Insight for Living

Guest (Male): Ever feel like your prayer life has become more of a duty than a privilege? Something you check off your list, muttering a few sentences only when you have exhausted every other option? Well, if that is your experience, you are not alone. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll exposes the gap between what we say about prayer and how we actually practice it. And he presents a far better way. His application is drawn from Romans chapter 15. The biblical model is not just more productive, it is deeply satisfying, and absolutely essential for breaking through spiritual opposition.

You are listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the book of Romans on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook by going to insight.org/offer. Chuck titled today's message, Praying with Your Whole Heart.

Chuck Swindoll: The last four verses of the 15th chapter of Romans provides us with the sacred text of our time together. You will find in your worship folder the outline for today's message, which I would like for you to place in the book just before Romans, it is the book of Acts. Locate chapter 12 and slide it in there. We will begin in Acts 12 and find our way to Romans 15, 30 through 33.

Romans 15, beginning at verse 30. Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. That I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints. So that I may come to you in joy by the will of God, and find refreshing rest in your company. Now the God of peace be with you all.

Many things are not as they seem to be. We may have thought that they were that way most, if not all of our lives, and then suddenly something is said or something happens that jolts us and gets our attention and rearranges the facts and we realize we had missed it all along.

It was a number of years ago that the old salts of the American Football League got together for a little reunion. As they looked back over the first 20 years of their existence, they had come to celebrate along with some of the old seasoned veterans of that league and they found themselves in Los Angeles. Sitting among them was, not surprisingly, Al Davis, the ordinary and controversial owner of the Oakland Raiders.

He had stories to tell. Of course he had been there from the start and remembered the banquet that was held where Nicky Hilton spoke and had everyone's attention because of not only his involvement in the world of sport, but also his wealth and his notoriety. Al Davis told a story to the table and the people sitting around him. He said he was introduced as having recently made $100,000 in the baseball business in the city of Los Angeles.

As soon as they heard that, there was a thunderous applause and Nicky Hilton walked up to the platform to begin his speech and he said, "Before I go on, I need to clarify some things. It was not me. That was my brother, Baron, who had those experiences." It was not actually Los Angeles. It was San Diego. It was not the baseball business. It was football. It was not $100,000. It was a million dollars. He did not make it, he lost it. Other than that, it was a good introduction, huh?

Many things are not as they seem. That is so true of prayer. It would seem as though all of God's people are those who really believe in it and really practice it and when we do, we really trust God and we leave it all with Him. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Oh, we say religious words and we fiddle around with moments where we reach the end and we have tried everything else, so we shoot up a word, hoping that somehow there might be a little magic between here and there and changes come.

But prayer, prayer was meant to be, prayer with our whole hearts, certainly the exception rather than the rule. Philip Yancey realized it when he was preparing to write his book on prayer, subtitled, Does It Make Any Difference?

He writes, "I interviewed ordinary people about prayer." Typically, the results went like this: Is prayer important to you? Oh, yes. How often do you pray? Well, every day. Approximately how long? Five minutes. Well, maybe seven. Do you find prayer satisfying? No, not really. Do you sense the presence of God when you pray? Occasionally. Not often.

Many of those I talked to experienced prayer more as a burden than a pleasure. They regarded it as important, even paramount, and felt guilty about their failure, blaming themselves. When I listened to public prayers in evangelical churches, Yancey adds, I heard people telling God what to do, combined with thinly veiled hints on how others should behave.

When I listened to the prayers in more liberal churches, I heard calls to action, as if prayer were something to get past so we can get on the real work of God's kingdom. Hans Küng's theological tome on being a Christian, 702 pages long, did not include a chapter or even an index entry on prayer. When asked later, the author said he regretted the oversight and embarrassingly admitted he simply forgot about prayer.

Something within all of us in secret moments wishes to drift back to maybe another era, another century when prayer really meant something. And when folks are pushed at that point, they will often pick the first century. Appropriate, time of persecution, time of some of the giants of the faith living and hammering out the theology of the faith and giving their lives as most of them did for the cause. Surely, they were men and women of great prayer.

And in case you happen to think that, turn to Acts chapter 12. Let us look at a rather pathetic example of those whom you would have expected to be people of enormous faith. After all, their theology had been honed by Peter. It would soon be shaped by Paul. It was being tried in the furnace of persecution. Herod Agrippa was the monarch ruling, known for his brutality and severity and antagonism toward believers.

We see a quick resume in the first two verses. About that time, Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. How would you like for that to happen today? Soldiers appear at the door. They get me and they get my family and we are marched out. Then you follow, and you are next. Several of you are picked and a few of you over there and some up there. Gone. Gone.

Taken for the purpose of mistreatment. You can fill in the blanks with your own imagination. These are not black words on white pages. This is truth. This is a record. Herod's plan was to do with them as he had done with James. Verse two. He had James the brother of John put to death with a sword. That is the man ruling the throne over the Hebrews.

The unsaved people were applauding his actions and because what he did pleased the majority, verse three. He saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Why not? He is the spokesman for the church. Silence him, you silence a large arm of the church. By now, it is numbering in the thousands.

By the way, if you do not like big churches, you will not like the first century church. Right out of the chute, it is 3,000. Before you can blink, it is 5,000. Before too many more months, it is 6, 8, 10, multiple thousands, spread all over in homes and caves and dens of the earth. Everywhere, these believers are growing and Herod is maddeningly searching for them.

So he picks Peter. We read that he proceeded to arrest him, verse four, he seized him and put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out before the people. You know what his plan was? Another mock trial. Just as this man's Messiah had been tried, arrested, and put to a cross. That is Peter's future.

On the very night, very moment he is there, verse five, prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. Of course. It is exactly what you would do if they marched some of us out. The meeting would stop. There would be pockets of prayer that would break out. You would be on your knees. You would take the prayer home with you. You would pray through the afternoon. The end of verse 12 tells us that there were many gathered together there in the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, and they were there for prayer.

So we have two scenes. We have an impossible setting where Peter is in prison, and we have a place of prayer where the saints have gathered. Picture it in your mind. They are helpless to do anything about this situation but pray. Almost makes me smile. Helpless? Just pray? We are never more powerful than when we are on our knees.

They are on their knees. They are beseeching God. They are trusting God. Or are they? Back to the prison. Verse six. On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. I have the feeling Peter is not worried. You do not sleep if your stomach is churning, if you are anxious, if you are worried about your own death, if you think they are going to mistreat you, you do not sleep. Peter is sound asleep. No medication. Just fell asleep. Maybe laid on one of the shoulders of one of the soldiers. Maybe all of them were asleep.

He is bound with chains and the guards are in front of the door and they were watching over the prison. Last time they put one of their own away, he rose from the dead. So they are going to make sure this one does not. So they have the guard set. It is an impossible situation and these believers are praying. Praying for Peter. They cannot go and release him. They know that God can and they are praying.

So God does. Verse seven. Behold. I love scenes like this. An angel suddenly appeared and a light shown in the cell. He struck Peter's side and woke him up saying, "Get up quickly." His chains fell off his hands. You know, angels can do that. And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals. Get dressed. Put on your shoes." He did so. Then he said, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." Get her done. Get up, Peter. Let us get out of here.

Verse nine. He went out, continued to follow and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real. You have been in a kind of a sleep like that. It is called REM sleep. Kind of in a daze, you wake up and you are sort of doing stuff and you are maybe answering a phone or responding to a knock at the door. You are sort of in and out. He did not know it was real. He thought he was seeing a vision. Of course. Now understand, these people are praying and Peter is being delivered. So good.

So he went out and continued to follow and he did not know what was being done by the angel that it was real, but he thought he was seeing a vision. Verse 10. When he had passed the first and second guard, they do not wake up. Angels can do that. And they came to the iron gate. It is all locked. But it opened for them by itself. Angels can do that. And so they went out along one street and immediately, poof, angel is gone. They do that. They show, they do their thing, they are gone. Hey.

So Peter thinks, I am glad I wore my sandals. Verse 11. Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all the Jewish people, all that they were expecting. And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary. Here we are. From the prison to the house of Mary. Okay, that is where they are all gathered. They are all praying. Look at what happened.

Verse 13. When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant girl, the term used is a diminutive size. So it is a little girl. Her name is Rose. It is rendered here Rhoda. So Rose runs to the door. She goes to the gate. The gate is locked. And she recognizes, verse 14, Peter's voice. Oh, that is Peter. 14. Because of her joy, she did not open the gate. Is not that like a kid? I will be right back. So she runs down there to tell all these praying saints. He is there.

Okay. Hang on. And they said to her, verse 15, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow." No. They say, "You are out of your mind." I thought they were praying. No. No, they were not. They were doing religious things. They were going through religious motions. By the way, the word out of your mind is the term from which we get our word maniac. You are nuts, Rose. You are young, but you need meds.

She kept insisting, "No, no, no, no, it is Peter. It is Peter." They kept saying, "Well, it is his angel." Suggesting what? Death angel. He is died. The death angel has come. Tell us, he is with the Lord. Do not grieve. It is his angel, but Peter. Keeps knocking on the gate. They have got it locked, they do not want anybody in. Certainly did not want Peter in. He is dead. Verse 16. Peter continued knocking and when they opened the door, they saw him and said, "An answer to prayer." Nope, they were amazed. "What are you doing here?"

You are supposed to be in prison. What is wrong? Whatever they were doing was not prayer. They were doing what we do a lot of, but we are too ashamed to admit it. Peter was still imprisoned in their minds. Zero faith. Absolutely amazingly pathetic. They had the chance to storm the throne and to touch the one who alone can get him out of prison. And when he pulls him out of prison, they are shocked.

How is your prayer life? How is your faith? I have a feeling that most faces I look at right now have a worry list longer than a prayer list. And I say to my own embarrassment, there are days in my life that is true of me too. Is not it about time that changed? Romans 15 can help that happen.

We turn to the city of Corinth where Paul is sitting with Tertius, his scribe. Paul pauses at this moment toward the end of the letter and decides to be very vulnerable. Very honest. Now, he begins, I urge you. Same word used here as Romans 12:1. I urge you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies. Except this is not presenting your bodies. I urge you. Same word.

It is like the term summons. It is a military term. I draft you. If he could take them by the shoulders, I would like to shake you awake. I would like to get you engaged. I urge you, brothers and sisters. There is a need here. As I read through the verses we are going to be looking at, four things stand out to me and all four make prayer come to life. First is an awareness of the need.

What is the need? Well, he has mentioned it, but you may have forgotten, verse 22 of this same chapter. I have often been prevented from coming to you. So he has a need to get past the obstacles. Pray for that. I long to be with you, verse 23. So he has a need for them to pray him to Rome. Pray that I might be able to catch the ship. Pray that I might be freed to do so. Pray that I might live long enough to be with you. Pray that the obstacles will be removed. Be aware of the needs. You cannot pray if you are not aware of a need. So make yourself aware of needs. That means you are engaged in life. You are not removed. Your shades are not drawn. Your door is not locked. You are in touch with people.

And when you say, "I will pray," you keep your word. It is not a nice religious cliché to get them off your back or to make them think you are their friend. Paul says, "I urge you." Some unnamed hindrances were holding him back. Probably included people. People are usually hindrances to the will of God. Events can happen that break the ability to fulfill what God would have us do and then we are in the process of praying ourselves through those obstacles. He tunnels through those mountains. He flies over them. He goes around them. Mountains are nothing to him. Nothing. They are everything to us and if you are not careful, the obstacles take all of our attention. I have been in prayer meetings where the only thing that was done is we all share the obstacles. These are all the things that are not going right. These are all the things that are a problem. These are all the things we cannot stop. Obstacles are the things