April 2, 2006
“Our God Saves Us”
Our Prayers Change Lives
Various Scriptures
Prayer and Scripture reading: Kim
·
This morning we’re going
to talk about praying for people we know who don’t know Christ. We know we should pray for them, but
sometimes it seems like those prayers don’t do any good. There are a couple of passages of Scripture
I’d like us to take a look at that have been rattling around in my brain for
the past several days that I think will help us understand this truth better.
·
The first may sound kind
of unusual for this topic, but it’s Job 42: 7-9 from The Message: After God had
finished addressing Job, he turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and said, “I’ve had
it with you and your two friends. I’m
fed up! You haven’t been honest either
with me or about me – not the way my friend Job has. So here’s what you must do.
Take seven bulls and sever rams, and go to my friend Job. Sacrifice a burnt offering on your own
behalf. My friend Job will pray for
you, and I will accept his prayer. He
will ask me not to treat you as you deserve for talking nonsense about me, and
for not being honest with me, as he has.”
They did it. Eliphaz the
Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did what God
commanded. And God accepted Job’s
prayer. I have to confess I was a
bit confused by this passage at first.
God had just finished working Job over for contesting God’s will, and
yet He credits him with having been honest about Him and with Him. The gist of this passage is that Job’s
friends talked about God based on what they observed about life and waxed
philosophically like they were experts on who God is and what He does. Job, on the other hand, cared more about
knowing God than knowing about God and was honest about his confusion over
God’s will. But then God told the
friends to ask Job, the imperfect one, to pray for them so that God would
forgive them. We often believe that
we’ve got to be perfect in our own walk with God before we can pray effectively
for unbelievers to come to Christ.
Satan loves it when we think this way.
When perfect performance is our goal, we’re paralyzed by our inability
to do everything perfectly. This
passage from Job proves to us that if we will only have a heart that wants to
know God, He will hear our prayers for those who don’t know Him. And that’s great news for us and for those
we’re praying for.
·
The second passage
that’s been kicking around in my head is Isaiah 56:6-7 from The Message – “And as for the outsiders who now follow me, working for me, loving my
name, and wanting to be my servants – all who keep Sabbath and don’t defile it,
holding fast to my covenant – I’ll bring them to my holy mountain and give them
joy in my house of prayer. They’ll be
welcome to worship the same as the ‘insiders,’ to bring burnt offerings and
sacrifices to my altar. Oh yes, my
house of worship will be known as a house of prayer for all people.” Jesus quoted the last part of this passage
when He was driving the merchants from the Temple. I know this seems like a strange one for the topic of praying for
those who don’t know Christ, but please bear with me. 2 Corinthians 6:16 tells us that we who have a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ are God’s temple. So this passage has a double meaning for us. Our church, our house of worship, is to
be known for being a house of prayer.
We are to be known in our world as a place where God’s people gather to
pray. Now it takes a lot of powerful
and effective prayer for a church to be known among non-Christians as a house
of prayer. But that’s what God is
calling us to do – to pray, and to pray for outsiders, those who don’t know
Him. There’s another meaning here for
us today. Our bodies, as God’s
living temple, are to be known as houses of prayer for all peoples. We are to be bastions of prayer that not
only intercede for those who don’t know Christ, but draw them to Christ and
help them become houses of prayer themselves.
Our lives of prayer will open the door for unbelievers to worship the
true and living God and become God’s living temple themselves. That is one of the most powerful truths to
strike me. I believe that these truths
are part of what Jesus had in mind when He quoted that passage. It’s His desire that we, as the new temples
of His Spirit, become magnets of prayer for our world.
·
The third passage that
spoke to my heart is Colossians 4:2-6 from the NIV – Devote yourselves to
prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3
And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may
proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I
should. 5 Be wise in the way you act
toward outsiders, making the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of
grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. What struck me about this passage is the
connection between prayer, witnessing, and lifestyle evangelism. Devotion to prayer paves the way for
effective sharing and transformational lives. When we pray, not only for power and effectiveness in witnessing,
but for those we’re sharing our faith with, we allow the Spirit to move on
their hearts to prepare them for the seed that will be planted. Praying for those who don’t have a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ prepares their hearts for a powerful
moving of God’s Spirit on them.
Praying for those who don’t know Jesus also prepares our hearts to
share, so that we can give glory to God clearly and boldly and in a way they
will receive.
·
A heart that wants only
to know God, a willingness to live lives of prayer, and a dedication to praying
for those who don’t know Christ – these are what God uses to transform
lives. Our prayers do change lives by
the power of the Holy Spirit. This
Easter season, we have opportunity to change lives through prayer. In your bulletin you will find an insert
that has been split most of the way in the middle. Take a moment right now and write down the names of seven
unchurched people you’re going to pray for to come to Easter service or an
Easter outreach. Write these names
on both sides, and write your name on the one you’re turning in so we can ask
questions in case we need to know how to pray better. On Wednesday, April 12th, we’re having three hours of
prayer to pray for these folks and for our outreaches, including the Prophecies
of the Passion simulcast, Good Friday service, Easter Egg Hunt and activities,
and our Easter Sunday service. Pray for
the people on your list daily, and pray about inviting them to one of our
events. As we’ve seen through our
Scriptures this morning, our prayers will change our world for Jesus Christ.
·
We’re going to close by
celebrating communion together. It’s
appropriate that we do so because Christ’s body and blood were shed so that all
people may experience forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. So come forward, leave the church copy of
your 7 for heaven on the altars, take the bread and the juice, and return to
your seat. We’ll partake of them
together. Come forward now, leave the
church copy of your 7 for heaven on the altars, take the bread and the juice,
and return to your seat. Come forward
now.