2020-06-14 – Revival (Part 5) – Revival Through Prayer
Alright, well we’re there in second Kings chapter number 19. And we’ve been going through a series on Sunday mornings on the subject of revival and we’ve been studying the great passages about revival in the Bible. And we’ve also been looking at the revivals that took place in the Word of God. If you remember, we started this series five weeks ago and we started on May 17th and I began the series with a sermon from the Book of Psalms called “wilt thou not revive us again”. If you remember, we learned from that Psalm that revival is not some mystical supernatural thing. It’s supernatural in the sense that the Holy Spirit of God is involved in it but revival is really getting to the place where we know God and where we make God known. And then we talked about on the 24th about revival through dying to self. And we talked about on the 31st about revival through the house of God, in the church, how the church plays a role in revival. And last week we learned about revival through the Word of God. This morning I want to speak to you on the subject of revival through prayer. Revival through prayer.
And we’re here in second Kings chapter 19 and of course we’re looking at the life of this great King in the Bible, Hezekiah. Now you’re there in 2nd Kings chapter 19, go back to 2 Kings 18. A want you to notice that in verses 1 through 7 of 2nd Kings 18 we see a great revival that Hezekiah led and is summarized here in these verses. 2 Kings 18:1 “Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign.”. Look at verse 3. And he referring to Hezekiah “3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did.”. Verse 4 “4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan. 5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.”. Notice verse 6 “6 For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses. 7 And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever he went forth: and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and served him not.”.
Now we’re not going to go through the entire revival that Hezekiah led. But I do want you to notice something. Keep your place there in second Kings and go to 2 Chronicles chapter 30. And I want you to understand that Hezekiah led a great revival. And I’m not going to preach through his revival to be honest with you. It’s very similar to the revival of Josiah that we broke down last week. They returned to the house of God, they repaired the house of God, they repented, they got right with God. And honestly what we just read here in 2nd Kings 18 verses 1 through 7, those seven verses summarize the revival that you can read about in full detail in the book of second chronicles and second chronicles chapters number 29, 30, and 31. God goes into detail about everything that took place during the revival of Hezekiah and it’s summarized there in 2nd Kings 18.
But I want you to notice one thing about Hezekiah’s revival, that Hezekiah’s revival and his life really is characterized by prayer. Notice there, 2nd chronicles chapter 30. And again, we would have to begin reading at chapter 29 to look at everything that Hezekiah did and everything that took place in his revival. But in 2 chronicles 30:18, the Bible says this “18 For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written.”. Notice the last part of verse 18. “But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon every one 19 That prepareth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.”. Notice verse 20, “20 And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people.”. You’ll find in the life of Hezekiah and the revival of Hezekiah then; his revival was characterized by this idea of Prayer. Here he prayed for the people. And the Bible says “20 And the Lord hearkened to Hezekiah,”. And as a result, the people began to pray.
Look at verse 27 in the same chapter. “27 Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people: and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place, even unto heaven.”. So, we see that Hezekiah was a man of Prayer. He had a life of prayer and he led others into prayer. Go back to the book of second kings’ chapter 19 where we started this morning. I want you to understand that when you study the life of Hezekiah, you see this great revival that he led. But then there’s a problem that arises and that’s usually how it is. Just because your spirit is revived, just because you’re right with God, just because you’re walking with God does not mean that you’re going to have a life without trials and troubles and heartaches.
And what we find here in 2nd Kings chapter 19 is Hezekiah with a big problem. And we don’t have time to go through and look at all the passages. You can study this out on your own if you’d like. I’ll get you caught up so we can jump into our text here. 2nd Kings 19, what I want you to understand though is that at the time of Hezekiah was reigning, the nation of Israel had been divided into 2 parts. You had the Northern Kingdom of Israel. You had the southern kingdom of Israel. The Northern Kingdom of Israel at this time has been taken captive. Sennacherib the king of Assyria has come and has taken the Northern Kingdom of Israel captive. And now he has turned his sights on to the southern kingdom of Israel. The southern kingdom of Judah and Hezekiah the king just got word, just got the threat, just got told that Sennacherib is coming to take the southern kingdom of Judah.
And I want you to notice how Hezekiah responds in 2 Kings 19:1. “And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it,”. When the King heard what Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against the southern kingdom of Judah. Notice the Bible says “And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord. 2 And he sent Eliakim, which was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz.”. Notice verse 3 “3 And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.”.
Notice verse 4 and I want you to notice these 3 words. “4 It may be”. We have Hezekiah with a big problem. He has the Assyrians, who the Assyrians at this time are a world power. They just took over and they just conquered and took captive their neighbouring brothers and sisters, the Northern Kingdom of Israel. And now Hezekiah finds himself with this problem at his doorstep, with the inability to be able to fight him, with the inability to be able to outlast him in a siege. And he turns to the house of God, he turns to prayer, he turns to the man of God,
Isaiah who was a contemporary prophet. And he says to him in verse 4 “4 It may be the Lord thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the Lord thy God hath heard:”. And he says this “wherefore”. The word wherefore means for that reason or for this reason. He says, Hezekiah says to Isaiah, “wherefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that are left.”. I want you to notice that Hezekiah, when he had a problem, he turned as a man of Prayer, he turned to prayer.
Now keep your place there in second Kings 19. Go to Matthew 7. And I’d like you to write down a couple of things in regards to prayer. The first is this, the practice of prayer. We noticed that Hezekiah, when he has this problem, the first thing he does is that he rent his clothes he covered himself with sackcloth. That’s something that the Old Testament states people would often do as a sign of their inability to help themselves. Their humility and their need of God. He went into the house of God, he sent for the man of God, Isaiah. He said to Isaiah “4 It may be the Lord thy God will hear”. And he says “wherefore lift up by prayer for the remnant that are left”. I’d like you to notice this morning that we should pray, the purpose of this whole sermon. I’ll just let you know up front, I think you probably know it already. I want you to become a man or a woman of Prayer. Our church needs to become a Church of Prayer. You say why? Because the only way to experience revival is to be people of Prayer. And you say well, why should we pray? We should pray because God may answer our prayers. We should pray because it may be Hezekiah would say, it may be that the Lord thy God will hear all the words. He says wherefore, for that reason, lift up thy prayer.
Matthew chapter 7, are you there? Look at verse 7. Notice what Jesus said in regards to prayer. He says, “ask”. “7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”. Notice, “8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”. See, the problem you say, well I don’t know about prayer, does prayer actually work? The problem with prayer is that we don’t pray. You say, I’ve never had a prayer answered. Have you ever prayed? Have you ever asked God? Because the point is this, it may be, it may be that God hears and answers our prayers. Like Jesus said, “7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:”. Go to the book of James if you would, James chapter number four.
The Bible says this in verse 2 “2 Ye lust,” The word lust means desire. He says “Ye lust, and have not:”. You have things that you desire that you don’t have. “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not,” Notice these words “because ye ask not.”. God says you know what, you don’t have what you need because you don’t ask. And the truth is this, the vast majority of Christians today have little to no prayer life at all. We don’t pray. We don’t take the time to pray. We’re not bothered to pray. We’re not motivated to pray. But we should pray because God may answer our prayers. In fact, God often does not answer our prayers because we do not pray. And I want you to understand this, you have not because you ask not. Why doesn’t God give me what I need? You have not because you ask not. Jesus said ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Every one that asketh receiveth. He that seeketh findeth. To him that knocketh, it shall be opened to you.
You say what’s the problem with prayer? The problem with prayer is we don’t practice prayer. The problem with prayer is we don’t pray. The problem with prayer is because we are so busy trying to solve our own problems, getting our own plans in motion, getting our own ideas or our own thoughts and our own things, trying to make something happen whenever something happens that we don’t take the time to pray. We should pray because God may answer our prayer. In fact, God often doesn’t answer our prayer because we don’t pray. You have not because you ask not. Keep your place there in the book of James but go to 2 Kings 19. You have not because you ask not, that’s the bottom line. Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you.
Many of you have heard me tell the story before, I was just recently telling this story to Brother David. Back when we first started church about 10 years ago. My wife and I started this church in our living room and we had a handful of people there of course. And we got it in our heads that we needed to raise up some money. Raise some money for a church van. We wanted to raise money for a church van and you know this was a little church in our living room. We had about 20 people coming to church. And we found this little used van and they’re selling for about three thousand dollars. And three thousand dollars at that time in our ministry seemed like a lot of money. And we decided we’re going to do this vision offering. First Vision offering we ever had. We said we’re going to do this Vision Offering, we’re going to raise $3,000. And I preached about giving and prayer. We’re going to pray that God would do this and I talked to my wife about it.
We talked about it and we decided that we should give 10% of what we’re asking the church to give. So, we’re going to give $300 for the vision offering. The only problem is that we didn’t have $300. We didn’t have any money and at that time the church wasn’t paying me and I was working a full-time job. And you know we’re just a young family and having kids and whatever. So, my wife and I said well let’s just pray about it and we started praying about it. It didn’t really help because the more we prayed about it, I felt like God just laid our heart to get $400. And now I got this burden to get $400. I am my wife are praying. I’m praying and we’re telling God that $400 is a little problem because we don’t have $400. Now you’re going to have to give us $400. I said God, I can’t stand up in front of these people and ask them to give to the work of God and not give something ourselves. I’m going to write out this check for $400. Lord you’re going to have to make it happen. I remember thinking to myself, watch, God’s going to give us $400.
And we start this about eight weeks in advance. That first week went by, we ain’t got nothing. Second week went by, we didn’t get nothing. Third week by, I thought surely, I’m going to get more hours at work. We’re going to get a bonus or something’s going to happen. Nothing happened. Nothing happened week after week after week. The Sunday of that first vision offering, I wrote a check for $400. My wife and I sat there on Saturday, talked about it, prayed about it, we said God we’re going to give this money because I feel like you’ve told us to give this money. And here’s the thing God, I think checks need cashed on Monday. And we’re not going to be able to buy groceries or if there’s a bill we’re not going to be able to pay or something. You’re going to have to do something God. We put that check in the offering and on Monday $400 went out of our bank account.
That Monday, my wife went out and checked the mail. We got a letter from our mortgage company. I thought honey, we got something with mortgage. Goodnight, they already know we’re not going to pay them. I mean how do they know that. How do they know? They’re already sending us a past due bill. I opened it up and it said “Dear Mr. and Mrs. Jimenez. Our records show that we have been overcharging you. In your escrow account below, you’ll find a check for $400.”. God gave us for Monday, the Monday after we gave $400. God sent us a check for $400.
You say, oh that’s a coincidence. Here’s all I’m telling you, you have not because you ask not. Whosoever asketh receiveth. Jesus said whosoever seeketh findeth. He says whosoever knocketh, it shall be opened unto him. The problem with prayer, you say what is it, it’s that we don’t pray. When a problem arises, when issues come, instead of trying to return to God and going to God, we try to devise these plans. And God says look, God says this, you have not because you ask not. If you ask, I provide. The problem with prayer is that we don’t practice prayer.
Go back to 2nd Kings chapter 19. I want you to notice secondly this morning, not only do we see the practice of prayer but I want to notice secondly, we see the privilege of Prayer. 2nd Kings 19:9 “9 And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, 10 Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11 Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly: and shalt thou be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed;” This is a wicked king with a good track record of capturing cities. He says look, all these other cities have prayed to their gods. Their gods haven’t helped them. Notice the response. He says “12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the children of Eden which were in Thelasar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah?”.
I just want you to get this picture. This is one of the most beautiful pictures of prayer in the Bible. “14 And Hezekiah received the letter”. They sent him a letter this way. He’s reading the letter that he got from Sennacherib. “14 And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord,”. Don’t miss this. Hezekiah went up into the house of Lord. He receives this letter from King Sennacherib with all these threats, with all these truths, with all these facts. Where is the king of Arpad? Where are the gods of these other nations? The Bible says that he received the letter of the hands of the messenger and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of Lord. Don’t miss this, and spread it before the Lord.
Now sometimes we get things we got to pray about, don’t we? You get a bill you can’t pay. Get a letter from the doctor saying it is this sickness, it is cancer, it is this situation. We get news and Hezekiah took that letter and we have this beautiful illustration. The Bible says he spread it before the Lord. You know that prayer is a privilege? You and I have the privilege that God allows us to bring our problems to him.
Go to book of Hebrews if you would. God allows us to bring our problems to God. Prayer is a privilege because we get to go to the God of the universe with our problems. And yet we often fail to do so. Hebrews 4:16 “16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”. The Bible says that you and I have access to the Lord Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit to come boldly into the throne of grace, into the throne of God, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. The privilege of prayer is that we get to bring our problems to God. What privilege we miss out on by not bringing our problems to God. Hebrews 10:19 “19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,”.
Let me tell you something, when you got saved, you became a child of God. You became a priest in the kingdom of heaven. You became a king in the kingdom of God. You and I have access to God the Father. We have access at any moment, at any time, we could enter spiritually into the throne room of God and ask the creator of the universe for any help that we need. How often do we fail to do so? You know why prayer doesn’t work? Because we don’t practice prayer. You have not because you ask not. You know why we don’t pray? I think we don’t pray because we don’t understand the privilege of Prayer. “What a friend we have in Jesus, the song says, all our sins and griefs to bear, what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer.”.
What if you had access to the President of the United States? I’m not supporting Trump or any politician. But what if the prayer, whatever in your eyes, you have access to a little red phone in the Oval Office to the President. If you had a direct line, you have access to the president. And at any time, you want, anything you need, I’m here for you. Just call me and whatever you need, with my resources, my power, my authority is that your disposal. You just call, whatever you need. I mean how often would you call? I think you might call a lot. I might go rob a bank and call the president and be like “You know you can pardon people.”. I mean if you have access to somebody with power, somebody with strength, somebody with authority, you might call.
Let me tell you something, you’ve got better access than the president United States of America. You have access to God the Father, the creator of the universe. We can come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in need. Prayer is a privilege because we get to bring our prayer to God. See, Hezekiah understood, he said I got this letter and there’s nothing I can do about it. There’s nothing. I don’t have the strength. I don’t have the money. I don’t have the military. I don’t have the resources that I need. But I can come boldly into the throne room of God. Casting all your care upon him. The Bible says that he careth for you.
Notice thirdly, not only the practice of prayer, not only the privilege of Prayer, but I want you to notice thirdly, the promise of prayer. Go to 2 Kings 19:15. “15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said,”. I love this prayer. Sometimes you and I need to just study the prayers in the Bible and people really praying to God. Notice how Hezekiah prays, he says, “15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims,”. So, notice what he says. He says, “thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.”. Notice “16 Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God.”.
Notice what he said, he doesn’t deny the power of Assyria. “17 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands, 18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them. 19 Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know”. How do you know that this was revival? Because revival will allow you to know God and to make God known. He says, “that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only.”. I want you to notice verse 20. “20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria” Notice what God says to Hezekiah. “I have heard.”. You know there’s a promise associated with prayer. Let me show it to you.
Go to 1 John 5. See there’s the practice of Prayer, you have not because you ask not. Whosoever asketh receiveth. Whosoever seeketh findeth. Whosoever knocketh, it shall be opened unto him. There’s a practice. There’s a privilege of Prayer. We get the privilege; we get the wonderful privilege of bringing the problems to God. We get the wonderful privilege of bringing our problems, coming boldly into the throne room of God, coming boldly to seek help in time of need. I want you to notice there’s a promise of prayer. The promise of prayer is this, that God, when you pray, that God will hear your prayers. I think that maybe we do just don’t really believe that. I just think that if we believe that God heard our prayers, we would probably pray.
1 John 5:14 “14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing”. Notice these words, any thing. “if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”. Do you know that there’s a promise of prayer? That God hears your prayers. That there’s a promise of prayer. Here Hezekiah is saying in 2 Kings 19:16 “16 Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see:”. And God gives them a response and says, I have heard. But it’s not just Hezekiah. It’s you. It’s me. If we ask anything according to his will. You know God wants to hear you pray. Not just big problems. God wants us to bring every problem. I mean no problem is too small.
Just recently, I mean literally a couple weeks ago, my wife and I decided my wife’s have been having some problems being able to run. My wife is a big runner. She likes to run but she’s been having some problems being able to run. And the chiropractor advised that maybe instead of running, to use an elliptical and it’ll allow her to exercise and not put pressure on her bones. We started looking for an elliptical and realized really quickly that they’re pretty expensive. About eleven hundred dollars to buy a good quality machine. My wife said I really want an elliptical, we should pray about it. I said well let’s pray. And we prayed and we said “Lord, you know we’re doing a little better than ten years ago. I said Lord you know we got about three hundred dollars. We got this much money. Will you let us find an elliptical”?
She started looking, I can’t remember what she looked at. Craigslist or offer up, something like that. She started looking and an ad just came up. Brand-new elliptical. No more than two hours of use. 300 dollars. And we looked up the brand and the code or whatever. The number that it was associated with it. A brand new one is twelve hundred dollars. And it’s the new, brand new. And my wife called and they said I’m so sorry, someone just called and said they’re going to come pick it up this afternoon. And she said, well can I call in the afternoon in case they don’t pick it up? Could we come and get it? She said, they said they were pretty sure they’re going to come but if they don’t come you can come this afternoon. My wife told me, she said I really want this elliptical, let’s pray about it. I said let’s pray. I said Lord, and I started praying. “Lord would you allow these people to miss this appointment. Just make something happen because we want this elliptical. And I said God you know even better; would you allow these people to call and cancel their appointment so we can go pick up this elliptical today.”. I said amen. my wife said amen. I jumped in the shower to get ready for the day. I came out of shower. My wife said they just called and said they canceled. We can come pick it up right now. There’s an awesome coincidence. I’m just telling you, you have not because you ask not.
Does God want to hear your prayer about an elliptical? If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. You know why you don’t get your prayers answered? Because you don’t pray. You know why you don’t pray? Because you don’t realize the privilege and the promise associated with prayer. That the God of the universe wants to hear your every little desire. We picked up an elliptical, $300. It normally costs $1,100. You have not because you ask not. You cannot experience a walk with the Lord, you cannot fellowship with God without talking to God. We see the practice of prayer; we see the promise of prayer.
I want you to notice fourthly this morning, the power of prayer. Go back to 2nd Kings 19:35. “35 And it came to pass that night,”. Hezekiah takes his letter and spreads it before God. God of the universe, you are God, thou alone art God. Of a truth Lord they’ve done all these things but Lord you can answer. Notice verse 35 “35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. 37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.”.
I want you to notice, not only is it that we need to practice prayer, not only is there a privilege of Prayer, not only is there a promise of prayer, but here’s the truth, there is power in prayer. God can answer your prayers. God doesn’t just want to hear your prayers; he wants to answer your prayers. And God has the power to answer your prayer. “35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.”. Hezekiah learned a lesson, that if you ask, you’ll receive, that if you seek, you’ll find, that if you knock it shall be opened unto you. God can answer our prayers. You know what? God wants to answer your prayers.
Go to Psalm 81. God wants to answer your prayers in a big way. God wants you to ask for big prayers. I think of Elisha when Elijah said hey, I’m about to leave you. Ask whatever you want. God already told me whatever you want you can have it. Ask me what you want. Elisha said I want a double portion of your spirit. He said thou hast asked a hard thing. Nevertheless. You know that Elisha got a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. You know that if you count the miracles that Elijah performed and if you count the miracles that Elisha performed, Elisha performed double the miracles that Elijah performed. Elijah says that was a hard thing but you know what, God’s in the business, is anything too hard for the Lord. You know that God’s in the business of answering big prayers.
Psalm 81:10 “10 I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt:”. Notice these words. “open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.”. That says look, if you’re going to act, if you’re going to open your mouth and ask for some things, open your mouth wide. And it says I got more resources than you’ve got. He said I can do more. God says call him to me and I will answer thee. Call him to me and I will answer thee. God says all you got to do is call. All you got to do is ask. Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.
You say, what do you want us to do Pastor? I want you to walk out of here determined to pray and determined to pray big. Open your mouth wide. God says and I’ll fill it. And obviously this is not a prosperity message. That’s not saying you can pray for whatever you want. He says you have not because you ask not. He says then you receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts. Obviously with God, everything we pray for needs to be according to the will of God and within the will of God. And sometimes we pray for things and it’s not the will of God and God doesn’t answer that prayer. We understand that Paul prayed that God would remove the thorn in his flesh and God’s response was my grace is sufficient for thee. We understand God’s not going to answer every prayer. It needs to be according to his will.
But here’s what I’m saying, how many prayers are we going without, how many answered prayers are we going without because we don’t pray. God is willing and able and ready. He said if you just ask, I’ll do it. As soon as you’re done trying to run around and trying to figure out how to make it happen. You just pray. Someone said, there’s lots of things we can do after we pray but there’s nothing we can do until we pray. The truth is that prayer is a great time-saver. God says you have not because you ask not. Ephesians 3:20 “20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,”. God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. God can do more than you can ask or think.
I don’t know how long ago this was, I want to say maybe five years ago. 5 years ago, I got news, Pastor Anderson told me this. And I rejoiced with him that someone had donated to their church. They donated to church $80,000. And they were excited you know. They were able to do some things and they bought a van and they did some stuff. And I rejoiced, praise the Lord, hallelujah. I got to thinking, I wonder if God could ever do that for us. I said Lord, you know we’d like to buy a building someday. And Lord, I don’t know if this is carnal, if this is in my flesh, but would you ever, would you ever give us $80,000? I remember talking my wife about it and I said let’s pray for this. Put it on a prayer list, start praying for it every day for a while. And then it turned into every week and then about once a month just on my prayer list for years. Just on my prayer list and just as I would go through it, come through it, Lord you know just there on my prayer list, Lord give us $80,000. I mean 3 years probably I prayed for it. You know one day somebody gave me an envelope with a check for $80,000. I thought to myself, I can cross that off my prayer list. Here’s all I’m telling you, you have not because you ask not.
Some of you are already thinking Pastor, can we start doing this and can we start doing that. Look we prayed for that money for a building. We put that money in the savings account. That money’s not being touched. It is for a future building, alright. So, if you’re already thinking about something, we’re not doing it, alright. That’s why some of you are broke. You can’t get money without spending it. We prayed and we put that into savings. You say, well why don’t you buy a building? Well you can’t buy a building in California with $80,000. You can’t put a down payment on a building with $80,000. You say what are you doing? I’m praying for a hundred thousand. You say “You think God’s going to give you $100,000”. You have not because you ask not. I’m just telling you that God has the resources available. God has the ability available. God has already said look, if you would ask, I would give. If you would seek, you would find. If you would knock, I would open the doors and I would meet your needs.
What’s the problem? The problem is that we don’t pray. The problem is the practice of prayer. we just don’t pray. You have not because you ask not. We don’t pray because we don’t realize the privilege of prayer. And at any moment you can walk into the throne of God and seek help for time of need. You know we don’t pray because maybe we don’t realize the promise of prayer, that the God of the universe wants to hear all your prayers, no matter how small and no matter how big. Maybe we don’t pray because we don’t realize the power of prayer, that God can answer your prayers, that God can meet your needs. Hezekiah led this great revival. Hezekiah delivered his people because Hezekiah learned to pray. I’m just wondering, I’m just wondering what are you going without? “Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”.
Let’s pray.