1 John 5:14-15 (Prayer Part II)

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

Over the last few weeks we have been looking at God's will, prayer and how the two intersect.  Jesus told his disciples how to pray, but I am not sure sometimes how much we, as followers of Jesus, have learned from His example.  In Luke 11 and Matthew 6 Jesus gives us the answer to the question "how should I pray?"

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,
your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

Matthew 6:9-13.

We will come back to this in a minute.

Last week the Lord brought us to 1 Kings 16 and 17 to see what Elijah could us teach of about prayer.  We saw how Elijah confronted King Ahab, who worshiped the false god Baal, and how God stopped the rain.  We saw how God provided for Elijah, and later for a widow and her son, as Elijah hid from his enemies.  And, we saw how in the midst of all God was doing in these three lives tragedy struck.

Elijah and the widow must have been so confused.  Why would God miraculously provide for Elijah, the widow and her son, only to allow the son to die?  Why would God, in the midst of this incredible blessing, allow this poor woman to lose the only thing of value to her in life -- her only son?

From all of this, we drew three conclusions about prayer.

First, although Elijah was obviously confused about why God would allow the boy to die, the earthly reality that he saw with his eyes did not get in the way of the eternal reality he saw with his heart.   In other words, his circumstances did not change his faith.

Second, Elijah was persistent in his prayer.  He cried out not once, but three times.  His faith was not diminished just because he did not see the result he wanted the first time he asked.

And, third, when God answered Elijah's prayer he had something greater in mind than just the boy being healed -- he had in mind His glory.  If the widow ever questioned God or his servant Elijah, she would not do so again.  ^"Then the woman said to Elijah, 'Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.'”  1 Kings 17:24.

If we get nothing else from this, it is this last point that we don't want to miss.

As we continue on in 1 Kings, Elijah returns at God's prompting from his place of hiding to confront Ahab once again.  When Ahab and Elijah come face to face, Elijah rejects the label Ahab tries to give him as a "troubler of Israel", and he sets the wicked king straight about the real cause of Israel's woes.   "I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals."  1 Kings 18:18.  It is Ahab and the others who have worshiped an idol, a false god, who have brought trouble to the nation.  It is they who provoked God into stopping the rain.  And now, using Elijah, God would prove to the people that there is only one true God -- and it is he:  The Lord God Almighty.

So, in response to Elijah's challenge, Elijah stands alone against four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel -- the very place where Baal is said to dwell.  Two bulls are cut up and placed on separate stacks of wood to see which god would appear to claim the sacrifice.  The prophets of Baal are asked to choose their alter first.  They call on the name of Baal and dance around the alter.  But idols do not answer.

Elijah provokes these false prophets of a false god further.  In response they shout louder and cut themselves with swords and spears.  This goes on for hours.  But, again "there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention."  1 Kings 18:29.

When the time for the evening sacrifice came, Elijah took his turn.  He first rebuilt the alter (which had been torn down), dedicated it to the Lord, and added water for good measure.  And then, Elijah prayed.

At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. ³⁷ Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
                                                                                                             1 Kings 18:36-37.

This time, of course, the true God showed up.  "[T]he fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench."  1 Kings 18:38.

Now, think about the parallels between Elijah's prayer and the prayer that Jesus gave us as a model -- the "Lord's Prayer."  Elijah's prayer was first that the people that would know on that day that "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel" was the one true God.  ("Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name!").  And secondly, it was Elijah's prayer that the people would return to worshiping this one true God once again.  ("Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!")

When you think about it, about half (four lines) of the Lord's Prayer is about God and his glory, about half (four lines) is about our sanctification, and one line is devoted to our material needs.  Hmmmmm?  I wonder, is that how most of us divide up our prayer time?

I have suggested it before, and I will suggest it again, but I really think we are usually quite backwards when it comes to prayer.  Many of us say we want revival.  Many of us say we want to see God's power manifest in the world.  Many of us say we want to be more like Jesus.  But, these kingdom things seem to consume precious little of our prayer time.

I don't know about you, but I want to see God use Heartland Church to make a profound impact on our community, our country and the world.  Heck, I want to see God use me in the greatest way possible before my own days on earth come to an end.

That is not to say that there is anything wrong with asking God to fix a flat tire.  The problem is that if all you ask God for is to fix a flat tire, the most that you can hope from your prayer life is a tire with air in it.  Do you want something greater than that?  Do you want something that has eternal significance?  Then I suggest you start praying for such things.