Jesus' Most Outrageous Sayings - Ask And It Will Be Given To You - Part 8

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Well, as you know, I take trips to Israel every year.
And one of the places we alwaysgo is the Wailing Wall.
The Wailing Wall is the lastremaining part of the Jerusalem
Temple complex that wasdestroyed in 70 AD by the Roman
army.
Now, I find that mostChristians, when they go to the
Wailing Wall for the very firsttime, are totally unprepared for

(00:24):
what they see there.
What they see are scores ofJewish men draped in long robes
standing in the open air,rhythmically rocking back and
forth, and praying.
And not praying quietly, mindyou, but praying out loud,
vocally, for everyone to see andfor everyone to hear.

(00:45):
Now, we're just not used tothat.
It catches people off guard.
You know, it's interesting whenwe dial the clock back 2,000
years to the time of Jesus, wefind that the Jewish leaders in
His day were doing the very samething, and that Jesus actually
made a comment about thispractice.
It's a comment that we're goingto look at today because today

(01:07):
we're going to talk aboutprayer.
And we're going to talk abouthow, as followers of Christ, we
can pray with greater power inour prayer lives.
And so, remember we're in aseries entitled Jesus' Most
Outrageous Sayings.
We're going through the Gospelaccounts and we're looking at
the most radical things Jesusever said and taught.

(01:29):
And we're spending a week oneach one Well, so what?
We've already done seven, andtoday we're ready for number
eight.
And so if you brought a Bible, Iwant to ask you to open your
Bible to the first book in theNew Testament, the Gospel
according to Matthew, Matthewchapter six.
Now, while you're turning, letme remind you that Jesus here in

(01:50):
Matthew six is in the middle ofthe Sermon on the Mount.
He has already addressed anumber of different topics, and
now he's ready to address thetopic of prayer.
Now, while you're And that'swhere we pick up.
Verse 5, Matthew chapter 6.
And when you pray, Jesus said,do not be like the hypocrites,
for they love to pray standingin synagogues and on the street

(02:13):
corners to be seen by men.
I tell you the truth, they havetheir reward.
But when you pray, verse 6, gointo your room, close the door,
and pray to your Father who isunseen, then your Father who
sees Now let's stop before we goon and let's define prayer based

(02:39):
on what Jesus says right here inthese verses.
He tells us in these verses thatprayer is a one-on-one activity
between a human being andAlmighty God Himself.
You don't need any other peopleinvolved.
You don't even need any otherpeople to see what's going on.
It is a one-on-one activity.

(03:00):
between you and Almighty God.
It is an activity in which youare communicating directly with
the living God of the universe.
I think we all know thatsomewhere in the White House,
there's a red telephone thatwhen the president picks it up,
he is immediately connected toMoscow, to the president of

(03:20):
Russia.
There are no interveningswitchboards or secretaries.
There are no interveningoperators.
It is a direct line.
And what Jesus is telling ushere in Matthew chapter six is
that prayer is like a redtelephone to heaven.
It's a direct line that gives usimmediate access to almighty God

(03:41):
himself.
When we call heaven in prayer,almighty God himself always
picks up the telephone.
When we call heaven in prayer,we never get an answer like
this.
Hello, you have reached heaven.
All of our customer serviceagents are currently busy.
Please remain on on the line andyour call will be answered by

(04:03):
the next available angel.
We never get a message likethat.
Friends, when we ring heaven, wenever get a busy signal.
We never get placed on hold.
We never get lost in voicemailprison.
When we ring heaven in prayer,we get God himself on the other
end of the line.

(04:23):
May I stop and say that ifyou're here today and you've
never trusted Jesus Christ asyour real and personal Savior,
that one of the things thatcomes along with a commitment to
Christ is this kind of access toAlmighty God.
Yes, you get eternal life whenyou trust Christ.
Yes, you get a ticket to heavenwhen you trust Christ.
But you also get access to Godexactly as we've described.

(04:46):
I mean, think about it for amoment.
If someone were to come up toyou and tell you that they were
going to give you a direct andimmediate access to the
President of the United States,why most of us would be so
honored, we wouldn't even knowwhat to do.
We actually get his cell phoneYou're going to give me his cell
phone number.
He's going to pick up when Icall.
Oh, my gosh.
Well, friends, we're not talkingabout access to some ruler of a

(05:09):
country here on puny littleearth.
We're talking about access tothe creator, sustainer and
orchestrator of the universe.
I mean, how cool is that?
And that's what comes as part ofthe package deal when you
embrace Jesus Christ as yourpersonal savior.
If you're here today and you'venever done that, I hope not only
will you think about it, but Ihope you'll do it.

(05:30):
Now Jesus goes on in the Sermonon the Mount to make an
unbelievably outrageous promiseabout prayer in Matthew chapter
7.
An outrageous statement andthat's where we want to focus
the rest of our time here inMatthew.
Look at Matthew chapter 7 verse7.
Jesus says, ask and it will begiven you.

(05:55):
Seek and you will find.
Knock and the door will be Nownotice the promise here in
Matthew chapter 7 is not forevery human being.

(06:30):
It is a promise for those humanbeings who have become God's
adopted children by means oftheir faith in Jesus Christ.
But if you are one of thesepeople, look at the outrageous
promise that you are made hereby the Lord Jesus.
He says, here's the deal.
You ask and the God who createdthe universe, the God who runs

(06:54):
the universe, the God whoorchestrates every event in the
universe, you ask and that Whatan outrageous promise.

(07:16):
You know, the rest of the Biblereiterates this promise.
Jeremiah 33, 3.
Call unto me, God says, and Iwill answer.
And I will show you great andmighty things that you don't
even know.
God says, you pray and I willmove the world in response to
your prayers.
James chapter 5, verse 16.

(07:36):
The prayer of a righteous man orwoman is powerful.
Elijah was a man just like us.
He prayed that it would not rainand it did not rain in Israel.
for three and a half years.
Man, I would call that prayingwith power.
Wouldn't you?
Wouldn't you?
Alright, thank you.
I just came back from leading atour called In the Footsteps of

(07:58):
St.
Paul.
What we do on this tour is wetrace the missionary journeys of
the Apostle Paul from Actschapter 16 when he first crosses
into Europe all the way throughthe end of the book.
And so we start right up in thenorthern part of Greece going to
the cities Paul first went to inActs 16.
We go to Philippi andThessalonica and Berea and then

(08:20):
we swing south and come down andgo to Athens and Corinth just
like Paul did.
Well anyway, we We're gettingready to do this trip.
And I was watching the weatheron the internet, you know, from
over here.
And it called for rain, rain,rain the first two days we were
there when we were going to bein northern Greece.
And I said, Lord, no, you know,this is not good.

(08:42):
I mean, every place we go isoutside.
They're all archaeologicalsites.
I mean, rain is no good.
So when we actually got there,the afternoon we landed, they
were still calling for rain thenext two days.
And so I got the whole tourgroup.
together and I said here's whatI want you to do gang I want
every single person praying thatGod would take that rain and

(09:04):
send it north to Bulgaria that'swhat I want you to pray and I
said I'm going to pray the samething and I did that night I
went in my room and I said Lordyou know a lot of people have
waited for this and there arepeople here that don't even know
Christ and this has got to gowell and for your sake and for
their spiritual sake I'm justtelling you please Lord send
that rain to Bulgaria You say,well, Lon, didn't you feel bad

(09:27):
sending it to Bulgaria?
No?
No?
I don't think there were anytour groups in Bulgaria that I
knew of.
And they probably needed therain.
So that's what I pray.
Do you know we had the two mostgorgeous, beautiful days you've
ever seen in your life?
The next two days?
And guess where?
Friends, guess where it rainedcats and dogs?

(09:50):
You won't believe it.
Where do you think?
Bulgaria.
Honest.
It was in the paper.
They had it.
had these huge rainstorms inBulgaria.
But that happened.
Ask anybody on the tour.
That happened.
Now, what's the point?
The point is that I believe asChristians, prayer is the most
underutilized weapon in ourspiritual arsenal.

(10:13):
I believe that prayer is thegreatest untapped source of
power in the universe.
As followers of Christ, here inMatthew chapter 7, the Lord
Jesus tells us we need to usethis power.
He tells He tells us that if wewill ask, He will answer.
Unbelievable.
How outrageous is a statementlike this?

(10:35):
I can't even get an appliancerepairman to answer and call me
back for four days, but I canget the living God of the
universe to agree to answer anyprayer I make?
How outrageous is that?
Now, that's the end of ourpassage for today.
But we want to ask our mostimportant question.
And you know what?

(10:55):
that question is, and so are weready?
All right, nice and loud.
Here we go.
One, two, three.
You say, Lon, so what?
I didn't even know whereBulgaria was.
And frankly, I could care lessif it rained in Bulgaria.
What difference does any of thismake in my life?
Well, let's try to make thatconnect for you, all right?

(11:16):
How many of you guys here likefishing?
Raise your hand.
Okay.
Well, I don't.
And let me tell you why I don't.
There are three reasons why whyI don't like fishing number one
it's smelly number two it'smessy and number three it is
incredibly boring and that's whyI'm not a fisherman but I

(11:38):
married into a family offishermen and so a few times
I've been one time a few yearsago my father-in-law my
brother-in-law took me up to alake in Pennsylvania we were
sitting there trout fishing andwe threw these lines in I don't
know we had seven or eight linesin from the shore and we had
hadn't caught squat.
We'd been there all day.

(11:58):
Hadn't caught a thing.
But there were these two guyssitting out in a boat about a
hundred yards offshore from uswho were pulling in fish like it
was going out of style.
And they had this unbelievablyannoying habit.
Every time they would hook afish, they would yell loud
enough for the whole lake tohear boom.
And so they were sitting outthere just going boom, boom,

(12:22):
boom.
And we hadn't boomed all day.
Not one boom all day.
Now, I sat there and I thought,how come they're catching fish
and we're not catching fish?
You might say, yeah, Lon, that'sworth knowing.
How come they're catching fishand you weren't catching fish?
Well, you know what?
I'll tell you what the answeris.
The answer is they were locals.

(12:44):
They knew that lake.
They had studied the fish inthat lake.
They knew everything about howthey ran, when they ran, where
they ran, what kind of bait theyate, at what time of the day, in
what locations.
And they had adapted theirfishing habits to the habits of
the fish.
Do you understand what I'msaying?
We hadn't done that.

(13:04):
We just walked up there ascomplete strangers, stuck bait
on the end of the hook, threwthe thing in the water.
And that's why they werecatching fish and we weren't.
Now, I run into Christians allthe time who say to me, Lana, I
pray, but I don't ever see Godanswer my prayers with the kind
of power that he talks about inthe Bible or the kind of power I
hear you talk about.

(13:25):
Well, wait a minute.
Let me tell you why that may be.
It may because you haven'trealized yet that praying with
power is a lot like fishing.
Friends, if we're going to praywith power, we need to be like
those guys out in that fishingboat.
We need to be students of howGod answers prayer, why God
answers prayer, in what way Godanswers prayer, what kind of

(13:49):
prayers God answers, and then,like the guys out in that boat,
we need to adapt our praying andbring it in line with God and
His habits.
That's what they had done.
They had adapted their fishingand brought it in line with the
habits of the fish and that'swhy they were catching fish.
And you see, I think asfollowers of Christ, we don't do

(14:10):
that.
We don't study and then adapt.
We just throw our line in thewater and when nothing bites, we
go we'll see there.
No, no, no.
I'm sorry.
God answers prayer.
But He answers prayer that isprayed a certain way with a
certain set of conditions thatHe tells us about in the Bible.
And that's what I want to talkto you about in the little bit

(14:31):
of time I've got left, I want totalk to you about how we can
pray on God's terms.
How we can adapt our praying sothat we are positioned perfectly
for God to answer our prayerswith power.
There are four principles I wantto share with you.
Principle number one is this.
You want to pray with power?
Then number one, you and I needto pray with clean hands and a

(14:54):
pure heart.
Psalm 24 verse 3.
Who may ascend the hill of Psalm66, verse 18.
If I regard, if I cherish, if Iembrace sin in my heart, the

(15:20):
Lord will not hear and respondto me.
What God is telling us here isthat as followers of Christ, you
and I, when we come to Himharboring sin in our heart,
known wrongdoing, deliberatedisobedience of God, when we're
clearly out of step with God,that that will hinder the power
and the effectiveness of ourprayers.

(15:43):
You know, I walked in mykitchen, this was a few months
ago, and looked in the kitchensink, and the kitchen sink was
half filled up with water.
Ugly water, brown water, nastywater.
So I thought, what in the world?
Turned on the garbage disposal,turned on the water, and guess
what?
It didn't go anywhere.
It just went around and aroundand around.
And I said, uh-oh, time for meto call my good friends that I

(16:06):
call at least once or twice ayear at my house.
And here they are.
You know them.
Roto-Rooter.
See, at my house, we put allkinds of interesting things down
the garbage disposal.
But that's a matter for anotherdiscussion.
You understand what I'm saying?
But we have a visit fromRoto-Rooter once a year or so or
more often.
And so what do they do?

(16:28):
They come out.
They take a snake.
They put it in the pipe.
They route that pipe out.
They get all the junk, all thegunk, all the trash out of the
pipe.
Why?
Because water cannot flowthrough a pipe that is all
clogged up with gunk.
Well, friends, listen.
God's power cannot flow throughyou spiritually when you are all
clogged up with gunk eitherspiritually.

(16:50):
The kind of gunk you and I pickup every single day just living
in this world.
All of us as human beings everyday do things, say things, think
things.
that are offensive to God, thatare like spiritual gunk that
just clog up the pipes.
And before we go in to pray andask God to do something in power
in our life, we got to clean thepipes out if we expect the power

(17:12):
of God to flow through them.
Most of us rush into thepresence of God and start asking
for us without ever rote oruterine.
Well, it doesn't work that way.
We first need to go and ask theHoly Spirit to examine our heart
and show us where we've donethings that have offended God,
showing Show us where we'reharboring sin in our life.
Show us where we're deliberatelydisobeying God so we can confess

(17:36):
those things and get them rightbefore Christ so we can approach
Him with clean hands and a pureheart.
Then we're in a position whereGod can really do something.
We skip the Roto-Rooter step.
We're not ready for God to movein power in our lives.
Number two.
Principle number two is we needto pray with a forgiving spirit.

(17:59):
Mark chapter 11, verse 25.
And when you stand praying, ifyou have anything against
someone, Jesus said, forgivethem.
Now, did it ever strike youinteresting that Jesus would
discuss forgiveness when he wasstanding here with the disciples
talking about prayer?
I mean, did that ever strike youas unusual?

(18:19):
Well, it shouldn't becausefriends, one of the most
frequent hindrances androadblocks to praying with power
is an unforgiving, bitterspirit.
When you and I approach God withunforgiveness and malice and
hard feelings and hatred in ourheart towards other people and
refusing to forgive them, God isnot going to honor our prayers

(18:43):
and move until we've dealt withthat.
Remember what the Lord's Prayersays.
Forgive us our trespasses aswhat?
As we forgive others.
Jesus said after that, you know,if you don't forgive, God's not
going to forgive.
You've got to forgive if youwant to see prayer made.
a difference?
In Israel, there's a placecalled Masada.

(19:04):
It's a big mountain down by theDead Sea where the last Jewish
revolutionaries faced the Romanarmy between 70 and 73 A.D.
Now, Jerusalem fell in 70 A.D.
They burned the temple to theground.
But 960 revolutionaries escapedto Masada and lasted three more
years.
Eventually, they all died.
And a lot of people think thatwas the end of Jewish

(19:26):
nationalism.
It was the end of Jewishrevolting against the Roman
Empire, but not true.
There was one more Jewish revoltagainst the Roman Empire that
happened 60 years later, led bya fellow named Bar Kokhba.
It lasted three years.
At the end of those three years,Emperor Hadrian had gone to
Israel and taken command of thetroops himself of the Roman

(19:48):
Army, and he finally put downthis rebellion.
When he did, Emperor Hadrian dida very interesting thing.
He decided that he had hadenough Jewish nationalism.
It was never going to be aproblem again.
And so he took the city ofJerusalem and completely burned
it to the ground.
He completely plowed the cityunder and then he spread a thick

(20:10):
layer of salt all over the cityof Jerusalem so that nothing
would ever grow there for years.
And you know what?
Nothing ever did.
Now, friends, what I'm here totell you and what Jesus says in
the Bible is that when we cometo God in prayer with
unforgiveness and malice andbitter and hard feelings and

(20:31):
grudges in our hearts towardsother people, it is like trying
to pray with a thick layer ofsalt on top of our prayers.
And God says the power of Christcannot grow in that environment.
The power of Christ cannotprosper in that environment.
You will never see God answerprayer and power in that kind of
an environment.

(20:51):
And for many of us here, thesecret to having God answer our
prayers with more power is thatyou and I I got some things we
got to clean up in our heartstowards other people.
You've got to come in with aclean slate towards other
people.
If you want to see God dosomething in your prayer life.

(21:12):
Principle number three.
Want to see God do somethingpowerful in your prayer life?
Then principle number three, weneed to pray in faith,
believing.
Matthew 21, Jesus said, in allthings, whatever you shall ask
in faith, believing, you shallreceive it.
In Psalms 98, God says the thinghe had against the Israelites

(21:34):
back in Moses' day is that theylimited, in their unbelief, the
Holy One of Israel, one of thegreatest obstacles to powerful
answered prayer is unbelief islimiting God in our own human
logic in our own human unbeliefyou know how it goes we come to
God and we go oh Lord I reallywant you to do this but you know

(21:57):
there's so many obstacles andthere's so many things in the
way and it looks so impossiblethat you know what God I'm going
to ask you for it but I knowyou're not going to do it so if
you're not going to do it it'sokay I forgive you I won't hold
it against you and Amen.
Now, would you answer a prayerlike that?
I wouldn't answer a prayer likethat.

(22:19):
That kind of a prayer is aninsult to Almighty God.
That kind of a prayer is anaffront to Almighty God.
Or sometimes we come and we doit this way.
Lord, I really want you to dothis for me.
And I know there's a lot ofthings.
And I know you always answeraccording to your will.
And I'm sure it's according toyour will not to answer this
prayer.

(22:39):
So if you want to do it thatway, it's okay.
Amen.
What kind of prayer is that?
You say, well now, wait aminute, Lon.
Wait a minute.
The Bible says, doesn't it?
1 John 5, verse 14, that this isthe confidence we have in
approaching God, that if we askanything according to His will,

(23:00):
we will have what we ask of Him.
Doesn't the Bible say that?
Yes, it does.
Friends, it is true.
God promises to answer everyprayer that we pray according to
His will.
But look here, look here, right?
now, but God never intended thatto be an excuse for unbelief.

(23:20):
Never in the Bible.
That is not an excuse forunbelief.
You say, well, Alonzo, how doesthe balance work then?
Well, I'll tell you.
It works like this.
Praying in faith means we cometo God and we ask for the moon,
friends.
We ask for the moon knowing thatwe're praying to the God who
opens the Red Sea for a living.

(23:40):
We're praying to the God forwhom no human eye is the
slightest problem.
We're praying to a God who cando exceedingly abundantly more
than we could ask or ever evenimagine.
We come ask for the moon, andthen once we've asked, we leave
the slate open for God toactually answer our prayer

(24:01):
according to His will, accordingto what He knows is best.
But, and don't miss this, but wedon't make that decision for
Him.
We don't decide in our punyhuman logic what to do.
what his will may be.
We leave it wide open and wesay, Lord, the only person that
we ever want to limit what youdo is you.

(24:23):
We're not going to limit youdeciding ahead of time what you
will do, what you won't do, whatyou can do and what you can't
do.
We're just going to ask you,Lord, for the moon and you limit
yourself.
But I'm not going to limit you.
Do you understand what I'msaying?
Friends, don't run interferencefor God.
He doesn't need you to.
Don't make excuses for God.

(24:43):
He doesn't need you to.
Don't apologize ahead of timefor God.
He doesn't need you to do that.
All he needs you to do is takeyour puny human logic and
limitations off of him and lethim be God.
That's all he needs.
You know, you're sitting.
In an actual example of thiskind of prayer in action.

(25:06):
Back in 1997, when we enteredthis new campus project,
everybody was telling us why itcouldn't be done.
Why it was humanly impossible.
Why it could never happen.
They said, you'll never get themoney.
They said, even if you get themoney, you'll never get through
the Fairfax County zoningprocess.
You know, you'll never be ableto operate at one church in two
locations for three and a halfyears.

(25:26):
You know, it'll kill McLeanBible Church.
If it doesn't kill McLean BibleChurch, it'll kill lawn.
You can't do it.
Well, we knew the obstacles werereal.
We knew they were big.
But friends, when we prayedabout this, we sensed the Lord
telling us to step out and do itanyway.
And so we did.
And my prayer to God in thosedays was, Lord, you know what?

(25:48):
I want you to show the worldwhat can happen when a group of
Christians get together anddon't limit God.
I want you to show the worldwhat can happen when we turn you
loose and just allow you to beGod.
Now, if you decide, Lord, thatyou don't want us to have this
new campus...
I'm okay with that.
But I'm not deciding that foryou.
I'm not going to come to you andtell you what all the problems

(26:08):
are and all the hindrances areand all the reasons why I can't
work are and decide in my mindahead of time why you're not
going to do this.
I'm not doing that.
I'm coming and saying, God, wewant that campus.
God, we can use that campus forthe glory of Christ.
God, we can use that place tomake a difference in this city.
I want that campus.
Now, if you don't want us tohave it, fine, but that's the

(26:30):
only reason we shouldn't get it.
Now, Not the county.
Not the money.
You, Lord.
And if you think we ought tohave it, I'm not going to put
anything in the way that stopsit.
Well, the rest, like they say,is history, friends.
Here you sit today in thatcampus that God gave us.
And you know what?

(26:51):
And let me tell you somethingelse.
I also prayed that as we weregoing through this, God would
work all of this out, at leastin part, to show every single
one of you at McLean BibleChurch what can happen in your
life when you don't limit God.
God just doesn't do great thingslike this for churches.
Friends, He does great thingslike this for people.

(27:12):
People who are willing not tolimit Him in their puny human
unbelief and their puny humanlogic.
Now, God will still answeraccording to His will.
He will still do what he knowsis best, but you let him decide
that, not you.
Let him be God.
Principle number four.
If you want to see God answeryour prayers with power, then

(27:36):
you need to pray, and I do too,with the glory of God as our
motive.
You remember Isaiah 42, 8, I amthe Lord, that is my name, and
my glory I will not give toanother.
Hey, listen, God is passionateabout sharing His glory with no
one.
He is passionate about revealingHis glory to mankind.

(27:57):
That's why Jesus said, John 14,13, and whatever you ask in my
name for the purpose of theFather receiving glory, that I
will do.
Friends, prayer that brings thepower of God down to earth is
prayer that has God's glory, notman's welfare, your welfare or

(28:18):
my welfare, at its core, at itsmotive.
Because above everything in thisworld, God wants to reveal His
glory to the human race.
And when you pray a prayer thatasks Him to do that in
sincerity, He's going to takeyou up on that prayer.
Remember when I prayed for thisbuilding.
I prayed, Lord, I want You toshow the world what can happen

(28:40):
when When a group of Christiansdon't limit you, I want you to
bear your arm and show what youcan do when everybody's saying
you can't do it.
I want you to show you can doit.
I wasn't asking for thisproperty for the glory of Lon
Solomon.
I wasn't asking for thisproperty for the glory of McLean
Bible Church.
I wanted Jesus Christ to get theglory from what happened in this

(29:02):
project.
And I believe that's in part whyhe did it.
And you know, every great prayerin the Bible that has brought
the power of God down andexploded it onto the human
stage, you look carefully, hashad this motive at its core.
Remember Elijah up on MountCarmel with the prophets of
Baal, 1 Kings chapter 18?

(29:24):
He's up there and he builds thisaltar and he douses it with
water three times and he says tothe prophets of Baal, alright
fellas, if Baal is really God,call down fire from heaven and
prove it.
They dance around all day, doall these nutty, stupid things
And nothing happens.
Finally, at the end of the day,Elijah says, All right, all
right, you guys, everybody comeover here.
And here's the prayer that heprays.

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Verse 36, O Lord God of Abraham,Isaac, and Jacob, let it be
known today, Elijah says, thatyou are God in Israel.
Answer me, O Lord, answer me, sothat these people will know that
you alone are God.
Now, that is a prayer prayed forthe glory of God.

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And you know what happened?
Fire fell from heaven and notonly consumed that entire altar,
but it licked up all the waterin the trench.
I'd call that power in prayer,wouldn't you?
Huh?
Yeah, I'd say so.
And friends, how did he calldown power from heaven like
that?
Did Elijah mention himself atall?
Is he talking about himself?

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He's talking about God's glorybeing revealed.
And you know what, my friend?
When you pray a prayer that hastruly the revealing of God's
glory as its motive, you betterbuckle your seatbelt, friend,
because God's going to answerthat prayer.
Now, is there anything wrongwith praying a prayer about our
own issues?
No.

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Is there anything wrong withpraying for a new car, a new
house, and physical healing, anew job, a child, more income?
No.
But the problem is, look at yourprayer life.
How much of your prayer life isthat, and how much of your
prayer life is focused on thingsthat bring God glory?
I'll bet you most of us willfind our prayer life is almost
100% focused on me, me, me, me,me, me.

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Not that that's wrong, but wheredo we ever break and go for a
higher purpose of prayer, ahigher motive in prayer and say,
Lord, these are things I wantyou to do, not for my comfort,
my welfare, my convenience, butI want people to see who you
are.
Boy, you pray a prayer like thatand you mean it?
I'm telling you, God's going toanswer that prayer.

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And that's why you've got abuilding today that you're
sitting in.
Well, let's summarize, shall we?
How are you going to pray withpower?
Well, there are four principles.
Number one, pray with cleanhands and a pure heart.
Roto-router before you pray.
Number two, pray with aforgiving spirit towards other

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people.
Get the salt off your prayers.
Pray with a clean slate.
Number three, pray in faith,believing.
Don't limit God in your punyhuman logic and your puny human
unbelief, don't do that.
Just let God be God.
Ask for the moon and let him go.

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And finally, number four, praywith the glory of God and the
honor of God as your motive.
Friends, this is what thefishermen out there did.
They figured out how the fishwere running and they adapted
their fishing to the fish.
What we've done today is figureout how God answers prayer And

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now I challenge you, adapt yourpraying to God.
And if you do, I'm telling you,you will see God move in your
prayer life.
I close with a quote from S.D.
Gordon, famous British preacher.
Here's what he said, and Iquote.
He said, This something else isimportant.

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Very important.
And pressing.
But still less important andless pressing than prayer.
May God make you a prayerwarrior.
And may He make you powerful inprayer.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, thanks for teachingus today how to fish, so to

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speak, with power.
Thanks for teaching us the howand the why, the way in which
you answer prayers with power.
And thank you that you are a Godwho delights in answering
prayer, who delights in givingus, as your children, responses
that go beyond anything we askor even imagine.

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But Lord, we have to pray insuch a way that we qualify for
that.
And so thanks for teaching ustoday how that is.
I pray that you would challengeevery one of us here that there
is power in prayer that we havenot tapped.
That this is an underutilizedweapon in our arsenal.
And that we need to become menand women of prayer.

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Men and women who are powerfulin prayer.
To do that, we need to followthese principles.
So use these principles tochange our life, Lord.
To change our prayer life.
And make us men Amen.
Thanks for being here today.

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Bless you guys.
See ya.