Before
Amen, Part 4
“Thank
you, In Jesus Name”
Sunday,
May 31st 2015-MRWC
ILLUSTRATION- I love to pray. I have prayed
for years. It’s one of the few things I do well. (To be honest, I don’t think
we can really do badly at prayer, so it’s an easy win) There is very little
that I don’t pray about.
I’m in prayer;
on a whole variety of topics, such as life change; prayers for my family,
prayers for the Toronto Blue Jays… not the maple leafs; although divine
intervention is the only thing that can help that team…
Prayer comes
naturally to me.
It might not
come as naturally to some of you. You
might struggle with prayer. You might struggle with knowing what to say; how to
say it; or even the best time and posture to take as you pray.
ILLUSTRATION- When I was teaching on prayer
in our first church, a gentleman stopped me before our small group started and
said, “Pastor; I’d appreciate it if you didn’t
ask me to pray out loud. I’m not very good at it; and I don’t know what to
say.”
I kindly
respected his wishes and never asked him to pray out loud.
No
matter what side of the coin you may fall on—you love to pray; or you struggle
to pray, the Pocket Prayer was designed to help all of us pray more.
It’s
very simple, very profound, and very awesome: “Father, you are good. I need help. They
need help. Thank you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”
Over
the last few weeks, we have gone line by line through this prayer and learned
some wonderful things, such as:
“Father, you
are good.” God is good. All that
He does is good. And our good God invites us to call Him our ABBA, or Father.
He wants to be your Father and show His goodness to you.
In
the part of the prayer that says “I need help”, we learnt that God can handle all our problems.
Because this is true, we actually take our problems to God, and have Him
respond.
We also said
that God may fix our
problems. He may not. But He will fix you and that’s the most important thing.
Last
week, Pastor Mike talked to us about: “They need help” He reminded us that we have
the privilege of praying for other people, and that our prayers influence God
to act!
This
morning, we are going to conclude this series by looking at the last part of
this pocket prayer: “Thank-you, In Jesus’ Name.”
And there are two things I think we can
learn as it relates to prayer; the first one is:
Saying
thank-you is an important aspect of prayer.
There
are a couple small verses tucked away towards the back of our Bibles in the
book of 1 Thessalonians.
They can be
found in chapter 5, starting at verse 16: “Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all
circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1Th
5:16-18, NIV84)
These are a set
of verses I’ve memorized years ago, and have tried to apply them to my own
life.
They are not
suggestions, they are commandments. We are to be joyful; to pray continually,
and to give thanks in all circumstances.
ILLUSTRATION- Matthew Henry was a
Presbyterian Minister, but what he is most commonly known for was his extensive
commentary on the Bible.
At one time in his life, he was robbed. After he was robbed, he wrote
the following in his journal:
"Let me be
thankful first because I was never robbed before; second, because although they
took my purse, they did not take my life; third, because although they took my
all, it was not much; and fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who
robbed.” (http://www.rayfowler.org/2007/11/21/matthew-henrys-thanksgiving-testimony/#sthash.GKNMMul6.dpuf)
This
type of response is only possible from a life that is fully surrendered to
Christ, and it speaks to the Bible verse we looked at just a moment ago. We are
to give thanks in all circumstances. Good or bad.
ILLUSTRATION- I have a lot to be thankful
for. Compared to this time last year, I am in better shape that I was.
Although I have
had numerous scopes in places scopes have no business being in, I am better
today, not only because of the medical treatment that I have received, but
because of the prayers of many people, many of whom are in this room right now.
My
wife and I have been able to withstand the storms that have come our way so
far, because many of you have been praying for me and my health.
So
I thank God today for what He has done; for working in my life, because of the
prayers of so many people.
Saying thank-you is an important aspect of prayer.
We
thank God for hearing our requests, we thank God for responding to our
requests, we thank God for who He is and what He has done; is doing; and what
He will continue doing.
“In Scripture the idea of giving thanks is not a
suggestion or a recommendation; it is a command. It carries the same weight as
“love your neighbor” and “give to the poor.”
More
than a hundred times, either by imperative or example, the Bible commands us to
be thankful.” (Lucado,
2014, 83)
How
about you? Are you able to give thanks?
ILLUSTRATION- While attending Kingswood
University, a friend of mine, in a chapel service, once thanked God for coffee
beans.
You
can be thankful for coffee beans, you can be thankful for your family. You can
be thankful for God sending His Son, Jesus, to take your place and pay the
price that sin demanded, so you could be set free.
You can thank
God for what He has brought you through. You can even thank God for what He has
kept you from.
If you are alive
and breathing, and most of us are, then we have something to be thankful for, so
why don’t you take a few moments this week and say thanks to God for what He
has done, in and through your life. Both good and bad; for we are to “give thanks in all
circumstances.”
Psalm 136 is an
excellent recording of thanks-giving to God. Let’s look at the first three
verses:
“Give
thanks to the Lord, for
he is good! His faithful love endures
forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His faithful love endures forever.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords. His faithful love
endures forever” (NLT2)
On and on this Psalm goes,
recounting the ways that God had delivered His people.
The Pocket
Prayer contains a word of thanks because we are instructed to give thanks to
God; so what can you thank God for this week?
Saying
thank-you is an important aspect of prayer. That’s the first thing
I’d like for us to know this morning, and the second is this:
We Pray in the Power of Jesus’ Name. (Not my name. Not your name. We pray
in the Power of JESUS’ NAME.
This sounds
great, but what does it mean to pray in the power of Jesus’ Name?
Well, let’s look
at an event recorded for us in Matthew 8 and see what we can learn.
We’re starting
with verse 5 of Matthew 8: “When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and
pleaded with him, 6 “Lord, my young servant lies in
bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”
7 Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.”
8 But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come
into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be
healed.
9 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior
officers, and I have authority over my soldiers.
I only need to say,
‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do
this,’ they do it.”
10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who
were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like
this in all Israel!”
Jump down to
verse 13: “Then
Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has
happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.” (Matthew
8:5-11, 13, NLT2)
In this account,
we meet a Roman Soldier; an officer who had at least 100 soldiers under him,
while at the same time, had superior officers above him.
One of the soldiers
under this man was ill, suffering from a terrible condition.
While we don’t
know what was wrong with the solider, we do know that he was unable to travel
to where Jesus was.
So, Jesus agreed
to go where the solider was.
Almost
immediately, the Roman soldier stopped Jesus in His tracks, telling Him that he
understood the chain of command.
How he had
officers above him, and when they told him to jump, he asked how high; and when
the Roman Solider spoke to the officers under him, they did what he told them
to do.
All Jesus needed
to do, according to this solider, was just say the word and his sick friend
would be healed.
These words made
Jesus take a step back… “When Jesus heard this, he was astonished…”
(Matthew 8:10a, NIV84) Jesus hadn’t heard about this kind of faith from His own
people; these words had come from an “outsider”: a Roman Solider.
Because the
Roman Soldier recognized the absolute authority of Jesus, Jesus acted.
“Then Jesus said to
the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And
the young servant was healed that same hour.” (Matthew 8:13, NLT2)
The Roman solider proclaimed the absolute
authority of Jesus. When we pray in Jesus’ Name, we are doing the same.
We are basically
saying: “Lord,
I have no power to do anything about what I’m coming to you with today, but You
do, so hear my prayer.”
As Max Lucado
writes in the book Before Amen:
"The
phrase ‘In Jesus’ Name’ is not an empty motto or talisman. It is a declaration
of truth; my cancer is not in charge; Jesus is.
The economy is
not in charge; Jesus is. The grumpy neighbor doesn’t run the world; Jesus you
do!
You, Jesus, are
the Head Coach, CEO, President, King, Supreme Ruler, Absolute Monarch, High and
Holy Baron, Czar, Overload and Rajah of all history.” (Lucado, 2014,100)
When we pray in
Jesus’ Name, we are proclaiming the Absolute authority of Jesus, which is in
complete accordance with the Holy Scriptures:
“Christ is the
visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and
is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created
everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things
we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and
authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for
him.
17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation
together.” (Col. 1:15-17, NLT2)
When we pray in Jesus’ Name, we
are declaring that we are powerless, but that Jesus is powerful!
So what can you
do with this? Well, remember when you pray this week, and Jesus assumed that
His followers would pray, when you pray this week, Trust His absolute
authority.
Trust His
Judgement. Trust in His timing. Trust in the absolute authority of Jesus.
If He responds
to your prayer request positively this week, thank-Him. If He doesn’t respond
to your prayer request positively; thank Him!
ILLUSTRATION- I’m glad that God didn’t
answer some of the prayers I had offered up; some people wouldn’t be here
anymore; or I’d have something I didn’t really need after all!
We
are to “pray
without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17, KJV) and one way we can do that is
by using the pocket prayer as a guideline when we pray.
Ø Father-
Daddy- You are good. I praise you for you do not change. (Malachi 3:6)
Ø I need help—I’ve
got my share of problems. So here they are…
Ø They need help…
my friends and family have their share of problems, so help them…
Ø Thank-you…
thank you that You are still in charge
Ø In Jesus’ Name…
I believe You have complete authority; so respond to my prayers as You will.
I have often
found comfort in the words found in Romans 8:26-27:
“And the Holy
Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us
to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be
expressed in words.
27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is
saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. (8:26-27,
NLT2)
What a great
reminder! The Holy Spirit intercedes/stands in the gap/pleads for us with
groans that cannot be expressed with words!
Maybe this is
proof that we all pray more than we think, because the Holy Spirit is praying
on our behalf. He helps us pray, which is the privilege of the follower of
Jesus.
So remember
church: “The
power of prayer does not depend on the one who makes the prayer, but on the One
who hears the prayer.” (Lucado, 2006, 67)
So, as we
conclude this series, what can we do with all this information?
Let’s follow the command of the
Bible and pray!
As one of our
verses from this morning reminded us, we are to “pray continually;” and the only way
to pray continually, is to remember that “practice makes perfect”
So let’s talk to
God about the things that are troubling us; about the things that we’re
concerned about; about the big issues in our life; about the small issues in
our life.
Let’s talk to
God about what we’re thankful for, let’s talk to God about what we’re having a
hard time with… but let’s also listen for what God has to say to us.
And trust Him to
provide us with what we need.
On the occasions
that you can’t find the right words to pray, and there are those occasions,
you’ve got an ace in the whole; The pocket prayer: “Father, you are good. I need help. They
need help. Thank-you. In Jesus’ Name Amen.”
