Prayer That Matters 3

This episode focuses on the subject of Crying Out in prayer.  It's an awesome topic - one which gets results - sometimes immediately!  Enjoy!

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Jeff's Bible Trek. It's a beautiful day in the great Pacific Northwest. Yeah. Wish you were here. This is episode three of our third season on Prayer That Matters. Now, last time we examined the praying of Moses, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Daniel. And what I'd like to do now is take a little side trip into the subject of crying out to God. No discussion of prayer in the Old Testament would be complete without taking a look at the subject of crying out. Crying out was serious prayer. It was amped up prayer. It was turbocharged. No, it was supercharged prayer. And most importantly, it gets God's attention. Now the definition of the term cry out in the Hebrew language means to shriek from anguish or danger. This obviously speaks of a great outcry and a loud one at that. If you ever get so filled with anguish or been at the end of your rope you've been hanging on to, and that you just want to let out a scream to God. Yeah, I've been there. That resulting prayer is what the Bible means by crying out. And yet, the Bible says that God heard Hannah's silent crying out in 1 Samuel. It is true that God hears the cry of the heart and not just the lips. So perhaps crying out is more about the attitude of the heart than the volume with which it is made. Have you heard of the prayer of Jabez? It's a great prayer, but it wasn't just a prayer. It was an act of crying out to God. It's in first Chronicles four ten. It says, Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory. Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm, so that I will be free from pain. And God granted his request. This was another instance of when crying out got the attention of God and brought an answer. That was a prayer that mattered. Now, when it comes to crying out to God, all roads in Scripture lead through Psalm 107. And I want to take the time to read this because it's it's amazing. It's incredible poetry, and of course it carries an amazing message. In verses one through three, we have the song of the redeemed. It says, Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say this. Those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. So we have the song of the redeemed here at the beginning. In verses four through nine we see that there were those who hungered in the desert. Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. Wow. Have you ever felt like you were sent to the desert to live for a while? Do you find yourself there now? There is a way out. Cry out to God and then give him thanks. Verses ten to sixteen, we see those who suffered in prison. It says, Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, for they had rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the most high. So he subjected them to bitter labor. They stumbled, and there was no one to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom, and broke away their chains. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

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Wow.

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Kind of reminds me of Paul and Silas in that Philippian jail, doesn't it? So do you ever feel like you're in a dungeon? Well, there is a way out. Cry out to God and give him thanks. In verses 17 to 22, we see the affliction of rebellion. Some became fools through their rebellious ways, and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. Every time I read that, I my smile just breaks out on my face. He sent forth his word and healed them. He rescued them from the grave. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy. You know, sometimes our own rebellious ways cause suffering. There is a way out. Cry out to God and give him thanks. In verses twenty three to thirty-two, we see those who are faced with certain disaster. Others went out on the sea in ships. They were merchants on the mighty waters. They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep. For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths. In their peril their courage melted away. They reeled and staggered like drunken men. They were at their wits' end. Here it comes. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper. The waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the counsel of the elders. Well, have you ever been there faced with certain disaster, had your back up against the wall? Well, there is a way out. Cry out to God and give him thanks. In verses 33 to 42, we have the peril of prosperity. You think, wow, is that a peril? I thought that was a good thing. Yeah, for some people it's a peril. And this is in verses 33 to 42. He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground, and fruitful land into a salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who live there. He turned the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into flowing springs. There he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle. They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest. He blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and he did not let their herds diminished. Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled by oppression, calamity, and sorrow. He who pours contempt on nobles made them wander in a trackless waste. But he lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks. The upright see and rejoice, but all the wicked shut their mouths. So sometimes prosperity is a trap. That's why if we've been blessed, our giving should be increased proportionately. We must also not trust in prosperity or lean upon it. And of course the Psalm ends in verse 43 Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord. Wow, that's the conclusion. I have a story of my own. Now I've done this many times, cried out to God in various circumstances. But there's one that stands out from the rest. It's an event that occurred. Uh I've never seen God respond so quickly in my entire life of my entire 48 years of walking with Jesus. I was at the lowest point of my life. This was probably 1987, sometime in 1987. Um, everyone was out of the house, and I was in the house alone, and I decided to clean up some things. Uh it was, you know, I had let things pile up here and there on every flat space in the house. And I I came across something that just made me burst out crying. And I it was uncontrollable. I could not stop. It was, it was, I guess you would call it sobbing. And I just cried out at the top of my lungs. I was alone in the house, so I didn't care. I just let her rip and I I screamed out to God. I said, I need you right now. And the phone rang. I picked up the phone and I was still sobbing, and so I couldn't talk very well. You probably know the feeling there. And there was a voice of an elderly woman on the other end of the line. Now, what's interesting is that she belonged to a couple of families that had left the church that I was pastoring at the time in anger. Um, and this was before I came to pastor the church, actually. Um, but she said to me, Pastor Jeff, and she always called me that, even though I was never her pastor. She never attended our church, but I mean, after you know, while I was there. And so she she said, Pastor Jeff, I feel like the Lord just told me to call you right now. I about fell on the floor. I mean, this was God calling me on the phone. It was it was so amazing. She prayed for me, and I'm telling you, emotionally, I was completely healed by the time she said amen. I have never seen God respond that quickly in my entire life. It was an amazing, amazing experience that I've never forgotten. Now, as a segue into the teachings of Christ on prayer, I want to address one little thing while we're on the topic of crying out. Now listen to the following passages. In Mark 1, 22 to 24, it says the people were amazed at his teaching because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the holy one of God. Mark chapter three, verse eleven. Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, You are the Son of God. Mark five and verse seven. He shouted at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? Swear to God that you won't torture me. That was another demon. Seems like they knew who Jesus was better than the humans around there. Luke chapter 8, verses 27 to 29. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me. For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. In Matthew eight, verses twenty-eight and twenty-nine, it says, When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. What do you want with us, son of God? They shouted. Now, bear with me for a minute on this. You might think maybe I've gone off the deep end. Or you may have heard this before and you agree with it. I was intrigued by this, that the presence of Jesus, it seemed as though it literally pulled on those demons as if they could not help themselves come and fall down at his feet and cry out. Years ago, I asked someone once why he thought they did this. His response was it was the glory and radiance of God that emanated from him. I then asked him, so, okay, if we believe that Jesus emptied himself and relied on the power of the Holy Spirit to do the works he did as a model for us, is it possible that we, we, WE, we, can get the same reaction from the powers of darkness? Absolutely, he said, and cited several cases around the world where this has happened. I've seen this before in my own life and ministry. Now, let me go back and give you the scriptures that discuss what I referred to a moment ago about Jesus emptying himself or making himself nothing. The first is Philippians 2, 5 through 8. In your relationships with one another, Paul says, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather he made himself nothing, by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. In another version it says this in verses seven and eight. Now that's an interesting slant, by reducing himself to the form of a lowly servant. He became human, he humbled himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was obedient. He was a perfect example, even in his death, a criminal's death by crucifixion. And then Acts chapter ten, verse thirty-eight, says this. So Jesus derived his power, his authority, an anointing, according to Peter here in the house of Cornelius, an anointing from the Holy Spirit, possibly, possibly as a direct result of his prayer life. Because the gospels say in numerous places that he often went off alone to pray. And if you track it, you'll find that momentous events usually followed these times of prayer. The appointed time that the demon spoke of is foretold in Isaiah 24, verses 21 and 22, where it says, In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon. They will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. So the demons know about this appointed time and punishment, and the very presence of the Son of God on planet earth made them tremble with fear. So here's a question for you. If we spend more time in prayer and draw greater amounts of power, authority, and anointing from the Holy Spirit through our prayer life, can we flush out the enemy so he can be dealt with and sent away? I'll tell you what, the phrase, I have come to torture you before the appointed time, has crept into my prayer life a lot. I told you this could get wacky. Some of you might be thinking, what kind of pizza have you been eating lately? But here's the point. Not to get caught up in doctrine here, because our subject is on prayer that matters. Quite simply, the more you pray, the more you carry with you the same anointing Jesus moved in. Now I'm gonna leave you here with that, and next time we'll begin looking at the teachings of Jesus on prayer that matters. And until then, God bless you.