When some people pray, nothing happens. They say sincere words, they talk with God, but really, nothing happens. When other people pray, amazing, supernatural, unexplainable things happen.
What's the difference? How do you pray great prayers? That's what we'll explore today. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We are a discipleship-driven ministry on a mission to encourage Christians everywhere to live like Christians. Today, we're diving back into Chip's series, Good to Great in God's Eyes, 10 Practices Great Christians Have in Common. So far, we've learned about the habits of dreaming big and making sacrifices. In this program, Chip shares a thought-provoking word that will really challenge how you think about your prayer life.
So if you have a Bible, go now to John chapter 16, as we join Chip for his message, Pray Great Prayers. It was 1982, and there was a professor at Dallas Seminary named Walt Baker. And Walt was a career missionary, and the seminary had been pulling on his sleeve to say, come teach missions at the seminary.
We want a worldwide impact. And Walt said, I can't leave the field. He'd been in Haiti for over 20 years. They said, Walt, you've got to come because you could do more good sending students and giving a world vision to these bright young people with a heart for God.
He said, okay, tell you what I'll do. I will come to Dallas Seminary. I will teach missions as long as God wants me to with this one condition. Every summer, I have the entire summer off, and I will take a group of students and we will go to Haiti and we will do ministry in one of the most poor, needy, desperate countries.
I cannot let my heart ever get disconnected from Haiti. He was my missions prof. He was a friend of a leader in our church. I found myself with three or four pastors and three or four businessmen getting on a plane and going to Haiti. And we flew in, we got in jeeps, we got in buses with chickens, we rode on donkeys, and we ended up in a jungle compound that was a hospital. I remember walking through the hospital and had multiple cribs, and these were orphans and little babies that had been abandoned that needed medical attention. It was a medical orphanage compound. And they did teaching and ministry and food, and I walked through and saw all these kids. And if you've never been to Haiti, you've never seen poverty.
The only thing that has ever come close is India, in my experience. And I saw these kids and I saw this need and I was a young pastor and one of the elders was from the church. And Walt and I stayed in a little part, they had a little missionary house and a family lived there and we had a little room with a cot here and he had a little room with a cot here.
And, you know, he's this big old man. He said, Chip, would you like to join me in prayer before we go to bed? And I'm thinking, of course. And we came over and he knelt down and I knelt down and there was a little desk and, you know, I thought we were going to have a little good night prayer. You know, Lord, thanks for the day and help these orphans and it's been a long trip and Chip's probably tired and I'm kind of tired and Lord sure would like you to do a good thing. And he said, Chip, why don't you start? So I prayed a real sincere kind of good night prayer.
Probably three minutes and 35 seconds max. And there was a long silence between my prayer and his prayer. And then I heard him begin to pray. And as he began to pray, I felt almost like a huge paw and he put it on top of my shoulder and he began to pray and he began to pour out his heart for Haiti and these children and these people. And as he began to talk with God, the way he talked to God and the passion in which he talked to God, I had one of those times where my confession was I wasn't praying. And I just realized I was in the room with a man of God who knew God at a level and a way that I had never heard and never experienced. And I was on my knees kind of with chills going up and down my spine and a man who was in intimate communion with God, who had lived with this need for now probably three decades of ministry, prayed to a God that had power, prayed in a way in a depth of relationship that I had never heard and he didn't pray any three minute prayer.
And I began to see why God used Walt Baker's life. And I don't know, all I can say is that something happened inside that I thought, I don't want to pretend and imitate his prayers and I don't want to act more holy and use the words the way he used the words. But God, I'd like to know him and know you the way this man does. I want to pray great prayers. I want to know you in such a way that the level of intimacy and the reality, he talked to God in such a way that he actually expected that God was going to do what he asked. He prayed with a sense when he interceded, with a sense of authority that this is the issues that are on the table and there is unlimited resources and I'm asking the God who's made these promises and I need you to do this for these orphans and this is what we need. And then there was a sense of reverence and at time pauses of silence that made me very uncomfortable where there was just holy communion in the room. I want to talk about praying great prayers.
Our invitation or key text is on the front of your notes. It's from Jesus. It's what he said in the very last night for his disciples. In that day, the day when I'm gone, you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth. My father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
Imagine if we believe that to even a small degree. My father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Up until now, you've not asked for anything in my name.
My name, my merit, on the basis of my relationship, on the basis of my work. Little did they know his name would mean what would occur at the cross and his resurrection and in his name and his authority and you can come to the father based on all that Christ has done and you can ask the father to do what you know the son's will is. It's like he was saying, I want to give you a spiritual master card that it has my name on it and when you bring this card to the father, he recognizes where it's come from and there's unlimited supply.
But you can only charge things that are according to my will. And ask and you will receive and your joy will be made complete. Now we're going to talk about praying great prayers and as we do, I'm not in any way telling you that this is the only way to pray. I'm not going to give you the basics of prayer. This is not an overview of, this is how prayer works in general. This is one man's observation, okay? Just one guy's observation after walking with God for about 30 years and after studying the scriptures and after being around people that I've seen God use their life and answer their prayers.
So unscientific data before you. This is not a systematic, this is the way all prayers are to be prayed. But if you want to move from praying as a Christian to praying what I believe are great prayers in God's eyes, I think there's six characteristics. Characteristic number one of great prayers, great prayers are deeply personal. Great prayers are deeply personal. Great prayers begin and end with God himself. Great prayers flow from a passion to know God, to meet with God, to enjoy God and to be known by God. Great prayers are not rote and they are not routine.
They are not perfunctory and they are not about performance. Great prayers are intimate and personal and relational and heartfelt. Let me give you some examples of great prayers.
A survey of Old and New Testament. When you want to hear Moses' greatest prayer I believe is in Exodus 33, 18 and 19. And he's seen great things. I mean he's seen miracle after miracle after miracle. Yet when he comes before God, what's his prayer? Yahweh, God of gods, God of heaven, show me your glory.
Do you realize what he's asking? I've seen your works, I've seen your miracles, I've seen your power. You've shared with me your covenant name. I am that I am.
I want to see all of who you are. Of course God says, you know, Moses, you don't know what you're asking. If you saw all of me, you would be toast because you have no idea of the unapproachable light and the absolute holiness and the unlimited power of who the God that created all that there is. But Moses, what I will do is I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I will place my hand over you and I will pass by and I will let you see the manifestation of my presence.
And then do you remember? Then God speaks as he passes by and talks about the very characteristics of who he is. Full of goodness and mercy, slow to anger, filled with loving kindness. What's Moses' prayer? He wants to know God. He wants to see God.
Great prayers are deeply personal. You go from Moses to David. Here's a man who wrote what? You know, a good section of all the scripture in the Psalms.
A great warrior, a great musician. What do you really want? I mean, here's a king that has, you know, like 700 wives, 300 concubines, great warrior. I mean, what would you really like out of life? This is a man that has probably more than everything.
Probably a lot more than he should have had. And Psalm 27 says, one thing I desire, right? One thing I want, this is what I would desire of you, that I might behold the beauty of the Lord and that I might worship you, that I might see you, I want to know you, I want to come into your temple.
This is the thing that I desire, that I might really taste and see who you are. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and Chip will be back in just a minute to finish today's talk. But quickly, I want to remind you that this program is only possible because of the generosity of listeners like you. So if you'd like to support us, go to livingontheedge.org.
That's livingontheedge.org. And thanks for doing whatever God leads you to do. Well, let's rejoin Chip now for the remainder of his message. Great prayers are deeply, deeply personal. They're about not getting something from God. They're about being with God himself. Paul, for all the success in ministry, when you zip open his heart, what does he want? Forgetting what lies behind and pressing forward to what lies ahead. What's he want?
I press ahead, I charge ahead, I lean forward. I want to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering. He says more than all these things, after giving his pedigree, more than all these things, knowing him.
That's what I want. I want to know him and the power of his resurrection. All the other, he uses the word, is like dung or rubbish compared to knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. And even Jesus in the final prayer, John 17, 3, remember what it was? This is eternal life that you might know him and his beloved son. See, great prayers don't start with technique. It's not about how long.
It's not about the actual words you say. Great prayers first and foremost are deeply personal. And that's why when the disciples wanted to learn to pray, they came to Jesus. And you get the picture, if you study it, they were kind of overhearing his prayers and they watched this pattern and he'd go up into the mountains and actually when they wanted to kill him, how did Judas know where he'd be?
Judas knew where he'd be because he had a pattern. There was a certain time on the day he would go to the garden and he prayed. And so they came to him and said, Lord, will you teach us to pray? And remember, we learned it as kids, most of us. Our Father, literally Abba, Abba Father. And we take that for granted like, oh, yeah, that's kind of the, we call it the Lord's Prayer.
It was a radical notion in the day. By that point in Judaism, God was so transcendent and there were all these rules and there's all the written rules and all the verbal rules and all this stuff and all this religion and here this radical teacher comes and does these miracles and teaches like no one else. Will you teach us to pray? The Pharisees, you know, they teach their disciples to pray and John the Baptist, he teaches theirs. Give us a prayer. How should we pray? And he says, this is how you ought to pray.
Say, our Father, Abba. And that word Abba was what a little tiny boy or a little tiny girl would say to their daddy. It's a term of endearment.
It's a term of access. It's what a little kid says when I actually saw it happen. We were visiting Israel and we were by a pool and you know, I don't remember a lot of Hebrew and I praise God for all the guys and I took the years but tell you what, I got through it.
Thank God for it. I couldn't remember a whole lot but I do remember as I studied Hebrew and then they talked about the Aramaic and this little word Abba and what it meant and you know, it made sense and I wrote it in my notes. So I'm sitting next to the pool and there's a man there in Israel and he's talking with his wife and he has a drink in his bathing suit and there's this little boy that's about three and he wants his dad and he wants his dad and you know, his dad is busy and finally he goes over on his swimming shorts and he pulls and he pulls and he goes, Abba, Abba, Abba and his dad just reached down with one arm and lifted him up and put him on his lap and I learned that's what Jesus was saying.
He is the almighty powerful God of the universe who invites you to call him Abba. To come with childlike dependency, to come without an agenda, to come to know that you are deeply loved, to come knowing he is a good God, that he's for you, that he cares, that there's nothing that ever can come between you, that he loves you and in every time of need, the way you come to God first is as Abba Father. Great prayers first and foremost are deeply personal. The second characteristics of great prayers are they're birthed in brokenness. They are birthed in brokenness. Prayers that get God's attention and that he calls great are free of self-confidence.
They're characterized by desperate dependency and an overwhelming sense of need. Brokenness, it's when you pour out your heart to God. It's when, you know, you don't always have the right words but because of a time of fear or a time of crisis or a time of remorse or a time of grief or a time of sorrow or perplexity and you don't know what to do, you come before God and there is a sense of bankruptcy and you can't work it out and in your brokenness, you pour out your heart before God and underlying the sense of what you say is, I need you. I need you, God. I need you.
Oh God, I really need you. Great prayers are birthed out of brokenness. Examples are Moses in Exodus chapter four, remember? You know, he's the superstar when he's 40 years old and he can handle it. Then he gets a 40-year education. Then God meets him in the burning bush and he has the burning bush experience and God is holy and he takes off his shoes and then God says, Moses, I got a job for you. He gives him the job in Exodus four. Do you remember Moses?
I can't do that. I'm inadequate. I'm slow of speech and slow of tongue and you couldn't use a guy like me and, you know, there's other people and more qualified and there's no way and I just can't and then you listen to the dialogue with he and the father and his prayers that he learns to pray are out of not someone that has it together, that's indispensable to God but it's someone who recognizes after 40 years the distance between God and him is a big gap and so he prays out of his brokenness but it's a pattern all through the old New Testament. You know, when you hear David's prayer in Psalm 51, here's a man that is godly who knows God in a weak moment and he ends up doing what?
Committing adultery and then later murder and then he lives with that guilt that's piling up for almost a year until Nathan comes and confronts him and says, David, let me tell you a little story, gives him a word picture, you're the man and then he's broken from within and he realizes the depth of his sin and you open up Psalm 51 and we get to overhear David praying his prayer of confession of restoration to the Father and you know, you get to about verses 13 or 14 and David, you know, he's an Old Testament saint and you know, he's the king and he's got bulls and he's got cows and he's got goats and he can make sacrifices until literally the cows come in and he says to God, you know, it's by your grace I've been forgiven and he says, you know, if burnt offerings were really what you wanted, I mean, I would bring them but out of his brokenness, he says, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken spirit and a contrite heart, oh God, thou will not despise. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, Pray Great Prayers from our series, Good to Great in God's Eyes. Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. Now you may be thinking, what separates a good Christian life from a great one and is wanting to be great a little prideful? Well, join Chip in this series as he explains our ambition to be the best Christian isn't an ego trip but stems from a desire created in us by Jesus himself. Discover the habits that will deepen your intimacy with God, ignite your passion for his word and empower you to live a life of impact.
So if you missed any part of this series, catch up any time through the Chip Ingram app. Well, Chip's here in studio with me now and Chip, before we go any further, you wanted to say something about the year-end match that we talked about throughout the month of December? Well Dave, I just wanted to pause, I mean to really pause and tell you from the bottom of my heart, thank you. You know, every time a person makes a financial gift, a spiritual transaction occurs.
In other words, something actually happens in a person's heart and I speak to those of you who gave, you gave, you responded, you invested in Living on the Edge and I want you to know that as you've invested, we're going to invest in the lives of people here and all around the world. It really matters and we are super grateful. Thank you, each one of you who prayed and said, Lord, what do you want me to do?
And then you followed his lead. The final numbers will be on our website as soon as we get all the mail that comes in but I just want to say thank you. Thank you so very much for hearing from God, responding to God and for being so generous. And let me add my thanks too. We truly celebrate every gift we've received and are excited to see how God uses it to motivate Christians to really live like Christians.
So thanks again for your support. Well Chip, today you emphasized the power of personalizing our prayers. Talk a little bit more about that and explain what those types of prayers reveal about our relationship with God. Well, we spend time with the people that matter most. When we spend time with God, we're communicating. He matters.
He matters the most. The second thing that prayer reveals about our hearts is that we are either depending on ourselves or depending on him. And I think the third thing I've learned about prayer, even Jesus, we can't do it alone. There is a time to pray only alone but to be motivated and to be refreshed, there's just times where I don't have it in me. Everyone needs either a prayer partner or a group of people that you can pray deep with and seriously with. If you don't learn to pray, you'll never see God's power. If you don't learn to pray, you'll never hear God's voice and you'll never learn to pray just by yourself. Get with some other people and learn to pray great prayers.
Those are some great ideas, Chip. And as you learn how to better connect with your Heavenly Father, consider getting one of our prayer journals. These notebooks have plenty of space for your prayers and personal journaling, along with inspiring scripture verses, hymn lyrics, and quotes woven throughout the pages. Experience a more intentional and enriching time with God with the help of our prayer journals. Get one today under specialoffers at livingontheedge.org or through the Chip Ingram app. Well, be sure to join us next time as Chip continues his series, Good to Great in God's Eyes. Until then, I'm Dave Drouie saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge. .
