Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

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Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.

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Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day. This Bible teaching program.

Speaker 3

On today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

We shouldn't expect God to take any confession of sin seriously that does not include a heartfelt decision to turn away from that sin. True confession means sorry enough to stop doing it.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, it's safe to say that every Christian has experienced the disappointment of having their prayers go unanswered. But some people become so discouraged, they give up on praying altogether.

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress outlines several important principles for being more effective prayers.

Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message. Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 3

Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Just before we get started with today's message, I'm eager to draw your attention to a new resource created just for you. Not long ago, I commissioned our creative team at Pathway to Victory to help me put together an illustrated reference tool that traces the footsteps of Jesus through his earthly ministry. I've called it the Jesus Map. This beautiful multifolded brochure represents a collection of 52 key events in Jesus' life described in the four Gospels. This is a reference tool that will show you where these events happened and in what order they took place. You can tuck this reference tool in the back of your Bible or keep it on your desk, and the Jesus Map is my gift to you simply for contacting Pathway to Victory.

Today, the quickest way to request your copy is to go online to ptv.org, and while there's still time, be sure to request a copy of my bestselling book that complements our current series on the Holy Spirit. My book is titled *I Want More*. Let's be honest. Some of us have come to a place in our Christian walk when we felt, well, shortchanged. I mean, we followed all the rules, and yet somehow we believe that the Christian faith has promised far more than it's delivered. My book, *I Want More*, shows you how your desire for something more is truly satisfied in a dynamic relationship and understanding of the Holy Spirit. And later in today's program, I'll explain how you can request your copy of *I Want More*.

But right now, it's time to get started with today's study. For the past two programs, we've been focusing on the second channel by which God's power is poured into our lives. That is prayer. And today we'll examine some of the reasons why sometimes our petitions go unanswered. I've titled my message *Effective Prayers*.

Speaker 2

Ben Patterson says one of the greatest evidences that we human beings act contrary to our self-interests is the fact that we spend so little time talking to the person who made us and loves us the most. You know, prayer is a missing ingredient in many of our lives. And it's that lack of prayer that robs us not only of intimacy with God, but a lack of prayer robs us of experiencing God's power in our life. As we've seen in our series on the Holy Spirit, God's power—His Holy Spirit's power—is poured into our life through four major conduits, four channels. The first channel is the Word of God. We've talked about how God's Spirit uses His Word to pour His presence into our lives.

But the second channel through which the Holy Spirit's power is generated into our life is conversation with God through prayer. Remember, we said prayer is always difficult. Don't ever think you're going to arrive in your prayer life. Talking to an invisible being is always going to be a struggle in your life. Yet even though praying consistently is difficult, praying effectively is actually quite simple. We've overcomplicated prayer. We've made it something much more difficult than God ever intended it to be. And we said last time that the fact is we will never pray consistently until we settle four questions in our own minds and hearts.

Last time, we began by looking at the question, why should we even pray if God's going to do what He's going to do anyway? That's a pretty fair question. If God is sovereign and has a sovereign plan, why should I bother to pray? Well, Jeremiah 29:11 does say that God has a plan for your life, and it's a good plan. God says, "I know the plans I have for you, a plan for your welfare, not for your calamity, a plan to give you a future and a hope." Yes, God has a great plan for you. But prayer is the conduit, the channel through which that wonderful plan is poured into your life. God has ordained the end, but He's also ordained the means to achieve that end, and it is through prayer.

Then secondly, we looked at the question, well, what kind of things should I pray about? Is it okay to pray about anything, or do I need to be reserved in the things that I talk to God about? To answer that question, turn to Matthew, chapter six. Matthew six, as you know, is what many times we call the Lord's Prayer. But this prayer was not given as a mantra to be repeated, but as a model to be followed. Nowhere is this prayer ever repeated anyplace else. The early church never repeated it because you don't repeat a model, okay? It is an outline, and it's not an outline of everything you should pray for, but it gives us some ideas of at least five things that should be components of our prayer.

First of all, Jesus taught us when we pray, we ought to begin by praising God's name. The praise of God's name: "Our Father who is in heaven, holy is your name." God, thank you for being holy, different, separate, a cut above those of us here on earth. And then secondly, we pray a prayer, a priority of God's purpose. You know, one of the greatest struggles we have when we kneel down before God is, "God, do I want my will done, or do I want your will to be done?" And Jesus said, always put God's will first: "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth in my life as it's being done in heaven."

Now let's look thirdly at a third component of our prayers. Jesus said we ought to pray for the provision for our needs. Yes, we want to remember to praise God for who He is. We want to remember to make God's will a priority. But you know what? It's also okay to pray for things that we need and want. And at the top of the list ought to be the very practical needs we have. He says in verse 11, we can pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Now, when Jesus talks about praying for our daily bread, he doesn't have in mind here a loaf of Mrs. Baird's, okay? What he's talking about here is bread as a reference to all your physical needs. It's food, it's water, it's clothing, it's shelter. All of these things are related to our physical needs.

And somebody has pointed out, Jesus did not teach us to pray, "Lord, give us our daily steak and lobster," okay? God never promised to meet your greeds, but He did promise to satisfy your needs. Paul said, "My God shall supply all of your what? All of your needs. Not all of your greeds according to His riches in Christ Jesus." And then fourth, he said we ought to pray for a pardon for our sins. He says in verse 12, "And forgive us our debts." That's a reference to sins as we have forgiven our debtors. You might wonder, wait a minute. If I'm a Christian already, why should I ask God to forgive me of my sins? Hasn't He already done that? Well, yes, He has. When you believe that His death on the cross paid the price for your sin, the Bible says when you trust in Christ as your Savior, you receive God's judicial freedom, forgiveness.

That is the moment you trust in Christ. In that great courtroom in heaven, God slams down the gavel and says, "Not guilty, not guilty." Your sins are forgiven, forgotten forever by God. And it's not just all of your sins up to the moment you trust in Christ; all of your sins, past, present, and future are forgiven. Remember when Christ died for your sins, all of your sins were still future. God has forgiven you of all of your sins. You are judicially forgiven. But even though we have God's judicial forgiveness, we still need His parental forgiveness on a day-to-day basis. Those of you who are parents understand what parental forgiveness is.

Have you ever had a child who disobeyed you or disrespected you in some way, or just was disinterested in a relationship with you? You don't kick them out of your family for those kinds of sins. But there is a barrier that occurs in your relationship with your child, a barrier that can only be removed when they recognize their disobedience and turn away from it. And so it is in our relationship with God. The fact is, we sin daily, and that's why we need to restore that parental relationship with God. The Bible says we need to pray for God's forgiveness first. John 1:9 says, "If we will confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Did you know? First John was not written to non-Christians; it was written to Christians. That's John's word to Christians: "Christians, if you will confess your sins, God will forgive you." Now hear me on this. That word confess means to acknowledge your sin, but it does not refer to a cool, emotionally detached acknowledgment. Inherent in true confession is a sorrow, a brokenness for your sin. Psalm 51:17 said, "The sacrifices to God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart the Lord will not despise." The Bible says that only when we are broken of our sin is that true confession. And with that brokenness also comes a willingness to turn away from that sin. We shouldn't expect God to take any confession of sin seriously that does not include a heartfelt decision to turn away from that sin. True confession means sorry enough to stop doing it.

And that's what Jesus said is necessary. In our prayer, we pray, "Forgive us, Lord, of our sin, as we forgive those who have sinned against us." And notice that inseparable link between our receiving God's forgiveness and our willingness to forgive other people. Jesus said, before you can receive God's forgiveness, you have to be willing to forgive those who've sinned against you. After all, isn't that the prayer, "Lord, forgive us of our sins just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us?" Make no mistake about it. The Bible is very clear. If you will not forgive other people, God will not forgive you. Jesus said it very clearly in Matthew 6:14-15: "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions."

I know a lot of people who take the Bible literally. The only problem is they don't take it seriously. And so they try to explain away this verse. "Well, Jesus really didn't mean what He said about you have to forgive other people before God will forgive you." Oh no, then how do you interpret this verse? Seems pretty clear to me, doesn't it? If you will not forgive others, God will not forgive you. And then He said, finally, we ought to pray for protection from evil. He says in verse 13, "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

Now this is important to understand. This word translated "temptation" is a morally neutral word. It simply means a difficult situation. It's neither good nor bad; it's just a difficult situation. He said we should pray, "Lord, keep us out of difficult situations." Why? Because difficult situations are tests—tests that we can either pass or tests that we might fail as well. Now, sometimes this word "difficult situation," sometimes it is translated "temptation." Now temptation is always bad. Satan tempts us in order to destroy our faith, but God tests us to strengthen our faith.

Now what confuses some people who read the English Bible is the same Greek word is used to describe both a temptation and a trial. Temptations come from Satan; trials come from God. Temptation has an evil desire behind it to destroy our faith. A test has a good end result in mind, and that is to strengthen our faith. Remember, in James 1, James says, "Count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials." Be happy about your trials because the testing of your faith produces endurance. But then later on, he says in James 1, "Let nobody say, when he is tempted, 'I'm being tempted by God,' for God can tempt no one with evil."

Now, that word "trial" and "temptation" are both the same Greek word. You see, a difficult situation in your life can be both a trial and it can be a temptation at the same time. God can use a difficult situation in your life to strengthen your faith, and Satan, at the very same time, can hope that difficult situation will destroy your faith. For example, the loss of a job. In today's economy, many Christians are suffering. The loss of a job is the loss of a job, which is certainly a test. It's a difficult situation. Is that a temptation or is it a trial? It depends upon how you respond to it.

If you allow the loss of a job to cause you to question God, to turn away from God, that's Satan using that difficult situation to drive you away from God—that's a temptation. But at the same time, God is using that loss of a job. He can use it to try your faith, to strengthen your faith, to draw you closer to Himself. You see, whether a difficulty in life is a temptation or a trial depends on your response to it. If you allow it to drive you away from God, then Satan wins. If you allow it to draw you closer to God, then God wins.

So what is He saying when He says, "Do not lead us into difficult situations?" He's telling us to pray what every school student prays: "Lord, please keep us from tests. Keep tests far away from us." Why? Because tests can either be failed or they can be passed. So He's saying, it's okay to say, "God, please keep me out of difficult situations." But then we go on to say, "But if you choose to allow a difficult situation to come into my life, deliver me from sin, deliver me from evil. Keep me from allowing this difficult situation to drive me away from you."

What sort of things should we pray about? He said we should pray about anything and everything that we're concerned about. And that leads to a third question: Why doesn't God always answer my prayers? How many of you this morning have ever asked God to do something that He didn't do? Would you raise your hand? That's all of us, isn't it? I mean, we all wrestle with this problem of unanswered prayer. Why is it that God sometimes says no to our requests? Well, the Bible gives three answers, three possible answers for unanswered prayer. One reason is wrong actions—that is, disobedience, sin in our life. In Isaiah 59:2, God said to the Israelites, "But your iniquities, your sin have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that God does not hear."

Now remember, when God wrote these words, He was speaking not to the heathen; He was speaking to His own people, those who had already received His judicial forgiveness. But He said, "Israelites, because of your continuing disobedience, God has not heard your prayer." First Peter is very clear: God turns His ear away from the...

Speaker 3

Wicked, from the unrighteous.

Speaker 2

God will not hear or answer the prayer of those who are living in sin. And many times it is a Christian's disobedience that keeps God from answering his or her prayers. The late Norman Vincent Peale used to tell the story about the time that he was a little boy and decided to experiment with cigar smoking. So he took a cigar, went behind the house, and was puffing away. When he looked up, to his horror, he saw his father approaching him. So he took that cigarette quickly, put it behind his back, and when his father got up next to him, Norman thought he would try to distract his father. He pointed with the other hand to a billboard close by that was advertising a circus that was coming to town. He said, "Hey, Dad, look at that billboard. Do you think we can go to the circus next Saturday?"

Father looked down and said, "Norman, I learned a long time ago not to petition your father while you're holding smoldering disobedience in your hand." It's a pretty good principle in life, isn't it? Don't be asking your Heavenly Father for something while at the same time disobeying Him. The Bible says wrong actions can be one reason for unanswered prayer. He gives a second reason, and that is wrong motives. Turn over to James chapter four for a moment. James, the half-brother of Jesus, had his own take on unanswered prayer. Look at what he says in James 4:2. He says, "You do not have because you do not ask." James said one reason you don't have answers to prayers is you don't ask to begin with.

Listen to this: sometimes God gives us things when we don't even think to ask for them. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4 that God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, beyond all that we ask or think. Aren't you glad that sometimes God thinks to give you things you never think to ask for? He does that sometimes, but usually the principle is this: asking is a prerequisite for receiving. A few years ago, I was in a small pastor's meeting, and the late Dr. Adrian Rogers was with us. Adrian told us the most interesting story. He said when he was in Bible college in Florida, he went to preach at this church one weekend, and the church couldn't afford to pay him anything. So the chairman of the deacons gave him these two big burlap bags filled with oranges.

Now, Adrian said he didn't know what to do with all those oranges, so he put them in the back of his car, drove home, and lugged them upstairs to his two-story apartment. He put them in the closet there and really forgot about them for several days. He said one day he was sitting there studying, and he looked out the window and saw this neighbor boy climbing. When he got to the top of the fence, this little boy reached over to the orange tree in Adrian's backyard and picked one of those oranges, looked around to make sure nobody was watching, took that orange, put it in the pocket of his overalls, and scampered away. Adrian said he began to laugh to himself, picturing this little boy getting home, taking out this orange, and biting into it. Because what this boy didn't know was that orange was a sour orange. A sour orange just looks like a real orange until you bite into it, and then you know the difference.

Adrian said, "You know, if that little boy, instead of stealing that orange, had simply walked up the flight of stairs, knocked on my apartment door, and said, 'Mister, could I have one of those oranges from your orange tree?' I would have said, 'You don't want one of those oranges. But son, come in here.' And I would have opened up my closet and shown him those two burlap bags filled with oranges. I would say, 'I've got more oranges than I know what to do with. Help yourself.'" He said that little boy had not, because he asked not. And then Adrian made this point: "The devil cannot keep God from answering, but he can keep us from asking."

I think if there are any regrets in heaven, one of the greatest regrets is when we see all of the blessings that could have been ours if we had simply had the faith to ask God. Now, I don't want anybody to misunderstand this. I don't think it's God's will always, or perhaps even most of the time, to heal people physically. Because no matter how miraculous the healing, a person will get sick again, and they will die. I mean, that's just part of God's plan. I don't think it's God's will every time to heal, but I do think sometimes it's His will to heal us. And I think one reason there may be so much sickness is our failure to believe that God is able to heal if we ask Him. Remember, you have not, James says, because you ask not.

Speaker 3

As we're learning in this message, prayer is one of the four major channels by which the Holy Spirit pours His power into our life. Yet most Christians would probably admit that their prayer life isn't quite where they want it to be. Next time on Pathway to Victory, we'll continue to look at those three reasons why our prayers sometimes seem to go unanswered.

Every new habit requires intentional effort, and in my bestselling book, I Want More, I'll walk you through the practical steps to experiencing a more satisfying and fulfilling relationship with God. This book was written to help you pursue a fresh new way of thinking about and experiencing God's supernatural power. My book is for the person who doesn't really expect to hear from God when they pray. It's for anyone who seems to struggle repeatedly with the same sin. And it's for anyone who has difficulty identifying at least 2 or 3 miracles in their life. If you have felt any of these disappointments, my book is written just for you, and a copy of I Want More is yours.

When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, David will provide you with our contact information. But before we close, let me just say thank you for your generous financial support of Pathway to Victory. Our ministry has enjoyed a trajectory of growth that defies human explanation, and it's all because of listeners like you who believe in our mission and give generously. God is using you to pierce the darkness with the light of His word.

David.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You can request the book *I Want More* along with a copy of the *Jesus Map*. When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, call us at 866-999-2965 or visit our website. That's at ptv.org now. When your gift is $75 or more, you'll receive not only the book, but also the *Unleashed Teaching* series on both CD and DVD. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or online, go to ptv.org. You could also write to us if you'd like. Here's that mailing address: P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins. Join us again next time when we continue this important study on how to become more effective prayers. That's Wednesday, right here on Pathway to Victory.

Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible.

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