Ankerberg Show

Announcer: Welcome to the John Ankerberg Show discipleship segment. Whether you've recently discovered your faith in Christ or have been a longtime follower, we aim to provide you with the tools and encouragement to strengthen your relationship with Him. We are dedicated to equipping you to confidently share the hope that resides within you, as instructed in 1 Peter 3:15. Join us now for the John Ankerberg Show discipleship segment as we embark on this journey of spiritual growth and learning together.

Do you remember when you last saw the stars at night? The God who made them desires to commune with you. He invites you to come to Him with all of your needs. So how do you actually talk with Him? What is God's purpose for prayer? And will God really respond to you when you pray? Join us for this session of the John Ankerberg Show.

Dr. John Ankerberg: Welcome, I'm John Ankerberg, and along with me are my friends Sundar and Shamala Krishnan. Today our topic is prayer. Does the God of the universe, the one that made the worlds, does He know about where you live? Does He actually care about you? When you pray, will He listen to you? Will He answer your prayer? That's our topic today.

Sundar, I'm thinking of the folks that are watching us right now in 200 countries. People look up at the stars and they see the huge, beautiful heavens up there and they realize behind all of that, there's a God that created that. They wonder, does that God know about them? Does He care about them? Could they really pray in confidence to that God? Does that God make any promises about answering their prayer?

Sundar Krishnan: In Acts chapter 17, the apostle Paul says this. He says the God who made the world and everything in it knew the exact places where people are living, and He assigned them to those places so that they might seek after God and find Him. In fact, it says therefore you're listening to me wherever you are in this world, God actually put you in that place because in that place you have the best opportunity to actually start seeking after God. I can't think of any better way of saying this awesome God of the universe cares about us as individuals and that He actually wants to talk to us.

We recently moved into a new neighborhood, and our neighbors to the immediate left of us, they have a little child. She's almost two years old, beautiful baby, but she can't talk yet. We see these parents rejoicing when she even mumbles one little syllable. My wife so beautifully pointed out, she said if that's how much earthly parents want their child to speak, can you imagine how much the God of the universe wants His children to speak to Him? There's no question He absolutely delights in His people speaking to Him.

Dr. John Ankerberg: We've got to talk about the millions and millions of gods that people have worshipped. We believe there's only one God, and He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to do something for us. He's the one that we're talking about that's alive and will answer your prayers. But some people don't have a real relationship with that God. Talk about that.

Sundar Krishnan: That is so crucial that you begin there because one of the most important questions people should be asking is what allows me, a sinful ordinary human being, to even dare to address this awesome God of the universe? You wouldn't walk into a human king and start talking to him unless you were summoned.

In fact, in the Old Testament, there are stories about Esther and others where even their wives couldn't go to the kings until the kings held out a golden scepter. So people should be wondering how I can actually pray to this unbelievable God, and the answer is because of Jesus. The Bible tells us that when Jesus died for us, the way into the most holy place was wide open so that any of us can go anytime, anywhere, from any place into the presence of the living Lord of the universe. It is only through Jesus we even have the confidence of approaching a holy God. He is foundational to the very fact of praying.

Dr. John Ankerberg: Now, I want to go to the other spot, and that is Christians, people that have actually come and realized they're sinners, admitted that to Jesus and said, "I want you to forgive me, and I'm putting all of my faith and trust in you alone to save me." You did enough, you did all that was necessary when you died on the cross before God to take care of my sin problem, and I asked you and I trusted you to take care of my sin problem, and you came into my life. Now we go the opposite way to those people that have said that. Should they pray? "Ask and it shall be given you," the Bible says. "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. But a lot of Christians don't pray. What could you do to encourage them to pray?

Sundar Krishnan: First of all, is the absolute confidence that we have because we have an enemy. The Bible calls him the accuser of the brethren. He's constantly undermining our sense of worth. I'm not worthy enough to talk. So for some people, that stops them. Maybe they grew up in a home where their voice was never heard, no one paid any attention to them, and so they don't think God will even pay attention to them.

Yet Jesus says, "No, because of me, you come and you call Him Father." Just as a father pays attention to every child, that's the first thing. Other times people are just tongue-tied. They don't know what to pray. Jesus said to them, "When you pray," by the way, He didn't say if you pray, He said when you pray, which also tells me He wants us to pray. He said, "When you pray, don't be like people who think they are heard because of the volume of their thing or the length of their prayers."

I think He means that in many places people just repeat rote prayers over and over and over again, a thousand times, twenty thousand times. Jesus said that doesn't count for anything. He said your Father already knows what you need. You just pour out your heart to Him. You just speak to Him. It doesn't matter whether you're good at it or not, eloquence doesn't impress God. It is the heart. These people draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me. So He's not interested in rote prayers or memorized prayers that you're actually thinking about something else and just tossing off by rote. He wants heartfelt prayers, and if your heart is in it, if you're honest and open, every prayer is acceptable in Jesus' name.

Dr. John Ankerberg: Shamala, there are women that you have had in your home in India, and some of them don't feel very confident about coming to God and asking Him to help them with problems in their home, problems with their children, and other things that they're facing. How could you encourage them? What is God saying to you to say to them right now?

Shamala Krishnan: I honestly feel that people don't pray not because they don't want to. I think they have this idea that you have to jump through certain hoops in order to come into the presence of God, in order to be heard. Another one said that she had engaged in prayer and because she felt God had not heard her, she just got disillusioned and stopped praying. So you've got people from the whole spectrum of why they don't pray.

Jesus wants us to come just as we are. Just as I am, thou wilt receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve, because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come. To just trust Him when He says, "I want you to come to me." In Matthew 11 He says, "All you who are weary and heavy laden, come and I will give you rest." Take Him at His word, accept His invitation, and come just as you are without any prepared prayer that you think will be acceptable to Him.

As you know, in the New Testament, there's a contrast between two men who prayed. One had all the language and Jesus said he went away empty. Whereas another man came just so aware of his need for forgiveness and Jesus said that man went away heard. So I would say to women, no matter what stage of life you're at, station of life you're at, age of life, just come and believe that He loves to hear your voice.

When the blind man came to Jesus, Jesus knew he was blind, and yet He said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" It's almost like Jesus said, "I want to give you the dignity of asking me for healing." He did and he was healed. So I would say to them, He loves to hear your voice, He's honored when we come to Him and acknowledge our dependence on Him. You don't have to go through all kinds of steps, you can just come and pour out your heart to Him. He knows already what's on your heart, but He loves to hear you express it. Over time the relationship becomes deeper and sweeter.

Dr. John Ankerberg: There was a verse when I was in my 20s that I came across in James that encouraged me to pray. It said if you ask not, you won't get it. You have to ask the Lord. Another verse that really popped out at me was Jesus said, without me you can do nothing. Christians, I want you to keep in mind that God says if you want something, come. You are my children. I love you. I sent my son to die for you. Doesn't that tell you how much I love you? Can't you trust me since I've done that for you, that I will take care of these other little things of your life?

We're going to take a break and when we come back, I'm going to ask Sundar to explain to us that God can give us different answers. He can say yes, I'll answer that prayer now or immediately, or maybe later on. Or no. Or He can say you'll have to wait. You waited for 22 years on one thing that you prayed for 22 years about, and somewhere we're going to tell that story, but God finally did answer prayer. So there are different answers that God can give. We're going to talk about that when we come right back. Stick with us.

Announcer: Join us next time for part two of our discipleship series, Follow Me: Experiencing the Joy of Walking with Jesus, as Sundar and Shamala pick up where we left off this week. Thank you for joining us on our journey of discipleship. To deepen your understanding and grow in your faith, explore our extensive discipleship resources at jashow.org and engage in transformative courses at jabible.org. ATRI is dedicated to encouraging believers, defending the faith, and challenging the skeptics. Join us in this mission by subscribing to our YouTube channel for more in-depth teachings and practical guidance to deepen your faith.