Prayers that Avail Much
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When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
13 When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
God made this promise concerning the physical structure that Solomon built as a place where God could be found by those who sought Him, a place made with human hands. In Christ, God made a greater promise concerning a place where God could be found by those who heard His more gracious promise concerning a house not made with hands, but built up by the Holy Spirit.
Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
We continue reading the Words that our Lord spoke to the disciples just before His arrest leading to His sacrificial death. Like the believers who first heard these words, we now look at them in the light of His resurrection.
Prayer is the spiritual discipline that separates the mature Christian from the spiritual infant. It is the one thing that cannot be imitated by the children of darkness, nor can the unbeliever twist it to his own use. It is the heritage of the saints, to be able to come before the Throne of grace to obtain mercy.
In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
The scope of this promise is equivalent to the power behind it. What are the limits to God’s power? What are the limits to God’s knowledge? What then, are the limits to our prayers?
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
To whom do these words apply? To Abraham? To Jacob? To David?
Jesus defines the limits when He says, “Whatever you ask in My name.” When you come before the Throne of Grace, when you come before your Heavenly Father in prayer, you are coming, not based upon what you have earned, but based upon what Jesus has done! His perfect obedience has earned you the ear of the Father.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
To whom do these words apply? To Abraham? To Jacob? To David?
To whom do these words apply? To Abraham? To Jacob? To David?
NO! They are sinners, no different than you.
To Moses? To Elijah? To John the son of Zechariah?
NO! They are sinners too!
When you look to see who it is to whom these words apply in terms of the qualifications, you see this:
And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
Jesus Christ is the only Man whose delight is in the Law of the Lord, in whose Law He meditated day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
This is what Jesus expects when He acts. This is what Jesus expects when He speaks to demons, when He speaks to sickness, when He speaks to death.
This isn’t me, this is Jesus only!
So when Jesus prays, He prays with absolute confidence. When Jesus prays, He knows that the Father hears Him.
Jesus defines the limits when He says, “Whatever you ask in My name.” When you come before the Throne of Grace, when you come before your Heavenly Father in prayer, you are coming, not based upon what you have earned, but based upon what Jesus has done! His perfect obedience has earned you the ear of the Father.
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
Who did God hear? According to Jesus, it wasn’t the Pharisee...
Who did God hear? According to Jesus, it wasn’t the Pharisee...
Do you want that kind of confidence? Do you?
There is only one way that you can get it.
The glory of God is not found in our earthly success, our wealthy extravagance, our lifelong achievement awards, or anything else that the world and the flesh, enticed by the devil, focuses on and says - God is there!
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Christ appears where the Body gathers together in Witness - Mercy - Life Together. When believers share the Good News purely with others who do not know that Christ is FOR YOU, when Christians live out their vocations in service to their neighbor, and when the Children of God gather in worship around Word and Sacrament, then the Body of Christ shines as the Light of the World.
It is in this life of Witness - Mercy - Life Together that we are given authority to come before the Father to make our requests known to Him, because then we are walking in the Spirit. As we are led by the Spirit, we will seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness instead of our own. Led by the Spirit, We seek His face, rather than our own. In holding fast to His Word, we are turned by the Lord from our wicked ways, and, despairing of our own strength, we are strengthened with might in the inner man as we pray, “Let Your Kingdom come; let Your will be done!”
It is in the Lord’s Prayer that all these things come together. We call out to “Our Father in Heaven” and recognize that His name is holy, and that name sanctifies us. His Kingdom is a Kingdom where peace and righteousness dwells, and we pray for that to come into our lives as we walk as Kingdom citizens with others.
Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions The Second Petition
51 “But what is God’s kingdom?”
Answer, “Nothing other than what we learned in the Creed: God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, into the world to redeem and deliver us from the devil’s power [1 John 3:8]. He sent Him to bring us to Himself and to govern us as a King of righteousness, life, and salvation against sin, death, and an evil conscience. For this reason He has also given His Holy Spirit, who is to bring these things home to us by His holy Word and to illumine and strengthen us in the faith by His power.”
Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions The Second Petition
52 We pray here in the first place that this may happen with us. We pray that His name may be so praised through God’s holy Word and a Christian life that we who have accepted it may abide and daily grow in it, and that it may gain approval and acceptance among other people. We pray that it may go forth with power throughout the world [2 Thessalonians 3:1]. We pray that many may find entrance into the kingdom of grace [John 3:5], be made partakers of redemption [Colossians 1:12–14], and be led to it by the Holy Spirit [Romans 8:14], so that we may all together remain forever in the one kingdom now begun.
What matters to God? People.
What matters to people? Go ask your neighbor!
Jesus has all authority:
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We have been given clear instructions, and God is highly motivated to see His Kingdom come, and His will be done. Prayer connects us to Him, our desires to His will.
As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
God has promised to hear and respond. He has promised that He will neither leave nor forsake us. He has declared that all things are “Yes” and “Amen” in Christ.
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.