“POWER IN PRAYER #4-REAL PRAYER BRINGS REAL ANSWERS” MARK 11:24 INTRO: Real prayer is a serious concern, for we are speaking to the sovereign Lord of all the universe, who is willing to move heaven and earth in answer to sincere and reasonable prayer. Prayer is not a mechanical duty, but a wonderful opportunity to develop a loving and caring relationship with the most important Person in our lives. -- John Bunyan in Pilgrim's Prayer Book, edited by Louis Gifford Parkhurst, Jr. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 10. Friends, what does prayer mean to you and I? Is it merely an empty exercise or is it a earnest entreaty we offer to our God, Redeemer, and friend? Is it a delight or is it a duty? Charles Spurgeon wrote: “How many people there are who complain that they do not enjoy prayer. They do not neglect it, for they dare not, but they would neglect it if they dared, so far are they from finding any pleasure in prayer...We spend the time alloted for prayer, but we rise from our knees unrefreshed...There is no pouring out of our needs to Him in the firm conviction that He will supply them...Many Christians complain that they pray, not so much because it is a blessed thing to be allowed to draw near to God, but because they must pray, because it is their duty, because they feel that if they do not, they will lose one of the sure evidences of their being Christians” (Charles Spurgeon. The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life. pp. 61-62). Tonight, I want us to consider that REAL PRAYER BRINGS REAL ANSWERS. If we want to make prayer REAL, if we want to make prayer REWARDING, and if we make prayer REFRESHING we must get back to REAL PRAYING. Brother Lawrence in Practicing The Presence of God wrote: ”From the time when God became real to me, I knew that communicating with him--two way communication--was the most important thing in the world. To communicate with everyone else and be deaf and dumb to God is to turn our priorities upside down, isn't it?” -- David Winter in Christian Classics in Modern English: Brother Lawrence's Practicing the Presence of God. Christianity Today, Vol. 39, no. 13. I want us to note three things these evening as we consider, REAL PRAYER BRINGS REAL ANSWERS... (1) THE ASKING MARK 11:24a—“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire...” A. THE BELIEVER'S PROVIDER—“Therefore I say unto you...”. Our PROVIDER has unlimited POWER, unlimited RESOURCES, and unlimited WISDOM. His Word promises—“But my God shall supply all your need

according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19). He has promised in Psalm 107:9—“For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” All that we need we have in Jesus; we are complete in Him...God's ability IS inexhaustible in supplying our needs. He has exceeding and abundant supply, above anything we could think, ask, or hope for. Heaven's storehouse is inexhaustible. (Oliver B. Greene. The Epistle of Paul The Apostle to The Philippians. p. 130). It does not matter what our need is God can meet in through His riches in glory by Christ Jesus! B. THE BELIEVER'S PRIVILEGE—“What things soever ye desire...”. Charles Spurgeon said, ”Unless there is a fullness and overflowing of desires, it is not prayer. It may be something like prayer--the outward form or the bare skeleton--but it is not the living thing, the all-prevailing, almighty thing called prayer.” (Charles Spurgeon. The Power of Prayer in the Believer's Life. p. 62). Whatever things you desire according to the perfect and revealed will of God. What a privilege! But so often what a neglected privilege! Someone has said, “Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees.” -- Hymnwriters William Cowper and John Newton. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 1. I want you to notice the word desire. It is translated from a Greek word that means “to call for, require, crave.” Two things are involved here:

AN EARNESTNESS . According to the dictionary, earnestness means “having a intent direct in purpose; zealous.” (Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary. Volume 1, A-M. p. 200). Friend, does that describe your prayer life? ILLUS: Three ministers were talking about prayer in general and the

appropriate and effective positions for prayer. As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system in the background. One minister shared that he felt the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship. The second suggested that real prayer was conducted on your knees. The third suggested that they both had it wrong— the only position worth its salt was to pray while stretched out flat on your face. By this time the phone man couldn't stay out of the conversation any longer. He interjected, "I found that the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground." --James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 418.

Sadly, many Christians are only earnest in prayer when they are in a similar

situation as the telephone man. But God would have us to have earnestness in prayer at all times! AN EXPECTATION . When we have an expectation we are in the state of

mind in which we believe that we will receive something. Jesus said in Matthew 21:22—“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” ILLUS: At one time we had a 1956 station wagon that picked the most

inopportune times to refuse to start. My 4-year-old and I were about to set off on an errand. Wanting to instill in him the need to trust God for everything, I asked him to pray before we left. He closed his eyes tightly and prayed, "Dear Lord, please help this piece of junk start." -- Betty Traver, Great Bend, PA, Christian Reader, "Lite Fare." I have many times felt like that 4 year-old. The things we desire we just need to ask God for. (2) THE APPROACH MARK 11:24b—“when ye pray, believe that ye receive them...” A. THE ACTIVITY OF PRAYER—“when ye pray...”. This verse implies that we should have:

SPECIFIC TIMES FOR PRAYER . Every believer should have set times throughout the day in which they approach the throne of grace. The psalmist said, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” (Psalm 55:17). Sounds like a pretty good pattern to me. But not only this but we should always be in the spirit of prayer—“Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). You are dependent on God for every good; without him ye can do nothing; feel that dependence at all times, and ye will always be in the spirit of prayer; and those who feel this spirit will, as frequently as possible, be found in the exercise of prayer. (Adam Clarke. Adam Clarke's Commentary On The Bible. e-Sword. Version 7.8.5. Copyright 2000-2007. Rick Meyers. All Rights Reserved Worldwide). The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. --Samuel Chadwick (1832-1917) (Edythe Draper, Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1992). Entry #8985).

SPECIAL TIMES OF PRAYER . There are times when we just have to stop what we are doing and pray. When life knocks you to your knees--well, that's the best position in which to pray, isn't it? -- Ethel Barrymore. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 3.

B. THE AWARENESS IN PRAYER—“believe that ye receive them...”. Jesus said that the things you desire when you pray you should “believe that you receive them.” This means that you should believe that they are yours before you receive them. Someone said, “Pray the largest prayers. You cannot

think a prayer so large that God in answering it, will not wish you had made it larger. Pray not for crutches but for wings!” -- Phillips Brooks. Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 3. We must expect GREAT THINGS from God because He is a GREAT GOD! (3) THE ASSURANCE MARK 11:24c—“...and ye shall have them.” A. GOD'S PROMISES ARE FAITHFUL. When we pray according to the will of God we are promised He will hear and answer us—“If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:15). Our prayers are often motivated by our own interests and desires. We like to hear that we can have anything. But Jesus prayed with God’s interests in mind. When we pray, we should express our desires, but we should want his will above ours. (Life Application Bible Commentary: Mark. Copyright © 1994 by The Livingstone Corporation. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton, Illinois. All rights reserved. Life Application is a registered trademark of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 2002, Findex.com, Inc.).

B. GOD'S PROMISES ARE FRUITFUL. God will either give you what you ask, or something far better. -- Robert M. McCheyne, Christian Reader, Vol. 32, no. 4. Prayer is the key that unlocks all the storehouses of God's infinite grace and power. All that God is, and all that God has, is at the disposal of prayer. --R. A. Torrey (James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 425). The question is, “do we believe that tonight?” We lie to God in prayer if we don't rely on God after prayer. We must trust God He knows what we need but desires for us to simply ask Him for our needs. ILLUS: There is a story of a man who tried to weigh a prayer. He owned a little grocery store. It was the week before Christmas, shortly after World War I. A tired-looking woman came into the store and asked for enough food to make a Christmas dinner for the children. The grocer asked her how much she could spend. "My husband did not come back; he was killed in the War. And I have nothing to offer but a little prayer," she answered. The storekeeper was not very sentimental nor religious, so he said, half mockingly, "Write it on paper, and I will weigh it." To his surprise, the woman took a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to the man, saying, "I wrote it during the night while watching over my sick baby." The grocer took the piece of paper before he could recover from his surprise and, because other customers were watching and had heard his remarks, he placed the unread prayer on the weight side of the old-fashioned scales. Then he

began to pile food on the other side; but to his amazement, the scale would not go down. He became angry and flustered and finally said, “Well, that's all the scale will hold. Here's a bag; you will have to put it in yourself, I am busy." With trembling hands the woman filled the bag, and through moist eyes expressed her gratitude and departed. After that the store was empty of customers, the grocer examined the scales. Yes, they were broken and they had become broken just in time for God to answer the prayer of the woman. But as the years passed, the grocer often wondered about the incident. Why did the woman come at just the right time? Why had she already written the prayer in such a way as to confuse the grocer so that he did not examine the scales? The grocer is an old man now, but the weight of the paper still lingers with him. He never saw the woman again, nor had he seen her before that day. Yet he remembers her more than any of his customers. And he treasures the slip of paper upon which the woman's prayer had been written-simple words, but from a heart of faith, "Please, Lord, give us this day our daily bread." (2000+ Bible Illustrations. e- Sword. Version 7.8.5. Copyright 2000-2007. Rick Meyers. All Rights Reserved Worldwide).

CLOSING: REAL PRAYER BRINGS REAL ANSWERS. Friend, let me ask you tonight, “Do you really know how to pray? If so, Do you offer believing prayer when you pray?” Prayer is like a computer—you can only get out of it what you put into it. True prayer is a way of life, not just an emergency detour. (Croft M. Pentz, The Complete Book of Zingers (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1990).

We have looked tonight at THE ASKING, THE APPROACH, and THE ASSURANCE. The question tonight remains: “Do you really know how to pray? If so, Do you offer believing prayer when you pray?” Prepared by Brother Bryan L. Browning, Pastor of Beechmont Baptist Church, Beechmont, KY for Sunday Evening, February 18, 2007.