From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Sometimes we get the idea that prayer is getting my will before heaven's throne, to get my will on earth to be done in heaven. No. Prayer is calling on God to get his will in heaven done on earth. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so we pray according to the will of God.

Larry Nobles: As Pastor Jeff Schreve has mentioned, prayer is quite the paradox. On the one hand, it's easy to pray. In fact, so easy that a little child can pray. But on the other hand, prayer is one of the most difficult things in the Christian life. Now, why is prayer so easy? And why is prayer so hard? We'll find out today on this edition of From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve. Now, the message today is entitled A House of Prayer, and we're in part two of this lesson today, and it's from the brand new series Watch and Pray.

Through biblical insight and heartfelt teaching, Pastor Jeff is going to show through this study how prayer connects our weakness to God's almighty power and how there is no problem, personal, relational, national, or global, that cannot be answered through prayer. For information about today's message and this series, which is our gift of thanks to you for your support this month, go to fromhishart.org. Now though, open your Bible to the book of Colossians chapter 4. Here again is Pastor Jeff to take us into the house of prayer.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Want to share with you four insights from Colossians chapter 4. Four insights to encourage us in this thing called prayer. Insight number one, God wants us to be faithful in prayer. To be faithful and regular, to devote ourselves to prayer. That is really critical. Prayer is something that we are commanded to do and that we are privileged to do, to call upon the God of the universe. Now, in all honesty, in all transparency, we have to say something right at the first. Prayer is difficult. It is hard to pray. And it's a paradox cuz prayer is easy to pray on one side because a little child can pray.

You don't have to go to seminary to know how to pray. Now, why is prayer it's easy but it is hard? Why is it like that? Because there's power in prayer. And because there's power in prayer, the devil will fight you to keep you from praying. Your flesh will fight you to keep you from praying. All that is because there's power in prayer. Jeremiah 33 verse 3, call to me, the Lord says, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know. God promises to answer when we pray.

Prayer is powerful. As I said, prayer links our nothingness with God's almighty power. There's nothing that God can't do, and when we pray, we can connect with God's power. So, prayer requires diligence and perseverance. We need to devote ourselves to prayer. So, God wants us to be faithful in prayer. The first insight. Second insight. God wants us to be watchful in prayer. Watchful in prayer. Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it. See, when we say watch and pray, when Jesus told those guys watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, the word watch doesn't mean well, okay, I'm I'm out of the game, I'm going to go to sit on the bench and just watch everybody else play.

No, it means you're still in the game and you're watching, you're on the alert like the watchman on the wall, and you're very alert while you're praying. Now, how do you keep your mind engaged when you pray so it doesn't just drift off? Something that will help. Remember that prayer is talking to the God of the universe. Talking to the God of the universe, the God who spoke the worlds into existence. That's how we keep alert and awake and vigilant as we pray. And then prayer is focused and attentive because we are talking to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it. So, God wants us to be faithful in prayer. Insight number one, watchful in prayer. Insight number two, God wants us to be third insight, grateful in prayer. Grateful in prayer. Keeping alert in it, the Bible says, with an attitude of thanksgiving. Now, thankful praying gives evidence of genuine faith. When you can thank God, even when things are really tough, when you can thank God, that shows that you trust God. That shows that you know that God is over it all and so you can be thankful and grateful as you pray.

And the other thing about thankful praying, what does it do? It drives out the anxiety and the worry that so easily comes into our hearts. Philippians chapter 4. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And then what happens? And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. God wants us faithful. He wants us watchful. He wants us grateful. And then fourth and finally, God wants us to be purposeful in prayer. To be purposeful in prayer.

So, here's Paul. Paul's writing this letter from prison in Rome. This is his first Roman imprisonment, and he writes to the Colossians and never been to Colossae, but he's writing this letter to them. Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well that God will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have also been imprisoned, that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.

Let your speech always be with grace as though seasoned with salt so that you will know how you should respond to each person. God wants our prayers to be purposeful. Now, what is the purpose of prayer? You know, you hear people saying, well, if God knows everything and God's will is always going to be done, what's the point of me even praying? Well, I want to give you two purposes. We could mention more, but two that are really really critical and really rise to the top. Number one, the purpose of prayer is to draw you near to God.

That's why we pray. It it's not just we come before the Lord and God, I want you to do this for me and this for me and this for me and this for me. The Lord is not some kind of heavenly bellhop. Going to take your luggage wherever you say. He doesn't come uh you know, some people have the idea that prayer is like a rubbing a a genie's lamp and out comes the genie and God is the genie and he comes out and says, yes, master. You know, he's the master. We're the servant. The whole purpose of prayer, one of the big draws of prayer is to draw us to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Why do you have so many problems in life? Why are there problems just everywhere? Why is it everywhere you look, there's a problem here, a problem there. It's like Old McDonald here, a problem there, a problem everywhere, problem problem. You have problems with your kids, problems with your grandkids, problems at work. Man who is short-lived, Job said, and full of trouble. And he has problems. Jesus said in the world you have tribulation, but be of good cheer, be of good courage. I have overcome the world. God gives us problems to show us how much we need him.

To show us that we need to depend upon him. Here's the real truth. If everything in your life were just roses all the time, you would not draw near to God because you wouldn't see your need for God. That's exactly what the Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 8. As Moses is talking to the people, he says this, beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes, which I'm commanding you today. Otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied and have built good houses and lived in them and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and gold multiply and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

All of us do better spiritually when things are hard. We don't do as well spiritually. With the church and Christians in general, we're a lot better in adversity than we are in prosperity. Everybody likes prosperity. But you think about your own life, your own prayer life. When things were really tough, I bet you were praying a whole lot more. When things are great, well, your your need for prayer just kind of falls off. So, God uses that problems and things in our life and he has that mechanism of prayer for us to connect with God's, for us to draw near.

Think about this, when Elijah was so depressed. 1 Kings chapter 19, you know, had a great great moment on Mount Carmel where God showed that he was God and the people that were so compromising, all of a sudden they said, the Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. And he slew the prophets of Baal. And then Jezebel said, okay, what you did to my prophets of Baal, I'm going to do to you. And Elijah was filled with fear and he ran and ran and ran. He ends up at Mount Horeb, which is the same name for uh the same place known as Mount Sinai.

And the Lord says, what are you doing here, Elijah? He said, well, I've been very zealous for the Lord and and uh you know, they they've torn down your altars and they're worshiping Baal and I alone am left. And the Lord revealed himself to Elijah. And uh he put him uh he was there on the mountain and the Lord came with a mighty wind that was breaking the rocks in pieces and the Bible says that the Lord was not in the wind. And then he sent a mighty earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And then he sent a fire, but the Lord was not in a fire. And then he sent the sound of a gentle blowing. And Elijah hid his face cuz God was in the blowing. God was in the still small voice. How are you going to hear a still small voice unless you draw near? Speaking to myself. I have to draw near. You have to draw near. We have to draw near because God communicates. Can he shout? Yes. Does he shout at times? Yes. How does he communicate in a still small voice? You think about an intimate relationship.

The person in my life, the human person that I am most intimate with and share secrets with, Debbie. And when Debbie and I speak, we're not shouting at each other. We're just talking. And sometimes when it's real private and real personal, we'll we'll talk lower and you have to get close to hear that still small voice. So, the purpose of prayer is to draw near to God. And the purpose of prayer is to ask for his will to be done.

Larry Nobles: If that is true, what is your purpose today? The lesson is called A House of Prayer part two, and it's from the series Watch and Pray. He'll be back to finish the message in just a moment. Now, one of Pastor Jeff's most admired and revered preachers was Dr. Adrian Rogers, who was known for many witty, wise, and profound sayings. He could put a ton of truth into just a few words. Perhaps his most profound truth was his pointing to the most critical biblical truth we must remember. He said, prayer works. Simple but profound. If we believe that and trust God, we 'll know it's true.

This month we've been exploring the purpose and power of prayer. Now, we know we should pray, yet sometimes we don't know what to say. We get distracted or become discouraged when an answer doesn't quickly come. Often we'll wait until the situation becomes desperate before we finally cry out to God. Listen, this month Pastor Jeff is in his new six message series Watch and Pray to help you develop mountain moving prayers. For your support to From His Heart this month, we'd like to send you our thanks in the form of this series Watch and Pray in the format of your choice.

To get your copy, go to fromhishart.org or simply call 866-40-BIBLE. That's 866-40-BIBLE. And know that prayer connects our weaknesses to God's almighty power and that there is no problem that cannot be answered through prayer. God bless you for helping us this month. Now, let's get back to the lesson A House of Prayer and learn just what it takes to receive answered prayers. Here to close out the lesson is Pastor Jeff Schreve.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Sometimes we get the idea that prayer is getting my will before heaven's throne, to get my will on earth to be done in heaven. No. Prayer is calling on God to get his will in heaven done on earth. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so we pray according to the will of God. 1 John chapter 5 verses 14 and 15. This is the confidence which we have before him that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

And if we know that he hears us and whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from him. And so we pray according to the will of God. Now, notice Paul says, hey, pray for me. He's in prison. He's not saying, pray for me that the prison doors would open like they did in Philippi, Acts chapter 16. Pray that God would release me from this prison. This is just bogus that I'm here. These crummy Romans uh he didn't do that. He said, pray that a door of opportunity would be opened to me so that I could tell people about Jesus.

I could speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have been in prison. That's why I was in prison, for preaching Christ. That I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Hey, pray for me that I'd have an opportunity to share Christ. And Paul in another prison epistle, the epistle we know as Philippians. He said, all the saints greet you. He closes out that book and says, all the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. Was Paul was chained to a Roman guard, one on this side, one on this side, in house arrest.

Chained to a Roman guard. Can you imagine you're an unbeliever and you're chained to the apostle Paul? Guess what you're going to hear? You're going to hear about Jesus. Your whole ship, you're going to hear about Jesus. And he would lead those guys to Christ. All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. Now, remember this, so important, God wants to save, not judge. God wants to save. He doesn't want to judge. God is the judge. And the Lord is coming and he's coming in uh great wrath when he does come. You read about that in Revelation chapter 19.

In righteousness he judges and wages war, but God doesn't want to judge you. God wants to save you. John 3:16 is called the gospel in a nutshell. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever, whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And John 3:17 says that the Father did not send the son into the world to judge the world, to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. The Lord doesn't want to judge. He wants to save. He's not willing that any should perish, but for all to come to repentance.

And God wants to use you and use me in the process of saving people. Loving God, loving people, sharing the truth of Jesus. That's our mission as a church. So, look what he says. He's saying, hey, pray for me that God would give me an open door for the word so that I can make it clear in the way I ought to speak. And then for you, conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace as though seasoned with salt so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

Now, two things he talks about there. Conduct and speech. What do we talk about in our church? We talk about conduct, we talk about speech, being a witness. We talk about conduct that shine. Let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who's in heaven. We talk about speech, share. Share. As Jesus told the Gadarene demoniac, the guy who who had a legion of demons and now he was delivered and he put his faith and trust in Jesus and the guy said to Jesus, please let me go with you.

He said, no, go home to your people and share with them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you. And that guy went out everywhere over the 10 cities that Decapolis, the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, Gentile cities, and told them what Jesus did and everyone marveled. Now, you got quite a testimony when you had a legion of demons and you were living among the tombs naked and nobody could bind you even with a chain and all of a sudden you're a brand new person. It reminds me of Carla Faye Tucker, the pickaxe murderess, who uh bragged and laughed as she was talking about killing two people with an axe.

And then she gets saved in prison. She's a brand new person. And there's peace and there's joy. And when people would ask her about what she did before, she said, I I don't even like to even go back there in my mind because the Lord has changed me. I that that person is dead. Well, we shine and we share how we conduct ourselves. And God says, listen, in this process of me saving, I want to use you to do it. I want to speak through you. I want to shine through you. Acts 1:8 where the Lord says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses.

Now, we can't do it in our own strength, so we receive power from the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses so that we can shine, people recognize us as having been with Jesus so that we can share. And we let our speech be with grace seasoned as it were with salt so that we know how to respond to each person. You know, some people that you meet, they need to have a pat on the back. Some people that you meet need to have a kick in the pants. Uh it's just different. So, what's the job of a preacher?

As one said one time, the job of a preacher is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. You you hit both people cuz people are in different places. And you know, you you you think about uh a good coach of a football team, basketball team, whatever it might be. He knows when the team needs to be praised and he knows when the team needs to be charged and challenged. And as we walk with God, we're able to see situations and people and we're able to speak truth and speak the truth in love. God wants to use you in the process.

2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 1. Working together with God we have this ministry, Paul says. What a what an opportunity that little old you, little old me, we could work together with God in the most important thing of all in seeing someone come to faith in Christ so their eternity would be changed. You know, what does it matter? Jesus said, what is a profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Your soul is worth more than anything. And we're in the soul business as believers.

I use that term business. We're not in a business, but we're in the ministry of souls and there's a battle for the souls of men. And that's why it's important for us to remember, what is our purpose on this earth? Why are we here? It's for one main reason, to be his witnesses. Hey, and if if you're going through a hard time in life, maybe you're watching on live stream and the bottom has fallen out of your life and your health is terrible and the doctor's report says negative negative negative. You don't have any hope.

God is the God of hope. And listen, we're all going to die one day, right? If Jesus delays his coming 100 years from now, everybody in this room maybe pretty much everybody would say is dead. Even if you're four or five, sorry. Uh uh you're probably not going to make it to 104. I mean, that's just face it. We're all going to die one day. And so what do we do in the midst of that, when things are hard? We remember, I'm a witness. The greatest witness you can be is when life is hard and you're still trusting the Lord and you're still praising the Lord and your eyes are fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.

People look at that and say, man, there is something to this Christianity because that person has a peace I wouldn't have. That person has a joy I wouldn't have. And it's the power of the Holy Spirit. A house of prayer. How are you doing in this thing called prayer?

Larry Nobles: Well, we hope that these have been encouraging insights for you today. Something we all should seriously consider. How are we doing with this thing called prayer? If you'd like a copy of this message to listen to again or share with a friend, go to fromhishart.org and click the listen link. The name of the message A House of Prayer. Before we go today, we wanted to let you know that Pastor Jeff will be visiting the Holy Land in April, an incredible 11-day trip, and he'd love for you to join him. There's a long list of historical places you'll visit when you meet us all together in Israel.

This is an extensive trip that's an extraordinary opportunity to visit the Holy Land places. He'd love for you to join him in April. Find out the details when you go to fromhishart.org. Thank you too for joining us today. I'm Larry Nobles, reminding you that we'll be back tomorrow with another message from the Watch and Pray series. Join us then when you'll be reminded that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. And you can find out more at fromhishart.org.