Eight Ways to Hear from God - #3 Prayer

 Today, we are going to be looking at Part 3 of our Bible Study “Eight Ways to Hear From God.”  We’ve already discussed how God speaks to us through Preaching and through the Bible.  Today we’re going to look at the third way God speaks to us, “Prayer.”  So, let’s begin by looking at the text for our overall study:

 

Hebrews 1:1-2 (NKJV)
^1:1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, ² has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;

 

So, in the Bible there are a number of times where God spoke to people through a booming voice that came from Heaven.  He spoke at Jesus’ baptism, “This is my Son in whom I’m well-pleased.”  He spoke to the disciples at the Mount of Transfiguration.  He spoke to Paul on the Damascus Road.  But our text here tells us that God spoke at various times in various ways.  In other words, God speaks to us in different ways.  I made a list of eight ways God speaks to us.  So today let’s look at the third method, PRAYER.  Here’s the text for today’s study:

 

Hebrews 4:14-16 (NKJV)
^4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

 

In our text God is inviting us to come “boldly” before the throne of grace.  The first thing I want to look at is that word boldly.  The Greek word that is translated as boldly means with confident assurance.  In other words, it means to come confident that God will hear you.  The verse means that we are invited to come before God knowing that He will receive us and respond to our needs.  We will find grace.  God will have grace on us and help us.

God invites us to meet with Him.  Prayer is a time of communion with God.  It is a time when we are able to have an intimate fellowship with God.  Fellowship implies that there is a give and take with God.  We speak to God and He speaks back.

 So, you might think God is the creator of all of the universe, “Why is He concerned about my needs?”  This scripture tells us that Jesus endured what we endure.  He is tempted like we are tempted so there is an empathy (He understands and sympathizes with) what we go through.  He endured the temptations, he understood our physical (carnal) needs, and He wants to be helpful. 

 Because of these things we can come to Him confident that He will help us.  The Bible promises that if we pray God will answer us:

 

Isaiah 30:19 (NKJV)
^30:19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; When He hears it, He will answer you.

 

If we pray and ask something of God, He WILL answer us.  He will be gracious to us when He hears our cry.

 

Isaiah 58:9 (NKJV)
^58:9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' "If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

 

He will SAY “Here I am”.  Finally, there’s this in the Book of Joel:

 

Joel 2:19 (NKJV)
^2:19 The Lord will answer and say to His people, "Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.

 

God will speak to His people and say…  God speaks to us in prayer.  Listen to this event in the Bible:

 David has become King over Israel.  The Philistines found out that David was King, and they went to look for him.  They wanted to find him and kill him.  So David took his army and went out to meet them.  The Philistines went out to the Valley of Raphiam.  They made a raid.  They killed and stole in that place.  David is about to meet them for a battle.  Now look what happens:

 

1 Chronicles 14:10 (NKJV)
^14:10 And David inquired of God, saying, "Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?" And the Lord said to him, "Go up, for I will deliver them into your hand."

 

David asked God a direct question and God answered Him!  Shall I go up against them?  Will you defeat them for us?  God SAID, “Go up I will deliver them to you.”  God SPOKE to him in prayer.

 Then the Philistines made another raid in the valley and David had to make a decision to fight them again.  Look at what happens:

 

1 Chronicles 14:14-15 (NKJV)
^14:14 Therefore David inquired again of God, and God said to him, "You shall not go up after them; circle around them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. ¹⁵ And it shall be, when you hear a sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines."

 

So once again David asked God if he should attack.  God said “No, I have a plan for you.”  God spoke to Him and ADVISED Him how to proceed.  He answers prayer.  He guides us in prayer.  He meets with His people in prayer.  Do you want God to speak to you?  If you do, then you need to make a HABIT of prayer.  David had a habit of praying. 

 I want to kind of hit home with this.  People have a tendency to only pray when they need something.  Look at this:

 In Mark 9:14-29, there is a man who has a child.  The child has a demon.  It causes him to be mute, and it throws him down (seizures).  The child is at risk because he may have a seizure that throws him into the fire or into the water.  So, the father brings the child to the disciples for healing, but they can’t do it.  Then Jesus comes up and look at what happens:

 

Mark 9:25-27 (NKJV)
^9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" ²⁶ Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, "He is dead." ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.

 

Jesus came up and released the child from the demon.  He cast it out.  The disciples had tried to cast it out but couldn’t.  So, they asked Jesus, “How come we couldn’t cast it out?”  Look at His answer:

 

Mark 9:28-29 (NKJV)
^9:28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" ²⁹ So He said to them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting."

 

So “This kind comes out only by fasting and PRAYER.”  But Jesus didn’t stop what He was doing to pray and fast, did He?  He just cast it out.  The disciples couldn’t do that but Jesus could?  Why not?  Jesus prayed daily and fasted regularly.  Apparently, the disciples were less diligent, because He told them that.  If we really want to hear from God, or if we really want God to move in our circumstances or meet our needs, we need to pray and fast regularly, with discipline.

 I pray every day. Get PRAYED UP, so you can have that kind of prayer power.  God doesn’t always answer right away, the first time you pray, so if you only ask when there’s a problem, you may not have God’s help at that moment:

 

Psalms 40:1 (NKJV)
^40:1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.

 

I waited PATIENTLY for the Lord.  God didn’t answer right away.  God answered eventually.  He listened and answered but David had to be patient.  David didn’t stop praying.  Look at Daniel for a moment.  Daniel had a vision that he didn’t understand, so he asked God to show him what it meant:

 

Daniel 10:1-3 (NKJV)
^10:1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. The message was true, but the appointed time was long; and he understood the message, and had understanding of the vision. ² In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. ³ I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

 

Daniel prayed that God would reveal the message of the vision.  He fasted, but He didn’t hear from, God right away.  He continued to fast and pray for three weeks until he got the message.  We need to be patient and continue to pray UNTIL God answers.  He promises to answer prayer, but He doesn’t say when.

 I want to talk about one more thing.  Over and over in the Bible God says come to me with your problems and needs and I will answer you.  But does God only speak with words?  Have you ever heard the phrase, Actions SPEAK louder than words?  God’s speaking to us often takes the form of prayers being fulfilled or exceeded. 

 Lastly, look at this:

 

2 Chronicles 7:12-15 (NKJV)
^7:12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ¹³ When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ if My people who are called by My name will 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 prayer made in this place.

 

God tells Solomon, in answer to his prayer, “If the people humble themselves and pray, I will hear from them and heal their land.”  God spoke directly to Solomon with words, but He will speak to the people with His actions. 

 He says, “My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer made in this place.”  God is responsive to the prayer made in the Temple.  Do you want God to be attentive to our prayers?  Then we need to come together and pray.  Come before service and pray.  It will help you.  I encourage everyone in ministry to be here to pray before church.  Come on Saturdays and pray with me.  Let’s bombard God with our prayers so that we can hear from Him.  Let’s be like a squeaky wheel.  The wheel that makes the noise gets the grease.  Let's make a noise that God can’t ignore, and we will see God move for us.

 

Psalms 37:4 (NKJV)
^37:4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

 

One night, on the way home from the Carpenter's Coffee Bar we were talking about the church and a young church member blurted out, “I love our church.”  She delights in what God does in our church and in us.  That’s what God’s looking for.  Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.  These are the things that you really, really want.  If you delight in God, he will delight in giving them to you.  How do we delight in Him.  We come to him praising and worshipping and praying.