Secrets to Answered Prayer: Don't Quit on Prayer, Persevere Through

You're listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Visit our website and learn more about Harvest Partners at harvest.org. As Greg Laurie reminds us, God invites us to keep asking. When we're praying for God's will in our life, we just can't back down. We can't give up. We have to keep seeking. We have to keep asking. We have to keep knocking. Don't give up. When you walk up to a friend's door and knock, do you give it just one little rap, one single knock, and then stop?

No, you probably give it three or four taps. And then if they don't come to the door, maybe you knock again, or you ring the doorbell. Well, today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie says we should practice the same persistence in our prayers. Pastor Greg is speaking to us from the Hawaiian Islands today as he was there preaching at the Maui satellite campus of his home church. Jesus said, after this manna, therefore you should pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil or the evil one, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Now we come to the first secret to answered prayer. If you don't get this one right, nothing else really matters.

Here it is. He teaches us to pray, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. If I have unconfessed sin in my life, all of the prayers in the world will really accomplish nothing. God says it's not that my ear is heavy that I can't hear, it's not that my arm is short that I can't save, but your sins have separated you from me. The psalmist said if I regard or hang on to iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. If you don't confess your sins, it's like you just hung your phone up on God.

There still may be relationship. That doesn't go away because that's given to you as a result of your believing in Jesus, but fellowship and communication can be severed temporarily, but it can be reconnected to the confession of sin. Some say, well, I don't really know that I have any sins to confess. Oh, we have to go back to the first part of the Lord's prayer, our Father who art in heaven. The more we see God in his glory, the more we'll see ourself and our sinfulness.

So here's the point. We have to come and admit our sin and we have sin. So just trust me when I tell you, it's a good thing on a regular basis, on a daily basis, and maybe even on an hourly basis to say, forgive us our sin as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Okay, now principle number two for having your prayer answered in the affirmative, another secret.

This is a big one. You must forgive others. Let's go back to the Lord's prayer again. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. Now, I think we're okay with the part about being forgiven by God.

Here's the big one. Are we willing to forgive other people? Listen, forgiven people need to be forgiving people. You need to forgive. Is there someone right now that you need to forgive that has sinned against you? Here's what Jesus says. If you come and you bring your gift in the temple and you remember that someone has something against you, go to that person and seek reconciliation with them. Then bring your gift to the altar.

Isn't that interesting? He's saying that they have something against you. You might say, well, that's their problem.

Actually, no, it's kind of your problem too. You need to deal with it and you need to go to that person and you need to forgive them. You know, another way that verse is translated, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us, is forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are indebted to us. And actually, that's accurate because the word that is used there for sin also implies debt and that's why it's often translated that way. First, we have to be forgiven of our debts. Listen, your debt is so high, there's no way you could ever pay it back, the debt of sin. That's why we all have to just basically go chapter 11 spiritually and declare complete bankruptcy and come in total dependence to God who will forgive us. In Colossians 3, it says that Christ canceled the debts that were against us, taking them out of the way, nailing them to the cross. See, the Ten Commandments condemns you, it condemns me, we all fall short and so Jesus took that debt that we owed and he paid it for us.

He came to pay a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. So forgive us our debts, our sins, as we forgive those who are indebted to us or have sinned against us. Okay, secret to answered prayer number three. Jesus taught us in the Lord's Prayer to pray, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

Actually, a more accurate translation would be deliver us from the evil one. So really, what is Jesus teaching us to pray? We're effectively saying to God, God, don't put me in a place where there's more than I can handle. Lord, help me to not be tempted above my capacity to resist. Here's the good news, according to 1 Corinthians 10, 13, the Bible tells us that God will not allow us to be tempted above which we're able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape that we may be able to bear it. Let's paraphrase, God will give you more than you can take. So there are temptations out there but we are to, as much as possible, keep ourself out of the way of it. I saw a bumper sticker in a car that said, lead me not into temptation, then I went on to say, I can find it myself.

See, that's a problem. We unnecessarily put ourselves in situations where we're vulnerable. We all know where our weaknesses are, we all know where we could easily fall, so be practical.

I'm saying, God, help me, but there's also a part that I play in it as well. But I want to talk a little bit about what temptation is and then I want to talk about the best place to be when temptation comes. Here's the thing you need to know about temptation.

Hey, it's tempting. The devil's been doing it for a long time and he's pretty good at what he does. Remember our first parents in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, they saw the forbidden fruit. It was pleasant to the eyes, the Bible tells us.

And then, of course, desirable to make one wise and it was great to the taste. That's sin. You know, it looks good at first, but then once you take a bite of it, the effects of it kick in and the Bible tells us that the wages of sin are death. But temptation is going to come, but the best place to be when temptation comes is in the will of God. You know, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, right? And if Jesus was tempted, surely we're going to be tempted. But the best place to be is walking with the Lord in God's will. You know, we make things very hard when we hang out with the wrong people at the wrong places that ultimately can lead us to do the wrong things.

How can we set a hedge of protection around our minds and keep our thoughts clean? Pastor Greg will address that question next. Pastor Greg Laurie talks about his new book, Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. Billy said to me, I'm just a country preacher. He was just a country preacher, but God elevated him.

And he had packed events, thousands of young people, and when he spoke, those kids listened. You could have heard a pin drop. Are you forgiven? Are you sure of it? Are you certain that God has forgiven you? Well, that's why Christ died on the cross, and that's why he rose again, so that you might be forgiven. You say, do you believe in instant salvation? I certainly do. Now is your moment.

Write this instant. Who could have ever thought that that lanky farm boy would go on to be the greatest evangelist in history? So I write about that and a lot more in this new book I've written called Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. Get to know the country preacher who some millions come to Christ. Let Pastor Greg introduce you to Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. A brand new biography available for your gift of any size at harvest.org. We've caught up with Pastor Greg on the island of Maui today.

He was there preaching at a satellite campus for his home church in Southern California. And he's taking time today to bring us insights on enjoying more productive prayers. Let's continue. Oh wow, look at this awesome shirt. I must have this shirt, especially what they had, and those pants. Now I'm standing.

Next thing you know, I'm in there sitting down trying this stuff on. That's how temptation works, you see. Notice it's walking in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, sitting in the seat of the scornful. So the key is you've got to keep walking, because temptation generally comes to us in the mind. It comes as a thought. It sort of knocks on the door of the imagination. It's been said, you can't stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can stop him from building a nest in your hair. Now in my case, he better bring his own material, because there's not much to work with. You know, I used to, by the way, have a beautiful wave that I would flip it all the time.

Now the wave is gone and they just have beach. But anyway, so here's what we need to remember. We need to guard our mind. Let's go back to Psalm 1. His delight is in the word of the Lord, and it does he meditate day and night. You know, when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, how did he respond to the devil? He quoted scripture.

He occupied ground that every Christian can occupy. He shows us how to resist temptation, and yes, temptation can be resisted. In fact, the Bible says, blessed is the man that resists or endures temptation for when he has tried to receive the crown of life.

Good news. Temptation can be resisted. And it says blessed is the man or happy is the man.

So if you want to be a happy man or a happy woman, say no to temptation and say yes to God and guard your mind. On my computer, I often overfill the hard drive. It's because I never throw a photograph away.

I have so many pictures of my family and my grandkids, and I keep them all. And so every now and then, when I'm trying to open a Word document, a little thing will come up on my screen. Hard drive is full. So I'll empty the trash, and I'll have to delete a few things. You know, wouldn't it be great if our minds were so full of the word of God that when the devil comes with his enticements, he would just see a little sign that says hard drive full. So don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. But meditate. Think about, ponder the word of God. Lord, don't lead me into temptation.

Don't let me be tested above my capacity to resist. So the key is you need to know the word of God. In fact, it's a great thing to memorize the word of God. The psalmist said, your word of I hear to my heart that I might not sin against you. And I don't know about you, but sometimes I can't remember the order of the books of the New Testament.

Oh, look at these cute little girls. Hi. Hey, do either one of you know the order of the New Testament books?

You do? What's your name? I recognize you.

You're my granddaughter. Well, what are those New Testament books? Let's hear them. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2, Thessalonians, 1 and 2, Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1 and 2, Peter, 1 and 2, 3, John, Jude, and Revelation. Very good, Lucy. Hey, how many of you could do that right now, do the books of the New Testament? And you know the Lord's Prayer, sometimes I forget how it goes. I think it's like, our Father who art in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, right? That's not how it goes?

How does it go? Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thine. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us of our debts, as we should forgive our debtors. Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom of the power and the glory forever.

That's right. So that's why we should memorize scripture. If these cute little girls can do it, you can do it too.

Very good, girls. Okay, point number four of having your prayers answered in the affirmative. Don't give up. Jesus said, Ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened. So, this is really important. We have to be persistent in our prayer.

Listen to this. If the request is wrong, God says no. If the timing is wrong, God says slow. If you are wrong, God says grow. But if the request is right, and the timing is right, and you are right, God says go.

But we don't want to give up. You know, it's interesting that the phrase Jesus used is ask and seek and knock. There's an ascending intensity. So imagine yourself in a restaurant, you know, and why is it that when you sit down, immediately a server comes, they take your order.

Do you know what you want to order? You say no. And then they like disappear for a month. What happens?

I don't know. But anyway, so the server comes, they give you some coffee, whatever. And maybe you want some more coffee. And so you ask, and they don't come. And you ask again, excuse me, and they don't come. And then you ask, and finally you just get up, walk over, and get the coffee and pour it to yourself.

That speaks of intensity. Okay, so the idea is we start by asking. I'm asking God, but then I'm seeking.

Now I've gone to the next level. I'm not going to give up on this. I'm seeking, and now I'm knocking. And the idea of knocking is I'm pounding on a door.

In other words, in a way I'm not going to take no for an answer. Look, we don't always know what the will of God is, but I think when you're like praying for the salvation of a loved one, when you're praying for our country to have a spiritual awakening, and man, do we need that right now. When we're praying for God's will in our life, we just can't back down. We can't give up. We have to keep seeking. We have to keep asking.

We have to keep knocking. And then the Bible says the door will be open. You know, I prayed for my mother to come to Christ for over 30 years. I was beginning to wonder if God would ever hear my prayer, but He did finally.

And it was all in His timing. You know, the Bible says He makes everything beautiful in His time. We don't want to rush it. We don't want to be ahead of the Lord. We don't want to be behind the Lord. We want His perfect will in His perfect time.

But let me just say this in closing. You know, all the things I've shared in this message are really for believers only. Only the believer has the privilege of praying. Only the believer can know that when he calls out to the Lord, he'll be heard. Now, a non-believer can say, God, help me. God, save me.

But as far as a prayer life, this relationship, this communion, this is for Christians only. If you're not sure if you have a relationship with God, here's what you're like. You're like a person caught in a riptide. You're out in the ocean, and you're in trouble. And you see a lifeguard on the shore, and you say, help. And the lifeguard comes to your aid.

I remember years ago I was here in Hawaii with my son Jonathan, and I was just helping him to catch some waves. And all of a sudden I got caught in a riptide. And I'm not like way out. I'm close to the shore. And I'm sort of embarrassed that I can't get my feet on the ground.

I'm like, I don't know, 12, 15 feet out. And I'm getting pulled out, and I'm trying to get my feet down. I'm holding Jonathan above the water, and there's this female lifeguard that sees me. And she starts running toward me. I never said help, but she's running toward me. And I'm like, oh, no, I don't want to be saved.

I'm so close to the shore. And finally, I got my feet in the ground. I said, I'm okay, I'm okay.

And God bless her for coming out there. But anyway, there's something in guys, especially, we don't want to say we need help. Are you afraid to call out to the Lord and say, God, I need help? The Bible says, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And what you need to do is call out to Him right now. That's the prayer you know that God will hear.

He'll hear it immediately. Would you like to do that right now? Would you like to be forgiven of all of your sin? Would you like to have this relationship with God as your Father in heaven who will hear your prayer and answer your prayer? Listen, He's just a prayer away. I'd like to lead you in a simple prayer. And if you want your sin forgiven, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, if you want a fresh start in life, if you want to know God in a personal way, wherever you are, just stop what you're doing and pray this prayer with me right now.

Just pray this. In fact, you could even pray it out loud after me. Just pray, Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner. But I know that You're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow You from this moment forward as Savior and Lord, as God and friend, as my Father in heaven. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen. Hey, listen, welcome to the family of God. Now you can start praying and you'll know that God will hear your prayer and you can start growing spiritually. It's the greatest adventure of all, a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

So, from the beautiful island of Maui, aloha. Pastor Greg Laurie, with cameo appearances from his granddaughters, giving us some important principles on productive prayer. Glad you've joined us today here on A New Beginning. And if you have just prayed those words with Pastor Greg and meant them sincerely, the Lord has heard you and forgiven you of your sin.

The Bible says Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And we'd like to send you some materials to help you begin to live this new life. We call it our New Believers' Growth Packet. Just ask for it and we'll send it to you free of any charge if you prayed for the first time today with Pastor Greg. Write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300.

That's 1-800-821-3300. Or go to harvest.org and click Know God. Now the title of today's study, Secrets to Answered Prayer.

Look for that title at harvest.org to get an instant replay. Well, we've been hearing from so many listeners who have been enjoying Pastor Greg's new book called Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. And right now, Pastor Greg is revealing some of the surprises found in the book.

These are 10 things about Billy you've likely never heard before. Give us another one today, Pastor Greg. Well, this one is kind of a fun one, but I need some psychedelic rock in the background to set the scene. Okay. Okay.

Here it is. Billy was a preacher with a genuine appreciation for culture, even psychedelic rock. So here's what happened. So it's the late 60s, of course.

The whole rock scene is exploding and all these bands are forming and kids are growing their hair out long. A lot of preachers would say, I want nothing to do with that. But Billy embraced it and tried to understand it.

So here's something I actually learned while I was writing this book. He went to a concert featuring the Grateful Dead. Can you imagine Billy Graham at a Dead concert?

Now, I don't know if he was wearing a tie-dye T-shirt. But in performing at the concert were Grateful Dead, Kent Heat, Johnny Winner, and Santana. And so he sort of went undercover and engaged in conversations with many of the young people who were there and even got up on the stage at this rock concert and preached the gospel. And 350 young people came to the Lord. Most people have not heard this story. Here's another story. Billy embraced contemporary Christian music later in his crusades.

I know this because I watched it happen. There were a lot of these great bands that were forming back in those days. DC Talk, Audio Adrenaline, of course Michael W. Smith. And so Billy started having them on his platform on youth night. Not everybody on his team agreed with this.

I remember there was some spirited discussion on the topic. Of course, I was in favor of it because it was a way to build a bridge to his audience. And I think at times when there would be some band that would play before Billy and they'd get a lot of applause. But when Billy came on the stage, the greatest applause was saved for him. Here's what I loved is Billy just was his authentic self. So Billy wore suits when he preached and he would come out wearing his suit, preached as he always preached. But those kids loved him and they hung on his every word.

But this shows me even in his later years, Billy was flexible and willing to adapt to the changing culture. You know the apostle Paul said he became all things to all men. And I think one of the problems in the church today is we're answering questions no one is asking.

And we're not answering the questions that are being asked. Billy always had a great interest in knowing what people were dealing with. He wanted to understand the people he was speaking to. And he always wanted to build a bridge. Billy Graham was a bridge builder, not a bridge burner.

He was a peacemaker, not a troublemaker. He always wanted to bring people to Christ. And so this is one of the things I bring out in my new book that I just wrote called Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. And I'd love to send you a copy for your gift of any size. And whatever you send to us here at Harvest Ministries, we can promise you it will be used to reach more people with the gospel and with the teaching of the word of God. So whatever you can send, it's appreciated, and we'll send you your copy of Billy Graham, the Man I Knew.

Yeah, it's a fascinating read, an inspiring read. And you can be one of the first to receive Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. We'll send it to say thank you for your investment in the mission of this ministry.

It's an investment in touching lives, like this one. This listener wrote, Thank you, Pastor Greg. It's because of you, 24 years ago, that I gave my life to God. I was higher than a kite, up all night, and started watching you on TV. And you spoke so frankly to me.

I knew what I had been doing was putting me in a hole. Thank you again. Well, you know, your support helps us reach people like this. And with your investment, let us thank you with Pastor Greg's new book, Billy Graham, the Man I Knew.

And we won't be mentioning this much longer, so contact us soon. Just write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. That's a 24-7 phone number, 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to Harvest.org. Well, next time, a respite from the chaotic, stressful lives we lead. Pastor Greg shows us where we can find the peace and rest Jesus offers. That's next time on A New Beginning. This is the day, the day when life begins. The preceding podcast was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Learn how to become a Harvest Partner, sign up for daily devotions, and find resources to help you grow in your faith at harvest.org.