In the following sermon, Ray Stedman preaches on the topic of prayer and
the
im****tance it has in a Christian's life in Christ.
May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
my blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
---
POWER IN PRAYER
by Ray C. Stedman
In our last study together in First John, Chapter 3, we looked at the
problem of an accusing heart, i.e., a condemning conscience. What do you
do
as a Christian when your heart condemns you? As we saw, the usual result
of
a condemning conscience is a tendency to ignore God, to keep in the
shadows
and to distrust his love, to criticize his people and in many ways to
manifest the fact that we have lost contact with the God who indwells us.
The answer, as we saw in First John 3:19, was to reassure our hearts by a
deed of self-giving love: "Little children, let us not love in word or
speech," says John, "but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that
we
are of the truth, and reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts
condemn us," {1 Jn 3:18-19 RSV}.
We are to give ourselves to someone who is in need or help another in his
problem, repay good for evil, or give back kind words instead of caustic,
sharp ones. The result, John says, will be a sense of reassurance. If we
are
really in Christ, rivers of love and peace will begin to flow out from our
hearts again, and it will be impossible to remain condemned. That
reassurance, as we saw, is the first result of the practice of love. There
are two more results that follow in this section, beginning with Verse 21
to
the end of the chapter, and it is this passage that we take now:
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God;
and
we receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and
do
what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in
the
name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he has
commanded
us. All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by
this
we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us. {1 Jn
3:21-24 RSV}
You will notice that this is the other side of the case. This is the
situation when our hearts do not condemn us. Here is the one who has
solved
the problem of a condemning heart, has resolved his situation before God,
perhaps by the exercise of some gracious loving word or deed, and thus has
received the assurance that he is "of the truth," that he is "in Christ."
If
your heart does not condemn you, then what happens? This is what is before
us in this passage.
As Paul says in his letter the Philippians, "we are those who wor****p God
in
spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh,"
{Phil 3:3b RSV}. That is the condition of the person whose heart does not
condemn him. He is not looking at himself at all; he is looking at God and
the greatness, the majesty, the glory, and the power of God. He is
glorying
in the availability of the Lord Jesus Christ. To "glory in Christ Jesus"
is
to not glory in anything that man can do or hopes to do, but to glory in
what Christ can do in him. He has no confidence in the flesh whatever.
Now in practical terms, what is the result of that kind of experience?
Well,
John says, the result will be that "we will have confidence before God,
and
we shall receive from him whatever we ask." In other words, the result is
the experience of a daily adventure of answered prayer, the excitement of
actually seeing God working in your life and in the lives of those with
whom
you are in contact, the daily stimulation of asking and receiving from
God.
This is really the normal Christian life. This is what God intended us to
experience every day.
Part of the reason why so many are finding Christianity to be boring and
mediocre and often sterile is because they are not experiencing this kind
of
Christian living. Many young people have almost lost all hope that
Christianity can ever do or be what its glowing terms describe. The reason
is that they have not entered into this kind of relation****p, where each
day, every day, they experience the glorious adventure of seeing a living
God at work, answering prayer and giving to them things that they ask. But
in this passage we have a beautiful picture of the normal life of a
Christian. It is all centered in prayer, because prayer is the most
characteristic and the most fundamental relation****p that a Christian can
experience. Prayer is the expression of dependence on a loving God, and
the
whole Christian life, as we have learned in many other passages, is to be
characterized by a continuous attitude and spirit of prayer. "Pray without
ceasing" {1 Th 5:17 KJV}, says the Apostle Paul. This is what exciting
Christian living demands.
Now look at the earmarks of true prayer which John brings out in this
passage: First, there is the spirit of prayer. "We have confidence before
God" (and the word is, literally, "boldness"); we have boldness before
God.
If you have boldness before someone, it implies that you are in a close
relation****p with them, that you have a clear right to come before them.
There is no fear of rebuke but a good understanding between you. Thus, to
have confidence or boldness before God implies that you have a clear
understanding of your right to come before him.
Occasionally I have strangers come to me and ask me to do a favor for
them,
in one way or another, in terms of counseling or advice. I've noticed that
they usually approach me in a rather diffident manner. Quite often they
call
me "Doctor," even though I'm not even a nurse! They usually have a very
polite tone to their voice, and some have even confessed to me later that
they approached me with some degree of trembling and fear. I wonder what
my
reputation was in their eyes! But there are certain people who have no
fear
at all of me -- my children. They come to me with boldness; in fact, even
brazenness at times. They seem to be perfectly confident that they have
the
right to come to me. I do not always grant their request, but they do not
hesitate at all in coming to me because they feel they have the right to
come.
That is what John is getting at here. Prayer is to grow out of such an
understanding of the truth God has declared in his Word, that we have no
questions about our right to come. We do not come on our own merit or
position before him, for we know that we have no such ground. We come on
Christ's merit. We come in his place. We come "in his name," and thus we
can
have boldness, just as he had boldness before the Father. All through that
wonderful three-year ministry of his, note how many times he declared how
perfectly at home he was in his conversations with the Father. He said,
"Father, I know that thou hearest me always, because I do always those
things that are pleasing to you," {cf, John 11:42}. He came, therefore,
with
boldness. Now that is the spirit out of which prayer grows.
But notice also the purpose of prayer, as John sets it forth here. "We
have
confidence before God; and we receive from him ..." That is what prayer is
for. It is that you and I might be on the receiving end of God 's grace,
God's goodness, and God's glory. We receive from him. God is a giving God;
he delights to give. He has all the resources of a superabundant universe
from which to pour out to us. The cattle on a thousand hills are his {cf,
Psa 50:10}. You know the figures that Scripture adopts in order to make
clear to us how full are God's riches. His purpose and his plan are to
give
to us. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians says, "You know the grace of
our
Lord Jesus Christ; that though he was rich, yet he became poor in order
that
we, through his poverty, might be made rich," {cf, 2 Cor 8:9 RSV}. This is
God's purpose, to make us rich. Not in material things always, by any
means,
for that is not where true riches lie. Many a millionaire would give every
cent of his money if he could have a little peace of heart or joy of
spirit.
But riches, true riches, God loves to pour out into human life. The riches
of abundant life -- that is what Christ came to give. There is nothing
more
exciting than to see an invisible God do, in your life, visible things
which
only he could do; meeting your needs, satisfying your hearts,
accompli****ng
your desires, doing what you could never do. And, as Paul adds in
Ephesians,
"exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think," {Eph 3:20b
KJV}. Now that is not mere theological twaddle; those are words that the
faithful God has committed himself to, for our supply. If we are poverty
stricken it is only our own fault, for God has designed a wonderful
process
by which we might receive from him. That is the purpose of prayer.
Now look at the scope of it: "whatever we ask." Not everything we ask,
because sometimes, James tells us, "we ask amiss" {cf, Jas 4:3}, that we
might consume it upon our own lusts. Prayer was never intended to be a
means
by which you could get a new Cadillac, or some other new toy your heart is
set on. No, no. It is not for your own lusts. That lies outside the realm
and scope of prayer. But within the realm for which prayer is intended
there
is no limit: "Whatever we ask." There is no limit to the nature or the
type
of request. It can be in the realm of the physical, the realm of the
spiritual, the material, or the emotional. As long as it lies in the
direction for which prayer is intended, it is whatever you need, whatever
you ask. This is a great promise, is it not? For hours on end I could tell
you tales of the supply of God in this manner; of the supply of coats,
hats,
shoes and food, etc.
One of the most amazing stories I know of in regard to prayer is the
supply
of four peculiarly-shaped bolts, designed for a certain piece of
equipment,
to some missionaries in a desert place in Guatemala. God supplied those
unique bolts in a most amazing way amid cir***stances where such supply
would never appear even remotely possible. There are many
well-authenticated
incidents of the supply of needs in other areas such as changed attitudes,
reversed decisions, restrained violence, and many others. The record of
Scripture and of Christian experience is full of remarkable answers to
prayer that God has granted, whereby he has simply changed a complete
situation on many levels of experience: "Whatever you ask." It is not only
about religious things that you need to pray. You can pray about anything.
As Paul puts it in Philippians, simply, "Let your requests be made known
unto him," {cf, Phil 4:6}.
John now suggests the conditions of prayer. This is extremely im****tant,
because God always gives his great prayer promises on the basis of certain
clearly described conditions. No promise is unconditional and these
conditions need to be carefully regarded. It reminds one of that little
sign, one of my favorites, "When all else fails, follow directions." This
is
certainly true in this subject of prayer, we need to follow directions.
And
here it is -- "because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him."
Those are the conditions; because we keep his commandments and do things
pleasing to him.
Now there are many people who misread that badly. They read it as though
it
says in effect, "If you go to church, read your Bible, and witness to your
friends, these are the things that are pleasing to God, and if you do all
these things faithfully, he will answer your prayers." But that is not
what
it says, and that is not what it means. Activity of any kind is not
necessarily pleasing to God. This is where we often make a mistake.
A lady came up to me a couple of weeks ago and said, "I don't understand
why
God doesn't answer my prayers. I go to church every Sunday. I read my
Bible
every day, but God doesn't answer prayers for me. What's the matter?" It
was
obvious that she was reading this as though going to church, reading the
Bible and witnessing to others were the things that are pleasing to God
and
fulfill his commandments. Thus, she thought her prayers should be
answered.
It is a mistake to read this as though the things pleasing to God are
religious activities. This does not refer to anything you do of itself,
because nothing you do of itself is pleasing to God!
This is the mistake the Israelites made in the Old Testament. They thought
that the bringing of sacrifices and offering them, the fulfilling of the
ritual demanded by the Law of Moses were, in themselves, pleasing to God.
But God sent the prophets to them to say, "No, they are not." "Away with
your vain oblations. Your sweet-smelling incense stinks in my nostrils,"
{cf, Isa 1:13, 3:24 KJV}. Why? Because their lives were not in accord with
these. It is not what you do, it is why and how you do it, that interests
God. John makes this clear in Verse 23. Here we have the context of
prayer.
And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son
Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he has commanded us. {1 Jn
3:23
RSV}
He wants to make it crystal clear that it is not activities that are
pleasing to God; it is attitudes. It is not the Ten Commandments that are
in
view here at all. John goes on to make that clear. It is the one great
commandment which lies behind all ten: "the first and great commandment"
{Matt 22:38 KJV}, Jesus called it. "Thou shalt love the Lord your God with
all your heart and all your strength and all your soul and all your mind;
and your neighbor as yourself," {cf, Matt 22:37, 22:39 KJV}. The only way
to
love God acceptably is to believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ.
That
is why John puts it in this way. Certain of the Jews once came to Jesus
and
said to him, "What can we do that we might work the works of God? You are
working the works of God; what can we do that we might work the works of
God?" {cf, John 6:28 KJV}.
And Jesus said, unhesitatingly, "This is the work of God, that you believe
on him whom he has sent," {cf, John 6:29}. That is the place to start. You
cannot do anything until you have done that. You cannot love God until you
believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ; then you can love one
another,
as he has commanded us. Now it is not particularly the initial act of
faith
in Jesus Christ that is in view here. John is not talking about the act by
which, by faith, you became a Christian when you believed in Jesus. That
is
included, but that is not primarily what he is after here. The word
believe
here is in the aorist tense which in the Greek means a single, decisive
act.
While it is true that is the kind of act by which you entered the
Christian
life, what John has in view here are those repeated decisive acts by which
you count on Christ's power and authority to do whatever love for your
neighbor demands of you. These two are blended together. "Believe in the
name of his Son ... and love one another." It is all one commandment. What
John is saying is, the condition by which prayer is answered, and answered
abundantly, is that we make repeated decisive acts of fulfilling the
demands
of love toward another, depending upon the power of Jesus Christ within us
to perform it. That is "believing on the name of the Son of God," counting
on his authority, on his power. Notice there are two things in that. There
is decision and direction:
Taking them in reverse order, there is the direction toward which prayer
always moves, love for another. That is the context of prayer, the limits
of
prayer. That defines what is meant by the term, "whatever we ask."
Whatever
we need to fulfill this demand to love one another we can have. We are not
to ask for things outside that, but if you really set yourself to love
another then you can have whatever you need to fulfill it. "Whatever you
ask," whatever your need may be. That is the direction.
The decision is the action you take to accomplish this, counting on Jesus
Christ to come through and make it possible. God never moves your will to
make a decision. You must do that. But when you decide to do what he tells
you to do in his demand to love another, he then comes through with the
power to make it possible. The result is that everything you do is
pleasing
to God. If it is all moving in this direction it does not make any
difference whether it is little or big, whether it is costly or not,
whether
it is a glass of water given in the name of the Lord, or thousands of
dollars invested in some enterprise, even though it is but a kind word
spoken to a hungry heart, it is pleasing to him. It is not the activity;
it
is the attitude, the motive that prompts it, that makes all the
difference.
It is "by faith," counting on the living God within you to make it
possible.
This was all illustrated to me recently when a couple from out of town
came
into my study. As they sat down, I noticed that the woman was particularly
troubled. She was so distressed that she could hardly keep the tears from
running down her cheeks. The man began to explain the cir***stances. It
seemed they had a son-in-law who was involved in a very difficult moral
problem, and this dear woman found that this man was repugnant to her,
absolutely repulsive, she could not stand him around. She loved her
daughter
and she hated the man for what he was doing to her daughter. She was eaten
up with rankling resentment and bitterness against him. Every thought of
him
burned in her mind and heart, and she could not put him out of her
thoughts.
Any time she had any contact with him she was utterly revolted.
All this was destroying her. She could not sleep at night, she could not
eat. She was always tense, anxious, and there she was striking out at
others
in her home, caustic and sharp in her words. As we talked, all this came
pouring out. She was not trying to be defensive and justify it, she just
poured it all out. She said, "This is the case, and I don't know what to
do
about it. I can't stand this fellow." I said to her finally, "Well, you
know
this is not what the Lord wants of you, is it? He tells us that we are to
love one another. You are to love this fellow who is so repulsive to you."
She said, "I know that's what the Bible says, but I just can't do it." I
said, "But that's the place to start, you see. You're saying that you
can't,
but really you can because God says you can. You feel you can't because,
of
course, out of your own strength and effort you can't. But God can because
God does. God loves him already. He sees him, not as you see him, as an
obstacle to your family's happiness; he sees this man as a man in the grip
of an evil habit, an evil thing that is wrecking and ruining his life but
for which he is not wholly responsible. God's heart goes out in compassion
and pity to him, and he desires to deliver him. That kind of God lives in
you, and he can love that man through you, if you will let him. All he is
waiting for is your will set in line with his. If you will say, 'I want
to.
If you will make me want to, I'll do it, Lord,' that is what he is waiting
for."
She said, "Well, God knows I want to love him, if I could." I said, "You
tell him that, will you?" Together we bowed there and she poured out her
inability to love. She confessed her sin. She admitted that she had
refused
to love him, and didn't want to do it. But she saw that this was contrary
to
the will of God and she asked God to love him through her. When we
finished
the prayer and they stood up to go she took my hand and said, "Oh, I'm so
glad I stopped to see you. I feel better already." Now, I do not know what
the result has been. I trust it has been victory on her part because it
certainly is possible. But even then the peace of God was beginning to
possess her heart again. The weary, strained, tense lines were fading away
from her face. God was fulfilling what he had promised to do. Notice, now,
how Verse 24 completes this whole picture:
All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we
know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us. {1 Jn 3:24
RSV}
Jesus said, "If any man loves me he will keep my word, and my Father and
we
will come unto him and make our home in him," {cf, John 14:23}. Here John
completes the whole picture. The activity of love, he says, results in a
reassured heart, power in prayer, and anyone who begins to live on that
level makes evident that He is living a Spirit-filled life, the life that
God intended. God abides in him, and he abides in God, and this is the
mark
of it.
When John says, "By this," he is referring to all that precedes. "By
this,"
i.e., by this reassurance of heart, by this evidence of answered prayer,
by
this flowing out of love to another in active deeds and thoughts -- by
this
we know that he abides in us and it all comes by means of the spirit of
God
who indwells us. As Paul says in Romans 5, "The love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us," {cf, Rom 5:5 KJV}.
That is the power of all Christian experience.
Now, do you see what John is after? You cannot bottle up the Holy Spirit
in
your life for your own enjoyment. There are some people today who are
desperately trying to have the Spirit only because they are concerned
about
certain gifts that he might give, certain ecstatic experiences that they
can
go through and this is what they want. But you cannot use the Spirit of
God
that way. You cannot bottle him up. He must flow through you. If you try
to
keep him to yourself, your whole experience will stagnate and become
mediocre, dull, sterile and lifeless. But if you let him flow through you,
ministering to others in his name, by his power, then your own life will
become refreshed and fragrant and fruitful -- by the Spirit of God who
dwells in you. Everybody else, looking at you, will see that you have
discovered the secret of victorious Christian living, of the abundant life
made available in Jesus Christ. Do you want that? Well, God is no
respecter
of persons. This is available for anyone, everyone, young or old, rich or
poor, it does not make any difference; this abundant life is available in
Jesus Christ.
Prayer:
Thank you, our Heavenly Father, for this bird's-eye look at the wonderful
provision waiting for us to step into and experience each day. We thank
you
for him, your Son Jesus Christ, who dwells within us. We pray that we may
have the simple faith to believe him and to take decisive actions of
manifesting love toward other people who are in need, physically or
emotionally -- hungry-hearted, lonely people -- perhaps even our own
children who need love, need to be accepted, need to have us stop our
criticism and show concern and acceptance of them. Let thy love flow
through
us and, flowing through us, bless us. For you have promised, Lord Jesus,
that if any man thirst he may come to you and drink, and out of his
innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. We thank you, in thy
name, Amen.
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