Have you ever wondered whether God really hears your prayers? You find yourself saying words, but in your heart of hearts, you would say, you know, I'm not really seeing powerful, supernatural answers. Well, today I'm going to talk about the three specific conditions for God's power to show up in your prayers.
Stay with me. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip is our Bible teacher for this international teaching and discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. Well, today Chip continues his series, The Power of Prayer, by taking us on a journey to uncover three vital conditions to experience God's supernatural power in our prayers. But before he dives in, if this is your first time listening to Living on the Edge or you want to learn more about what we do, go to livingontheedge.org. You'll find resources on tons of topics and countless programs to enjoy. Or if you prefer, the Chip Ingram app is also a great way to get plugged in with our ministry. Well, with that, if you have your Bible handy, go to 1 John chapter 3 as we join Chip for today's talk. I didn't know Walt very well.
I knew that he was a distinguished professor, that he was a good speaker in chapel, that he was someone that a lot of people admired. But myself and three or four other pastors and about four or five businessmen ended up in Haiti with Walt. It was one of the Red Eye specials. We got off the plane, got up in the wee hours of the morning and got on what they called a bus.
All seven of us were on one row and it would seat about four comfortably. One seat back, a lady with the chicken made the ride unusual. Seven and a half hours straight, I smelled things I've never smelled before. We got off that into a jeepney, went into the interior of Haiti. Walt had given 20 years of his life and the deal that he made when he came to teach at the seminary is that I've got to go back every summer for three months and you have to let me take students or I can't take the job. He was setting up one of those trips and had the privilege of seeing the ministry. And as we were going through all that, I saw a ward of orphans that were totally abandoned that they were helping. I walked into an area where they were doing surgery and doctors had given their life and nurses back in the middle of, I mean, nowhere. Late that night after we traveled for about two and a half days and I was absolutely wiped out, Walt said, let's pray, Chip, before we go to bed. Walt's a big guy.
He probably would have been a linebacker in the NFL if he wasn't doing what he's doing now. And we knelt down at this little bed and could look out and there was these little grass huts. I know you're not supposed to listen when people pray, you're supposed to be really be praying to God, but I couldn't help myself. This man had given his life for these people and he began to pray and I realized I was in the presence of a man who knew God deeply and powerfully and loved people and had laid out his life.
And as he prayed, then he took this big hand, this big paw, put it on my shoulder and just goosebumps went all over me, you know, and I just prayed to God. And I realized as I listened to him pray, how he prayed and what he prayed was so different the kind of things that I prayed. And, you know, sometimes listening to a person who knows God deeply and much longer than you and I can really help us learn what God is like and how to pray. And as we start this morning, I want to let you eavesdrop on a prayer of a man that God describes as being someone whose heart beats in the same rhythm as God's. A man who has a heart after God himself.
Listen carefully to David as he prays, listen to what he prays, hear the intimacy, hear the desires of his own heart and see what you can learn about God. It's a prayer that's recorded in scripture in Psalm 101. And he says, I will sing of loving kindness and justice to thee, O Lord. I will sing praises. I will give heed to the blameless way.
When will thou come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.
I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not fasten its grip on me. A perverse heart shall depart from me. I will know or tolerate no evil. I will get rid of anyone who whispers evil things about someone else and I won't tolerate a man who's proud and arrogant. I will approve of those who are faithful to God and I'll let them live in my palace. Those who are completely honest will be allowed to serve with me. No liar will live in my palace.
No hypocrite will remain in my presence. Day after day, I will destroy the wicked in our land and I will expel all evil men from the city of our Lord. I want to talk about three conditions that are essential for you to experience the kind of power in your prayer that we've talked about. The text for the day is 1 John chapter 3 and the core verses we want to look at is verses 21 and verses 22. And in these two little verses are three conditions, three things that have to be true in your life and in your experience or these promises aren't for you.
See, here's what happens. Can I be candid with you? Some of you have gotten kind of excited about prayer and a little pumped up and so you've said, okay, God, now Chip said you can have wisdom when you need it and last week you said, okay, Lord, I got a big decision, I got a big problem, I want you to give me this wisdom. And the truth is you didn't hear a lot.
Of course, you don't want to say that because it kind of might embarrass you. And there's some others who said, okay, I'll tell you what, boy, our finances are tight, I'm going to claim this promise, I'm going to line that promise up and oh God, Philippians 4.19, I'm believing this. You didn't get any check in the mail this week, did you?
In fact, your finances are about roughly where they were last week. And some of you have a child that you want to see come back to the Lord and some of you have a relationship or a situation at work and you're praying, you're really praying and it's been about a week or two and in your heart of hearts down deep you're saying, you know that line he said, Mark 11.24, ask anything in my name, believe that you've received it and you're going to get it. You're just about at the point where you're saying, you know, on Saturday night or Sunday when this guy gets up and talks about it, it sounds really good. But you know what, this isn't working for me. This isn't really working for me. I want to tell you this morning why it's not working for you. What I want to tell you this morning is there's three conditions that are essential. These promises about ask anything in his name, believe what you've received, they're given to a special classification of people.
They're not for everyone. And if these conditions aren't met, those promises don't belong to you and they don't belong to me. It's like, you know, if you want to get a loan from the bank and you walk into the bank and say, you know, I really need about $5,000. There's some real important needs and they say, well, here's the paperwork, fill it out. And you say, I don't like paperwork. I don't do paperwork.
They say, well, we don't do loans for people who don't do paperwork. You see, I'm not talking about merit. I'm not saying you can do certain things and they're brownie points and God's going to answer your prayer because you do these certain things.
I'm saying there are conditions. There are conditions that if they're not met, the old school talks about getting on praying ground. You're not even qualified, you're not even in the running for God to hear you to answer unless you meet these conditions. And so a bank isn't evaluating and saying, well, we don't know if we want to give you the money.
They don't give the money to anyone who doesn't do the paperwork. And so I want to talk today about what's the paperwork, what are the conditions that God demands to be true in your life and in your heart and in mine so that these outlandish promises about asking anything in His name, believing that you received Him and praying according to His will can be true in your life and you can see that power. Verse 21 has the first condition. The last two conditions are in verse 22.
Let's follow along as I read. Dear friends, the Apostle John writes, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and we receive from Him anything that we ask. You might circle the next word, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.
You can ask whatever and you know you're going to get it if we keep His commands and do the things that are pleasing to Him. Those are the two major conditions, but verse 21 has one also. He says, Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God. This word confidence keeps popping up. The word meant in ancient Greece, it had in the Greek culture the most sacred right or value of a citizen. The word has the meaning to feel free to speak one's mind unhampered by fear or shame. It's a picture of having this freedom and boldness and confidence that you step right before God and you know you belong here. No fear, no shame, no baggage, and when you speak, you know He's going to hear it. That's what this word means. What stops that confidence?
It's when your heart does condemn you. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Before we hear the rest of Chip's message, let me remind you that we are a listener supported ministry. Your regular gifts help us create programs like this one, develop new resources, and encourage pastors globally. Prayerfully consider becoming a monthly partner today, then go to livingontheedge.org to give a gift.
Thanks so much for your support. Well, here again is Chip. Condition number one, I'd like you to write in a clear conscience. Those are the key words that I've left space for. Condition number one, a clear conscience. A clear conscience gives us boldness and confidence before God in prayer.
Now, you've got to ask yourself, how do you get a clear conscience? And the reference here, by the way, the whole context is a word of assurance. Now, there's times and there's many of us, maybe most of us this applies to is, you know, we've done some things wrong and we don't deal with things. You know, we're really, you know, for some of us, God takes a bulldozer to get our attention. But there's some of you and this is what this passage is for.
There's some of you that are very, very sensitive. I mean, you're the kind of people that you do nine things right and you're down on yourself because there's probably a tenth you missed. You're the kind of people that love others and are real caring and we look at you and we all wish we could be more like you.
But you go to bed at night and bow your head and think, oh, gosh, I forgot to call so and so. You're the kind of person that is generous with your time. You're generous with your money. You're caring toward others. But you always think, well, maybe I should have prayed a little more. Maybe I should have given just a little bit more.
Maybe I should have taken a little extra. And so what happens, there's a group of people in the body of Christ that they're guilt ridden. They're always down on themselves. And, you know, when you feel guilty deep in your heart, you don't want to come and talk to God. You feel bad. You feel like there's a wedge between you and your relationship with the Lord. And John in this context wants to assure you that there's an acid test where you can know for those of you that have a real strict conscience.
And by the way, if you're a bulldozer person, don't listen to this. People like you and me take passages like this for license. This is for those really tender hearted people. Look at verse 19. The context explains it. This then is how we can know that we belong to the truth, he says. And how we can set our hearts at rest in his presence.
How do you do that? Whenever our hearts, verse 20, condemn us, so the word means to accuse us. For God is greater than our hearts and he knows everything.
Well, the key phrase here is this then, isn't it? In verse 19. Whatever this then refers to is the way that we can know that we're of the truth, assurance. Know that this is the way to set our hearts quietly when our heart, and the idea of this phrase is when your heart is falsely accusing you. When you're feeling guilty, but you're not feeling guilty because God wants you to feel guilty.
You're feeling guilty because you're just one of those kind of people that feels guilty a lot. What's the this then? Verse 18 explains the this then. Dear children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in action and in truth. The apostle John is saying is that your assurance that you're in right relationship is just to look at the habitual practice of your life.
Do you have a loving lifestyle? Are there deeds and habitual actions? Not that you hit it all, all the time. But your heart, your desire, your giving, your loving, your caring. He says when the habitual practice of your life is a caring, loving person, and you hear these little voices inside that say you should have done more. And by the way, these little voices are almost always vague. They're never specific.
The Holy Spirit, when he wants to convict you, he doesn't mess around. He doesn't say stuff like you're sort of a yucky person. You're kind of a jerk. You're selfish.
Why don't you get with the program? When he convicts you, he says, you were rude to so and so last night at nine o'clock and you need to make that right. Because the Holy Spirit's job is to draw you back close to God, not to make you feel bad. But you know, there's some of you that struggle praying. And the reason you struggle praying is because you're so down on yourself. And the Apostle John, this apostle of love says, look, this then is how you can know.
Just look at the objective facts of your life. God knows everything. He knows your desires. If it's 1130 at night and you said, oh, I wanted to call her and I wanted to encourage her, but it's too late and now I've blown it and now God's probably down on me.
No, he's not. He knew what you wanted to do. He understands.
He loves you. And so the first thing that most of you with real tender hearts need to know is come to God with a clear conscience. Come knowing, hey, you're my child. I open up heaven on the basis of the work of Christ. Those of you that habitually practice loving, just you come on.
Don't be so down on yourself. Now, the second two conditions appeal more to people like myself that God has to kind of knock me a little bit over the head. The second condition is an obedient lifestyle. An obedient lifestyle. Look at verse 22, and we receive from him anything that we ask because we obey his commands. God answers the prayers of those who keep his commands. It's a condition.
It's filling out the paperwork. See, the fact of the matter is there are Christians like you and like me. And we have these dreams. We've got a child that we want to see start to walk with the Lord. And there's a relationship in our family we wish God would heal.
We've got financial pressure over here. And there's a situation at work we're really asking God for. And we're over here saying, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. And we're really praying. And to be honest, we're not seeing many answers.
We're not seeing the kind of answers that I'm talking about. And then we get ticked off at God. But the fact of the matter is that there's multiple commandments that we know that we are just flat out not doing.
We're not doing them. He says we need to keep his commandments. If you're not in the Scriptures, you can't know what they are.
Basic areas of the Christian life in terms of our thought life, our morality, our love for other people, we aren't obeying. And yet we're asking over here. And then you know what we have the audacity to do? Boy, God, you don't come through with your promises. And what the Lord wants us to understand is that these promises he's talking about where he'll supernaturally work, there's some paperwork involved. You need to meet the conditions. You need to come with a clear conscience.
And you need to come with an obedient lifestyle. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, Three Conditions for Power in Prayer, from our series, The Power of Prayer. Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. Prayer is an absolutely essential part of our relationship with God. It's how we talk with him. And as his children, we have free access to him anytime, anywhere.
But how does it actually work? What do we say? Well, in this series, we'll learn what a dynamic, consistent prayer life looks like. Chip also explains how to remove the barriers that hinder our prayers and why we can approach our Heavenly Father with confidence that he'll hear us and act.
So whether you are a new Christian or a seasoned follower of Jesus, you don't want to miss a single program. Well, before we go any further, here's Chip to share a quick word. Thanks so much, Dave. I want to take just a few minutes to talk about something really important, and I hope especially for those of you that are regular listeners, you'll agree. God has been using the ministry of Living on the Edge in incredible ways. We've been growing and reaching folks like never before, and you're an important part of that. Your gifts to Living on the Edge make it possible for us to be present in places that without you, we simply couldn't be. Many of these places are extremely dangerous to proclaim the name of Christ, and your gifts make it possible for us to reach people in desperate situations right here in the United States. I can't tell you how many emails and letters I received that somewhere in that letter or email it's like, I was on my way to the abortion clinic, or I was planning to end my life, or I was about to give up on my marriage, or I was giving up on God because of something terrible that happened to me, but then I started listening to you on my drive to work, or my neighbor gave me this book, or I found your app and this series on overcoming emotions or whatever.
It was God's catalyst to begin a total transformation in my life. These things aren't happening because of Chip Ingram or even Living on the Edge. They're happening because God is working in and through those who by faith respond and obey him. You know, we can't do anything alone.
That's because it's not God's plan for any of us. We are in this together, and Living on the Edge as God's ministry is about you and me doing exactly what God calls us to do. And so I would ask you, first, would you really pray for the ministry? And second, would you pray specifically about partnering at a deeper level and partnering with us financially? Do whatever God leads you to do, and let me say in advance, let's keep pressing ahead, and thank you very much. That's 888-333-6003, or visit livingontheedge.org.
App listeners, tap donate. Well, before we go, here again is Chip with a final word. As we close today's program, we talked about two of the three conditions to really see God's power show up. And, you know, it's really challenging to say condition number one, God answers prayer to those that have a clear conscience. In other words, you know that you are right with God as far as it depends on you. There is nothing between you and your Heavenly Father.
I mean, that is very, very strong. When you know you have a clear conscience, you know, the Apostle John tells us that you come boldly and you have confidence that you actually know that you're going to be heard because there's nothing between you and your Heavenly Father. The second one we began, and it talks about an obedient lifestyle that's related but it's a bit different. He talked here about, you know, when you know your heart doesn't condemn you, when you know that as far as it depends on you, you're obeying what God shows you, that that positions you again in this condition to come before God with not a hope or a prayer or a please or a beg or maybe or, you know, can I twist God's arm. But when you have a clear conscience and when you know as far as it depends on you that you are walking in the truth, there's this amazing boldness and confidence that we can have. Now as I say that, I want to share something with a couple groups of people because I've watched people respond to this section and there's two basic responses. There's one group that basically says, you know, I really want God's power and as I was listening to this message and I heard you teach that, I've got a couple areas in my life that I know they're not right, God's convicting me, but I just don't really want to change. And God would say to you, Yes, I'm your Father. Yes, I love you.
Yes, I want to help you. But I'm the holy God of the universe and you need to have a change of mind. You need to repent. I want to answer.
I want to give you the best. But if you're involved morally in some things that you know are wrong, if you have some addictive behaviors, if there's some things in your heart or your speech or if there's a lack of integrity in some areas, God is having us have this conversation right now so you can address that, confess it, forsake it, and He wants to answer your prayers. There's another group, however, that when we talk about having a clear conscience and is there anything in your life that might hinder your prayers, they're on the other end of the continuum. They have an overly developed conscience. Wow. You know, I wonder if when I said something to someone three days ago, if my motives were 100 percent right.
This isn't for people like you. This is for people right now that are in blatant moral sin and God wants to get their attention. And so here's what I want you to know. When the Spirit of God is speaking to you, He brings conviction.
Conviction shows you specifically what's wrong to restore your relationship with Him. If you hear a vague sense of you're unworthy, you probably did something wrong, you're not a good person, that's called condemnation and that's from the enemy. Stay with me because in our next broadcast, we're going to roll out exactly how you can know the difference and how to know that you can have power and authority before the throne of God. Thanks, Chip. And as we close, I want you to know that as a staff, we ask the Lord to help you take whatever your next faith step is. And if there's a way we can help, we'd love to do that. Give us a call. Our number is 888-333-6003 or connect with us at livingontheedge.org. And while you're there, take a moment and look through our resources on various topics, many of them absolutely free. We'll listen in next time as Chip picks up in his series, The Power of Prayer. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.
