For the past 24 days, my family has been on a roller coaster. Our youngest son, Noah, was in Children's Hospital with double pneumonia, partially collapsed lungs, surgery to install a feeding tube and the kitchen sink (it seemed).
During this time we have seen the power of prayer. I cannot begin to count the number of people who said they were praying for our family. Some of them we didn't even know. Our church family was amazing in the prayer and support they gave during his hospital stay. I can tell you that prayer works!
Even before this trial started I had been challenged in my studies to dive further into a study of prayer. My wife and I had discussions on why trials come. A friend of mine shared a verse with me that has stuck like glue to my soul.
1 Peter 1:7 (NIV) - These (trials) have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in prayise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Looking back it seems that all these things happened to get us ready for the days to come.Little did we know that this verse would come alive in our lives so quickly.
Through this entire ordeal, and even now, we wanted Christ to be seen in us. We had the chance to be an influence on several other parents during our hospital stay. From something as little as touching a shoulder and telling them that we were praying for their kid, trust me, it makes a difference. While we were there we saw at least four families loose their children. As bad as our situation was we did not have to be there long or look too far to see other people who had it worse than we did. But through it all God was and remains faithful.
During my study I was drawn to John chapter 11. This is a familiar passage but as I thought about the times I had heard speakers discuss the topic, I could not remember anyone spending any time on Jesus' prayer.
Jesus is our example. God loves us as we are but does not intend on leaving us this way. He wants us to be more like Jesus.
John 11:32-45 (KJV)
32Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.
34And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
35Jesus wept.
36Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
37And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
38Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
40Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
41Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
45Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
You wouldn't know it by listening to him speak but Ted Turner was raised in a strict Christian home. At one time he even considered becoming a missionary. But Ted became disenchanted with Christianity after his sister died - in spite of Ted's prayers.
Have you ever considered giving up? Ever want to give up on seeing your prayers answered? Sure we all have. Who among us hasn't? We quit praying because of discouragement and doubt; because deep down inside we wonder if prayer really makes a difference.
So how do we keep going on when we feel like bailing out? I think we need to follow Jesus' example in our text. This was not His most famous prayer. In fact, preachers often skip from verse 39 straight to verse 43 totally omittng Jesus' prayer. I feel the prayer is the most important part of the story.
With Jesus being our example, let's learn some things from His prayer and put them into practice in our own prayer lives.
1. He Removed all Obstacles (v39)
I've often wondered why Jesus told them to move the stone. Was it because He couldn't? Or wouldn't? I think there are three reasons He told THEM to move the stone.
- That was something they could do themselves. God will not do for us what we can do for ourselves.
- Jesus wanted them to be able to see the miracle (much like His empty tomb in the not to distant future)
- Jesus wanted the miracle to get to them.
When we remove all the obstacles in our prayer life we allow others (and ourselves) to see the miracle and allow the miracle to get to us.
What obstacles do we need to remove from our lives so that the answer to our prayers can reach us? Worry? Doubt? Confusion? Us?
Notice that as Jesus was begining to answer Martha's prayer - she begins to question Him (v39, "Lord, he stinketh", "been dead four days". Basically saying to God you can't do that. How many times have we been part of an emotional, Spiritual service and promised God that we would do whatever He wanted us to do? Then He shows us and we begin to question and argue with Him? Martha was too busy trying to reason the circumstances instead of trusting the creator.
2. He Prayed a Prayer of Confidence (v41-42)
In these verses we see that Christ had the confidence that His Father had and would hear His prayers. Did you know that God hears every prayer we pray? We need to grasp the concept that God hears each prayer and responds according to His will.
A. 2 Samuel 22:7 (David's prayer of thanksgiving) "In my distress I called upon the Lord...he did hear my voice...and my cry did enter his ears."
B. Psalm 34:15 tells us that God's ears are open to our cry.
How much better, how much more effective would our prayers be if we would only realize that the Lord of Heaven, the King of Kings, the one who spoke the world and the universe into place....actually cared and heard our prayer?
A. 2 Samuel 22:7 (David's prayer of thanksgiving) "In my distress I called upon the Lord...he did hear my voice...and my cry did enter his ears."
B. Psalm 34:15 tells us that God's ears are open to our cry.
How much better, how much more effective would our prayers be if we would only realize that the Lord of Heaven, the King of Kings, the one who spoke the world and the universe into place....actually cared and heard our prayer?
3. He Waited on the Answer
There is no way to know how much time passed between v43 and v44. It could have been that the very instant Jesus finished speaking Lazarus appeared. Or there could have been a little "Heavenly Drama" added to the mix just to add to the anticipation.
Honestly, it really does not matter how much time passed between the prayer and the answer - Lazarus walked out on God's time not mans. And so it is with answers to our prayers. They will be answered in His time not ours.
I heard a sermon recently by Dr. Adrian Rogers on the topic of prayer. In the sermon, Dr. Rogers pointed out that all prayers are heard and answered in one of four ways.
A. Direct - almost immediately after you pray the prayer you receive the answer
B. Delayed - you find yourself praying over and over, sometimes over many months and years until you see the answer
C. Different - you pray for one thing - God has another plan in mind and gives you something different and better
D. Denied - God just simply says no
I have received each one of those answers in my lifetime. The direct and different are easier to take than the delayed or denied.
I love Southern Gospel music and one of my favorite groups is Greater Vision. A few years ago, groupmember Rodney Griffin wrote a song about the conversion of his father in-law. Rodney had been praying for 14 years for his father in-law to get saved but he resisted. This was a man that would not go to church for any reason. Not a funeral or even his daughters wedding. It would have been easy Rodney to give up and stop praying after 1 year; 2 years; or even 5 years. But Rodney prayed for him at least once every day for those 14 years. Thats over 5000 prayers. He continued to pray. Through the doubt of whether God actually heard his prayer. Then his father in-law got deathly sick and for the first time faced death without Jesus. In a hospital room in Lexington, KY the night before major surgery - Rodney's father in-law was gloriously saved. Don't tell me otherwise, "It Pays to Pray".
Verse 1
Hand in hand at the altar
In tears of celebration
We’d never seen them smile like this before
She’d spent her life ‘a prayin’
On bended knee ‘a stayin’
And this morning he surrendered to the Lord
There’s a message in her story
Only God can get the glory
When a child of His keeps knocking at the door
In tears of celebration
We’d never seen them smile like this before
She’d spent her life ‘a prayin’
On bended knee ‘a stayin’
And this morning he surrendered to the Lord
There’s a message in her story
Only God can get the glory
When a child of His keeps knocking at the door
CHORUS
It Pays To Pray
It Pays to call upon His name
It Pays To Pray
To see a miracle displayed
You’ll forget the word, “impossible”
When you seek the Savior’s face
You’ll know He will make a way
It Pays To Pray
It Pays to call upon His name
It Pays To Pray
To see a miracle displayed
You’ll forget the word, “impossible”
When you seek the Savior’s face
You’ll know He will make a way
It Pays To Pray
Verse 2
You’re tempted to quit prayin’
You feel He’s never listenin’
The time has come and you must make a choice
Do you stop believin’
Forget what you’ve been seekin’
Or do you resolve that Jesus hears your voice?
He will hush the angel praises
Just to hear what you are sayin’
And at any moment now you will rejoice
You’re tempted to quit prayin’
You feel He’s never listenin’
The time has come and you must make a choice
Do you stop believin’
Forget what you’ve been seekin’
Or do you resolve that Jesus hears your voice?
He will hush the angel praises
Just to hear what you are sayin’
And at any moment now you will rejoice
Bridge
Prayer is just as big as God is. Prayer is just as strong as God is strong
Prayer can reach as far as God can reach. Don’t ever give up just pray.
Prayer is just as big as God is. Prayer is just as strong as God is strong
Prayer can reach as far as God can reach. Don’t ever give up just pray.
Words and Music by Rodney Griffin, ©2007 Songs of Greater Vision, BMI.
Let's put these principles into play in our prayer life and see what God can do in and through us.
