A Key To Answered Prayer - Luke 11:5-10

Title: A Key to Answered Prayer
Date: February 18, 2007
Text: Luke 11:5-10

Introduction

- sometimes, and maybe often, we feel that God does not hear our prayers
- we are in trouble, physically, emotionally, and maybe spiritually
- we expect that God should respond, and when he does not seem to do so, we become discouraged
- we know however, that God does answer prayer
- George Mueller faith homes - orphanages built totally upon prayer
- we have seen healings here at the mission, cancer has gone, heart and circulatory problems have been made well
- people have prayed for help at court in impossible situations and God has granted them favor
- but this has not happened everytime
- today we are going to look at a key to receiving answers to our prayers
- Luke 11:5-10

1. Pray with persistence

- context is of when Jesus tells the disciples about how to pray, in what we know as the Lord's prayer
- Jesus is saying, persist in your requests, till you receive an answer
- this week I received an answer to a question I have been asking God about for many months
- sometimes God does not give an immediate answer
- this means that we need to be careful of what we ask of God
- ask him for anything, by all means, but do so with deliberation, consciously, not just flapping out a request for God to bless so and so
- do so deliberately, and then persist till he responds
- when we ask according to God's will, in Jesus' name, with faith, and with persistence, he will respond

2. Why does God want us to be persistent?

- verse 8 - Amplified Bible - "his shameless persistence and insistence"
- NIV -"the man's boldness"
- there is a boldness, a persistence that will not give up, that God wants us to exercise when we pray to him
- like when Jacob wrestled with God all night, to receive a blessing
- God does not want wimps who give up immediately when things don't go their way
- God wants us to be persistent, knowing what is needed, and making those needs known to him
- sometimes he waits for us to change his mind, to show him we really care
- for example, when we pray for a friend or a relative to come to the Lord - sometimes we have to pray for years for that to happen
- my wife and I prayed for many years for her niece's husband to come to the Lord - there never seemed to be an appropriate opportunity to talk to him about it
- my wife eventually passed away, and then one night I dreamed that Joke, Arend and their daughter would come to Jesus
- I visited them one evening after Arend had fallen from the roof and had a twisted ankle - he was in pain and we prayed that Jesus would remove the pain - immediately afterwards he accepted Jesus - suddenly it was so easy - it was God's moment to open the way for him - but we had to persist in prayer
- a major reason why God does not always respond immediately is that he is developing faith in us - persisting in prayer when the answer is not obvious, requires faith
- but God is faithful and he will respond

3. Express your thankfulness

- so often we forget to thank God for the prayers he has already answered
- how would you feel if your child did not seem to appreciate what you have done for him?
- God has feelings too, though he is motivated by a love so pure that we cannot imagine it
- we need to thank him for his intervention in situations, people's lives etc.
- when we thank him we acknowledge that the blessing or answered prayer was not a chance thing, but his personal intervention
- it makes God pleased to see that we recognize that all good things come from him
- Jesus said without God he could do nothing - he recognized his dependence on the Father
- we too need to express our dependence on God, and our thanks for his involvement in our life

Summary

- so don't be ashamed of coming to God persistently
- he is developing faith in us, and that is one reason why we sometimes do not receive an immediate answer
- we live in an instant society, God has a different perspective
- and when God does respond, thank him for his answer - appreciate him