The Power of Prayer - How to Pray with Absolute Confidence, Part 2

One thing I know about Jesus, he had absolute confidence that God heard his prayers, that God's power would be unleashed as he trusted him. Yes, Jesus was fully God, but he was fully man. And his prayers were as a dependent human being in faith, trusting the will and the promises of God. Here's my question. Do you know how to pray with absolute confidence? If not, stay with me.

That's today. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge is an international discipleship ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram.

I'm Dave Drury. Thanks for joining us as Chip wraps up his series, The Power of Prayer. Now before we begin, let me encourage you to try using Chip's message notes while you listen. They contain his outline, scripture references, and much more. Chip's notes will really help you remember what you hear and maybe even share what you're learning. To download these message notes, just go to the broadcasts tab at livingontheedge.org.

App listeners, tap fill in notes. Well, if you have your Bible handy, open it now to the book of 1 John chapter 5. Let's join Chip for part two of his message, How to Pray with Absolute Confidence. The next question that as this passage opens up is not only how to pray according to God's will, but how do you know God's will?

See, at this point, I hope your mind is saying, and let me just have a quick aside. I hope your mind is saying in your heart of hearts, I pray a lot of vague prayers. I'm not sure I pray real specifically. I think instead of having faith, you know what I find in my life and probably with many of you?

I find instead of praying in faith, I'm usually praying in hope. Oh God, I hope this happens. Oh God, this is a good desire.

Oh God, this would be nice if you did it. That's not what Jesus said, when you come asking in faith, believe that you've received it and it will be given to you. I don't think he's joking, people.

I don't think he just threw that one out to impress Peter and the boys. I think he was saying, if you can know what the will of God is, once you understand my will, then you can ask for it and I will deliver and you can take it to the bank. I want you to pray specifically and with certainty and with confidence and I will answer. Now the question, that's a $64 question, is how do you know God's will so you ask the right stuff, right?

There's two ways. The first is by the promises of God in Scripture. The second, on those areas where there are not promises that we'll look at later, is by the ministry of the Holy Spirit leading you in prayer and showing you that God can give a personal word for you in how to pray. You see, right here in this book, and I understand some of the promises in this book are just for Israel, they're not for you and me. Some of the promises for specific people, you know, Hezekiah gets some special promises, but some are for special New Testament saints. But I want to tell you, there are literally hundreds of promises that I can claim, you can claim, I know it's God's will, I can ask according to that promise and God promises 100% of the time. He'll answer your prayer when you bring that promise and pray according to His will. You know the amazing thing that I've learned as I've been studying on prayer is the great men and great women of God who pray, they pray with an open Bible. They pray with the Bible open and they go to God not thinking, let's see, I've got to read three chapters today to keep up with my little chart. They read and they pray, God, show me your will for me, show me your will for your family, show me your will for the future, and they ask God and He gives them specific promises and they take it to the bank and they pray specifically and God comes through for them.

Let me give you a couple examples of how to pray according to the will of God, first by the promises. Let's pretend, I'm sure no one here has this, let's pretend some of you have a big decision to make or you have a big problem. And you would really like to know what God would want you to do.

You either need to know what to do or you need to know how to do it. You got a married situation and you need to say something to your spouse but you're afraid if I say it that way, oh gosh, if you would give me wisdom, God, about how to say it. Or you got a situation with one of your children and you know that you are backing away and you need to move into this situation and speak the truth but you know if you do it wrong, you're going to have fireworks. And you need God to give you wisdom about how to approach your child. Or some of you have job situations and your supervisor or one of the people that work for you, you need wisdom from God about how to step into this delicate situation and know God's will so that He can work it out. And so your need is wisdom. Biblical definition for wisdom is the ability and the skill to understand God's design for life and then find your part in it so it works. So can I tell you this morning that if you need wisdom, there's a promise from God.

James 1 5 and then some conditions in verse 6 and 7. Here's what God promises to every person in this room. If any man, it's generic, man or woman, if any man likes wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men generously and without reproach.

Right? But let him ask in faith without any doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea that's tossed to and fro. Let not that man expect that he'll receive anything from the Lord. So here's a promise.

You have that conversation, you need to know what, you need to know how to do something. The Bible says you can go right before God and say, God, my fingers on this promise. You said if I ever need wisdom that I can come and ask, I know it's according to your will because it's right in your word. I'm asking right now for wisdom.

Please give it to me. And as you do that, you can be guaranteed with certainty God will give you wisdom. Now note, you will have to keep your end of the bargain. Every promise has a condition.

The condition is it's without any doubting. And that doesn't mean there's no little doubts in your heart. That means the word talks about it's a double-minded man. It means that once God shows you what the wisdom is, you already sign off and say, whatever you show me, I'll do. Because you were hoping it would be a nice little light conversation and you pray and God shows you, you need to confront so and so. Or you need to address this head on.

Or you need to bring up an issue that everyone in the whole family has been afraid to talk about. He says, if you will ask me for wisdom, I guarantee 100% of the time, I'll show you exactly what to do and exactly how to do it. That's pretty specific, isn't it? That's how God wants you to pray. Where do you need wisdom? You can pray for it and he'll show you.

How about for deliverance? If it's drugs or alcohol or pornography or issues in your mind or you're involved in a relationship that you know is not holy, there is a promise from God. You can pray specifically and God guarantees he'll hear it.

You know what it is? 1 Corinthians 10, 13. It says, no temptation has taken you but such is common to man.

We've all had it. But God is faithful and with the temptation will provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. You can come to God if you need deliverance. If you need help in getting over the hump of something, you can open your Bible and put your finger on that promise and say, God, show me the way of deliverance.

And then the condition is that you take it. It might be joining a 12-step program. It might be sharing your struggle with a close friend or even your mate. It might be saying, I'll never drive home that way anymore.

It might be that you get your cable disconnected because you're up late at night and watching trash and you keep finding yourself drawing back to it. I don't know the way of escape, but God says you pray specifically. He'll do it.

He'll answer you. The third example here is how about for rest or peace? Some of you come and, man, you know, truth or known, if we could peel back the facade of how energetic and cool and nice and warm and lovely that we all look, is you're dying inside. You're worn out and you're beat. And what you need is rest and what you need is peace.

And your RPMs are going zoom, zoom, zoom. And you open your calendar and you think, oh, it's another week and Monday here and Tuesday here and Thursday here and the kids are over here on Wednesday. And you're about ready to go nuts. And some of you, you're at the emotional end of your wits and you think, I can't take it.

I mean, I can't take life anymore. There's a promise. You can pray a specific promise. And you know what God will do? God will step in. He'll calm the storm and he'll restore your body and he'll restore your emotions. You know the promise?

Matthew 11, 28. Come unto me, all of you that are heavy burdened or laden down, overwhelmed is the idea. And I will give you rest. Take my yoke. Come into my leadership, my authority for your life. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I'm meek and I'm lowly of heart. I'm humble. I'm not going to put a trip on you.

I love you. I'm God. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. For some of you, you need to block off a couple hours today and turn off all the TVs and turn off all the junk and get two or three hours alone with God and say, God, I come to you because I need rest and I'm dying.

And you go sit in the presence of God for a couple hours and it'll do more than any pill you could ever take. He'll slow you down. He'll show you where you need to slow down.

All those pushes and those aughts and those shoulds and all those demands from people. He'll show you what his yoke demands and how you can say no to stuff and how you can say no to pressure and how you can be walking in his will and how he can renew you from the inside out. And you know, the people that need rest the most are those that are sitting here and you've never made a personal relationship. You've never asked Christ to come into your life. You're just a great person.

You're a neat person and people like you. What you really long for is peace in your soul. And right now, as I'm talking, you can shut off the whole rest of this message and you and God can have a conversation. And his invitation, his condition to you, come right now, okay?

Forget what that guy in the striped shirt is saying. Listen to me. You come right now and you ask me to come into your life. Ask me to forgive you. Take my yoke. Come under my leadership and my authority for your life.

Take my word as guidance. I'll give you rest. I'll give you peace. I'll restore the relationships. I'll give you forgiveness. You do that right now.

He'll honor his word. The final one here is for financial provision. Maybe you're here and you're thinking, how do you pray? I've got bills up to my ears. I've got credit people giving me calls. And other people keep sending me more credit cards.

I've never understood that. Every week they want to give me more credit cards. But you're overwhelmed. And you look at that stack of bills and you look here and you think, yay, yay, yay, yay, yay.

And you think, it's pressure all the time. God says you can pray specifically for financial issues and he will answer. Here's the promise. Philippians 4 19. My God, the apostle Paul writes, to a struggling, young, poor church that has just given a very generous gift to his ministry. My God, he says, shall supply all your needs by his riches and by his glory in Christ Jesus.

You've got a need? He says, I'll take care of it. Now, please don't read that to mean my God shall keep my middle class lifestyle intact.

It doesn't say that. He says he'll meet your needs. You know, if you're debt up to your ears, if you made unwise financial decisions, God may allow some consequences to get you in a position of getting real dependent, real quick, late. The other thing you'll notice is there is a condition of this passage. It is written to a group of people who don't have much, but have been generous with the first fruits of what God gave them. This promise is for people that have financial need, but who by faith are giving first to the work of God. And if you're not doing that, this promise doesn't apply to you.

See, with every promise, there's a condition. God promises to meet the needs of those who are trusting him by faith. And as you trust him by faith with your time and with your finances, he says, I'll always come through for you. And the biggest evidence that we don't trust him is when I don't give him my time and when I don't give him my finances. Because what I'm saying is, if I give it to you, God, then how am I going to pay these other bills? And so, finances are so important to the American church because it's probably the only way in such a wealthy society that we ever get a chance to even trust God. Because basically, if God died tomorrow, which is obviously impossible, a lot of Christians wouldn't know it for months.

Wouldn't. Because God doesn't have to do anything supernatural in your life to come through for you. And until you put yourself in a situation for him to do that, you don't get to exercise faith and trust.

Well, let me ask you here, what then do you do? Those are promises, and that's how you know to pray according to God's will. But as we wrap it up, what do you do if you don't have a promise from God? How can you pray if, you know, you've got a sick friend or a sick... Give me another example, a child or a sick spouse, and look at Romans 8, 26 through 27. This is what God says.

It's incredible. He says, in the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. Well, what kind of weakness? Well, when we don't know what we ought to pray for. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit. Because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in how? Accordance with God's will.

What did our passage in 1 John teach us? If you pray according to God's will, he hears us. If he hears us, we know for certain what?

We're going to get what we ask. So there's times where you don't have a promise, and you sit quietly and you ask and it depends upon the Holy Spirit. Show me how to pray here. We don't always have a promise to pray, and so what we need to do is depend on the Holy Spirit.

How about some of you that are praying for kids, or people that you love, or people that work and you don't know how to pray? Or one of my older sons, those of you parents that are going through rough times in teens, I have been there. I mean, the name of the game in our home was Sparks, Sparks, and then Heavy Sparks. And this kid is so much like me that we knock heads all the time. And I'm glad that he moved out of this stage and has matured and grown. But I remember, you know, I said black, he said white. And he just had this rebellious chip on his shoulder, and out in public with other people, great kid.

That homie's pestering me all the time. And I'm saying, God, you know, and you know, I'm communicating, you know, that rebellious spirit we're going to deal with. And I remember at my wit's end, literally crying, doing, quote, what I know is right, and then going to the bedroom and telling, oh, Teresa, am I being too hard?

Am I being an idiot? What's, I mean, I think I'm doing God's will, I hope, I think, maybe. You been there as a parent? I remember praying. I remember as I was praying, I said, Lord, will you show me how to pray for my son? Because I was praying, Lord, will you break his spirit?

That's the problem I saw when I prayed directly, right? And I said, God, will you transform this kid's attitude? And as I prayed, you know what the Holy Spirit showed me?

I didn't get any audible voice, but I just sat there. And what I realized, the Spirit of God began to reveal, and you know, the best time of praying sometimes is shut up and let him speak. And God just said, you know, it's not rebellion, it's not the issue, it's hurt and it's woundedness. And he doesn't feel good about himself, and he feels inadequate. And boy, I started to pray differently. God, help him see himself the way you made him. God, shore up the wounds and the hurts that he has inside.

Because that's where it was spewing from. And I kept the boundaries, and then my wife and I, like absolute lunatics, looked for opportunities and times. Hey, let's go out for a coke, let's go talk. Any common ground to just communicate to my son, regardless of his performance, that we love you.

And you'll never do anything that'll keep us from loving you. Chipp will be right back with his application for this message, How to Pray with Absolute Confidence, from his series, The Power of Prayer. Whether you're a new Christian or a seasoned follower of Christ, prayer is absolutely essential to our relationship with God. It's how we communicate with him. And as his children, we are given free access, anytime, anywhere.

But how does that actually work? In this series, you'll discover the steps to developing a dynamic prayer life, how to remove common roadblocks to answered prayer, and what it means to pray with confidence. For a limited time, the resources for The Power of Prayer are discounted, and the MP3s are always free. For additional ordering and pricing details, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org, or give us a call at 888-333-6003.

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That's 888-333-6003. App listeners, just tap donate. Thank you in advance for whatever the Lord leads you to do. Chip, let's get to that application we promised. As we close today's program and wrap up this entire series on prayer, it's one of those topics that, on the one hand, we need to step into and have confidence and pray boldly. And yet it's so easy to start thinking that if I do certain things, God is obligated in an unhealthy sense to do these things.

And it really becomes very subtly about, again, my performance. I'm going to do this, this, this, this, X, Y, Z, and then God's going to do this, and I'm going to come boldly. And I share that story about my son at the very end because I just want to remind you of something. The goal at the heart of conversation with your Heavenly Father is that you would both feel and experience His Fatherhood and His love for you. That as a daughter of the living God, as a son of the living God, He's for you. He understands. He gets your struggle. Just as I could see, it took me a while that my son was on a journey and a process. And some of the things those many years ago that we were dealing with was really about a wound in his heart.

What I really wanted to do is help him with that so we could be close, more than his behavior at the time getting right or better or some other expectation that I had. So what I want you to recognize is that you have a Heavenly Father who wants you to come in confidence because you're coming in Jesus' name. You're coming boldly as a son or a daughter because Jesus blazed the trail. You come before the throne of grace. You have every right to be there because He looks at you as the righteous son, the righteous daughter. You are justified before Him. You have been set apart. You've been adopted.

His Spirit lives inside of you and He is for you. And so He is complimented, if you will, when you come with an absolute confidence to say, Lord, I want to pray your will. I want to be your son. I want to be your daughter. I believe you're going to interact, not because I'm wonderful, but because I come in the name and the power of Jesus. And this is for you and your glory. And you promised this.

And so I'm standing on that promise. When you begin to come to God like that, it brings Him great delight. You will experience great power and the transformation that will occur may be far more in you than even all the circumstances you're praying about. So take God up on His offer. Experience His power in prayer. To join the team, just go to LivingOnTheEdge.org, post regular mail before midnight, or give us a call at 888-333-6003. App listeners, just tap Donate. Thank you in advance for your generosity. Until next time, this is Dave Drury saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.