a good time. The trial itself may very well be the issue of time. Sometimes God delays in order to test our faith. Sometimes it is so we can modify our request. Sometimes it is to build our character. (3) You may be wrong there may be sin in your life that is hindering your prayers. (a) Prayerlessness - You do not have, because you do not ask God. James 4:2 (b) Personal disobedience - If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable. Proverbs 28:9 (c) Unconfessed sin If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. Psalm 66:18 (d) Uncaring actions If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. Psalm 66:18 (e) Family discord Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers. 1 Peter 3:7 (f) Doubt 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. James 1:5-7 Notice these conditions: 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. John 14:13-14 To pray in Jesus name, it to pray for his honor and purposes. When we pray in Jesus name, we pray for his sake more than our own. We still present our desires and concerns to God, but we do so in the context of yielding our priorities to Christ s priorities. When we pray in Jesus name, we submit all our requests to the glory of Jesus. Here is another promise, but notice the conditions: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you. John 15:7 When God seems silent: (1) Examine the lens through which you see prayer. (2) Evaluate your request, and 3. Trust in your sovereign heavenly Father who is all-powerful, wise, good, loving, and has your best interests and his glory in mind. In other words Let God be God! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His love endures forever. to him who alone does great wonders. His love endures forever. who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever. Who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever.

8 8 Who made the great lights His love endures forever. The sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. The moon and stars to govern at night, His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1-9, 26 Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; Make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praises to him; Tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; Seek his face always. Psalm 105:1-4 Closing Prayer: Heavenly Father and eternal Shepherd of our souls, for the sake of our dear Savior, let us live a life of self-doubt and divine trust. May we always doubt the sufficiency of our own wisdom, power, goodness and faith; May we always trust the surpassing greatness of your wisdom, power, goodness and faithfulness. Apply your sovereign will to our finite world; Rule as you know is best; do as your heart directs; heal as you choose. Forgive us for vision willing to see only the reality of this world and not seizing upon the beauty of the next. Forgive our sins that stand between you and us. Hide our faults behind the cross you stood in their place. Grant us the zest for life, the zeal for righteousness, and the comfort for affliction that comes when there is no doubt of our Father s infinite days, limitless ability, and unending love. May your Holy Spirit to help us believe where we lack belief and supply trust when there seems no cause, by reminding us that you sent your Son to make us your children now and forever. We commend our soul and our body to you, In Jesus name, Amen. (Bryan Chappell, Praying Backwards, ) Suggested Reading: Praying Backwards, Bryan Chapel, Baker Books A Call to Spiritual Reformation, D. A. Carson, Baker Books. Disappointment with God, Philip Yancey, Zondervan