Dr. Michael Youssef beginning this episode of Leading the Way with pointed words for Christ followers today. The problem with our culture is the problem of the church. Because our culture has a short attention span. We have such a short attention span that we cannot focus on prayer more than a couple of hours, or a couple of days, or maybe a couple of weeks.
We start praying, especially in times of crisis, and then we fizzle out. Welcome to Leading the Way Audio, featuring the Bible teaching of pastor and author of more than 50 books, Dr. Michael Youssef. When life starts to go sideways, It's easy to pray. But how about on the ordinary day-to-day, just going fine kind of days?
Well, up next, Dr. Youssef shares a biblical recipe outlining the essential ingredients of prayer during the tough times and when things seem just fine.
So listen with me as Dr. Youssef begins today's teaching time. Every religion. has a prayer component. That's to do with that religion.
The Hindus Pray. The Buddhists pray. Muslims pray five times a day. Even atheists pray.
Sometimes. And now you've heard it said that there are no atheists in foxhalls. But the question is To whom are they praying? What are their expectations in prayer? Are there prayers any more than just reciting a wish list?
Do they have any confidence that their prayers will be answered. Do they know their God? Does that say God loved them? That is why Jesus taught us. To pray, when we pray, say, Our Father in heaven.
That distinguishes those who belong to Jesus from the rest of the world. How? Because no one Can call God Almighty the Creator of heaven and earth. Father. unless Jesus Christ is the Lord and the Savior of the life.
Hebrews 10:19 tells us that only through the blood of Jesus Christ can we enter into the holy place of being able to call God. Abba. Father. Only those who call upon their Heavenly Father can be absolutely confident that God is not only hearing their prayers, but answers their prayers. God said to his people through the prophet Jeremiah.
And here's what he said to them. Called to me. And I'll answer you. and tell you great and unsearchable things that you do not know. Other translation says, Call upon me, and I'll show you great and mighty things that you can't even imagine.
At the end of this message, I'm going to show you how to pray, big prayer, how to pray mighty prayer in the context of your needs and in the context of your circumstances.
So stay tuned. When God said to Israel through Jeremiah, Call upon me, and I will show you great and mighty things of which you can't even imagine. Jeremiah himself was in prison. When that invitation was issued. is think about this for a long time.
Nebuchadnezzar had already come. This dictator of Babylon had already come with his army and laid siege around Jerusalem, and they already have taken some hostages and took them back to Babylon. Things were as dark as they've ever been since the days of the slavery in Egypt for the people of God. These were dark and tough days. The nation was in a political dire strait.
And the the nation was facing economic catastrophe. The nation was facing a social meltdown. The nation was facing a spiritual crisis.
Something like what we're going through right now. Question. Why did God allow this when these are God's people? These are not some rascals somewhere. These are the people of God whom He loved and redeemed.
These are the people of whom God says they are the apple of my eye. Why is He doing this? And the answer, beloved, is very simple. It really is. They have turned their backs on God again and again and again.
They have placed their trust in political messiahs. They have placed their security on material possessions. They have compromised with sin. They have ceased to be united in worship of the one true God. And for years, God has been appealing to them again and again and again until they become callous.
God for years will send him a messenger after messenger after messenger. To stop this wholesale departure from the truth, but to no avail. And finally, God is saying to them at this very critical juncture of their history, at this very critical time of their life, and God is saying, even now, it is not too late to cry to me, it is not too late to call upon me, even at this very, very hour. Let me ask you this. When was the last time did you ask God for mighty things?
For his glory. Ask yourself that when there's the last time you ask God for great things. Listen to me, the problem with our culture is the problem of the church. It really is. Because our culture has a short attention span.
We have such a short attention span that we cannot focus on prayer more than a couple of hours. A couple of days.
Well, maybe a couple of weeks. We start praying, especially in times of crisis, and then we fizzle out. Why? If we fizzle out, if God answers our prayers, because we get busy with what He's given us. And we fizzle out if he doesn't.
out of disappointment. We fizzle out. And that is why I began the series of messages talking about the most important thing in prayer, and that is continuous, consistent, daily taxation. time with God and His Word. Listen to me.
When you spend time with God and His Word, you will not only know how to pray, but you will pray according to His will. In fact, 1 John 3, 21 and 22. Here's what he said, dear friends. If our hearts do not condemn us. And we are confident before God.
and receive from him anything we ask. All right, that's where most Christians stop. That's where they start. No, no, no, read the rest of the verse. Here's what he says: because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
You start pleasing God and watch how He's going to answer big prayers. When we truly know God, we're going to please God. And when we please God, we will pray great things for on behalf of God's kingdom. And when we ask for great things, we expecting Him to answer these great things, even if it takes ten years. We don't give up in prayer.
Because you're absolutely certain you're praying according to his will and for his glory.
Now beloved listen to me. I have been on both sides of this equation. I have prayed for things according to the will of God, knowing it is for the glory of God, confident that I am praying for the will of God. And I received instant answers to prayer. Instant.
Before sunset, I got answers. But then I've been in times when I prayed for things for the glory of God and according to the will of God, and I didn't get an answer for 11 years. Makes no difference. When you are praying according to the will of God, when you are praying for the glory of God, it doesn't matter how long it takes. You say, Michael, were you tempted to give up in prayer?
Yes. I have. Did you go through a time of doubting that you might not be praying according to the will of God? Yes, I have. Several times.
What made you persist? Once you are confident That you are praying for the glory of God. Once you are confident you're praying according to the will of God, then no matter how big. Your prayer may be, no matter how high the mountain is, no matter how treacherous the road may be, no matter how impossible the task may look, no matter how unbelievable the request seems to others. You keep on calling and you keep on calling and you keep on calling Mm-hmm.
When it comes to praying great things for God's glory. We all quick to settle for just the deposit. We get a little bit of answer and we just give up praying. We don't persist in calling until we get the whole thing. In fact, before God told Jeremiah.
To have the people of God to call on him before he issued that invitation for his people to call upon me so that I may do great and mighty things. In verse 2, the verse before the one we looked at, before 33.3, verse 2, God tells them who he is, he reminds them of who he is. Listen, you cannot call upon God for great and mighty things until you know how big your God is. Can I get a witness? Look at verse 2.
Here's what God said to them before He said, Call on me. He said, I am the maker of heaven and earth, Yahweh is my name. You said that they really need to be reminded, yes.
So are you, so am I. Of course he did. They were paying lip service to who God is, but in reality, they have forgotten who He is. And that is why they were pursuing other interests. And you say Why do we do this?
Now After 2,000 years of Christian history, these people did not have the scripture like we do, and we do the same thing now. After two. 2,000 years of Christ dying and rising again. I'm going to tell you why. The reason this generation does not pray for big things because they don't believe in a big God.
This is the age of downsizing, and we want to downsize God. We want to cut Him down to size. We want to bring Him to our level so we can look Him in the eye and then tell Him how we feel. That's the problem of this generation. Like no other generation of history, we have lost what it means to be in awe of God.
And we live in weakness. And we live in failure, and we live in sin, and we live in compromise, and we wonder why. Because we have lost. Our vision of who God is. And what a mighty big God he is.
There is a very curious verse. In Matthew thirteen fifty eight, It says Jesus did not do many miracles because. of the unbelief.
Some translations said Jesus could not do any miracles. Not quite accurate, I'm gonna show you in a minute. But here in this passage in Matthew It tells us that Jesus would not perform miracles when he saw their unbelief. Unbelief is a barrier to God's blessings. Unbelief is a barrier to God's interventions.
Unbelief is a barrier for God, period. It's not that Jesus could not perform, it's Jesus would not. That's really more accurate. He would not. This is one of the clearest examples why God does not answer faithless prayer.
I want to repeat that. That's one of the clearest examples why God does not answer faithless. Did you get that? Faithless prayer. But As we are saved by faith, Not by works.
to escape eternal judgment. It is faith. through the grace of God that's freely given to us.
So it is faith and not works that will move God to respond when we call upon Him. Especially for those things that are an honoring to him, especially for those things that are glorifying to him. And Jesus himself warns in Matthew chapter 7, verse 6, He said, Do not give what is holy to the dogs, and do not throw your pearls to the pigs, lest they trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. Woo! God will not be there.
for the hardened, unbelieving heart. God will not be there for those who trample His truth underfoot. God will not be there for those who despise who He is. God will not be there for those who will use His blessings against Him and against His children. God will not be there for those who deny His Son as the only way to heaven.
And that is why This promise of Jeremiah 33, 3 is for those who are walking in intimacy with God, for those who live a life of thanksgiving and praise and worship of God. Call upon me, says the Lord. And I'll answer you and show you great and mighty things. When Elisha succeeded his master Elijah. The profit.
He had the gumption. to ask God for a humongous thing. Because he knew God. And so when God said, What do I do for you? He said, Double portion My master Elijah's Blessing.
Double portion. And if you read carefully, You'll find that's exactly what God gave him. Elijah performed eight miracles. Elisha performed sixteen miracles. He wanted double portion, God gave it to him.
In fact, it is that sixteenth miracle that I'm going to use to conclude this message. And I pray to God that he would use it. To challenge every single one of us, and then us together as a body of believers. Here's the story. There was a man who was a faithful man.
He loved the Lord, he served the Lord, he trusted the Lord. Obviously was known to Elisha too. And he died. His wife and two sons We're in debt. Terrible debt.
And the creditors, the debtors. were threatened to take these two boys. into slavery. And she was in a fix. She was in a predicament.
And she cries to the prophet Elisha and she says, you know, your servant, my husband, was a faithful man of God. Beloved, listen to me. Your faithfulness to God.
Well, not only Bring the answer to prayer. To you. But to your children and your children's children. They're third and fourth generation. You see, God is no man's debtor.
He is no man's debtor. He may delay, but he will not deny. God will repay your faithfulness a thousandfold. But if you are unfaithful, God does not owe you anything. And Elisha said to the widow, What do you have in your house?
Well she thought for a moment and she said A drop of oil. Just one drop of oil in the whole house.
Now, let me give you a Yusuf interpretation, okay? Elisha said to the widow, What do you have in your house? She said just a drop of oil. Oh no no no no lady. You don't just have a drop of oil, you have an oil factory in your house.
Now, Elisha, you're a man of God. I know you're a prophet of God. God used you mightily, but you didn't hear me very well. I said a drop of oil. Elisha said, No, no, no, lady, you did not hear me very well.
I said, You have an oil factory in your house. Beloved, we have a big God who wants to hear big prayers and answer big prayers for His glory. And the operative word here is faithful. It doesn't matter how tough it's going to get. God honors faithfulness.
It doesn't matter how bleak it looks. God honors faithfulness. It doesn't matter how tough things get, God honors faithfulness. And for this widow of this faithful man of God who's been dead for a while, She obeyed the words of the prophet. And she borrowed all of the empty jars that she could find from all of her neighbors.
She got all the empty jars that she can lay hands on. And she began to pour this drop of oil And they all kept on pouring. Jar after jar, fill this one, put it away, the next one, put it away, the next one, put it away. And she kept on pouring, and she kept on pouring the oil until the last empty jar was filled and then the oil stopped flowing. Let me ask you this.
How empty is your vessel that you're offering to God. How empty is it? Is your vessel empty of yourself? Is your vessel? Empty of your pride.
Is your vessel? Empty of your selfish ambitions. Is your vessel? Empty of your controlling spirit is your vessel empty of your human wisdom. and playing games with God.
As long as you offer him An empty vessel. Here, Phillip. He'll fill it. How big is your gut? How big is your faith in him?
How big is your prayer? for his glory. A drop of oil was an oil factory. Here's what I want to show you. How to pray big prayers.
for the glory of God. You have a job, you're looking for a job, you need a job. You can pray, God, give me a job so I can meet my needs. That is a little prayer. This is how you pray a big prayer.
Lord, give me a job. that can give me an opportunity. To not just meet my needs, but to support the work of your kingdom. Give me a job in which I have an opportunity to witness and lead people to Christ. God, give me a job that is worthy of who you are.
That's a big prayer. God, I have needs. Can you just please give me enough so that I can get by, so I can make ends meet? Or Oh God, pray. Provide in such a way that I don't only give that measly 10%, but 20%, or 30%, or 40%, or 50%, or even 90%, and I live on the 10%.
Now that's big prayer. You're praying for your needs in the context of the greatness of God and the bigness of God, not limit God to your circumstances. How big? Is your God, how big is your prayer? You can see the difference between a small prayer and a big prayer.
Call on me, says the Lord. When you place your needs in the context of His glory, You not only honor God, But God is going to honor your faith. Thank you for making time to listen to Dr. Michael Youssef. on this episode of Leading the Way.
Maybe today's words on prayer really hit home. And if you would like to connect with one of the Leading the Way pastors or counselors, you can start by going to ltw.org slash Jesus. Please do remember that Leading the Way is more than a radio program or a podcast. Leading the Way is a worldwide ministry, actively sharing the gospel across six continents and in twenty eight of the world's most spoken and most understood languages. Through your prayers and your partnership, generations are being transformed.
You see, our team is committed to proclaiming the gospel in North America, reaching Muslims worldwide, and carrying God's grace to remote villages. And to do this, obviously, Dr. Youssef needs your help. Please pray for him and pray for the team's efforts and also for those who will be hearing the gospel today. Pastor and international Bible teacher Dr.
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This is your last chance. Please, if you haven't already supported, if you haven't already participated in the June Gift Challenge, do it today. God bless. Give generously today. Reach a ministry representative at the call centre or go to ltw.org.
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