Earnest Prayer and Opened Prison Doors, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. What do you know to be God's will? Because the Holy Spirit has put it in your heart that you every single morning say, God, I do not care how many obstacles there are. This is what you put in my heart. And this is the mission that you have given to me. And I am not going to let you go until you answer this. Because here's one of my convictions.

The reason that a lot of us aren't having prayers answered is a lot of us pray to God rather than with God. Welcome to Summit Life with J.D. Greer.

I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. In the art of war, every strategy and every opportunity should be used to your advantage. Because the goal is to what?

To win the war, right? And it's no different for Christians in the battle to further God's mission here on earth. Today, we're learning about the importance of prayer to secure daily victory. Pastor J.D. is outlining God's battle plan for prayer, and it's part of our series titled Sent.

So if you missed any of the previous messages in this study, you can catch up at jdgreer.com. Pastor J.D. is teaching from Acts chapter 12. What is your personal prayer life like? What if God, what if God had a lot more for us?

What if he had more for our community, more for our schools, more for our families, but we never got it simply because we didn't know how to ask? So all this to say, I think the Holy Spirit has a lot for us in Acts chapter 12, which is going to give you a snapshot into how prayer works and what the prayer life of the church was like, because they're going to be in this ridiculous situation. You're going to see what they did with it. But if you have your Bible, don't turn there yet, because I'm not going to start this teaching in Acts 12. I'm actually going to start this teaching back in the Gospel of Luke.

Luke is going to give you the doctrine out of Jesus's mouth, and then you're going to see the church apply it in the book of Acts. So Luke chapter 11, verse 1, the disciples asked Jesus a question. They're like, Lord, teach us to pray. Well, in response to their request, the first thing Jesus does is he teaches them what we now call the Lord's Prayer. And then Jesus tells, you'll see the next verses, verse 5 and down, this odd little story that Jesus tells that is so bizarre, if you think about it in relation to prayer, that most people rewrite over it and never really think about what it's saying.

He tells a story about a guy who is in bed asleep at midnight when a friend of his comes and asks him at midnight to borrow three loaves of bread because he just had some unexpected visitors show up. If even an annoying neighbor can get an excessive request at an inopportune time through persistent asking, don't you think that you, who are like precious children to God, not an annoying neighbor, don't you think you can obtain that one thing that you absolutely need to do God's will and that is the power of the Holy Spirit? Jesus goes on, so I tell you, ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you for everyone who asked receives and the one who seeks finds and the one who knocks, it will be open. Those three verbs, by the way, ask, seek and knock are all in what they call the imperfect verb tense, which means it implies continuous action, which just reinforces this idea of persistence. It's not that you ask once and then leave it to the sovereignty of God.

You ask once, and then you keep on asking. But he teaches the exact same thing in Luke 18, only this time through a more extreme and even more bizarre parable. You don't have to turn there.

I'll put it on the screen for you. But Luke 18, Jesus tells this parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He says in a certain city, there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. This is a bad guy. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him saying, give me justice against my adversary. That's what I think she sounded like. For a while he refused, but eventually he said to himself, oh, though I neither fear God nor respect man. Yeah, because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice. So she will not beat me down through her continual coming. Do you have anybody in your life like this?

Yeah, I have four of them. They're 11 and younger. Then Jesus says, quite unbelievably, if you ask me, this is what prayer to God is like. Most of us feel like we're at our most selfless and most virtuous when we're dealing with our children. I mean, that's when I really act selflessly is with my children. Jesus says in your very best moment with your kids, compared to how the heavenly father treats his kids, you're evil. And if not even you would do that to your kid, you really feel like the heavenly father who's the best father there's ever been would not give to his children what they need, everything they need in the hour they need to do it. You see, we're like precious kids to God. And my kids are the one group of people that I would get up in the middle of the night every single time to help, right?

They're the only people I would do that for. And what Jesus is saying is some of you don't get answers to prayer because you've never learned to approach God like a kid. You've never learned to come to God with the shameless, boldest persistence that a child has with their parent, where you come in absolutely confident of their goodness, absolutely confident that God will not withhold from you whatever it is that you need. And you don't get those things because you ask with reluctance and you ask with doubts, right? That's your doctrine.

Now let's look at it and then apply it. Three important things I want you to see about prayer. Here is number one, whatever they were afraid of, they talked to God about. Number one, whatever they were afraid of, they talked to God about. They were afraid for their future, so they talked to God about their future.

So here's my very simple question. What do you do when you are afraid? What do you do when you at night are worried about things? Could I encourage you to start the actual practice of evening prayer? I realize in some ways evening prayer might be a metaphor, but I mean literally for you to take 10 to 15 minutes at night and for you to take this practice of just going through what you worry about, what you're mad about, what you're disappointed with, where you're sad, and then leaving it at Jesus' feet and then just resting in Him. I read a book this week called The Four-Hour Workweek because I wanted to cut my hours here in half.

And I'm just kidding. It's a leadership book. Some of you probably read it, but in there what he talks about, the author talks about because of just the way you can outsource things, he's like, you could actually hire, they call it a virtual assistant who lives in another country who you can give a bunch of tasks to, like India is a big country where they have a lot of these, and you give all these tasks to them. And then he says, when you come back the next morning, they've done them all. And then you're ready to kind of take them to start the day. And he says, it's awesome because while you're sleeping, they're working. And when you get up the next morning, they've got this work for you. And he says, it's just fantastic.

It allows me to get so much done. And so he said, I was trying to test the limits with my virtual assistant, like what would she do that could really help me? He says, and I realized that one of the things that was really bothering me is I worry a lot about my business at night. So I just wrote her a note and asked her if I could assign the worry to her and says, could you worry about these things at night for me so that I don't have to? And he said, I got this nice note back from this girl in India who said, yes, sir, Mr. So-and-so, I'll be happy to worry about these things from the hours of 6 p.m. your time to 6 a.m. your time so that you, sir, do not have to. And he said, it's just been awesome because I get up in the middle of the night and I'm like, I don't have to worry about this because on the other side of the world, this girl was worrying about it.

And so I'm just going to let myself have the night off. And I'm reading this and I'm thinking, this is awesome because I actually have someone outside of the world who cares so much for me that I can commit these things to him and say, you worry about it. And when I get up tomorrow morning, you can tell me what it is you want me to do about these particular things. But at night, I'm going to lie down in safety because I've committed these things to you. You see, I'm probably like some of you is that I have a real problem with worrying. I don't know why it's at night that I worry, but it's bad at night. I wake up at 3 a.m. I had a bad habit of that for years.

I'm just really worried about stuff and angry about things. And I'm telling you, this practice of evening prayer has brought so much peace to my life because I wake up at 3 a.m. and I'll find myself worrying about something. I'm like, I thought to God about that last night. And he never slumbers or sleeps and he's worrying about it. That's his responsibility.

He can give it back to me in the morning if he wants, but it's with him right now. And I'll lie down and sleep. Number two. They use prayer like a wartime walkie-talkie, not a domestic intercom. They use prayer like a wartime walkie-talkie, not a domestic intercom. What do you find the church praying about in Acts? The advancing of the mission.

That's what they're talking about. I get the wording of that point from that named John Piper who wrote this. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It's not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den. You see, until you know that life is war, you cannot know what prayer is for. Prayer is for the accomplishment of a wartime mission. That's morning prayer, by the way. Morning prayer is this active petitionary prayer marked by boldly praying for things in the world that are not right.

It is rebellion against the status quo. They knew that it was God's will for the church to get the gospel to the ends of the earth regardless of what Herod wanted. They're not sure how it's going to happen. They're not sure if Peter is going to make it out alive or not.

You know how we know that? Because they think they see his ghost. They think he's already died. They're at peace with that. But they know that it's God's will for his church to flourish and they get the gospel to the ends of the earth.

So when it looks like they are being shut down, they get on their face and they say, God, you promise this? God, you're going to have to make this happen. Here's my question for you. What do you know to be God's will? What do you know to be God's will because the Holy Spirit has put it in your heart that you every single morning say, God, I do not care how many obstacles there are. This is what you put in my heart.

And this is the mission that you have given to me. And I am not going to let you go until you answer this because here's one of my convictions. A lot of the reason that a lot of us aren't having prayers answered is a lot of us pray to God rather than with God. Prayer is designed to be something you do with God, where you receive from the Holy Spirit direction about what he wants, and then you pray those things into existence through your persistence. Are you walking with the Holy Spirit in a way where you are hearing from the Holy Spirit about what he wants and then boldly saying, God, this is the mission and you're going to have to make it happen. You're like, well, I believe in the sovereignty of God. Yeah, I believe in the sovereignty of God too. And somehow God sovereignly said that there's certain things that only happen when we're in the Holy Spirit and we're in the Holy Spirit. There are certain things that only happen when we pray. I mean, pray God has hard wired the universe so that there are certain things that he does only in response to prayer. And I realized that God is sovereign over the whole process, but there are things that will not happen unless you pray. And there are things that are not happening because you're not praying because the way that God executes his will on earth is by the faithful prevailing prayers of his people. The history of the missions is simply the history of answered prayer.

John Wesley would say it this way, I'm convinced that God does nothing except in answer to prayer. Evening prayers, where you pour out your heart of worry to God the Father. Morning prayers, where you boldly advance God's kingdom. What are your prayers like? We already talked about the fact that most of us, many of us don't have a prayer life really to speak of, but when you do pray, what are your prayers like? I've lamented before how dumb, if I could be bold, is this a safe place?

Let's make it safe. How dumb our prayers are. I mean, first of all, like, I mean, just listen to the average Christian pray. First of all, we've got all these little annoying habits, like saying God's name over and over again.

Like, otherwise he doesn't realize we're talking to him. God just want to thank you, God, for the things, God, that you're doing, God, and being your God. You're like, I mean, if you talk to me that way, JD, I want to thank you for the sermon, JD, we'll be here next week, JD, we'll bring a friend, JD. I'm like, stop it, right?

I know you're talking to me. You don't have to keep saying my name over and over again. Or usually the word just, what is that word in prayer? God, we just want to thank you and we just want to, I'm always like, if you just want to thank God, you should stop after the word thank you. God, we just want to thank you. That would be it, right? In fact, in your small group, every time somebody uses the word just in prayer, make a little buzzer sound. I'm just kidding.

I'll do that. But here's why I think we do that. Because most of us have never learned to talk to God like a daddy, like a father. And so instead we're kind of making up these spiritual speeches that sound good. And that's when we have all these annoying little habits that come into our prayer, because we're not talking to God like a father. We're talking to him like a speech that we're trying to make. And then when we do get around to our request, again, I've lamented this with you before, but our requests are just, they're not evening or morning. I don't know what they are.

They're just dumb. And you end up asking God for things like, here's one I've told you about, God be with us. And God's like, Hebrews 13 five, I said, I'll never leave you or forsake you. Ask me for something else.

Right? Or we say, Lord, help me. I like college students. Lord, help me with my test. And I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, but God's like, why don't you study, right?

Instead of making me transmogrify the information to your mind, why don't you actually study or use a mind I gave you? Or how about this one? Lord bless this food. What does that mean? Like, I mean, you know, God's looking at you. He's like, you're eating a half pound hamburger with three bacon strips and onion straws. I can't bless that. Go get you some asparagus. There is a pre-built-in blessing into that.

You don't have to ask for it, just eat it. Right? Or, Lord, give us traveling mercies.

Like what? It sounds spiritual, traveling mercy. What the heck's a traveling mercy?

You buckle your seatbelt, drive the speed limit, don't text when you drive. That's your traveling mercy right there. Now there's nothing wrong I get with praying about everything in your life, really. But the point I'm trying to make is that the prayers that we pray are supposed to be where we are confessing to God the deepest things in our life that are hurting us. And we are boldly advancing God's mission on earth. And we're not just filling up God's ears with a bunch of words and trinkets and just dumb stuff. What I want to hear when people pray, and you're not trying to please me, but I want to hear people pray in scripture. I want to hear people taking the promises of God and holding them back up to God and saying, God, you promised this. God, this is what your word says. God, this is what you put in my heart. God, you got to make this happen.

You got to make this happen. And I'm not going to let you go until you give that because you put it here to advance the kingdom. Until you know that life is war, you will not know what prayer is for. Number three, they were persistent like the widow. They were persistent like the widow.

Don't you see how they illustrate what we learned in what we learned in Luke? They knew it was God's will for the church to get the gospel to the ends of the earth. And right now they've got a problem. One of their main leaders has been taken out and the other is about to be killed.

They're not sure, again, if Peter's going to make it or not. And they're at peace if he dies. But they know that it's not God's will to let Satan destroy the church or to impede the church's progress. So they get on their knees and they say, God, you got to make something happen. And we're not going to let you go until you open doors and bless our efforts and overcome our enemies. And they kept at it and they would not give up until God had dropped the fruit off of that branch.

And God had given them what they asked for. Do you know? Do you know that it is not God's will for Satan to destroy your family? Do you know that the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance?

Do you know, Mark 936, that he still looks at the crowd at UNC Chapel Hill or NC State or Duke University, North Carolina Central, and he has moved with compassion because they go with sheep without a shepherd? Do you know that? Do you understand that the power of the Holy Spirit is there? It is something God wants to give, but he is not going to give it to us until we prevail in prayer with him for that.

Do you know that? Do you see Satan at work in your family? Do you know that that's not the Heavenly Father's will? And are you willing to get on your face until God sends the one thing that you need, which is the power of the Holy Spirit, into your life and your family? Listen, I know there are times when God directs us away from specific requests and he says no.

A good example of that, 2nd Corinthians 12, where Paul's like, three times I asked for this and God finally said, no, quit asking for that. I'm dealing with one of my kids right now. Last year, one of my kids left their favorite stuffed animal, Fluffy, at a hotel. And so when we got home, they're like, Dad, can we pray that God will help us get Fluffy back? I'm like, let's pray about that. So we prayed about it for like three weeks.

I called the hotel every single day. Eventually, I came back and Fluffy's gone. And so to this day, to this a year later, when I asked my kids at night, what do you guys want to pray for? Can we pray that God will bring Fluffy back? And I'm like, God has taken Fluffy on to a better place. And we're just gonna have to release Fluffy to the sovereignty of God and just let God have Fluffy. I know there are times when the sovereignty of God tells you to move on, but I'm gonna tell you something.

Most of us give up way too early. And note very carefully that specifically he's talking about prayer for the power of the Holy Spirit here, not trinkets or comforts for the den. Remember that analogy? The best power that God has for your family, for this church, the power of the Holy Spirit, he promised, is only to be obtained through persistent prayer. Sometimes y'all have to visualize myself doing this. I put myself in this parable and I'm like, God, I know you can hear me.

I know you're not asleep. And I am asking you for this thing that I need for our church, for my family. And God, I'm gonna stay down here and I'm gonna yell all night long if that's what it takes, because that's how God gives the power of the Holy Spirit. They prayed. They prayed like the needy neighbor. They prayed like the worrisome widow for God, the good father to give. What do you think happened?

What do you think happened? Oh, did he ever give? This story ends with several twists of irony. Peter, as you recall, is Herod's prized prisoner. He's going to execute him publicly and it's going to be a big, awesome day.

He's got him in maximum security. So the Holy Spirit sends an angel who takes out Peter right underneath Herod's nose. And Herod goes down the next morning with all the kind of parade and he opens up the prison door and no Peter. And Herod's embarrassed.

And then you keep reading the chapter and what you find out is a few weeks after this, Herod's making a speech to a group of people and the people that flatter him because they want something from him start yelling out. Look at verse 22, the people were shouting, it's the voice of a God and not a man. Immediately an angel Lord struck him down because he did not give God the glory. And he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

And they all lived happily ever after. That's not really what it says, but it does say this, verse 24, but the word of God increased and multiplied. The moral, do not mess, do not mess with the church on its knees. Every time in the book of Acts, the church prays, things explode. Acts chapter one, remember this? For 10 days they pray, God sends the Holy Spirit, Peter preaches for 10 minutes, 3000 people get saved. Acts chapter four, they pray, God fills them with such boldness that they turn the city of Jerusalem upside down. By the end of Acts five, you've got over 10,000 new Christians in Jerusalem and some of the harshest critics, Jewish priests, guys like Saul, they're becoming Christians. Here in Acts 12, they pray, God blows up a prison and Herod falls down and says, I got worms.

In the next chapter, chapter 13, hashtag dumb and dumber. In the next chapter, chapter 13, they pray, and God raises up Paul to be a missionary, the greatest missionary the world has ever known. Prayer moves the arm that moves the world. All these things happen through prayer. The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from prayer. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil.

He mocks at our wisdom. He trembles when we pray. Prayer turns ordinary mortals into men of power. Prayer brings fire.

It brings rain. It brings life. It brings God. There is no power like that of prevailing prayer. So again, tell me about your prayer life. Prioritize prayer times. Nothing scares the devil away more than becoming a person of persistent prayer. You're listening to Summit Life, the Bible teaching ministry of pastor, author, and theologian J.D.

Greer. We are so glad that you joined us. So if you're new around here, let me share a little bit about our heart for ministry. We are here on your radio station daily and on the web 24 seven to help you dive deeper into the message of the gospel. As we say often here on the program, the gospel isn't just the diving board into Christianity.

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I'm Molly Bidevich. Join us tomorrow when Pastor JD explains how God uses people from all walks of life to further his mission. That's Wednesday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.