Confidence in Prayer – Jesus and Paul’s Prayer Lessons

SPEAKER 02 : 0:00

Welcome to the InTouch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, October 9th. Fear can be debilitating, but for believers, it can hinder our ability to hear from God. Let’s learn to recognize when that’s happening and gain confidence in prayer.

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If you’ll turn to 1 John chapter 5, and let’s look at the 14th and 15th verses of that chapter, and let’s answer some questions about coming to the Lord with confidence and boldness in our praying. Chapter 5, verse 14 and 15, and he says, “…and this is the confidence, the boldness, the assurance which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” and if we know that he hears us and whatever we ask we know that we have the request which we have asked of him now That is a simple promise that God has given to us concerning our prayer life, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and if we know that He hears us, and whatever we ask, we know that we have the petition that we desired of Him, or the request. But you say, well, now, I believe that, but the problem is, how do I know that I’m asking the right thing when I come to Him? Because so often, I’m not sure that I am asking the right thing as I bring my petition of my desires to God. all of us at times struggle with that that is Lord, here’s what I’m asking, but I’m not really sure it is your will. So it is natural and normal for us to struggle at times to know if what we are asking is really in keeping with what God wants for our life. So I want to mention two things to you. The second part has three parts to it. And the first one is this. When we come to this whole matter of confidence in prayer, I want to say first of all that our confidence in prayer is rooted in our relationship to Jesus Christ. Our confidence in prayer is rooted in our relationship to Jesus Christ. Because prayer is the exclusive right of believers. Prayer is the exclusive right of believers with this exception. When a person cries out to God for the forgiveness of their sin, when a person is asking God to save them, to bring about the new birth in their life, that is the only exception. Otherwise, prayer, petition, intercession, thanksgiving. Praising and worshiping God is the exclusive right of the child of God. He says you and I can come confidently, boldly before God. And if you’ll recall in Hebrews chapter 4, he says that we have an intercessor, Jesus Christ, seated at the Father’s right hand, making intercession for us. And it is because of him that the door of access is open to God the Father. And we have access, that is, we have access to God the Father at any moment of our life, at any time, to pray. But how many of us are coming to God the Father, even though the access is there, when we have deliberate, willful, known sin in our life? Listen to what he says. Beloved, if our heart, if, listen, condition, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. And whatever we ask, we receive from him. Why? Because we are in the process of keeping his commandments and doing the things that are pleasing in his sight. Therefore, the believer who comes to God in prayer and who comes with confidence will only come because his or her conscience is clear. They are attempting to walk in obedience to God the Father. It is their desire to walk in submission to him, to live according to his will, to live under the lordship of Jesus Christ, to live a life of obedience, a life of rebellion and indifference and independence before God, short circuits your confidence in God. So I want to ask you a question. What are you holding on to in your life that is cheating you out of confidence and boldness and faith in coming to God the Father, who has been willing to release his supernatural power in you and to open the gates of the riches and the wealth of heaven for you, but you want to forsake all of that for sin in your life? You’re not thinking. And so what we see in this first point is this, that our confidence in prayer is rooted in what? It is rooted in our relationship to Jesus Christ. But there’s a second thing I want you to notice here, and that’s this, that our confidence in prayer is directly related to God’s will. as it relates to that thing for which we are making a request, the thing that we desire. And so when he says, this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us and the thing that we’re asking, we know that we have the petition we desired of him. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to know one of these days, but he says, we know now. Present tense, we know that we have the petition that we desired of him. Now, go back if you will to Romans chapter 8 notice what he says this chapter if you recall this wonderful promise he says in verse 32 he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how will he not also with him freely give us all things that is god wants us to have what is good for us god wants us to know his will so when he says here in first john this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if we know that he hears us we know that we have the petition we desired of him So what he’s saying in this passage that we have the right. Listen, he says we have the privilege and the right to come to him and to know his will. Now, let me give you two illustrations. Now, I want you to listen carefully lest you misinterpret what I say about Jesus Christ. If you’ll turn to Matthew chapter 26 and you’ll recall that Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. And the cross is coming the next morning. And Jesus is praying. And all of us remember what he prayed there. But I want you to read beginning in verse 38 of chapter 26 of Matthew. Then he said to them, speaking of his apostles, My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch with me. And he went a little beyond them and fell on his face and prayed, saying, Now listen to what Jesus prayed. My father… If it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but as thou wilt. Here’s the Son of God. It’s important that you understand something. When he says, let this cup pass from me, Jesus was not saying, is there any way that I can avoid dying for the sin of mankind? When he says, if this cup may pass from me, what was the cup? The cup was this. The cup represented something that Jesus Christ had never experienced in all of his eternity past. He had never been separated from the Father. What Jesus was asking his Father, is there any way for me to do this without suffering separation from you? In his humanity, looking at the cross and understanding that he was going to die for the sin of all mankind and facing the awful, awesome reality that in his perfect, eternal oneness with God the Father, he was going to be separated from him and he would bear upon himself all the sin of mankind, he cried out, Father, is there any way, is there any way for me to avoid separation from you? If there were some way, that’s what he wanted. But if not, he says, thy will be done. And let me give you a second illustration. Go back to, on over to 2 Corinthians chapter 12. You recall in this 12th chapter, a good example of oftentimes the way we find out the Lord’s will. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Now remember that when Paul wrote these epistles and he gives us illustrations of things that have happened in his life, he’s telling us naturally after they’ve happened. And so it’s very important in looking at this. So you remember he talks about his weakness and then he says in verse 7. Now… The Bible says that Paul came to God three times. Now, when he says he entreated him, that doesn’t mean that he got down one night before he went to sleep and said, Lord, please take this away. Paul entreated God. I believe that more than likely Paul probably fasted and prayed and begged and pleaded with God to take away this thorn of the flesh. He probably said, Lord, I can serve you better if you’ll take it away. God, why have you allowed this in my life when I’ve given my life to serve you and to obey you and to proclaim your truth? God, please take it away. God didn’t take it away. And then if you’ll notice, at some time out there, after Paul had prayed and prayed and prayed for God to do it and God didn’t do it, Look in verse 9. God finally told him what his will was. And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, Paul says, I would rather boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, distresses, persecutions, difficulties. For Christ’s sake, for when I’m weak, then I am strong. What was Jesus Christ saying to the apostle Paul? Paul said, The thorn is distasteful. The thorn is hard. The thorn is painful. The thorn you want to escape. But I know that in your case, for your sake and for my glory and what I want to accomplish in your life, this thorn is an absolute necessity in order to keep you from becoming prideful and egotistical. And in order for me to accomplish my will and purpose in your life, the thorn stays. And what did Paul have to do? He had to accept the will of God. And you see, what I want you to understand is that God does want you to know His will. Sometimes He gives it early. Sometimes He gives it late. But He will show His will. Now, what is the process by which you and I come to Him and ask Him, Lord, what is Your will in this situation? How do we go about that? Well, let me remind you of three things here. First of all, three things are involved. The Word of God… the Spirit of God and the Spirit of man. And let’s look at this for a moment now to watch carefully. The Bible is the revelation of God’s general will. That is, all through the Scriptures, we see the will of God in two different fashions. One is that we see the very specific, clear commands of God. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not commit murder. Thou shalt not covet. Love your enemies. Love your brother. Do good to those who have wronged you. Be forgiving in your spirit. All of these things are very clear. Then there are those underlying principles that are not so clear to us and yet clear As you relate them to the commands, they become clear. They are those very clear commands, those underlying principles. Well, the Bible does not say, John, don’t marry Mary. But God does say, an underlying principle, don’t be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. So there’s the principle. So God uses His Word to reveal His will. He says, the entrance of Thy Word giveth light to my spirit. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And so, you and I understand that the Word of God involves that general revelation of God where He gives His general commands and His general principles for all people. Now, that’s fine. The question is, how do I get that to identify with my specific need and my particular request? So, God has not left anything unturned. So, I want us to look at two or three Scriptures here. Go back, if you will. I want to take you through these to John chapter 16. Listen to what Jesus is saying to his apostles. in the upper room the night before he is crucified he said in verse thirteen of John sixteen but when he the spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth so the Bible says the Holy Spirit’s responsibility is to guide us into all truth remember we read back in first John chapter five he says we have the witness within ourselves the Holy Spirit came into your life to dwell within you and he is there one of his primary responsibilities is to guide us into truth So we have the Holy Spirit living on the inside as our teaching guide. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Look there for a moment. In the second chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul is speaking and he says… In verse 10, for to us God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God or the deep things of God. Verse 12, now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that is the Holy Spirit, that we might know the things freely given to us by God. That is, the work of the Holy Spirit is to reveal truth. Then if you’ll go back to Romans chapter 8, one of those most familiar chapters, he says in verse 26, All right, now let’s see what we have. We have, first of all, the general revelation of God, the general will of God as spoken to all mankind. those clear commands and those underlying principles then we have indwelling us the Holy Spirit of God whose responsibility it is to take the word of God with his clear commands and his underlying principles and to interpret that for us in our behalf as it relates to the specific thing we are bringing to God It is absolutely essential that you and I are in the Word, discovering what are the principles of Scripture, what does the Word of God say, and then allowing the Holy Spirit to take the truth of His Word and apply that to our own specific requests that we’re making. But there’s a third thing involved. First of all, the Word of God. Second, the Spirit of God. And third, the Spirit of man. In order for that to happen, you and I must come to Him with the Word of God and Allowing the Spirit of God to work in our heart, the last absolute essential is that you and I have a submissive spirit. That is, that we are yielded to the Holy Spirit. We are walking in obedience to God. We’re allowing Him to control our life. So what does He do? The Spirit of God within you takes the general revelation of God and applies that to your particular need whatever your request may be, and makes it known to you the will of the Father. Sometimes He will make that known quickly. Sometimes it is over a long period of time, but it is the will of the Father for us to know when we come to Him in prayer. And sometimes He may delay our understanding what His will is in order to accomplish something else in our life. But he says, this is the confidence that we have in him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that what we’re asking is his will, we know that we have the petition that we desired of him. So the truth is, most of the time, you and I should come to the Father knowing what we know about the Word of God. relating to the Holy Spirit as we can and as we do, it should not be very difficult for us most of the time to know the will of the Father when we come to Him in prayer so that when we come, we come with confidence and boldness and assurance and we can come with expectation and anticipation that God is going to hear and answer our prayer. The revelation of God, that is the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and the submissive spirit of man. Those three are absolutely essential. He says we are to enter the throne room. He says we can come before him with boldness. What? Finding grace to help in time of need. Boldness because what? Our boldness and confidence is rooted in our relationship. to God through Christ. Our confidence is directly related to our understanding of the will of God about that particular thing that we’re requesting before Him. And when we choose to search the Word of God and allow the Spirit of God to take the Word of God and apply it, those principles and those truths in the light of what we are asking… And our will is submissive to His will. God will show us His will. He will give us the wonderful expectation and anticipation that God will hear and answer our prayer. Now listen, you’ve never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. I don’t even have to pray for you to say, Lord, would you save him if it’s your will? Would you save her if it’s your will? I know that it is the will of God for you to be saved right now. You say, well, how do you know that? Why is it? Well, it could be the will of God that I be saved 25 years from now because God says this in his word. Behold, today is the day of salvation. That is, God wants you saved the moment you hear the truth, and the first time you hear it is the first time you ought to be saved. You want God to do a supernatural work in your life? Then, my friend, get yourself in the will of God and life of obedience before Him, and God is sitting already in heaven willing to answer our prayer. But He’s not going to do it as long as I’m living disobediently before Him. Let me ask you a question. What is it that you’ve been asking God about that you know is His will? For example, somebody walks out and says, Pastor, I’ve been praying about being baptized. How long have you been saved? Well, I’ve been saved about 12 years. And I’ve been praying about being baptized. Stop praying and get baptized. Listen, when God tells you to do something, stop praying about it and do it. You see, this is the devil’s trick. Well, I’m praying about it. When God says to you, this is what I want you to do, you stop praying about whether to do it or not and thank God and praise Him and pray for the strength and the wisdom and the knowledge and the understanding to do it and do it. That’s what builds confidence and boldness and anticipation in answered prayer.

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Thank you for listening to part two of Confidence in Prayer. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station. And if you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.