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Heartfelt prayer is never a meaningless exercise. Without exception, something is changed with every single prayer we offer to God. Last week, we talked about how prayer changes our attitude.
Here’s an important question: What do you expect is going to happen when you pray? Or maybe we should ask the question the opposite way: What do you expect is going to happen when you don’t pray? The writer of Hebrews talks about our expectation in coming to God (Hebrews 11:6).
Recall that last week that we used the word “attitude” as a pilot understands it; that is, the direction of the nose of the plane takes the rest of the plane and all its passengers up or down. The same thing is true of our expectation in prayer: it also impacts those around us.
There was a father that comes to Jesus with a heavy burden on his heart: his demonically-afflicted son (Mark 9:14-18). The man came in a posture of prayer (Matthew 17:14-15) only after he had first gone to the followers of Jesus, but they could not heal this boy.
Why? I don’t think they expected that they could ask for God’s power to be released. How sad! Look at what they had already experienced:
the miraculous feeding of the 4000 (Mark 8)
a deaf and mute man healed (Mark 7)
Jesus walking on the water and feeding 5000 people (Mark 6)
Jairus’ daughter raised to life (Mark 5)
And probably most shocking of all, they themselves had been used by God to heal people—“They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them” (Mark 6:12-13).
Jesus calls His disciples an “unbelieving generation” (9:19). Some translations use the word “faithless” (like the NKJV and NLT). The Greek word here is a- (without) + -pistos (faith) = apistos. Literally translated it means without trust in God.
Bu I think maybe Jesus was really saying, “O unexpecting generation!”
Their lack of expectation negatively impacted the praying father. He originally came in faith for healing, but now he says to Jesus, “If You can” (Mark 9:20-22).
Jesus calls on this father to banish the “if” (vv. 23-24). At the word of Jesus, the father’s expectation changes, he believes for a miracle, and the miracle happens (vv. 25-27)!
The disciples wanted to know how to banish the “if” from their hearts, and Jesus gives them an interesting answer in vv. 28-29. He tells them to pray. We are supposed to pray in faith, but that faith comes as we pray (Matthew 17:19-21). Other New Testament writers bring this out as well: James tells us the prayer offered in faith is effective (James 5:15), and Paul tells us to be faithful—or faith-filled—in our praying (Romans 12:12).
Does this sound circular? It is a beautifully circular thing!
Abdu Murray said, “Hope is a positive expectation of a desired future event. Faith is trusting in the One who promised to make that event happen.”
It was the word of Jesus that raised the expectation of the father, that gave him the spark of faith (Hebrews 11:1; Romans 10:17). Then he used that faith to raise his expectation of a miracle from God.
Go back to the biblical record or even your own personal history to see what God has already done. Let the word of Jesus ignite your expectations—let that word raise your expectations!—and then cling to His word as you pray in faith.
Faith fuels your prayer, and prayer fuels your faith. So we need to remain on the lookout for opportunities to pray for ourselves and others (Colossians 4:2).
Let me return to the opening question: What do you expect is going to happen when you pray? If your expectation is too low, start by praying, “God, forgive us of expectations of You that are too low!” Be humbly bold enough to admit, “I do believe, but help my unbelief.” Then when you hear the word of faith, expect the miracle through that faith. The longer you pray, the more you need to include a prayer for your own faith to remain expectant.
The God who gives you faith wants to reward that faith. Let prayer raise your expectations as you continually banish the “if”!
If you have missed any of the other messages in our series Prayer Changes Things, you can find them all by clicking here.
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In The Matrix, Neo is fascinated by a young man who appears to be bending spoons simply by looking at them. Neo sits down on the floor across from this young man and takes a spoon in his hand. Although young, this boy gives sage counsel to Neo, “Don’t try to bend the spoon, for that is impossible. Instead remember that there is no spoon. That way you will see that it is not the spoon the bends, but you are the one who bends.”
There is a nugget of truth here for anyone who has ever been face-to-face with an impossible situation. The God who does the “impossible” has offered us the means to see His omnipotence at work—He has told us that we can bring our impossibles to Him in prayer. Prayer changes things!
In God’s perfect will, sometimes the impossible is done before our very eyes, and sometimes we see that it is not the situation that bends, but it is we who bend, becoming more godly, wise, and mature because of what God has imparted to us. Heartfelt prayer is never a meaningless exercise. Without exception, something is changed with every single prayer we offer to God.
There are many of us who have experienced a miraculous answer to prayer. We prayed to God in a bitter season of our life and experienced His sweetness come to our rescue. These answered prayers are testimonies of God’s love and power.
Think about people you know who are struggling with the bitterness of life. I wonder: do they know that there is a sweetness that only God can bring? Brian Ridolfi noted, “Vinegar is not bitter to those who have not tasted honey.” Peter told us we are to crave more and more of God’s sweetness “now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3). This isn’t primarily for us, but it is to us and through us so that a watching world can recognize their bitterness as contrasted to the sweetness in our Savior.
One of the things prayer changes is my attitude about the things of God. When I say “attitude” I am referring to how an airplane pilot defines this term: The nose of the plane in relation to the horizon. If the attitude of the plane is up, the plane and all of its passengers are climbing.
There is a man we meet in the Gospels whose name means “whom God enlightens.” The answer to prayer he received was an attitude-changer for him, everyone around him, and his family. Check out his story in Luke 8:40-56.
Jairus is called “a ruler of the synagogue.” He is the final authority on what happens in his synagogue. He came and “fell at [Jesus’] feet, pleading with Him” [pleaded earnestly—Mark 5:23], which sounds like a posture of intense prayer to me!
We don’t know how long the journey was to Jairus’ home, but it was made longer by “the crowds [that] almost crushed [Jesus].” It was made even longer by an interruption of yet another healing (vv. 43-48). During this delay, there is not a word of protest from Jairus as he is clinging to his faith in Jesus.
Jairus gets the news, “Your daughter is dead.”
Jesus reignited Jairus’ faith with the words, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” Matthew 9:18 records Jairus’ renewed faith-filled prayer as he acknowledges, “My daughter has died.”
The family and friends gathered at Jairus’ house were “wailing and mourning.” The AMPC says, Jesus saw “the tumult and the people weeping and wailing loudly” (Mark 5:38). Why? Because they knew she was dead—this was now an impossible situation.
But let me ask you: Is it possible that Jesus allowed this delay so that the little girl would become beyond all human hope? I think it is. Jesus was going to do something that absolutely no one could take any credit for. Jesus said, “Stop wailing. She is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at Him!
The Greek word for “wail” (alaladzo) has an interesting root word (alala) which means the cry of soldiers running to the battlefield. And then when those soldiers return victoriously, they have a total change in their attitude so alaladzo is now a joy-filled shout (Psalm 47:1; 66:1-3).
(1) Jairus had an attitude change.I believe became a Christ-follower in the truest sense of the word. Why do I think this? Because we know his name. There are four “synagogue rulers” described in the New Testament: three that become Christians we know by name (Crispus [Acts 18:8], Sosthenes [Acts 18:17], Jairus) and one who remains anonymous because he was bitter that Jesus healed someone on a Sabbath (Luke 13:14).
(2) The scorning mourners who knew the girl was dead had an attitude change. They spread the laughter everywhere (Matthew 9:26).
(3) What about us? An encounter with Jesus changes us (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18). In order to “taste and see” how good God is, we must be people who are consistently prayerful and expectant of His wonder-working power. Let’s change our wailing into a battlecry, our mourning into praise, so that God can chance our tears into laughter!
A world steeped in bitterness needs to see the sweetness of our God—Come and see what God has done, His awesome deeds for mankind! (Psalm 66:5).
Keep up with all of the messages in this prayer series by clicking here.
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I opened an email this week and clicked on the link to login in to my auto and homeowner’s insurance account, and I was greeted on their website with this message, “Peace of mind is the best gift you can give yourself this season.” And I said to myself, “How perfect, because we are looking at the next prophesied name for Jesus which was given before He was born in Bethlehem: Prince of Peace.”
Except there’s a huge problem here. Did you see it in that website message? “The best gift you can give yourself.” Quite frankly: I cannot give myself peace! Colossians 1:21 says, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.” All of us have sinned and are hopelessly destined for eternal punishment (Romans 3:23, 6:23a).
Thankfully, Romans 6:23 goes on to say “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is what the fourth prophesied title of Jesus foretells (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Prince means a Ruler or Overseer. Peace is the Hebrew word shalom which means completeness, soundness, and contentment. Some have described shalom as there being nothing missing for us to know this ultimate contentment. Many call this the assurance of our covenant relationship with God.
Isaiah uses the word shalom quite a bit, but he uses it here in chapter 9 for the first time in the Book of Isaiah.
Zechariah saw the covenant as being fulfilled before Jesus the Messiah was born. Noticed the past tense words that culminate in light and peace in Luke 1:67-79. Zechariah concludes his prophetic word by noticing two profound transitions:
The First Advent of Jesus made peace with God possible for us (Luke 2:8-14; Hebrews 2:14-15).
Now we can live in peace (Isaiah 26:3, 12; John 16:33) and we can announce “peace on earth” to others (John 20:21; Romans 10:15).
The Second Advent of Jesus will reveal His unending peace that gives us eternal life in Him (Isaiah 52:7-10; Genesis 3:22; Revelation 22:14).
We have the peace of God because of the Prince of Peace! And we have the message of peace to share with those who don’t know the Prince of Peace. I pray that this Advent season we will messengers of peace to all those who are living in darkness and hostility.
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We saw in part one of this two-part series that we quickly go into crisis mode when we forget that God is in control, so we need to remain full of thanks all the time (Ephesians 5:20 AMPC). We called gratitude our inoculation against the pull from contentment to crisis, but inoculation doesn’t mean that we never experience some pangs of anxiety when a moment of darkness hits. Maturing Christians are learning how to spot the beginning of anxiety and move back into the contentment zone earlier and earlier (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2, 12).
James says we “will receive the crown of life” from Jesus. There’s no doubt about that! In a trial, it’s important to be reassured that the trial can never cause us to lose out with our Heavenly Father (Romans 8:38-39).
Psalm 107 starts out with this same assurance—“those He redeemed” (v. 2) is in the perfect tense. It’s complete and irrevocable! We walk out our redemption in circumstance after circumstance in a way that bring glory to God and draws others to Him as well. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say” is in the imperfect tense, which means giving thanks is an ongoing practice (v. 1).
Redeemed once, but giving thanks always!
Romans 8 gives a little snapshot of some of the situations that could have sent us spiraling into crisis mode, but remember the conclusion: None of those things can separate from God’s love.
Last week we saw how the psalmist linked prayer and gratitude in a repeated theme. This practice is backward looking (vv. 7-8, 14-15, 20-22, 29-32). When we look back to see how God has moved and then we contemplate Who He is (Hebrews 13:8; Isaiah 59:1).
Look at the closing verse (v. 43):
heed = guard, watch over attentively; this is an imperfect verb—which means we keep on doing it
consider = discern: totake apart the evidence and harvest the lessons
great love = God’s limitless lovingkindness
I love this verse in the New Living Translation: Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.
That means we…
Review the history of God’s faithfulness
Rejoice over it
Apply it to your current circumstance
We can pray, “God, You have been faithful—You have rescued me. Now help me to see that You are still Sovereign over this current situation—You are doing something in the midst of this crisis.”
In Romans 8:28, Paul tells us that God is working together all of our circumstances for His glory and our our good. Oswald Chambers noted, “In the Christian life we have no aim of our own, and God’s aim looks like missing the mark because we are too shortsighted to see what He is aiming at.” Reviewing our history and then giving thanks helps assure our anxious heart that God is going to hit the mark (Philippians 1:6).
Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with His godly people.How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in Him should ponder them.Everything He does reveals His glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails.He causes us to remember His wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord! (Psalm 111:1-4 NLT)
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On this episode of The Podcast, let’s talk about seeing something brighter in the darkest of times.
Check out all of the Scriptures I reference in this video here.
You may seem some glimmers of light in your dark place—like Paul did in the Roman prison—but even if you don’t see anything but darkness, make the choice to worship. I need to remind myself that God has a plan for my life and that He is working out all the details for my good and to bring glory to Himself.
Let’s change our self-focused “Why me?” to God-focused worship as we say, “Thank You, Jesus, that You are using me to build Your kingdom!”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Sanctification (“saint-ification”) is an ongoing process that usually involves the help of other saints. We learn this by having a biblical worldview (that’s the “B”), being accountable with saints (“A”), and serving the Body of Christ (“S”). These are the things that bring out increased fruitfulness in our lives, make us more joy-full people, and enhance our testimony to others.
What a blessing it is to be involved in all of these saint-ification things alongside other brothers and sisters. Isn’t nice to know that you’re not all alone on your journey?
Two brothers walked up the hill to the park every afternoon to play baseball. One day a neighbor who lived near the bottom of the hill saw the younger brother pulling his older brother up the hill in a wagon. He observed this for a couple of days before he finally asked what was going on.
The younger brother said, “My big brother broke his leg so I pull him in the wagon so he can watch us play baseball and can be our coach.”
“He must be heavy,” the neighbor replied.
“He’s not heavy,” the little boy said, “he’s my brother!”
In the first brothers that the Bible shows us, we see the origin of the phrase “brother’s keeper.” Cain was jealous of the way God was blessing his younger brother, and so he murdered Able. God came to Cain and asked him, “Where is your brother Able?”
Cain responded with another question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9).
The word brother is someone connected to me by blood or some other common bond. Cain used the same word for brother but then asked if He was supposed to be his brother’s keeper—his guard, helping to keep him in bounds, celebrating his victories.
The clear teaching of Scripture is that the answer to Cain’s question is an emphatic “Yes!”
That definition of brother’s keeper sounds a lot like the definition of an intercessor. In the Hebrew, that word mean to go to God on someone else’s behalf (Genesis 25:21; 2 Samuel 24:25). The Greek of the New Testament sounds more intense (hyperentygchano): to meet a person of the purpose of conversation in behalf of someone else.
Remember that the Hebrew word for brother was pretty narrow? The Christians in the New Testament took the word for relative-by-blood (adelphos) and made it a synonym for fellow saint, regardless of where they are from (Acts 9:17; 2 Corinthians 13:11).
John used Cain’s misunderstanding of brother’s keeper to show us the spiritual responsibility we have to our adelphos (1 John 3:12, 15-16).
When we intercede for our adelphos—our fellow saints—we are participating in the same work as both the Spirit and Jesus (Romans 8:26-27, 34;Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 5:16).
A couple of weeks ago we looked at Philemon’s service to the Body of Christ. Look at how Paul’s intercession may have released Philemon to do this (Philemon 7, 16, 20).
As Paul said to Philemon, I say to you—
I appeal to you on the basis of love: Be your brother’s keeper!
Guard your adelphos, keep them in bounds, and celebrate both their righteousness and God’s blessing on their lives.
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Last week we were reminded that sanctification (or as I call it “saint-ification”) is an ongoing process that usually involves the help of other saints. There is something else we need to do with other saints: serve them.
We are all a part of the same Body so it is beneficial for the whole Body if we care for every part of the Body (1 Corinthians 12:25 AMPC; Ephesians 5:30).
In order to serve others, we are going to have to check our attitude. We have been called to have the attitude that Jesus had about the Church (Ephesians 5:29; Philippians 2:3-7; John 13:3-5, 14-17).
We must all know:
I have a gift—notice the phrase each of you in 1 Peter 4:10
I must use my gift to serve the Body of Christ (Luke 17:10)
In the early Church, we see so much togetherness that they rewrote the definition of the Greek word koinonia (see Acts 2:42). Here’s what koinonia looks like in the Church:
(1) Testifying in church (Psalm 40:9-10 NLT)
(2) Being present with saints outside of church. From Acts 20-28, the pronouns “we” and “us” are used over 80 times! Paul was blessed simply by Luke being with him, just as saints are blessed when you are truly with them.
(3) Love notes when a saint is absent. The apostle John was brilliant at this. Look at his three epistles:
dear children 9x in 1 John
chosen / dear lady 2x in 2 John
dear friend 4x in 3 John
(4) Hospital-ity whenever it’s needed. Be a place of healing and refreshment for the saints God has placed in your life, just as Philemon did (Philemon 2-7, 22).
What a testimony it is when we live this way (Romans 12:10, 13)!
Remember the saint-ification process brings fruitfulness, joy-fullness, and an enhanced testimony. I love this quote from Richard Stearns, “The beautiful simplicity of our faith is that it distills down to the exact same bottom line for both the brilliant theologian and the five-year-old child: love God and love each other—period. Everything else derives from that.”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
The definition of salvation comes from Romans 10:9. When we believe in our heart that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins and we confess that with our mouth, we are now justified. I can now stand before God just as if I had never sinned. But the Christian life is more than merely going to heaven at some point. It’s about glorifying God and pointing others to Jesus while we’re on our way to heaven.
Paul wrote to saints in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1) but he also called them “mere human beings” in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. Paul points out that there is a difference between viewing this life from a worldly viewpoint and a biblical viewpoint (2 Corinthians 5:16).
A naturalistic world view is constantly shifting as new discoveries are made. A biblical worldview knows there is nothing new under the sun, that everything is addressed in Scripture.
In order to not view this world through the lens of “mere human beings” we have to read, study, meditate on, and apply the whole counsel of God’s Word. We put it in and the Holy Spirit helps us live it out. Just like our prescription glasses won’t do a thing to correct our vision of they aren’t on our face, Scripture won’t help us navigate this world in a God-glorifying way if we haven’t put it in our heart.
Each day before I ready my Bible I pray Psalm 119:18, which asks the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to the amazing things in Scripture. I read, I journal, and I pray over the passage that I have read. Then the Holy Spirit makes good application of that Scripture (John 14:26, 16:13; 1 John 4:6). I want to be sure to read the whole counsel of God’s Word, not just cherrypicking my favorite parts. And I always want to be going deeper (Hebrews 6:1).
One place that we see contrasting world views—the natural worldview versus the biblical worldview—is in 2 Timothy 2:14-19.
Natural worldview #1—quarreling about words
Biblical worldview #1—correctly handling the Word of truth
Natural worldview #2—engaging in godless chatter
Biblical worldview #2—standing on the firm foundation of Scripture
The results of a biblical worldview are amazing:
A sure foundation (Matthew 7:24-27)
The attention of others (Matthew 7:28-29)
Useful treasures to share with others (Matthew 13:52)
A strong defense against critics (Acts 6:9-10; Psalm 119:99)
Let’s not get stuck in the “mere human being” level of a natural worldview, but let’s commit to studying our Bibles diligently so that the Holy Spirit can develop a robust biblical worldview in us. This worldview is fruitful, joyful, and enhances our testimony.
Follow along with all the other messages in our series on B.A.S.I.C. Christianity by clicking here.
Craig T. Owens 