Introduction: There is a series of commercials out currently for a credit card company that I have found interesting. One of them shows a group of people with some detonation/demolition experts waiting for an old building to be detonated. They countdown and the building implodes on itself and everyone cheers. Then almost immediately about three more buildings implode. The TV announcer is shocked while the crowd cheers and the detonation/demolition experts are grinning. The reporter asks them what they are doing and one guy says, "Aw, it’s ok. People love this stuff!" The voice over says, "Just because you have the power it doesn’t mean you have to use it."

In a reverse way that statement applies to prayer. It is a terrifying thing to look into the eyes of an adult or young person who wants to know why God hasn’t answered their prayer. Why if as the children’s song says, "My God is go great, so strong and so mighty. There’s nothing my God cannot do," doesn’t he lift a finger to help me. It’s tough when they look you right in the pupil and don’t blink. Their question is to God: "Because you have the power doesn’t it mean you just need to use it?"

That’s where we are when we pray or wonder whether or not we ought to bother to pray. We ask two basic questions: If I bother to stop and ask God or tell God what I need, then, "Is God willing to use his power to make a difference?" and, "Is God’s power able to make a difference?" Is He willing and Is He able?

Our text though for this morning puts the ball back in our court. It’s not a question as to God’s willingness or ability; the question is, "Do we believe that He is willing and able?" The writer of Hebrews tells us that an unquestioned, nonnegotiable is that it is impossible to be in a pleasing relationship to God without faith. Then he says that the person who comes to God must, out of a moral necessity, believe. What are they to believe? A person who comes to God must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek Him.

This verse doesn’t present arguments or proofs for the existence of God. As in every other place in the Bible, God’s existence is an established reality not a matter of doubt or debate. A belief in God’s existence always starts from an assurance about who we know him to be. When the writer says that those who come to God must believe that He exists it is more than an elemental concept that there just might be a God. No, it is that we come to God believing that His character and nature are such that we can trust Him.

What do I need to believe about His character and nature when I pray? That God is willing and able to use His power to make a difference in my life. The point of application for us is that if we don’t believe that God is willing and able to make a difference then we will lack confidence when we pray. That leaves us with two absolute prerequisites for prayer: believe that He is willing and that He is able.

One of the things we struggle with in prayer is that we get the idea that God doesn’t care about his children. We want to pray but are reluctant to pray because we aren’t sure that there is a willingness on God’s part to respond. Jesus told a story to help disciples, then and now, to understand how God feels about prayer. It’s called the Parable of the Persistent Widow.

Listen while I read it: Luke 18:2-8

The story centers on a widow who is desperate for justice in an offence. It also has the figure of a judge who is so stubborn and corrupt that he won’t help the widow without her wearing him out. The woman only gets what she sought after badgering the judge until he surrendered. Now our conclusion is that if we are going to get any response from God then we must keep badgering Him and badgering Him. The impression is that He is unwilling to respond until we keep, "Knock, knock, knockin’ on Heaven’s Door." But that is not what Jesus was teaching!

Look closely at verses 7 and 8: "Even he rendered a just decision in the end, so don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who plead with him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! " Jesus is stressing that God is not like the judge and we are not like the widow. God is not like the judge in that the judge was mean and crooked. Jesus said, "Will he keep putting him off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly!" Jesus is emphasizing God’s willingness in opposition to the judge’s unwillingness. When you look at the widow, she is poverty stricken with no resources. We are God’s child, an heir to all of God’s riches in Christ. So the parable is not emphasizing our poverty, though, and God’s reluctance, making prayer a battle of the wills. The parable contrasts our position as God’s child and the willingness of the Father to respond to the pleas of His child with the widow who was helpless and the judge who was reluctant!

Now I realize that you can watch some of the preachers on cable who will emphasize to the extreme this idea of God’s riches being mine. They interpret it to mean that it is always God’s will for me to be wealthy and healthy. I tend to overreact to that and because of their abuse ignore a clear teaching of God’s word. That teaching is beautifully written in Romans 8:15-17: " So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family—calling him "Father, dear Father." 16For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. 17And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering." The point is, my friend, since I am God’s very own child, he is my "Dad," I share his treasures—"for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too…" How can I doubt His willingness to use His power to respond to my prayer?

Jesus affirmed the willingness of the Father to bless and provide for us when he said, "Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. 8For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks. 9You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.( Matthew 7:7-11)

The first car that Kathy and I owned was a 1957 Rambler with "pushbutton" transmission. Kathy’s Dad owned an AMC dealership in Little Rock and knew we needed a car. So not to spoil us he let us buy this ’57 Rambler for $250 and pay it out. Later, when a part broke and the repairs would cost more than the value of the car my Dad surprised us by buying a 1972 VW Bug. What is so amazing about that is that neither Kathy’s Dad nor my Dad had to be badgered into helping us. To tell you the truth I cannot remember ever giving it a second thought if we could have a car. We both just believed our fathers were willing to help. Now you take our human parents’ willingness to provide for their children and multiply it infinitely and you have just a taste of God’s willingness to help. When you pray, for your prayer to be effective you must believe that God is willing to use His power in your life.

The writer of Hebrews points out that it is our faith that allows us to perceive God’s ability. He says in Hebrews 11:3, "By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen." He gives two examples from Old Testament characters who saw God’s ability demonstrated because of faith. The point is that when I pray, believing God is able, then I am able to see His power being demonstrated.

Now I have a question for you: If you could ask God for one miracle in your life, knowing that He would grant your request, what would you ask Him? Whatever that request might be "do you regularly and diligently, every single day, bring it to God in prayer, trusting that He will intervene in your situation? If not, why not?" (To Busy Not to Pray, p. 29). I would imagine the real baseline reason for our reluctance is that we don’t believe that God’s power is able to make a difference! Most of us have countless issues in our lives where we need God to act in our behalf. Yet we don’t pray because we just don’t believe He can do anything about them.

Sometimes we get too comfortable in our doubts because of discouragement when we have prayed. We become prideful with our doubts and arrogant in our unbelief. We glory in the fact that even though we see nothing happening we are struggling with "the mystery." Now the only problem with that position is that Jesus never commends or congratulates our unbelief! In fact he, instead, contronts it. Listen to his words:

And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? You have so little faith!

Too often we see our doubts as heroic but Jesus saw them as unbelief. Now that’s a challenge for me as well as for you. The issue is, though, that for my prayer to be effective I must believe that God’s power is able to make a difference.

When we say that God is able we are saying that He is all-powerful. We see in the Bible that He is all-powerful over His creation, over circumstances, even over the hearts of people. The Bible says as well that God doesn’t change. In Heb. 13:8 it says, "God is the same yesterday, today and forever." The truth is that when you are dealing with God’s ability you are saying that if God was ever able to control nature, circumstances and change people that he is still able to do those things! The statement "God Is Able" is one that must be burned into our own souls if we will ever seek to pray effectively! Until you and I own this truth our confidence in prayer will not be at it’s full potential. We will not effectively persevere or endure in our praying unless we know in our hearts that God is able. Someone has said that a "prayer warrior" is someone who is convinced that God is able, "…that God has the power to do anything, to change anyone, and to intervene in any circumstance. A person who believes this refuses to doubt God." (Too Busy Not To Pray, p.38)

I want you to listen to the story of one woman’s experience with prayer and belief that God is willing and able to respond in prayer. The woman’s name is Lisa who works as our secretary/ receptionist and is active in another Southern Baptist Church in our city. I share this with you because we watched it happen.

"Late last fall a rock thrown from our lawn mower broke out the window in the back door of my car. This was a major problem because of all that had happened to us in just a few months: I had been released from major surgery, recently divorced, beginning life as a single mom with three children as well as a new job at First Baptist Church. I didn’t know how I would get the window replaced.

"That window wasn’t the only thing wrong with my car, it was 20 years old, and had many problems. Just to name a few, only one of the electric windows still worked, the front doors didn’t open from the inside, the entire bottom of the dash had been taken out so wires were hanging down, and I knew something was wrong with the front end, but I didn’t know what.

"Living literally paycheck-to-paycheck, all I knew to do was pray. I asked my Sunday school class to pray for something to work out. That afternoon the Deacon Chairman called to make sure the car was running and did still provide transportation, and assured me they would be praying for the situation.

"Being ‘mom,’ I didn’t want to worry the kids so I tried to play the problem down and laugh at it. We had jokes between us about having duct tape on the car. I tried not to allow them to worry. One Sunday, Courtney, who was eight at the time, came out of Sunday school and told me she put our car on their prayer list. I remember being a bit amazed at her insight. Even with all the jokes and problems we had with this my kids never complained. They were teased a lot at school, but they would just laugh it off. The weather started to turn cold and one Sunday on the way to church I looked back and Courtney, who was in the back seat by herself, was huddled against the other side of the car with her coat pulled up around her, and her teeth were chattering, but she never complained. I had her get up front with us and snuggle up to me.

"We just kept praying.

"A few weeks later one of the ministers told me someone had come to him and wanted to help me with my car. He said it was someone who could afford to and wanted to, so we made arrangements and they took my car in to fix the windows. They also fixed the drivers side door. This was answered prayer for us; we were thrilled and so thankful. When they brought the car back they told me it still needed a lot of work, and they would check into getting it fixed for us, but the holidays were here and they would wait until the rush was over since we were at least warm now.

"About three weeks ago they took my car in to the garage again to see what it would take to fix it properly. They determined the entire front end would need to be rebuilt, it would cost over $1000 to fix that problem alone. They brought the car back to me and said they wanted to look at other options, but please be careful in the car because it really isn’t safe.

"Thursday, February.1, the minister called me and said he had a car he wanted me to look at to see if I would be interested in it. I expected a car that was just in a little better condition than my own. He told me it was a ’91 Dodge Dynasty. When I saw it I couldn’t believe it. The car was immaculate, very well maintained.. It looked like a brand new car, especially on the inside. I told him, ‘I don’t deserve this,’ he said, ‘Just thank the Lord.’

"And we have. You just can‘t imagine the joy the Lord has brought us with this beautiful gift. For me being able to tell Courtney that God gave us a car because we prayed, and trusted Him to take care of us, was a blessing in itself. It is just so amazing to me that I had a situation that I really could see no way that it could be fixed and just because I prayed and told God, "You know what we need and I don’t see anyway to fix it, so I am leaving it up to you." He totally exceeded anything I could have imagined being done. And He did it for me. All I paid for my new car was prayer and faith. God accepted so much less from me and gave me so much more than any car dealer would have.

"I don’t know who the person is who gave me my new car. They wish to remain anonymous. They did not do this for any reason except that they care. As far as my children and I are concerned God gave us a new car."

Now, many of you will hear this message and Lisa’s story and be encouraged to pray more in faith than before. Others of you can hear this message and that story and become offended or angry. You’re your story is that it hasn’t worked in the same way for you. If you imagine Lisa’s life isn’t still filled with other challenges, then think again. I have plenty of examples in my life that I file under the "It just wasn’t God’s will" category. You may even believe that I am telling you that you don’t have enough faith in the face of the sovereignty of God. I am not. There are a lot of things that I don’t understand and can’t explain. However, I do know this: I am no longer comfortable excusing the lack of the evidence of God’s power in my life or the lives of others with "Oh, I tried that and it didn’t work. So I’ll just live here with my doubts and unbelief." Instead I am choosing to take God at His word and once again believe that God is willing and able to use His power in my life. I invite you to do the same.

God is willing and God is able but will He use His power to make a difference? "Because you have the power doesn’t it mean you just need to use it?" I will never know unless I pray—in faith.

Sunday, February 11, 2001

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org