Sermon Tone Analysis

Central Idea/ Thesis:

Continuous prayer pays tremendous benefits to Christians while also building faith.

I Promise to Deliver:

I Promise to deliver an understanding why prayer increases the spiritual muscle of our faith.

I Promise to deliver some practical points to help us build muscle in prayer.

Introduction:

I was a pretty good athlete in High School/ College briefly

However I hated lifting weights and stretching...

About 2,608 years ago, in the year 586 BC, the city of Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians after an 18 month siege.

Once they controlled the city, the Babylonians deported most of the leading citizens to exile in Babylon and set up military control over the southern kingdom of Judah.

There were resistance/guerilla fighters who carried on the war hoping to overthrow the new rulers and the foreign governor who had been left behind to assure compliance.

The appointed Governor of Judah by Babylonian was Gedaliah, and soon after the siege he and a party of his men were ambushed by Jewish guerrilla fighters and they were killed.

This was against God's will because through the prophet Jeremiah God had told the Jews to comply with their new rulers.

After the plot was discovered by Jewish civilian leaders, they became afraid of the retaliation by the Babylonians and so began planning an escape to Egypt.

Before they escaped they went to seek counsel from the prophet Jeremiah.

In Jeremiah 42 we pick up their story.

When we have been disobedient to God’s Word, what should we expect from Him?

Difficult situations do not excuse us from obeying God’s Word.

Everybody’s doing it, is not an excuse with God

Just this one time, is not an excuse with God

But there my enemy, is not an excuse before God

We need to stop being consistent, so we can start building some spiritual muscle

So Jeremiah goes to God for an answer for the remnant

How long are you willing to wait

We find ourselves in similar positions today, asking God over and over again for certain answers, certain things to happen, but He make us persevere or shall we say wait in prayer.

Then, He encourages us to keep praying a long time before an answer comes.

What could be some good reasons why He does this…

If God is Omniscient, then He knows the answer the moment we pray

Why not just tell us right away...

Waiting is Good Discipline, call it Weight Training

When our prayers are not answered right away it means we have to wait and waiting upon the Lord is a good spiritual exercise.

Note what Isaiah says are the benefits of waiting upon the Lord:

We build muscle waiting on the Lord

We build the the strength necessary to walk with God

Just like the person in this verse thinks that God does not hear his prayer, is unaware of his problems.

He is tired of waiting, he is growing impatient.

Isaiah explains what the discipline of waiting upon the Lord will do for him:

waiting helps an individual grow strong and overcome his enemies (whoever or whatever they are).

Isaiah reminds this tired and impatient person that God is not like him:

He does not get tired or impatient when things don't happen right away.

As Christians, we don't depend on exercise or yoga to create spiritual poise or a calm and trusting exterior –

it's waiting upon the Lord that builds these things for us.

When our petitions are not immediately answered and we experience a period of prolonged prayer, let's remember that time spent waiting upon the Lord is never wasted.

The relationship you build with God in prayer is always better than the thing that you are petitioning Him for!

Abraham and Sarah desired and prayed for a child most of their married life but their prayer was answered only when she was 90 years old!

Both she and Abraham were not ready in matters of faith when they first began to ask.

The fact that she had a child at 90 years of age served God's purpose better than if she had had one at 19.

She could have at 19, but the birth at 19 would not have created the glory that it did when she had a child at 90.

Paul the Apostle desired in his prayers and strategy to go to Asia to preach the gospel.

God prevented (blocked) it, limited it, thwarted his plans, and refused his prayers in this thing.

Paul didn't realize that by going west he would establish the church in the dominant culture of the future.

Because Christianity went west instead of east, it became the largest organized religion in history.

When we pray and say that we are ready to accept God's will, we must be ready that it be radically different than our own.

It is important to persevere in prayer because if we do, God will not simply answer the prayer, He will reveal His will to us - this is much more important.

So now after the 10 days Jeremiah has the remnants answer

You know there are times when it is not good to make a decision.

One of those time is when you are grieving

When you aren’t willing to deal in reality

When you are depressed

Another of those times is when you are fearful

And judah was certainly fearful

which brings us to our next point...

We may not be Ready to Understand God's Will Yet

As for Jeremiah's answer, he said not to go, to remain in Judah and God would protect them.

When there is no fear of God, people are fearful of everything

We become so attached to our worldly existence that we fear all the things which would deteriorate that experience, so we worry about everything, the cares of this world

We are not in a position to hear from God

We are not ready to understand

We do not want to yield to the bigger picture

Jeremiah said do not go, guess what they did, they went

Here is our last point...

Wait Training in Prayer Reveals the Quality of our Faith

James says, "I will show you my faith by my works" in James 2:18.

When we read this, we usually think of good works as those things done to help others in a holy and dedicated lifestyle.

But "prayer" is a faith exercise that builds spiritual muscle is good work.

Pray doesn’t save us, it conditions us!

To direct our words to Christ - this is faith.

To believe that He hears, He answers - this is faith.

To continue to do so over and over again, to wait patiently for an answer -

this is muscle building showing that our faith is sincere.

This is the muscle of faith.

That we pray to God in Jesus' name showing that we believe the right things in the right way.

That we continue to do so, that we persevere in it is a way of showing that our belief is not only accurate but that it is strong, and real, and goes deeper than just our lips.

Sometimes God leaves us in prayer for a long time because the testing and shaping of our faith is more important than the answering of our prayer.

Why? because without faith it is impossible to please God.

An excellent example of this is Paul's constant prayer to God to remove "a thorn in the flesh" that he was suffering from (II Corinthians 12:7).

We never find out what the thorn was, and until that moment, Paul says that God had not answered his prayer.

However, Paul's persistent prayer had helped him build muscle in faith to the point where he was ready to suffer from his thorn regardless of God's answer.

Are you ready to serve Him, no matter the answer?

When we become bored repeating our prayers at meal times, or prayers during worship; when we become discouraged when our prayers are not answered the way we want, or not answered at all - we need to remember an important reason for persistent prayer.

It is more important that we are a faithful people than a people where prayers are always answered, or quickly answered.

Wait Training in prayer may not always produce a satisfying answer but it is always a sign of a sincere faith.

When Jesus returns it won't matter what we're praying about so long as He finds us building muscle in it.

Practical Pointers in Persevering in Prayer

Prayer is like every other exercise, whether physical or spiritual.

The more you do it, the better you get at it.

If you're going to persevere, here are a few pointers to help your prayer life:

1. Focus on God, not on what you want

The most precious benefit of constant prayer is fellowship with the Lord.

If your focus is only on the thing you want, then you're missing the whole point.