A Prayer For Unity Part 2

This is Sam from the Masking Journey Podcast, and our goal with the podcast has helped you to try to find your way in this difficult world. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and choosing the Truth Podcast Network. This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Man Talk, brought to you by TAWCMN, talking and walking Christian men's ministry, where they're devoted to breaking down the walls of race and denomination and challenging men to take their God-assigned role. Here's our hosts, Will Hardy and Roy Jones Jr., a black guy and a white guy. Welcome back to Man Talk listeners, and we thank God for you.

Thank you. We are so much enjoying this St. John 17, this prayer that Jesus praying to the Father, which this should be called the Lord's Prayer, because He's in direct communion with the Father. He's communion with Him in the garden. He knows this is the final hour, and so last week we looked at Jesus praying for Himself, and we started this week Jesus praying for the disciples. And I want to look at verse number nine, because He says, I pray for them, but I don't pray for the world, but for those who you have given Me, for they are yours.

So why wouldn't Jesus pray for the world? Well, if you go down there in verse number 14, it says, I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. So there are going to be folks out there folks out there who God wants to bring them to Him, but they are going to reject that still small voice.

They're not going to listen. They're going to continue to hold on to the world, because that's where the love is. Their love is for the world. Their love is not for the Lord. And if you listen to yourself when you're praying, you might find that you're not praying effective as God has laid out in His word. But see, I like this particular prayer, because last week we talked about it's a unifying prayer.

It's bringing believers together, and I think about I think about all of the folks out there who are born again, and if we as one body can be unified, there is nothing the body of Christ cannot get accomplished. But Satan has used so many tools to keep us separated, to keep us divided, to keep us talking amongst ourselves. They are not of the Lord, because they're not doing this. And the word of God says that you must do this in order for you to be saved.

They're not of the word of God, because they're doing that. And so we're getting down and fist fighting amongst ourselves, and Satan is enjoying this, because he says, if I can get them fighting amongst themselves, then they'll be divided and separated, and there will be no unity. Because see, he wants division. He doesn't want unification. God wants us unified because I think, you know that old cliche, together we stand and divided we fall.

That is so true. We want to stay unified and we could be unified, even though that there may be small denominational differences amongst ourselves, we can be unified. God says we can. But I want to leave these verses here for a minute, because I want to address what we talked about last week. How many of you out there listening have prayed and you couldn't see anything happening when you pray?

So what did you do? Did you just stop praying? Or you just said, I'm just giving up praying for this particular thing because I prayed five, six, 10, 15 times and nothing's happened. Now I want to present to you this, even if you don't see something happen when you pray, doesn't mean that there's nothing happening when you pray. So behind the scenes, God is working, but you can't see it because you're looking for immediate results. And we're not saying that God can't bless immediately, but sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes you have to wait on him. Sometimes you have to fast and pray in order to receive from God.

And if you remember over in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses seven through 10, and all of you know this passage, you who have been born again for a while, it's the passage that talks about when Paul had this thorn in the flesh and he went to God three times. He prayed, remove it, God. Nothing. Remove it, God. Nothing. Remove it, God.

Nothing. And finally he heard, my grace is sufficient for you. My grace is all you need. I'm not going to remove the thorn, but what I'm going to do is give you the grace so that you can go through whatever the thorn is. Now, we have all kinds of theologians out there who are saying, you know, the thorn was this, or the thorn was a physical ailment, or some type of speech impediment, or something like this.

We don't know what the thorn was, but we do know that the Apostle Paul came to a realization that God, if you won't remove this thing, then give me an answer on what I need to do. And God answered his prayer by saying, my grace is enough to carry you through regardless of what you're going through. So saints of God, you're going through something right now. You're going through something right now. And if you're going through something right now, whatever it is, I don't know what it is.

You having financial issues, you're having issues with the children, you have issues on the job. I don't know what it is. Issues in the church, I don't know. But I do know this, whatever it is, if you go to God and pray, God will give you an answer.

You have to look for it. It may not be the answer you're looking for, but he's going to answer you. And when he does, you have to be at the point to listen to him to be able to understand who it is that's speaking to you and then what your actions need to be after God speaks to you. So never stop praying for that wayward child. Never stop praying for that financial situation, for that job that you may want. If you have issues with someone in the church, don't stop praying and don't run away from your trials. Don't run away.

Go to God and let God bless you so that he can give you the answers that you need in order to deal with whatever it is that you are facing, because God will answer prayer. I am a living witness. Now, I want to throw this at you. It's almost been about seven years, and I know some of you listeners know since my beloved wife have passed away, and we were praying, praying vigilantly. I mean, we had people surrounding her laying hands, the oil, I mean, the whole nine yards, complete healing. Yes, we wanted, and God took her on home.

Now, when something like that happens, it's going to do two things to you. It's going to draw you to God, or it's going to push you away from God because you're going to say, well, God, I prayed, but you didn't do anything. I prayed earnestly, but you took her on home. See, have we ever realized that their journey down here on this earth was over? So when it happened, we did not put our fist in God's face.

No, no, no, no, no, no. What we did is we said, God, her journey in this life is over. And I remember hearing when Pastor Tony Evans, his wife passed, I believe it was last year sometime, and there was millions of people praying for her. And I thought I'd read or heard somewhere to where she had stated, maybe Dr. Evans or one of his children said this, had stated that she basically said, let me go.

You all praying for me, just let me go. She was ready to leave. Her journey here was over. And see, just like people who, you know, who have passed on from this life to the next life, that their journey have to come to an end.

We don't know how it's going to end. If it's going to be a physical ailment, if it's going to be an accident, if it's going to be whatever it is, we don't know how it's going to come, but we do know it's going to come. But that doesn't mean we should stop praying. We should always continue to pray.

And Paul, again, is our example, as in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 7 through 10. He's an example that we should continue to pray, continue to see God. Be like that woman when she came and to the judge, and she said, hey, judge, I want some justice.

And the judge is like, he didn't want to come down to the door and open up the door, but he said, he said, look, if I don't come down and open up the door to this woman, I'm never going to get any sleep. But see, we have to be persistent with God, and we have to be confident, just like he says over in 1 John 5, I think it's either 16 or 17, where he said, this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. If we know that he hears us, we have the petitions that we ask of him. So go ahead and ask. Let God lead you in that direction. Don't give up just because you don't see it happening like right now, right away.

You might be tested. We're coming up on a break. This is good.

We're talking about the unity of God. First time visitors eat for free. Join your hosts, Will Hardy and Roy Jones Jr., a black guy and a white guy. Meet us at the summit starting February 4th, 2022. You're invited to a special two-day event. TAWCM presents the Summit Conference, a conference so big we need two days for it all. Day one kicks off at 6.30 PM with a special co-ed event at the First Christian Church in Kernersville. Then you'll get to hear a message from speakers Lee Strobel, Jerry Boykin, and Bishop Larry Jackson. Day two is a men's one-day conference from 9 AM to 4 PM. They'll have a multitude of speakers like Lee Strobel, Jerry Boykin, Bishop Larry Jackson, Pat Teague, and Bishop Charles Flowers.

For tickets or more information, visit tawcm.com. Don't miss your chance to meet us at the summit on February 4th, 2022. We're talking about unity prayer, and we're talking about specifically what happens when you think that prayer that you just prayed isn't answered because you're ready to see it right away, and God wants you to wait. Now, we're not saying that God can't bless you and answer your prayer immediately.

We're not saying that. We're saying sometimes when you pray, you have to wait. Paul waited. After he prayed that first time, he waited. Oh, nothing happened. He prayed again. Oh, nothing happens. He prayed a third time. Oh, nothing happens.

And then he heard the voice. Prayer is essential. It's one of those essential things for the believer because without prayer, we sit and we wonder, if I didn't pray, then I'm still in the same situation that I'm in.

Oh, that's not good. But if I pray and God answered my prayer, oh, that's wonderful. But if I pray and it didn't happen when I want it to happen, oh, that's not good.

See, and that's why we were saying earlier, it's going to draw you in or push you away. And there's been countless times, stories that I have read, people who I've talked to, I've counseled as a pastor, so many people. And they said, this prayer thing don't work when they do it one time. Listen, saints, one time they pray and when it doesn't happen when they want it to do it, then they say, oh, it don't work. And so now they're off, you know, doing their own thing or going back into the world. And see, they're a perfect example of when Jesus talked about the parable of the seed.

See, they never got rooted. They were just hoping that this thing is going to work and they took it as like this magical hat, pulling the bunny out of the hat. You know, we look at all kinds of ways in which we want things to happen. And then when it don't happen, when we want it to happen, then we get discouraged and we abandon the cause. But I got another one for you, saints. This one took some searching in the word of God.

And I asked myself this question and I'm wondering when I ask this, I want you to go look it up because I want you to see this for yourself. Turn over there to 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 20. Now, Paul, he had a bunch of needs and of course he was coming down to the end of his life. And he had a bunch of needs and he was requesting some things. And then, but it says that Paul left Trophimus sick. He left him sick.

So he went on to another place and he left Trophimus sick. And so I'm saying to myself, wait a minute, God has given you the authority to do that. God has given you the authority.

God has given you the power. Why would you leave a fellow believer sick? Why didn't you go back and say in the name of Jesus, sickness, leave Trophimus body? And you know, the answer to that is we don't know. We don't know why the apostle Paul left Trophimus sick. We don't know. But see within our mind, our mind have a tendency to attempt to fill in the gaps of things that we don't know because the scripture doesn't tell us why he left Trophimus sick. Doesn't say, but see our mind wants to come up with some reason on why we think he left Trophimus sick. So we'll throw that out there.

People will grab hold of it and then start to run with it. But the simple fact is, we don't know because the scripture does not say. Don't try and put and imagine things. If the scripture says it, we believe it. That settles it. If the scripture don't say it or give us a reason behind it, let it go. Because what we're doing is we're attempting to try and look back into history and come up with the best explanation that we can, which more than likely isn't the explanation at all.

If we don't have any historical account. So that in and of itself, I think should tell us that when we pray and when things don't happen, when we pray, it does not mean that God is not listening or God is not working. Keep praying. God is listening. Keep fasting. God is listening and continue to believe and God indeed will give you the desires of your heart. Now I want to go down.

Now I want to go back to Saint John 17 to end up our time together. Jesus in verse 20 of John 17 says that he do not, he don't pray for these alone. So he's not just praying for the disciples, but he said also for those who will believe in me through their word, the ones who will believe in me when the disciples go out there and proclaim the gospel and get other people saved. And then when those folks are saved, they're going to pass on the gospel to someone else.

They're going to be saved. And then they're going to pass on the gospel to someone else. And finally, in verse 20 of John 17, he says, and finally, in the course of history, it came down to us. Someone had to preach to us the gospel. Someone else had to talk to us about the good news of Jesus Christ. And when they did, we came to Christ based on hearing that word.

You and I are no different than someone who lived in 1870 or 1434. The word of God, they had to hear the word of God and the Lord God Almighty had to draw them to Jesus Christ because we couldn't come on our own. So the whole sphere of what we're talking about today, saints of God, don't be discouraged when you don't get immediate answer to your prayer. Keep praying, keep fasting, keep believing. Second thing we want to take from this is that when you pray to God, don't go to God unless you have confessed any unconfessed sins. Because remember first John one nine, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confess the sin. Don't go to God before you confess. That will clear that channel and make that connection even stronger between you and the Lord. When you do this, you're praying according to the will of God.

And God, and your prayer will be effective and God will answer it in his time. Not your time, but in his time he'll answer it. All of what we are in Jesus Christ is what he made us to be. We're no more, we're no less. He don't love people in 1769 than he does in people who were born in 1256, than people who were born in 1952. His love goes across history. He doesn't love anyone more or less than the next believer or children of God who is in Christ Jesus.

He loves us all the same. Sometimes when you get discouraged, when things are not happening your way, just think about Lord, I maybe I am being tested and I'm going to go through this because just as you told Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, just as you told him, my grace is sufficient. I'm going to grab hold of that promise. And I'm going to say, regardless of what I'm going through, your grace is sufficient.

And if it is sufficient, it will take you through. Think about Job. Think about Job. Here, Job here, Job doing everything that God has called him to do, sacrificing for himself, sacrificing for his children. And then all of a sudden God and Satan is having this conversation in Job chapter one and in Job chapter two, they're having this conversation about Job and Job don't even know what's happening until it happens to him. He don't know that God and Satan had this conversation. And then all of a sudden things started happening to him and Satan came in and he, he did the three things in which he is a master of killing, stealing and destroying.

And that's exactly what he did with Job. The children, he killed, he stole all the cattle, ship, destroyed the house, whirlwind came, bam, house came crumbling down. So when you think about the suffering that you and I have to go through, that's nothing compared to what Jesus Christ go through. So as we leave tonight, I want you to understand that there is nothing that you cannot conquer if you continue to walk by faith, not by sight. Jesus is the only way. He is the only truth. And he is the only light.

There is nothing that can separate you if you continue to walk according to the way he told you to walk. This is Pastor Will Hardy with a man talk. We love you today because God loves you.

And so do I. We will see you and listen next time because God is love. As we wrap up today's show, be assured that TAWCMM, talking and walking Christian men's ministry is building a community of men that are Christ followers with a desire to be servant leaders in their homes, communities, churches, and work environments. Check out our website for upcoming events and regularly scheduled meetings. Drop us a note for topics that you would like to have us visit in the future. Thank you for joining us on Man Talk today. Visit us at www.tawcmm.com. Men walking the talk. This is the Truth Network.