Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for tuning into this broadcast of the Power Walk Ministries. We're glad that you've joined us today because today and over the next few days, we'll be digging deeper into a crucial aspect of life: the aspect of prayer. Now, most people pray with some regularity and others when necessary. All of us, when we say a prayer, have some hope for answers from God.

It's important to learn how we can pray and move forward with confidence that God will respond to us. Our teacher, Dr. Paul Cannings, is the senior pastor of Living Word Fellowship Church in Houston, Texas, and he's excited to share with us what God has laid on his heart. Powerful Prayers is the title of our current series, and now let's listen to the lesson, Maximizing Your Relationship. Here's Pastor Cannings.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I haven't met anyone who went in to pray and weren't hoping that God would answer their prayer. They don't pray just to pray; they pray because they need God to respond to the prayer, to hear their concern, and to do so in an expeditious manner. It's not an issue of getting him to listen.

Number one, Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father expressly as our intercessor to make intercession for us, but he doesn't hear the prayers of sinners. The only way to experience a relationship with God is not just to accept that Jesus Christ died on the cross, but that he has the very nature of God. That's what John would say in 1 John Chapter 4.

If they don't believe that Jesus is the Christ, the deity, the son of the living God, then they are not saved. When a person believes that and they have an intent in their heart, the Bible says immediately in Ephesians Chapter 1, the Holy Spirit comes fully into the life of that believer. Titus Chapter 3 says he comes in fully and they are regenerated into a brand new creation so that old things pass away and behold, all things become new.

The Bible says in John Chapter 9, Verse 31, that he doesn't hear the prayers of sinners. But when a person believes and they're saved, Jesus Christ is sitting at the right hand of the Father to make intercession for us, Hebrews Chapter 8. He fights our case before God, who we're now at peace with, Ephesians Chapter 2.

So there is not an issue here as to whether or not God listens. That's the first thing. Secondly, what is it that God doesn't know? What is it that God doesn't understand? What is it that God is not cognizant of every day? God knows everything. We say he's omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent. We say all these things, but then we act like we have to tweak him to listen.

The issue isn't whether or not he hears us. The issue is: What does it take for God to respond to us and how can we know that confidently so that when we pray, we can move forward with confidence, with great expectation on what God will do because of what he says he will do?

A young lady came to me and said, "I believe that God wants me to marry this person. Would you pray that it all works out?" I said, "Is the person saved?" She said, "No, he's not saved, but he's a good guy, a really good person. He goes to church from time to time. He's a decent guy, has a job, comes from a good family, doesn't drink, and doesn't smoke. He just struggles with this whole church thing, but he's a good guy."

I can't pray for that. She said, "Wait a minute. What do you mean you can't pray for that? You have to pray for that." I told her there is no point in praying for that. He says, "Do not be unequally yoked." Why would I go pray for something he's saying you don't do? I'm praying for something, leading you to expect God to respond because you came to me for a reason, and that expectation is null and void. There's no point for me to pray for something God is saying not to do.

So when John comes to us in 1 John Chapter 3 and the believers are struggling, there's all kinds of different religions going on. They have Cerinthianism, believing that Jesus Christ became Christ at the baptism and then before he died, the Christos left him. You have Docetism, where he's basically like a phantom. Then you have Gnosticism, a special sense of knowledge that comes from God and that knowledge leads us to a great experience of God.

That's why John in 1 John is constantly talking about knowing truth, because he is dealing with all of these different people that are amidst the church and creating confusion. He's trying to keep them focused so that they experience Christ for who he is in the midst of whatever tribulation, trial, or difficulty they experience day to day.

How does this work? He brings this home with the word "know". The first thing he's going to say is "we will know by this". What does he mean by this "know"? He actually tells us in Chapter 2 what this "know" means. There are several different connotations in the scriptures attached to the word "know". There's some that has to do with a knowledge of God that helps us to see, oida.

We can better see what God is saying as we apply what he's saying because that leads us to discernment. Hebrews Chapter 5, Verse 14 says it helps us to discern what is good and evil. The same thing you see in Philippians Chapter 1, Verses 9 through 11, where this knowledge of God helps us to see what's taking place. As we walk in it, we gain wisdom and understanding because we are walking from the base of the knowledge of God.

This is one of the things John is bringing home to us when he says, "By this we know we have come to know him if we keep his commandments." And then he says, "The one who says I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him." The person doesn't experience the reality of what the word means on a day-to-day basis, the experience of the word of God in the day-to-day life.

A person may say to you that a car will get 40 miles to the gallon, but not until you drive it will you experience the 40 miles to the gallon. Then you know the truth. You start off believing it; you bought the car. But in the process of driving, you learn the truth. A person cannot experience the true meaning of the word of God if they don't apply it. They're never in the truth because they don't keep the word of God.

When things get bad or difficult, they drop the word of God and go back to their own reasoning and understanding. They let fear and anxiety control them. They get emotional and don't want to deal with this; they need to get an immediate response from God, so they drop it. As David would say, "I hide thy word in my heart that I may not sin against thee." That person does not come into the revelation of what God's word means, so they're not in the truth.

He says, "But the one who keeps his word, in him the love of God is completely experienced." In Verse 6, he says, "The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he, Christ, walked." So that's why in Chapter 3, Verse 19, he says, "We will know by this," the intuitive experience of knowing.

The Spirit of God who came to guide me in the truth because I'm now walking in the word of God. The Bible says the more I walk in the word of God, the more I experience the work of the Holy Spirit. The more I experience the work of the Holy Spirit in my life, who came to convict me of sin, who came to guide me into truth, who came to illuminate the word of God, who came to develop me spiritually so that as I renew my mind he transforms my life, Romans Chapter 12, Verse 2.

The more he transforms my life, Paul would say, "I no longer walk in the flesh, I now walk in the spirit." This Holy Spirit then takes me to experience the fruit of the spirit. That's why John is saying we will know by this, this work of the Holy Spirit in us, that we are of the truth and what the real true meaning of the word of God is in day-to-day life.

I love the way Paul says that in Colossians Chapter 1, Verse 9 through Verse 12. He says when we come to understanding, then we can walk in wisdom, and when we walk in wisdom, we are strengthened and empowered because the Spirit of God takes over. The first thing to experiencing the will of God in order to experience an answer to prayer is to make most important knowing Christ.

The same writer puts it this way, and this is critical because many times we spend more time praying than we spend time just focusing on the relationship. Think about it for a minute. Your child comes to you and requests something of you. You are going to respond to the child that is your child faster than you would respond to some strange child that showed up at your house and asked for the same thing.

The relationship you have with your child moves you faster. We tend to go to God like, "God, all this church stuff, all this Bible stuff, devotions, walking with you, seeking wisdom from you, all this other stuff is great. But God, I need help right now." We want to come to God and demand something when he's into relationship.

He died on Calvary's cross, rose from the dead, and sits at the right hand of the Father for one main reason: for us to have a relationship with God. That's it. When we are missing that part and running to the prayer, it's no different than this strange child showing up at the door saying, "I need the very thing your child asked for."

That's why John puts it this way in Verse 7 of Chapter 15 of the Book of John: "If you abide in me"—abide means to obey him, to do what he says. Are we going to do that perfectly? No. And that's why in 1 John Chapter 1, he says, "If we sin, confess it." John is not talking about perfect people who obey the word of God perfectly every day and they know God so perfectly that nothing could ever go wrong. He's not talking about that.

The issue is abiding, a commitment that whenever things go wrong, I go right back to God, confess it, and keep moving forward. Look at Abraham. Abraham didn't do everything right. He lied. There's things that took place that caused Abraham to get off track, but Abraham ran right back on track when corrected by God.

He says when we abide in him and his words abide in us, ask whatever you wish and it will be done. The effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much. The issue that we're going to focus on today as the first step is just to know him. We have a loving God, a loving Jesus Christ, and we didn't reach out to him, he sought us.

I don't care how righteous we think we were when we come to Christ. He was the one that drew us to him. He died before we could even accept him. The love is all on his side. For God so loved the world, he gave. It's all on his side. God is love. Outside of him, we don't know love.

There's no need for us to ever be concerned about whether or not God is hearing us because he's everywhere all the time. Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father. There's no issue to worry about whether or not God is concerned for us. The issue is: Are we concerned about him? Has our relationship with him taken front page to anything we do?

That's the focus today. As you go about your day, talk about Jesus, experience Christ, and see what in your day he can dominate. Give it a try because he loves you. That's why he's giving you this day. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Reverend Cannings. Friends, the importance of prayer cannot be overemphasized in our lives, and so we're excited to present this series to you. Contact us at powerwalkministries.org. Our number is 281-260-7402. That number again is 281-260-7402.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Hello everyone, this is Pastor Cannings. It's been a pleasure coming into your home or maybe your car. It's been a blessing to serve you, and I hope that you will become a partner as we seek to continue to serve God in an effective manner. Many times he opens up so many doors, but what we lack is resources to get it done.

You can't go through every door, but you know the ones that are a great fit for our ministry to touch lives. I pray that you would become a Power Walk partner as we Power Walk together to impact lives. Thank you for listening. It's been a blessing serving you.

Guest (Male): As always, we value your prayers for our ministry. Once again, our web address is powerwalkministries.org. Our mailing address is PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas 77092. Now remember, to experience God's response to our prayers, we must know Christ and abide in him.