THE SECRET POWER OF THE CHRISTIAN: PRAYER

Greg Yount

First Baptist Church

The Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

John 14:12–14

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Introduction

The other day, my fellow Hospice Chaplain and I were talking about the ministry to they dying. We both agreed that the party line for chaplaincy is missing the boat and sending people unwittingly on to judgment when we should be helping them prepare for it the only way God gives - turning to Jesus for salvation through faith, as shown by repentance and obedience. The way we prepare to help others prepare is to spend more time in prayer ourselves. We agreed also that time in the Bible needs to be included.

How are you doing in this department? Are you spending more or less time in God’s Word and Presence through reading the Bible and praying?

Our world is full of powerless Christians because they have either gotten too busy to pray and study their Bibles, or they have gotten too lazy. Both extremes are recipes for spiritual impotence and growing worldliness. Today, I want to let you in on one of the greatest secrets of all time: the power behind the effective Christian - Prayer!

Jesus, talking to His disciples in the upper room just before heading to the Garden of Gethsemane to be delivered up for sin, makes sure that his final address to them includes important words about prayer. They’ve learned HOW to pray. Now He gives them confidence in their prayer’s effect. He is the power behind our prayer. He hears their prayers. He answers their prayers. But there’s so much more.

Many Christians want Jesus to be their “genie-in-the-sky.” Folks, that’s backwards. We are not His commander; He is ours! As Christ submitted to the Father, so must we submit to Christ - and that means in our prayers as well!

So, I want to give you what God gives us all - the general principles of prayer. If you will learn these and practice them daily, you will see Him working in your life all over the place. You don’t want to miss that, do you?

Read Passage. Pray.

Pray for Christ’s Will to Be Done

I’ll be honest with you, and this might be hard for some to hear, but Christ is not waiting to do our bidding, He’s waiting for us to do His.

I’ll grant that He wants us to lay our burdens upon Him in prayer. But this doesn’t mean we’ll see Him remove those situations immediately. It means that we leave the situation with Him to do with it what He wants. It means that if we are to endure it, we will do it with the joy that comes from enduring suffering for His sake. This takes real faith in His will. It means trusting Him to take care of us through the suffering and trial.

Jesus’ own example just a few hours later was perfect. He was praying that He would be able to faithfully endure the suffering of the cross and all that led to it - because that was what God wanted. It was necessary. It was why Jesus came in the first place. And our trials and sufferings have a purpose in our lives as well. We may have to wait to understand them - but we must face them with faith that God is doing a good work through them.

But it’s not just suffering that this applies to. It’s in every decision, every situation, everything in our lives. Our choices must be made to glorify the Lord, to do His will - in everything. This is only possible when we pray honestly, openly, and faithfully. It only works when we confess our sinful desires to make room for His righteous ones. It only works when we share our fears to make room for trust in the Lord. And it’s not for cowards. It takes courage to trust the Lord rather than our own devices, ways, and understanding.

We must pray according to Christ’s will, not our own.

Pray for Christ’s Glory to be Shown

We must pray according to Christ’s glory, not our own.

This is another stumbling block for many believers. They want to pray so that they can do what brings them honor. This could be to pray for money, position, healing, etc.

When we pray to get OUT of situations - be they health, wealth, or prestige threats - we often want others to marvel at our strength, power, or authority. Celebrity status may gain an earthly following, but it never brings a heavenly following. God does not bow to our greatness. We are nothing but what He makes of us. He gives and He takes away. We will all recover from some health problems, but eventually our health will fail permanently. We will all gain some money, but eventually we must give it all to another. We will all gain some authority, but that torch also must eventually be passed on. Christ gave up his glory on earth that He might take it up eternally in Heaven. Whatever we get in heaven comes from Him, not ourselves.

Therefore, when we pray for material success or gain, spiritual success or gain, let us pray that we not make ourselves out to be some super saint, but that we make Jesus out to be the power behind us - in every situation. He is our power to sustain in trials, and to succeed in His plans - because we make Him known in such a way that others will also trust Him! This is His concern. It is His glory.

Too few Christians are doing this in America right now.

We must pray according to Christ’s will, not our own.

We must pray according to Christ’s glory, not our own.

Pray for Christ’s Power to be Seen

We must pray according to Christ’s power, not our own.

We often want to see miracles, magnificent acts of power that can only be attributed to God. It is normal. But when we pray, do we pray that God’s power would be used to further His purposes (His Will) to bring Him glory?

A missionary might pray that Christ’s power would be used to give the gospel a breakthrough. Christ could show up in the dreams of a tribal leader. Angels could defend the missionary unbeknownst to him at the time. Natural disasters can re-direct the missionary to where God was working. Or he could be struggling with just how to say something in another language that will resonate with the people. All of these could be the mountains that need moving. Only Christ can make these things happen. Christ is powerful. And through that power, His purposes are fulfilled.

What do you need in order to accomplish His will and bring Him glory in this world? Ask the Lord and He will give it to you. What do you need to fulfill His purpose for your life? Ask, and He will make it happen.

There is another angle to this that needs addressed, however. Too often, people love the miracle more than the miracle-worker. So they pray for miracles, hoping to see one. They pray for miracle healings, miracle protections, miracles of weather control, sending tornadoes or hurricanes out to desolate areas. We are fascinated when destruction comes on a community, but a Bible survives a church fire. And we feel like God is sending us a message through the miracle. Let us love God, not the miracle. Then we will see miracles of His power poured out on earth to do mighty things to build His kingdom in and through us.

Conclusion

To summarize, our prayers must show our Lord how much we trust Him, how much we want what He wants, and how much we want to help Him do it here on earth. For that reason, we pray for His will to be done, His glory to be shown, and His power to be seen so that others would believe the truth rather than a lie.

Our power - our secret - is prayer. These things can only be done through prayer. Occasional prayer in emergencies won’t do it. We have to learn to pray, practice praying, and trust the Lord, not our prayer, to respond.

Our secret is our prayer. The more time we spend in His Word, praying His Words, the more we pray for His will to be done, His glory to be shown, and His power to be seen - and the closer we’ll walk with Him.