Category: Pastor Tim’s Blog

Few of us think about “no” as an answer to prayer.  We feel rebuffed, turned down, or rejected when we don’t get what we had hoped as we prayed.  But God is gracious.  Even in His “NO” He is showing us mercy!

Sometimes we hear NO and it means, “NO, YOU are not ready for what you are asking for.”  Sometimes we hear NO and it means, “NO, the timing is not right for this yet.”  And sometimes we hear “NO” and it means, “I am doing something even in the unpleasant circumstances of your life to help you to GROW spiritually.”  “NO,” then, means SLOW…you need to GROW!

Often in the midst of the fiery trial we learn our most important lessons of being shaped and conformed to the image of Christ.  We remember it is the PRIMARY reason God saves us and then leaves us here on earth “that we may be conformed to the image of Christ.”  (Romans 8:26)

But the process of being conformed takes time.  It is not instantaneous; in fact, it takes a lifetime!  We somehow have bought a lie that says God saved us to make us comfortable and happy, when in reality God saved us to make us conformable and holy!

When Paul prayed in 2 Corinthians 12 asking God to take away from him a “thorn in the flesh” that was continually tormenting him and slowing him down, Paul received a gracious NO.  God’s gracious NO was, “Paul, I am not taking this thorn away from you.  It is my plan to allow your experience with it to keep you humble and to make you conform to the image of my Son.”

Sometimes, NO means GROW.  It’s time for us to stop expecting that God is just waiting for our next command to ensure our comfort and begin believing that, even when the thorn is sticking us, God is in control.

“My grace is sufficient for you.”  2 Corinthians 12:9

FOR REFLECTION:  Are there experiences in your life that you assumed were God’s refusing to answer you that you now can see were God’s grace toward you?

We have all been there in one form or the other.  Everything that’s supposed to be plugged in, turned on, tightened up and tuned in has been done…

But it still doesn’t work.

The computer won’t reboot
The iphone won’t connect to the wireless network
The lamp won’t light
The engine won’t crank
The screen won’t come on

…and on and on the list goes.  It happens.  To everyone.  Everything you think you are supposed to do to make it work; every carefully read detail in the directions (in three languages!) has been read and it still doesn’t work.

But most of us (except for the most anger-challenged among us) will try and try again before we throw an expensive phone, laptop, TV, or video game controller into the nearest body of water.  We’ll go through the directions… one more time (maybe in a different language this time).   And we’ll jiggle and re-tighten or call the tech support person in another country and change the battery or try a new cord.

So what happens when prayer doesn’t work?  When you feel the connection is not tight or, no matter how hard you try or how loudly you pound on Heaven’s door,  it seems no one hears and no one cares.  Is there a “tech support” person you can turn to or another set of instructions we can consult to find the problem?

Clearly there are instructions we can consult for just the moments we are talking about.  In the next blog, we will talk specifically about reasons our prayers don’t get answered.  But for a starting place let’s acknowledge that the primary purpose of our prayer experience with God is not about walking away with the “prize” we are looking for.  It is truly about the time we spend with God, even if something is in our life that is unpleasant, and we want it (or them) GONE, or something is NOT in our life that we believe is necessary if we are going to be happy.

But what if an unanswered petition is not an indication that our prayer life is broken, but that it need to be deepened?  What if God’s intent and purpose in calling us into relationship with Him as expressed in prayer is more about His desire to spend time with us than with granting us “three wishes” as though He were a genie in a bottle?

Sometimes I believe the thing that most needs “fixing” is our expectation of what prayer is really about.  What if “getting something” from God is the lowest level; the entry level of prayer… while being content when your prayer isn’t answered is a mark of maturity?

In other words, maybe a repair isn’t what is needed at all.  Maybe… it’s a relationship.

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”  (James 4:4)

FOR REFLECTION:  How has God used an unmet need or an unanswered prayer to deepen your walk with and dependency upon Him?

“… there is so much rubble….”  (Nehemiah 4:10)

All of us have moments of discouragement in life.  It comes in different packaging, but discouragement is visiting us when:

1. We are weary with praying.
2. We are afraid.
3. We are tired physically.
4. We are lonely.

Discouragement is an emotional virus, like a cold.  Sometimes a cold will pass after few days. Sometimes a cold becomes pneumonia or something that is critical and life-threatening. Sometimes we can face and fight discouragement alone.  Often it helps to have others walk with us.  And like a cold, discouragement can become contagious.  It spreads.

Usually discouragement hits our prayer life first.  We can walk into a challenging time or experience with enthusiasm but then we become distracted by the rubble.  We get our eyes on the garbage and lose sight of the end result of what we are to be about.   (See Nehemiah 4:10-11)

Another way we can know we are coming down with discouragement is by listening to ourselves talk.  Have you become critical, judgmental or negative in what you say or think about others?  Maybe you are suffering from a bout of discouragement.
The good news is discouragement, while painful, does not have to be terminal.  We can fight back.  There is a cure.  And interestingly, it centers on our prayer life.  Three thoughts:

1. Get your eyes off the rubble and back on to the Lord.  We can become so discouraged by the work piling up and assignments coming due that we just want to give up.  We’re looking at the wrong thing!  Prayer helps us re-center our lives on the ONE who is most important.
2. Rest in prayer.  That doesn’t necessarily mean sleep, but if your prayers calm you enough to allow you to sleep, maybe that is the most spiritual thing you can do! Perhaps you need to begin “prayer walking”(for spiritual and physical health!)
3. Wait on the Lord.  “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is fixed on you” the Bible says. Sometimes we think it’s all up to us.  We need to realize that it’s all up to God.  Don’t get ahead of Him.  Make sure you aren’t outpacing where God wants you to be!

FOR REFLECTION 

Heavenly Father I know that, for whatever reason I have gotten my eyes off of You and allowed discouragement to slip in. I confess I am tired and weary.  Help me realize that sometimes You make me lie down in green pastures in order to get my attention. Help me spend some time by those still waters that will restore my soul. I thank You today that I can be confident of this, that You who began a good work in my life will bring it to completion in the day of Christ.  I now commit to taking my eyes off the rubble and putting them and keeping them on the Savior.

In His great name I pray.
Amen

We can sometimes major in legalistic issues when we pray. There is no Biblical prescription that mandates where we can or cannot pray, what our posture needs to be when we pray, whether we open or close our eyes (please keep them open if you’re praying and driving!!!), or what time of day. It also does not say we are to say certain words in a certain order, as if prayer is a magic formula.

At the same time, there are some things that we are to be sure to do when we pray. And one of those things Jesus taught us to do was to ask “in My name.” How are we to understand that? Does that mean we must say, “in Jesus’ name” for the prayer to “count?” Does it somehow nullify our request if we don’t add the right words at the end?

I certainly don’t think we can make it about that. To pray in someone’s name would mean to ask under someone else’s authority. We do not come to the Father in prayer in our own name. We don’t ask “in Charlie’s name” or “in Barbara’s name” when we pray. We come requesting “whatsoever we will” under the authority of the name of God’s Son. When we ask “in Jesus’ name” we are saying “we know Jesus.” We say “we have a right to ask because He said so.”

Rick Warren shared the story taking his son and nine of his son’s friends to an amusement park on his birthday when he was young. As the kids filed past Rick on their way in and he handed each of them a ticket, he got through the tenth kid and an eleventh walked up holding his hand out expecting a ticket. “I don’t know you” Rick said. And then the young stranger said the right thing: “Matthew told me to ask you for a ticket.” Rick said, “And you know what? I went and bought #11 a ticket… all because he said `I know your son.’ And that was enough for me.”

And when we ask what we will in prayer, believing in the name of Jesus… living out the call of Jesus in our lives… desiring what Jesus desires… when we act like Jesus… the Father hears us and responds. “I know Jesus!” we say when we pray in His name.

And the Father says, “That’s enough for Me.”

“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:3)

FOR REFLECTION: Do you remind the Father of His Son when you pray?

And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. 8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, 9 but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ 10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”  (Nehemiah 1:5-11)

“Faith is believing what you know ain’t so!”    So a young boy replied in Sunday School one day when asked how to define faith.  Do you pray in faith?  When you pray, AS you pray, do you really believe God is hearing you… that God is inclining His ear to you… that He is turning His face toward you in favor?  When you ask, in prayer, for God to do something amazing, something even miraculous, do you do so as though He is really going to respond to you in this way?  How much faith do we act in as we pray?

Few prayers are found in the Bible that were prayed with more faith than the prayer in Nehemiah 1:5-11.  In that prayer are four powerful ways to pray in faith… believing what IS so:

• Pray persistently.  The fact that God did not immediately answer Nehemiah’s prayer (he prayed this prayer for four months!) built Nehemiah’s faith.  He was about to undertake an incredibly difficult role… he needed great faith to accomplish it.  Sometimes God delays, not to be cruel or capricious, but to strengthen our faith and resolve as we continue to pray.
• Pray with purity.  Nehemiah not only was persistent in his prayer, but he prayed with purity.  He confessed his sins and the sins of his people before the Lord.  We need to pray with purity as we pray.
• Pray the promises of God.  Nehemiah not only prayed reminding God of Who He was, but He prayed reminding God of he promises He had made… even promises He had made to Moses in days past!
• Pray particularly.  We need to pray specifically when and when God answers the prayer we will know it’s His answer because the ask was so detailed.  Nehemiah prayed for success and favor as he approached the king.  Your prayer may need to be far more specific than it is.  It takes little faith to pray generally, but much faith to pray in specifics.  Be bold enough, by faith, to ask God to do what only HE can do for you.  And then, taking Him at His Word, relying on His character, asking with purity in our lives and praying persistently, we can see God do great and glorious things through our life!

FOR REFLECTION:  Think about the prayer you prayed or will pray today.  How specific is it?  What are you really asking God to do?