Jesus Teaches About Prayer

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Fifth Sunday After Easter
Jesus Teaches About Prayer
May 9, 2010

TEXT:  (John 16:23-30 NKJ)  "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 25 "These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 "In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; 27 "for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. 28 "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father." 29 His disciples said to Him, "See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! 30 "Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God."
 
Back in Martin Luther’s day—the early 1500s—the Roman Catholic Church celebrated a week of prayer just prior to the Day of Ascension of Our Lord—Luther describes some of the debauchery and sinful behavior that took place during the “celebration”—there were parades through the streets—and processions with crosses—but little or no serious effort to pray—the church removed the celebration from the church year calendar—but left ROGATE SUNDAY—a Sunday to consider prayer—ROGATE means to beg or plead—Christians should beg God for forgiveness—and plead for His grace and mercy to bring unbelievers into belief through God’s Holy Spirit—in the United States of America the church tradition of a week of prayer continues—but now we are careful to not mention Jesus—and a judge has even declared such an observation of prayer week to be unconstitutional
 
With this as our background—we consider the text—earlier in this chapter—Jesus told His disciples that there will be a day when they would be thrown out of the synagogues—they would be killed by people who would think it was a service to God—and we know these things became true in the form of Paul the Pharisee and other men like him—Jesus just explained that He would be going away and sending the Holy Spirit to comfort them and teach them—and now in our text Jesus tells His disciples that they have not asked Him for anything while He walked with them—but when He goes away—returns to heaven—they do not need Him to go to the Father on their behalf—the Father loves them because they believed the Son—and they loved the Son as the Son of God—they should pray to the Father and ask that He keep His promises
 
The disciples were not the only ones who needed to be reminded of their responsibility to maintain a prayer life—we are all on that list—we should all pray with sincerity and intensity for the grace and mercy of God—how do we do that?—listen to what Luther taught concerning prayer—he taught that there are 5 things necessary to have true prayer
 
 
 
 
First—The Foundation of Prayer—God’s Promise
 
TEXT:  (John 16:23-24 NKJ) "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24 "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
 
Examine the words of the text that are not highlighted in bold text and find Jesus almost chastising His disciples—you haven’t asked for a thing while I was with you—almost as if they were too lazy to pray—perhaps this verse is to prepare us for their lack of participation in the Garden of Gethsemane—when the disciples kept falling asleep—Jesus needed their attention and support—their prayers of supplication—but they slept instead—here He tells them the promise of the power of prayer—and in a short few hours they would ignore the lesson and take a nap—let us not follow that lead—without faith and this promise of God through Christ who would have the courage to pray?—but we do have the faith of the Holy Spirit within us—and we do have the promise of God the Father to give us all that we ask—therefore, who would not have the courage to pray?
 
Some of us might be thinking let someone else pray—someone who knows the Bible better than I do—someone who is not such a sinner as I am—who am I to stand before God and beg?—none of us is worthy—yet all of us are worthy—you need only remember Paul—a murderer who tried to destroy the Church by killing its members—Paul prayed—are we any worse than Paul?
 
Second—Confidence in the Promise of God—Faith
 
If we believe that God’s promise is true—and we do not doubt—God will provide what He promised—He will give us what we ask
 
(James 1:5-7 NKJ)  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
 
(1 John 5:14-15 NKJ)  Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
 
There is no better example of a believer with unwavering faith in the God he could not see—the God of promises in the Old Testament—than the Prophet Elijah—who risked his life on a prayer to bring unbelievers back to being God’s children—Elijah went to God in prayer—and asked for fire to ignite the sacrificed animal—and ignite the hearts of the men observing Elijah and the prophets of Baal
 
(1 Kings 18:35-39 NKJ)  So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water. 36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, "LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 "Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again." 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!"
 
Elijah’s prayer was answered—and God’s people were given a dramatic demonstration of the power of God—and of the power of prayer—prayer in faith—unwavering prayer from the heart—prayer for the things of God for God’s people—Elijah had full confidence in God—and God granted what Elijah requested in prayer—have you ever prayed like Elijah?—not for fire to come down from heaven—but for the salvation of those not in the Flock—that those unbelievers would believe
 
Third—Pray for Something or Someone Specific—Pray a Request
 
TEXT:  (John 16:24 NKJ)  "Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
 
Pray for your forgiveness of sins—and pray for those that belong to Satan—that they may come to understanding and become Christians—again, do not doubt the power of prayer or the power of God
 
 
Fourth—Prayer with a Heart Full of Desire for an Answer—Ask
Luther offers the example of the short man named Zacchaeus—he was the chief tax collector— Zacchaeus ran ahead to climb a tree so he could at least see Jesus as He passed by—Jesus called Zacchaeus down from the tree before he had a chance to even see Jesus—Zacchaeus’ prayer was answered—God showed that He could do even more than we ask of Him
 
(Ephesians 3:20 NKJ)  Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
 
Fifth—Come in Faith—Ask in the Name of Christ
 (John 16:14-15 NKJ)  "He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 "All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.
 
We live in a world full of stuff—we are surrounded by stuff—we are in this world as temporary beings—we await return to our heavenly home—as King Solomon taught us “nothing in this world matters”—only our relationship with God matters—Jesus said all that is His—is ours when we ask—God promised—and we pray in Jesus’ name to request and even beg for the things we were promised—PRAY OFTEN—PRAY WITH CONFIDENCE—PRAY WITH SINCERITY—PRAY FROM YOUR HEART PRAYERS OF FAITH—IN JESUS’ NAME—AMEN
 
ALL GLORY BE TO GOD!