From His Heart

Speaker 1

Some people say, well, you know, I don't want to bother God with this need that I have because it's so small and God is so huge. And, well, what in your life is big to God? I mean, if your wife is having a baby, is that big to God? No, nothing is big to God.

You're a pimple on a flea compared to God. So you can't have a problem that's big to God. You can have a problem that's big to you, but everything in your life is small to God.

So you can bring the small things to God. You can come to him. He's not reluctant to help you.

Speaker 2

Welcome to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today as we learn the secret to answered prayer. Do you have a small need or desire and you're sometimes reluctant to bring that before God?

Today on From His Heart, Pastor Jeff is going to examine two important parables found in Luke chapter 11 that Jesus utilized to teach his disciples about biblical prayer. The message is called "The Secret to Answered Prayer." We'll be in part two today.

If you missed yesterday's broadcast, you can go online to promisheart.org to listen again, download any broadcast, as well as the free sermon notes from Pastor Jeff. Also, you can download a special booklet from Pastor Jeff this week called "Unveiling the Mystery of Prayer." It's in the free stuff section on our website at promisheart.org.

Right now, though, open your Bible to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11. Here's Pastor Jeff to continue uncovering the secret to answered prayer.

Speaker 1

Well, what does Jesus want to teach us about prayer? Three lessons.

Lesson number one, God wants us to pray biblically. You say, what does that mean, to pray biblically? It means you pray according to the will of God. That's what it means. And in order to pray according to his will, you have to pray using his word. You pray using the word and you say, God, you promised. And God, this is what you want for me. And this is the promise which we have before him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And God says, you're praying about that. You want that in your life. I want that for you. Pray biblically. God wants us to do that.

Second lesson, pray persistently. Now, Jesus, after he tells the guys the model prayer and gives them the model prayer, then he goes into the first parable. And what you'll notice in this passage, he gives a parable and then a strong theological principle, and then he gives another parable and a strong theological principle.

Let's look in verse five. And he said to them, suppose one of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves. For a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. And from inside he shall answer and say, do not bother me. The door has already been shut, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

That's the parable. It's a very simple little parable, but it's so powerful. Now, in the parable, you got three friends. Friend number one is on a journey, and he's traveling, and he's traveling at night. Or at least his journey took him through some of the night. And so when friend number one needs a place to stay and he comes and knocks on the door of friend number two, friend number two opens the door and receives him.

Friend number two looks in the cupboard, and the cupboard is bare. He doesn't have anything. So friend number two tells friend number one, here, come into my house. Get yourself situated. I'm gonna go get you something to eat. There's no 7-11. There's no place to go except across the street to friend number three's house. It's midnight. And friend number three is like, what?

Speaker 2

Who is that?

Speaker 1

Somebody at the door. What is this? Yeah, hey, it's me.

Speaker 2

It's me.

Speaker 1

It's friend number two. I need three loaves. He's like, hey, we're already down for the night. I've closed the door. We've closed down shop. You're not g. No. But then he gives it to him, right? Not because he's his friend, the Lord says, because he's persistent. Because he's persistent.

Now, I want you to see in this parable. This is a parable of contrasts. So friend number one is the need, a hungry traveler coming. Friend number two represents you and me. We're the guy with the need on our hands. And friend number three represents God, the one who meets the need. But now watch this. God is not like friend number three in several areas. First of all, God is never asleep when you call. Secondly, God's not like friend number three because he's not bothered when you call. Did you see what he says in verse 7? Do not bother me. God's not bothered. And God is never reluctant when you call.

Did you get this sense in the parable that friend number three was pretty reluctant to meet the need of friend number two to provide him the three loaves? He didn't want to do it. Why? Because he'd have to get up and he had already been shut down for the night. And they sleep in one room. And so if he gets up, then the wife is going to wake up and then the kids are going to wake up. And what happens when kids wake up at midnight? Then it's hard for them to go back to sleep. So here's this guy, he's like, you're going to wake up my whole family. Hey, man, you're really messing me over here. I can't believe you would come over at midnight be a bad host. He was reluctant.

God is never reluctant. And remember this about prayer. Prayer is not twisting God's arm to get God to do something he doesn't want to do. It's not overcoming God's reluctance. It's getting in on God's willingness. It's finding what God wants to do and praying those things. And the Bible is filled with promises and things that we can pray for that God wants to do that will bless your life. God's not reluctant.

And you know what's so cool about this story? See, because I knew I wanted to do a sermon on prayer. And there are parables in the Bible on prayer. And one of the parables I really like, it's similar to this prayer, it's in Luke, chapter 18, about the widow who kept coming before the unrighteous judge, saying, give me legal protection against my opponent. And, you know, that was a big deal because she was getting ready to lose it all. And in that situation, man, she is life or death. And she needed that judge, that wicked judge in the parable to rule on her behalf.

Now, that's a life and death situation. And you know, in this situation, give me three loaves for my friend who's hungry. That's not life and death. He's not knocking on friend number three's door and saying, hey, my wife is giving birth, come help us. Hey, somebody's broken into the house and they're attacking my family. Come help us. It's nothing like that. It's three loaves. Well, come on, is the guy gonna die if you don't serve him? You don't have anything. Just tell him, listen, go to sleep. We'll eat in the morning. It's not really that big a deal. But it was a big deal to friend number two.

And because it's a big deal to friend number two, it ended up being a big deal. Hey, listen, God cares about what you care about. Even if it's something like three loaves, it's a big thing to you. And if it's weighing on your heart, you can bring that to the Lord. What can we pray about? We can pray about anything and everything. Some people say, well, you know, I don't want to bother God with this need that I have because it's so small and God is so huge. And, well, what in your life is big to God? I mean, if your wife is having a baby, is that big to God? No, nothing is big to God. You're a pimple on a flea compared to God. So you can't have a problem that's big to God. You can have a problem that's big to you, but everything in your life is small to God.

So you can bring the small things to God. You can come to him with your need for three loaves. He's not reluctant to help you. So, see, he's not like the friend. He's not asleep. He's not bothered. He's not reluctant. But he's like the friend in that persistence pays with God. Persistence pays with God. Why did friend number three open the door and give the guy as much as he needs? Jesus said it's not because he was his friend. It was because of his persistence. He wouldn't go away.

Hey, I need you to help me. I need three loaves. Hey, are you awake? You awake? Come on, can you open up? Give me three loaves. Go away. You're waking everybody up. Go away. No, I'm not going away. I need three loaves. Just give me three loaves and then I'll go away. Go away. No, I'm not going away. I need three loaves. Can you give me three loaves? Finally, the guy's just like, ah, here's three loaves. What else do you need? Get out of here. Forget my number. You know, that kind of thing. But he got what he needed because of his persistence.

You know that word, persistence? Interesting word. In the New Testament, it's used one time. Used one time. There's a theological term for words in the Bible that are used one time, and it's called hapax legomenon. There'll be a test later. Hey, Pax legomenon. I just like this. Kind of cool. Anyway, it's used one time. That word means in King James, it's translated importunity. Some translations are. He answered him. Why? Because he was not ashamed to keep asking. That word means to be annoyingly relentless, to be troublesomely urgent, overly bold, shamelessly persistent. I'm not ashamed to keep asking you. And that's why the friend gave to him.

You know what's so interesting about God? He loves it when we're overly bold, when we're shamelessly persistent. What is the secret to answered prayer? Is it praying according to the will of God? Well, that's really important. But most of you knew that the secret to answered prayer is persistence. That's the secret. D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, who was pastor at Westminster Chapel in London for decades, he said this. This holy boldness. He's talking about this passage. This holy boldness, this argumentation, this reasoning, this putting the case before God, this pleading in his own promises. This is the whole secret of prayer right there. Persistence.

Jesus said because of his persistence, that's what he gave him. And just in case you missed it, he says this in the amplified. So I say to you, ask and keep on asking, and it shall be given to you. Seek and keep on seeking, and you shall find. Knock and keep on knocking on the door, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks and keeps on asking, receives. And he who seeks and keeps on seeking. And to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened. God loves shameless persistence.

We see that in the life of Jacob when he wrestled with the Lord, and they wrestled all night, and then the dawn began to break. And the Lord said to him, let me go, for the dawn is breaking. And what did Jacob say to him as he had him held there? He said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. He's just holding on. I'm not letting you go, Lord. I'm not leaving the door. I'm gonna knock, and I'm gonna keep knocking. I'm gonna hold on to you until you bless me. And the Lord blessed him.

We talk about the prayer of Jabez. Jabez. What did he pray? He prayed this bold, audacious kind of prayer. Lord, bless me and bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory and put your hand upon me and keep me from evil, that it might not cause me pain. And God granted him his request. God likes those kind of bold, shameless prayers. He likes it when we knock and we keep knocking.

How do you get God to answer your prayer? You find what God wants to do, and you pray that and you don't stop. Ask, seek, knock. It's progression. This is how this works. Friend number two comes to friend number three. He's gonna ask, hey, hey, I'm over here. Got a need. It's me. Suppose I do that with the Lord. I'm gonna ask, Lord, it's Jeff again, Lord, I got a need here. And then you turn asking into seeking. You know, to seek means to really search out something. It's also translated to make a demand.

And so here I go from asking to seeking. Hey, Lord, I need you to give me your full attention here. And, Lord, I need you to listen to me. Lord, your word says this, and I need this. You told me that you would supply all my needs according to your riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Lord, I have a need here. You need to listen to me. It's a demand. Ask, seek, and you keep seeking. And then what do you do? You start knocking. You start beating on heaven's door, and you don't stop.

You know what the trouble is for so many of us when it comes to prayer? We've been praying for a spouse, or we've been praying for a child, or we've been praying for healing, or we've been praying for something to happen financially, or we've been praying for someone to come to know Christ. And we're praying and praying and praying, and nothing's happening. We're just getting snow. We feel. And so what do we do? We say, well, this isn't working. We throw in the towel. Some of you have thrown in the towel on your dreams. Some of you have been praying for something and it hasn't happened, and you've thrown in the towel.

Listen, you need to pick the towel back up. Cause it's always too early to quit. God responds to persistence. He loves it when we pray. And when we take his word and we pray it back to him and we say, God, you promised. And I'm gonna hold your feet to the fire, God, because your word says that you will do this for your children. And I'm clinging to that. And I'm gonna knock, and I'm gonna keep knocking. I'm not going away until you give me what I need.

And as much as we would think, oh, blasphemous, you can't do that with God. That's what God wants you to do. That's what he said. So I say to you, ask and keep asking. Seek and keep seeking. Knock and keep knocking. Because the person that does that, he receives.

Lesson number three. Not only does God want you to pray biblically, not only does God want you to pray persistently, and that is the secret to prayer. But you say, you know, I'm a little nervous on this persistent thing. Well, lesson number three. God wants you to pray confidently. Confidently, he says, now suppose one of you, verse 11, is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, he will not give him a scorpion, will he?

If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven, your heavenly father, give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? How do I ask persistently? How do I keep knocking? Because this king is not just my friend, he's my father and he loves me. God is a loving father. He's a good father. He sits on the throne of grace. He has said, therefore, come with confidence. Come boldly before the throne of grace. Hebrews, chapter 4, verse 16. Come boldly before the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace to help in time of need.

God is a God who says, I want you to come. I love you. You bring your needs to me. Hey, if earthly fathers who are sinful and all of us are, if we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more shall God know how to give good? The holy, righteous God, how much more shall he know how to give good gifts to his children? It's the argument from lesser to greater. Hey, I know how to do good things for my kids. And if my kids come to me with their needs and say, hey, dad, will you give me fish? I'm not going to say, well, here, why don't you try this cobra?

Speaker 2

Ha ha ha.

Speaker 1

You got bitten. Oh, that's funny. I would never do that. You would never do that. Some sick, twisted person might do that, but the majority, vast, vast majority of sinful men wouldn't do that. How about a holy God? God is a loving father. You can trust him and you can come before him over and over and over and over and over again.

Have any of you ever had a child come to you over, over and over and over and over again about something that they wanted? Sometimes it can drive you crazy. You know, if it's something that you really want to give them, then you're like, okay, we'll do this. The timing has to be right. But a loving father will take care of his children, and then God is a wise and faithful father. You know why sometimes your prayers don't get answered? Cause the timing's not right. Timing's not right.

I was reading a book by Richard Blackaby. Great book. It's called *Unlimiting: Increasing Your Capacity to Experience the Divine*. And in this book, Richard talks about how he was a young pastor and he was praying that God would bless his church and God would rain down blessings and power on his church and they'd reach lots of people. And he said his church wasn't really growing, but a church across town was growing like crazy. And he didn't understand it. So he came before the Lord. He said, "Lord, don't you like our church? Lord, don't you want to see us do well? Don't you want to see us reach people for Christ? I don't understand God. Why are you blessing that pastor's church and not our church?"

And he said God spoke to him and said, "Richard, you have a pride problem. And if I were to answer your prayer the way you're praying it, you would get so puffed up and your head would swell and you'd get so proud. And then I couldn't use you because I'm opposed to the proud. But I give grace to the humble. So if I answered that prayer, then that would cut me off from you. And that's why I'm not going to answer your prayer. Let's work on your heart being humble before me, and then we can bless your church, and then we can do the things that you're asking me to do, that I do want to do, but I can't do it until you're ready."

So much of the time we pray for things. They're good things, they're God things, but we're not ready for them. And God says, "If you'll get ready, then I will do miraculous things in you."

And I'll close with this. It's so awesome when you think about it. He says, "If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?" You know, in Matthew's Gospel, when it tells this story, it says, "How much more shall your Heavenly Father give what is good to those who ask?"

Early in my Christian life, when I would read those two passages, I would say I'd always pray the "what is good" one. Because I'd say, "I like the good one. The Holy Spirit one seems kind of like it's out there. I'm not really sure what I'm getting there, but I like the good. You're getting the good. Lord, I want the good. How much more should your father in heaven give what is good to those who ask me, Lord, I'm asking you for give me what is good."

You know what I pray today? "Lord, give me the Holy Spirit. I want the Holy Spirit now." To him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to Him, God loves to do great and mighty and powerful and blow your mind things.

So pray big and pray biblically and pray consistently and pray confidently because you are coming to your Father who loves you. You don't have to be afraid of Him.

Hey listen, I know that there's some of you in here and you've thrown in the towel on certain prayers and God is saying to you today, "Pick it up, pick it up and start praying and trusting Me and I will do what only I can do as you pray with shameless persistence."

Speaker 2

When God gives you the Holy Spirit, he's really giving you Himself. And when you have God the Holy Spirit in your life, you have love and joy and peace and power and provision and comfort. Everything that you need. You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve and today's message, the Secret to Answered Prayer, part two. You can go back and listen to part one online at fromhisheart.org; click the listen link.

You know God wants your life and my life to be filled with good. He wants us to live an abundant life, but we live in a world where plenty of deception and division goes on—disasters and persecution. Jesus described future events as the beginning of birth pangs, signaling the end of the age for believers. It is so important to recognize the times, stay grounded in truth, and remain faithful in our prayers and faithful in the face of growing darkness.

In the eye-opening new series Pastor Jeff aired this month, he unpacked Jesus' words from Matthew chapters 24 and 25 to reveal the clear warnings and indicators of His soon return. This exciting new extensive teaching, over eight hours of sound biblical teaching about the end times, is our gift of thanks to you for your support this month of any amount to From His Heart. Request the series in the format of your choice: USBs, CDs, DVDs, or MP3 download. You pick. Just call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org. This series will challenge you to examine your heart, live with urgency, and faithfully follow Christ until He comes again.

Call 866-40-BIBLE or go to fromhisheart.org and request the series, "When the Son of Man Comes." God bless you for supporting From His Heart to help us share God's truth with a hurting world before He returns.

On our website, we also have a small sampling of many real testimonies from real listeners all around the world, sharing the real fruit from this mission called From His Heart. We'd also love to hear what you think about how God has used this ministry to help in your daily walk. Go to fromhisheart.org/real-testimonies and leave us your thoughts on the impact the teaching of Pastor Jeff has had on you. Thank you so very much.

When you're at our website, we hope you'll sign up for Pastor Jeff's weekly Real Hope email Encouragement Devotional letter. You'll get that in your Friday morning inbox. The web address again is fromhisheart.org. Thank you for listening today, and we hope that you'll be back tomorrow for the final lesson of the month called "Is God Fair?" Here's just part of the truth we'll hear then.

Speaker 1

Maybe you're like so many who say, "I'm going to serve the Lord and I'm going to do what he says and I'm going to follow him." And you're faithful, but you have physical problems, you have financial problems. You just seem to have trouble in spiritual spades.

And then you notice somebody at work or somebody in the neighborhood, and this guy, this lady, they don't follow God and they don't seem to have the problems you have. And you say, "Could it be that God is not fair?"

Speaker 2

Join us then when Pastor Jeff Shreve will speak truth in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more@fromisheart.org.