Ask Pastor Mike Fabarez

Speaker 1

Do you ever wonder if God hears all prayers? Well, you're not alone. Today, Pastor Mike Febares answers an important question from a listener about prayer. It's another edition of Ask Pastor Mike today on Focal Point.

And welcome to Focal Point, your host, Dave Droueh. Well, at the end of every week, we sit down with Pastor Mike to talk about those pressing questions on our minds. And today's topic is one that befuddles so many of us. It's about prayer. Do all prayers get answered? What about prayers from unbelievers?

Well, the answers may surprise you, so let's join Focal Point's executive director, Jay Worton, now inside the pastor study.

Speaker 2

Well, thanks, Dave. Yes, I am here with Pastor Mike and we're here with another edition of Ask Pastor Mike here on Focal Point. Pastor Mike, we have a question from a listener. It's an interesting one. Does God hear prayers from unbelievers?

Speaker 3

That's a good question. And I know it's asked often because we picture the problem of sin as creating such a chasm or a barrier between us and God that, you know, as a non-Christian, how can there be any connection at all? I mean, we're unredeemed, unholy, we're not endowed with God's Christ righteousness. Clearly, God doesn't hear us. But obviously, that's not the picture painted in the Bible that God is some kind of combination lock or some kind of computer program that needs the right passcode to get in. God is a person. He creates the whole world and everyone in it. And he clearly can relate to them on some level, at some degree. There can be some kind of interaction, obviously, as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. I mean, he causes his reign and the sun, the rain to water the fields and the sun to rise on the fields of the evil and the good. He's a God who is a giver.

So obviously, we teach every day on the program about the benefits of being a child of God, the access that we have to come boldly to the throne of grace. Clearly, we have a relationship with God that the non-Christian doesn't have. The way I like to illustrate it, Jay, is when my dad could have a neighbor kid ask him something, and dad could respond. They may want a drink of water, and dad might give them a drink of water. But when I talk to dad, it's different. I'm his child. And so it's a different relationship. As a Christian, I'm in Christ. I'm adopted into the family. My relationship to God is far different than a non-Christian's.

So it doesn't mean that a non-Christian in a hospital bed crying out to God for some help in their time of crisis, if God responds, clearly, if he gets better, God is responding. And you can say, well, God's answered the foxhole prayer of some soldier or some sick person, and God has been good to them. I think all of us can look back before we actually became a born-again, regenerate believer in Christ, and see that God probably has responded positively to something we've asked him to do for us. Right?

Speaker 2

Well, are there any prayers that God never answers or are there prayers that God always answers?

Speaker 3

Well, of course, you look in the Bible and you recognize that there's a kind of prayer God is looking for from the non-Christian. And that's the prayer of salvation. Right? We're crying out to God with a contrite heart in repentance for salvation. That is a prayer God always responds to. If we call on the name of the Lord, we'll be saved. That's clearly a promise of God. So there's a prayer he always answers.

Is there a prayer he never answers? Well, clearly in his dealings with us as children, there are certain things that he's not going to respond to that aren't according to his will that he doesn't decree to happen in our lives. So there are plenty of prayers I could say he won't answer. There are several things we've all experienced where he said no to whatever our request was.

You know, he's never going to do something that is contrary to his character when it comes to me asking him to do something. So, yeah, but categorically, what are those things? Can I itemize them? All I can tell you is surely there are things I ask God for out of a selfish heart or from a fleshly motive or whatever, and God's not going to respond to those.

Speaker 2

Well, that brings up a question along that lines about does prayer change God's mind?

Speaker 3

I think we need to think of prayer as the way God delivers it to us as people asking God to do things and to accomplish things. And the asking and receiving is much like any relationship with a human being. God wants us to see it in those human terms. You could think theologically; you can ask the philosophical theological questions that would be difficult for us to untangle in terms of God's sovereignty, knowing the end from the beginning.

And how in the world do my finite prayers redirect the plan of God? I don't think that's where God wants us to be thinking in our prayer lives. I think he wants us to think about being a child of God, asking the Father for things and having him respond to those. So I'd say let's stay out of the attic, if you will.

When we think about prayer, go to God, pour your heart out to God, ask in accordance with the will of Christ, and ask those things in faith, trusting Him. And when God responds, we celebrate the answers. We don't have to get into the attic of the theological problem and say, how in the world, if God is sovereign and the providence of God, how do my prayers ever change Him? I'd say that's a question for another time that doesn't really come to bear on our daily prayer life.

Speaker 2

It's not so much like God's celestial slot machine. We're actually trying to align ourselves with his will. Not necessarily us aligning him with our will.

Speaker 4

Right.

Speaker 3

But the human experience, though still, Jay, is that we have that picture of we have a need, we have a situation, and we pray to God and God responds. I mean, that is the human experience of praying. So I don't want to minimize that.

And yet, obviously, I have a lot of impulses that I may say, you know, it would be great if I had this or that person's done something terrible. I wish God would do that. There's a lot of things that when I start to articulate them in prayer, God changes my prayer and he changes my heart.

And so prayer does, in a practical way, realign my heart with God's heart. And so that's true. But I don't want to minimize the fact that in the relationship I have with God, I should see God as a responsive Father and I'm coming to him as his child, asking him to get involved, intervene, and respond in a way that I think is in keeping with the will of Christ.

Speaker 2

Speaking of Christ, we saw him pray to have the cup taken away from him when he's in the garden of his pending crucifixion. How does that model for us how we pray? And how should we respond when things maybe don't go. Go the way we think they should.

Speaker 3

Right. And I think the Psalms are a good guide in this. You see in the Psalms all the time some very almost unvarnished prayers. I mean, they're just their heartfelt heart cries to God that though they don't end with "not my will, but yours be done," you recognize that that must be what's happening here. Just like Christ, he didn't want to, in his humanity, go and suffer on the cross. And even in his divinity, it was a repugnant thing. So he prayed that the cup would be removed from him. If experience could be avoided, let's avoid it. That was his heart's cry. And yet he knew that my requests to the Father need to be subject to his ultimate will. And so he said, "not my will, but yours be done."

So all of our prayers need to have that kind of caveat to them. That while I think this is the thing that I'd prefer, this is the thing I think I would like. This is how I think things should work out. I realize God may have a plan that supersedes my desires, and I've got to come to him in prayer and say, "not my will, but yours be done."

But just like Christ, he didn't avoid telling God what he wanted. Neither does the psalmist say, "this is how I feel. This is what I'd like." So I encourage people to pour their heart out to God honestly, within reason. Things I should never say to God, I suppose in anger or frustration. But I want to be able to be honest with God about my feelings and then always say, "hey, God, I realize this may not be your path for me, so give me the grace and the strength to endure whatever it is that you do to maybe take me down a path I'm trying to get out of or, you know, take something away from me that I want to keep."

Speaker 2

Well, thank you, Pastor Mike. I'm sure that discussion will be helpful for a lot of listeners. We're going to hear a little bit more on this topic from you in a message called Prayers that Get Asking God for the Right things in the right Way.

Speaker 4

Wouldn't it be great if you could go to God, ask for anything, and he'd give it to you? That would be great. Now, before you picture a little genie in a bottle or something, let's talk about the two things that God requires of us. If we're going to get prayers and have prayers that get answered, let's look at the passage we're studying through: 1 John, chapter 3.

Here's how John puts it in verse 21: "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and we receive from him anything we ask." Wow! Because we obey his commands and we do what pleases Him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know he lives in us: we know it by the Spirit he gave us.

Number one on your outline: let's go back up to verse number 21. "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God." Number one, if you and I are going to get from God the things we ask for, we have got to come to him guilt-free—no guilt.

Look at this. And again, here's what we're talking about. Letter A on our outline: and I didn't give this to you yet. First John: if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to do what?

Speaker 3

Forgive us.

Speaker 4

**Letter A.** If you're going to have guilt-free praying, you have got to be convinced and you've got to know beyond any shadow of a doubt that you have your sins forgiven. Okay? There's no way I can have a heart that does not condemn me and have confidence before God unless I know for sure that our sins are forgiven. This great passage in Hebrews 10, beginning in verse 14, states that by one sacrifice, that means that it's a just forgiveness. Do you understand that? It's not that God looks at me like some criminal standing before some tribunal and the judge says, "Well, we'll just forget it this time." That wouldn't be just. The just forgiveness of God is that God looks at us, sees our penalty, takes the penalty of our sin, places it on Christ, and punishes Him instead of us. That took place historically for us. And through one sacrifice, He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Verse 14 says, "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." We looked at that in that nice poetic Psalm, Psalm 103. And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Do you see that? I confess it, He forgives me. He is faithful, always does it, and He is just. He's paid the payment to forgive my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Now we have confidence, and our bodies or our lives are clean. We can walk in and say, "Okay, God, I got something to say." You cannot ever have an effective prayer life until you are confident God has forgiven you. That's critical. That's key.

You know what the result is? The result is a boldness. It's a boldness to be able to come in, as this text says, and just stand in God's presence and talk to Him. It's a phenomenal, an amazing thing to think that we can stand there and boldly pray to God. And there have been some great people in church history we read about who had such boldness and said, "God just." I think of John Knox, who said, "Give me Scotland or I die." I want to make an impact with my life on this country or kill me. That's how bold he was in coming to God with a request. You will never be able to stand before the King of the universe and say, "God, I got something I gotta have you give me," unless you're ready to recognize that you're forgiven. Boldness is the result of this attitude that you know your sins are forgiven.

You know what? That's half of it, I suppose. If you look back in our passage, letter B will show us the other half. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God. Okay? That's important if we're going to get from God what we ask. But it's just half of it. Look at the other half, verse 22. If we receive from Him anything we ask, why? Because we obey His commands and we do whatever pleases Him. If you think about my life or your life, you think about your life and your prayer time, and you're going to come into God and say, "God, I need guilt-free praying." If you're going to be guilt-free in asking the Creator for something for you or something that's on your prayer list, remember this: it's not just knowing my sins are forgiven. It's knowing that letter B, my life is in order. My life is in order. I get that from this phrase here that says we need to be people who obey His commands and do what pleases Him.

I've been studying in my own personal time in Colossians chapter one. And in Colossians chapter one, there's this great phrase where Paul is praying for this church in Colossae, and he says, "You know what? I'm praying every day for you guys that you would not only be filled with the knowledge of His will, but you'd live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in all respects." And I think, here's the thing. For us, sometimes we look at pleasing God and we think it's out there somewhere and it's too far for us. It's too ethereal. We can never capture that lifestyle. You know what? You can leave today with a life that pleases God not just because you're forgiven, but because you have purposed and determined to live right. See?

And all I have to do in my heart is look around and say, is there anything in my life I know is out of order that right now I need to determine to do right in? You understand what I'm saying? Is there any relationship that I've offended? Okay, I've asked for forgiveness, but now do I need to make that right? Okay, I'm going to leave here purposing to do that. Then I'm going to be living a life that's pleasing to God. Are there things in my life that I know I'm involved in that I need to stop being involved in? And today I need to leave here with a confidence and a determination to do what's right. Then I'm going to live a life that's pleasing to God. If I got something over here that not only I need to stop doing, but something I need to start doing, I know I need to do that, then I need to make a commitment right now and determination to do that. If I do that and walk out of here today, I'm living a life that's pleasing to God.

My point is this: you need to have a heart that is beating to please God. Now, if you try and measure that, and I'm just going to throw out some kind of some mic-isms here. This is not at all extensive or meant to be exhaustive. But here's a little list I look at to see whether or not my life is pleasing to God. Here are four desires, and if you want to write these down, great, but they're not inspired. So here they are, though. I think my prayer requests are going to reflect these desires. But let's just look at attitude right now, the way I'm supposed to ask, and that's guilt-free. I want to see a godly life that pleases Him. There are four things that I see that are desires that make me a godly person. To the extent that these desires are there, I'm more or less godly.

So here we go again, not inspired. But here are my things. Ready? Number one, I need to look in my life to see if I desire being holy more than I desire being happy. That's one thing I'm looking at. I'm saying, "Okay, Mike, if I'm going to be a guy who lives a life that's pleasing to God, give me confidence to go in and say, 'Okay, God, I got a request.'" Then I think in my life, my desire at the level of desire, I need to have a desire to be holy more than I do to be happy. And you and I know that we are faced with that confrontation every day, aren't we? I mean, we live every day with choices. And my life is going to make choices based on my desire. My desire as a godly man is going to have to be that I want a desire to be holy or godly more than I desire to be happy.

And I'll tell you what, I find so many Christians stuck on the level of wanting to be happy. Not only do their hearts beat on that desire, but all their prayer requests are on that level. We need to get beyond that. If we're going to live a life that's pleasing to God and have God give us whatever we ask for, we need to make sure we are desiring the right things. And one thing personally, in my life, I need to desire holiness over happiness.

Number two, I think in my life, I want to be a godly guy. I've got to be able to desire to see God honored more than me. To see God honored more than me. I battle with that one all the time, right? Because my flesh is crying out to be recognized, to be applauded, to be patted on the back. Tell Mike he's good. Come on, tell me. In reality, godliness in my life, when I see it start to happen, is when the desire to see God honored is more important to me than me being honored. God comes first.

Thirdly, I see the desire to see the church or the body of Christ advanced at my expense. Godliness. I mean, that's where the heart that pleases God is at. I think I really want to see the church and those Christians at that place do well. And I'm willing to suffer for it. I'm willing to pay for that. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to see that go.

Number four, that my desire is to invest in eternity more than it is to invest in the here and now. We're constantly faced with that one, too, aren't we? Am I going to live a life that's going to help me for the next 15 years in my career, or am I going to make choices today that are going to help me build for the kingdom? Things that will be eternally important? I say this all the time to you people. And if you ever know me on a personal level, you know I say this all the time. You know what? 100 years from now, I always throw that phrase out, right? I'll say, "In 100 years from now, we'll look at that," and "100 years from now." You know why? Because 100 years from now, I know none of this stuff on this planet as it relates to my house, my home, my job, my bank account. None of that's going to matter to me.

Speaker 3

I will not care.

Speaker 4

What I'll care about is the choices I make in investing in eternity. And I pick this up from someone and I say it, I repeat it often and claim it's my own, but it's not. We're going to be dead a whole lot longer than we're alive, right? Think about it. You and I are going to be living in an eternal state a whole lot longer than I'm living in this earthly state. And decisions I make about sharing my faith, standing up for God, not compromising, doing what's important for the long run, not the short run. Investing in people over things. All of those kinds of decisions I make are based on a desire to invest in the eternal, not in the temporal or in the here and now.

Take a look at verse 23. We're still on the topic of prayer. We're talking about obeying his commands, doing the things that please him. He now zeroes in on something that you may not make the connection here in context, but if you know anything about the Gospel of John and the guy who wrote the book of also wrote the Gospel of John, you know that John was constantly pulling out of Jesus discourses statements about how to pray in his name. Verse 23. And this is his command to believe in the circlet name of his son Jesus Christ. Well, what is that all about?

The best way to illustrate this in my mind is to have you picture those old movies we used to watch when we were kids. The black and whites of the cop chasing the bank robber. The bank robber comes out of the front of the bank building. He's carrying this big bag. And of course in the movies there's a big bag. And it was all coins, of course, for some reason. And it has a big dollar sign on the outside. And he's running down the street and busting out of the bank. Is a cop with a billy club or something running down the street yelling to him, stop in the name the law. Right? Stop in the name of the law.

Now what does that mean? Okay, to say stop in the name of the law is different than me being a cop running out and saying, stop in the name of Mike. Right? Because I'm just saying it from me, from me to you. Hey, yo, bank robber, stop, right? And it's just kind of from me to you if I say stop. And I'm going to tell you, stop in the name of the law. See, then what I'm doing is I am calling on something bigger than me to command you to do something. Stop in the name or the authority of the law. Not my authority. Stop in the authority of the law.

Now, most of us, if we're Sunday school graduates, have caught on to that right. If you and I read through the Bible and read several times repeatedly, we're to pray in Jesus name or pray believing in Jesus name or whatever the name concept most of us know it's not just a phrase we're tack on at the end of our prayer. In Jesus name. Amen. Right, but what does that mean? God didn't want us to tack that on the end of our prayer. He wanted us to know that first of all, if we're going to go and approach the creator of the universe, I need more authority than just Mike. Yo, God, I got a request in my name. See, that's not good enough. I need to request of you, God, something in the authority of Christ.

See, because Christ paid my penalty, Christ is worthy. Christ is perfect. Christ is the one who's holy. And you know what, in the holiness and authority and relationship you have with your Son, and because I'm connected with him, I'm asking you in his name. So please, God, would you do this in the name of Christ?

Okay, if letter A was appropriate to Christ, because we're supposed to be praying or keeping this command of believing or trusting in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ. Letter B, second phrase in that verse. Do you see that? Verse 23, what does it say? It says to do what and to love one another. Do you see that? But you got to understand when it comes to prayer. Now he's saying basically this letter B, it needs to be others oriented. You put those two together.

Now I have number two. It is not just guilt free praying. I know this. The nature of Christ and prayers that stem from a heart that loves other people is greed free praying. Okay, did you catch that? Greed free. Basically we're kind of getting the big picture here. Now I want requests that are going to get answered. Here's what we need to understand. We need to understand my prayer life. The way I pray needs to be guilt free. And the requests that I have need to be greed free because appropriate to Christ.

I know if there's one thing Christ is, he is not into it for me and my material gain. And I also understand that he wants me to be loving people. Therefore my request ought to be those that stem for a good of those around me. Now picture this. If you pray on a regular basis, I would love to put your prayers through the Scantron prayer machine and see what percentage of time is really spent on prayers that are for you and prayers that are for others. Wonder what that would look like. Do you see that? Ah, I got some changing to do. My prayer list maybe needs to change. Not just my list, my prayer time and the intensity of my prayer needs to change to really try and benefit and focus on others more than me. And now we know how to pray. We can get it to work. Okay, let's do it.

Speaker 1

We can pray for God to open the eyes of unbelieving friends, to open their heart to the Gospel. You're listening to Pastor Mike Fabarez on Focal Point. This was part of a message called "Asking God for the Right Things in the Right Way." You can hear the complete message at focalpointradio.org.

Now let me tell you about a new resource Pastor Mike has picked out for you. It's a book by Scott Ray called "Introducing Christian Ethics: A Short Guide to Making Moral Choices." This is an excellent book to have on hand these days. It lays out for you the clear and convincing arguments on issues like homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, and more. Read the book first and then turn it into a study for a small circle of friends. It's a great introduction to what the Bible says about contemporary ethical issues.

Request your copy of "Introducing Christian Ethics" today. It's yours when you give a donation of any amount to Focal Point. Call 888-320-5885 or go online to focalpointradio.org. Focal Point is supported by generous friends who believe in our mission and want to get relevant and accurate expository teaching out in the open. Listeners write in all the time and tell us how these studies are providing a seminary-level education that supports what they're learning in their own churches.

When you give to Focal Point with your donation today, we'll send you a copy of this book, "Introducing Christian Ethics." Request the book when you go to focalpointradio.org or by calling us at 888-320-5885.

Now, if you have a question you'd like to have answered on "Ask Pastor Mike," you can reach us through our website, focalpointradio.org, or post it at facebook.com/pastormike or twitter.com. I'm your host, Dave Drouy, for Pastor Mike Fabarez, inviting you to meet back here next week for more in our series in Romans called "Pursuing Holiness." That's Monday on Focal Point. Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries. Sam.