R1674 Praying the Impossible

Sometimes the word impossible is frightening. But today's message, The Impossible Prayer from Dr. Don Wilton, is actually encouraging. The Encouraging Word. This is The Encouraging Word featuring the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton.

And today we head to Nehemiah Chapter 1 about The Impossible Prayer. We also want you to know we're ready to pray with you right now. Our phone number is 866-899-WORD. 24 hours a day, we'd love to pray with you and for you and connect with great resources that'll help you grow. Some of those resources you can see right now on our website at www.tewonline.org. If you're a parent or grandparent, this unique resource about how we have more effective prayers for our children and grandchildren, it's exciting.

Again, you'll find the details on our website www.tewonline.org. Now today's great teaching with our pastor, Dr. Don Wilton. The Encouraging Word. Right, let's go. We're going to ask God to clarify for us.

We're in a series, clarity. Go to Nehemiah Chapter 1. Nehemiah Chapter 1. And so it is that Nehemiah had a conversation with God. He prayed. Let's read this prayer together.

I'm going to be in Nehemiah Chapter 1 and beginning at verse 5. And I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant. That I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel, your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel which have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes and the rules that you commanded your servant, Moses.

Remember the word that you commanded your servant, Moses, saying, if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. But if you return to me and keep my commands and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen to make my name dwell there. They are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed with great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name and give success to your servant today and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.

Now, I was cup bearer to the king. May the Lord Jesus write this word upon our hearts today. Let's consider Nehemiah just for a minute with the impossible circumstance and situation in which he found himself.

Just a number of points I want to emphasize to you today. Number one, he acknowledged who God is. That's the first thing he did. Bible tells us in verse six very clearly that this man, faced with such an impossibility, an improbability, an unlikelihood, he began by acknowledging who God is.

No mention of himself. God first. Most of us lead with ourselves. God wants us to lead with him. And if you begin to unpack this, even the words that the Bible shares with us here, I love this phrase here in verse five.

O Lord God of heaven. Remember when the disciples came to Jesus? They said to him, Lord Jesus, would you teach us how to pray?

And what did Jesus say? Our father who art in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Lord, heaven, great, awesome, the God of covenant. That word there when he addresses God, when he begins with God in this impossibility, he calls him the God of covenant.

Why? Because the affirmation of who God is lies right there in the heart of the very Godhead, the righteous one, the holiness of God. The one who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or even think. Point number one, he acknowledged who God is. Point number two, he begged God to listen. He begged God to listen. Please, Lord, listen to me.

He made no assumption. Ask myself, why did he and then it's repeated again in verse 11. Oh, Lord, please listen. Open your eyes. See me, Lord. Listen to me. Open your ears.

Be attentive. This is a cry. I really believe as God spoke to my heart that what the Lord was trying to show us through Nehemiah's prayer is our assumption of God's attention is predicated on the belief that God has no regard for the sin of our hearts which separates us from him. And all of us are sinners. Folks, watch me.

Listen to this. We must always pray in every circumstance. Nothing is ever too small for God. We ought to pray for our food, for our daily lives, for our needs, for our provisions, for our children and our sons and our daughters in every way. God expects us.

He invites us. But nine out of 10 times when we pray, we're asking God to help us do what we know we can do in order to accomplish what we're praying for. Lord, would you help me to get physically fit?

I want to be physically fit. I need to feel better. Lord, I want to pray about this. I'm struggling with it.

I've gone through years. It's really I need to reduce my weight and I need to increase my this and I need to do all of this. What you're saying is, Lord, would you help me to do the things that I don't even like doing? Would you give me the discipline to do it? Would you help me to say no to something? But there are some things that you and I will pray over that you know is well nigh impossible.

Some precious friends, you've got a son or a daughter that has been far from God for years or your marriage is it's for all intents and purposes. It's like there's no it's we've tried. I'm tired of this. I'm it's Lord.

And you've got to that point. He acknowledged who God is. He begged God to listen. Number three, he spent time in this prayer. Look in in verse six, the latter part of verse six there. He said, would you hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night?

Did you see that? When you and I are praying for something that's humanly very difficult. You're in such debt. Your debt is so far over your head.

It's so far. And it just gnaws at you. You've got such an insurmountable debt. You're struggling with that addiction.

You keep going. It's in your system. They've told you. They've told you that you're an alcoholic. You know you're an alcoholic.

And you just have to smell the stuff. And you know what it does. It's destroying your life. It's destroying your body. It's destroying your behavior. It's robbing you. And it's like you cannot stop doing it.

You've got to persistently pray. This is not, Lord, just want to tell you, help me out. There's something very earnest and deep and persistent. Number four, and this is very interesting to me. He confessed the sins of the nation.

Very, that gripped my attention. He confessed the sins of the nation. Lord, I'm coming to you today and I'm confessing the sins of my people, of my nation. You say, well, what good does that do? God's not talking about or asking your or my opinion about what good it does. He says, do it. He's not asking you or me for our considered opinion as to whether or not you think you're wasting your time praying and confessing the sins of the nation.

Just do it. The prayer of a righteous person avails much. Number five, he confessed his own sin.

Very clearly in verse six and seven, just this is so powerful. Even I and my father's house have sinned. Well, why pick on dad?

Why pick on mom? You know very well that some of you are bearing the scar and the marks of sin from your parents. Isn't that a hard thing to say? And you and I know very well that some of us as parents are passing on the mark of sin onto our sons and daughters. We are endorsing their sinfulness.

We're putting our stamp of approval on it. Number six, he remembered the promises of God. Remember, this is praying for the impossible. He remembered the promises of God. Really must look again at verse eight and verse nine.

So powerful. Remember the word that you commanded your servant. So here is this Jewish man living in exile in Persia. And he is remembering history and what God has done for his people. Why Moses?

Because God made a covenant statement through Abraham passed on to Moses. And the practical reality of the hand of God was seen as God himself delivered the children of Israel from bondage and brought them into the promised land under the leadership of God's servant. And in his prayer for the impossible, looking way ahead to the future, trying to figure all this out. He's nurturing his faith and his trust in God's complete sovereign ability to do exceedingly abundantly above all that any of them could ever ask. Or even think.

In fact, it was impossible. So look what he says. You remember, I remember, God, you're the God of covenant. If you are unfaithful, I'll scatter you.

There's a great scattering going on. Because of the faithfulness, unfaithfulness of the nation and because of the unfaithfulness of many of God's people, God will take you and he will scatter you. God does that. The response we have many times to our own sinfulness is to blame everybody else and God is saying you're unfaithful. You're not being a people of faith. You've got to trust me and live for me.

That's so hard to accomplish. Look what he says here. He goes on. He says, but if you return to me, I love this. If you return to me, keep my commandments and do them even though you've been scattered to the heavens. The word, by the way, in the Hebrew text there, even though you are outcasts in the heavens. What does that phrase mean? Even though you are outcasts, he's talking about the Jewish people.

They became like aliens scattered all over in these cultures and places among the nations of the people and the foreign gods. And even though you've been scattered from north to south and east to west, the word heavens there speaks to the scope of sovereign God, sovereign power, the extent of God's reach. Even though you feel abandoned, hopeless and helpless, suppressed and oppressed, I bring you together.

I'll build you up. Oh, that's good news. Please forgive the interruption. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton and he'll be back with the rest of his message in just a moment.

But I interrupt for two reasons. Dr. Wilton wants you to know we're here for you. We'd love to pray with you any time at 866-899-9673. And I also want you to know that we're here beyond this broadcast. You can connect with us on our website at www.tewonline.org and hear this message and more.

Plus, you can connect to great resources like this. Satan is seeking to devour your grandchildren. Evil runs rampant in the streets.

Pouring out of social media and online streaming, seducing young people with false promises of worldly satisfaction. But the word of God is stronger than anything that comes from the world. With your gift of support to the encouraging word this month, you will receive Dr. Wilton's message, Standing in the Gap, along with the bonus book, prayers that avail much for grandparents. Use these Bible-based resources to guide younger generations to Jesus Christ, the only one who can save and satisfy. Now that's just one of many great resources you'll find on our website at www.tewonline.org.

And while you're there, be sure and sign up for the free daily email from Dr. Don that's on our website www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Darr. Even though you feel abandoned, hopeless and helpless, suppressed and oppressed, I will bring you together. I'll build you up. I will create in you a nation that fears God. And I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you. And in you will all the nations of the earth be blessed.

How's your family doing? Number seven, he presented the people of God. This is the prayer of the impossible. He presented the people of God. Verse 10 was very interesting to me because he said, they are your servants. He looked out from his lonely, isolated perch in Persia, considering the faithfulness of God's people. He said, Lord Jesus, Lord God of heaven, look at the people. Look at them.

They are just so precious. Look at the people, Lord. Look how faithful they've been. I mean, he just was an encourager.

They delight in revering your name. All of a sudden, he looked past the naysayers and the opposition and the enemies. He looked past the people who were always against. They are in every crowd, in every church, in every nation, in every community.

Are you kidding me? He looked past them and he said, but Lord, look at your people. Number eight, he believed God would do it. I love, of course, verse 11. Please, Lord, grant favor to my request.

Give us success. He just believed. And number nine, this sort of comes at the end of his statement, and I'm going to speak about it. At the closing of his prayer, I got on my knees. I said, Lord, why did you include this? What's this got to do with the prayer? He affirmed his lowliness. So here's what I want to do.

You ready? What does this teach us? Let's apply this in our own lives.

Here's what it teaches us. Number one, begin with God. Just put in your impossibility right now, and then just lay it aside, just begin with God. Number two, cry out to the Lord.

Only you can be the judge of that. Cry to the Lord. Where's this coming from?

Are you ho-hum? It's coming from your soul. It says something about the depth of your belief.

Number three, don't stop. Keep praying. I'm not saying one prayer is enough for God. I'm not saying that. If you want me to say that, I'll say God already knows without you even telling him.

But what I am saying is what Nehemiah teaches us is don't stop. Number four, confess sin. And you do business with that. Confess the sins of your family. Confess the sins of your nation.

You're not being elitist when you do that, you're not pointing a finger. But most of all, confess your own sin because he is faithful and just to forgive you for your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Number five, don't doubt God's ability.

Now that's a, wow, this really is the prayer of genuine faith, isn't it? Praying the impossible. Lord, I just don't know how we can handle this. I don't know how we can do this. This project you're giving to us is awfully big. There are things that we don't want, we would prefer.

I don't know about this, but we're going to place our faith and trust in the Lord. Number six, brag on others. Brag on others. I've always had a torrid time in this congregation. Do you know how I've got to be so careful not to call names when I'm in the pulpit? Because if I start calling names, I'll be here for the next three hours calling names. And for every name I call, faithful servants of the Lord, there's so many others.

And I'm not saying that to be quaint or cute. This is what Nehemiah was saying, brag on others. God wants us to do that when praying the impossible because the prayer of righteous people avails might.

Brag on the righteous people. Number seven, just believe. Just believe.

Say, oh, that's just too simple. It's simple, but it's very profound, isn't it? It's that word to just totally trust the Lord. Put your impossibility in God's hands.

Just trust Him. Because ultimately what you're asking is that He would receive all the glory. And by the way, when you pray, the answer is not always has to be yes. If you put it in God's hands, sometimes it's no. But I'll guarantee you, God's going to get the glory.

And then one more, do a heart check. At the end of this prayer, Nehemiah has to tell us all, now I was a cupbearer to the king. I prayed about that. Why is that at the end of that prayer? Sort of an addendum, a P.S. Oh, by the way, as for me, I'm just nobody. I don't have the means in and of myself to accomplish what I'm asking.

I'm just a cupbearer. See, we pray many times and we say, now, Lord, if you could just do this, if you could just bring the right person to me, well, maybe you're the right person. Such a powerful message from Dr. Don Wilton today. As you've been listening to him teach from the book of Nehemiah, I pray that you've heard not only his wonderful, unique voice, but you've heard the voice of God reminding you that He loves you and has a plan for your life. You've heard Dr. Don as he's been teaching and preaching from the pulpit. Now, open your heart to what he wants to share with you next.

Well, hello again, my friends. Are you ready to give your life to Christ? You know, you've been listening like this and God has been speaking like this, hasn't He?

And He's speaking to your heart. I'd love to help you give your life to Christ right now. Why don't you pray this prayer, make this your prayer, because you know that God not only hears our prayer, but He answers our prayer too. Pray this prayer with me. Dear God, I know that You love me very much.

I believe Jesus came and died on a cross just for me and that He gave His life for me. Right now, I confess my sin to You and by faith I receive You into my heart and into my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Well, if you've prayed that prayer right now, in just a moment we're going to send you some information.

I want you to listen real carefully because you can take note of that. We've got the means by which we can connect together and I want to connect with you because you're part of my family. You're part of the family of God. You are my brother, my sister in Christ.

God bless you today. Perhaps you just prayed along with Dr. Wilton moments ago to give your life to Jesus Christ for the first time or perhaps to rededicate your life and begin afresh and anew. We have wonderful resources that Dr. Wilton wants you to have absolutely free that we want to put in your hands as you call us at 866-899-WORD. That number is 866-899-9673. And if you've given your life to Christ or today's the day to rededicate your life, these resources will help you grow in your faith. Just call us, 866-899-9673 or we'd love to meet you online as well at www.tewonline.org. Perhaps you didn't hear all of today's broadcast or you'd like to hear more of Dr. Wilton's teaching, we have that available for you both in audio form or in video form. You can even sign up for the daily podcast. All of that is on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. Until next time, take care and it's our prayer that you would know that God is ready to encourage you with the power of the Bible itself, God's encouraging Word.