January 9, 2025 • 11 mins
In this episode I continue in our series in 1 John, taking inventory. Today I'll talk about prayer.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, I'm Mark. Thanks for joining me today on Words
of Truth. Hey, by the way, if you feel like
this podcast is helpful to you, well maybe you know
somebody else who could benefit from it. Why don't you
send them a link. I'd appreciate that very much. In
the last podcast, I began talking about a spiritual inventory.
(00:24):
You know, every year, businesses will connect an inventory of
all of the products they have on their shelves. Why
do they do that? Well, it's important to know what
a store has on their shelves so that they can
know what they need to order for their customers. Makes sense, right,
but also so that the owner can have a tax record. Well.
(00:47):
In the last cast, I concluded by asking a question,
are you a person of truth? Now we're looking at
first John, you see it when it comes to our
spiritual condition, it's a good idea to take inventory, man,
(01:08):
this is the time of year that a lot of
people do that. It's good to step back and evaluate
where you are in your walk with the Lord. It
could be that what's on the shelves isn't what you
thought was on the shelves, or maybe what you think
about yourself isn't really true. So take this spiritual inventory,
(01:36):
and we began with verses nineteen to twenty four from
First John, chapter three, which says, this is how we
know that we belong to the truth, and how we
set our hearts at rest in His presence. If our
hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than
our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends. If our
(01:58):
hearts do not condemn, we have confidence before God and
receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his
commands and do what pleases him. And this is his
command to believe in the name of his son, Jesus
Christ and the love one another. As he commanded us.
(02:20):
The one who keeps God's commands lives in him and
he in them. And this is how we know that
He lives in us. We know that we know it
by the spirit He gave to us. Again, we closed
last week by looking at our hearts and asking ourselves,
if we're people of truth? Do we walk in the truth?
(02:43):
Are we living in such a way that our hearts
don't condemn us? I would encourage you to go back
and listen to the last podcast in the series and
then come back to this one, and let's get to
the second point, not only should we look at our
heart in our spiritual inventory, but we should also look
(03:05):
at our prayers. That's right, our prayers. Verse twenty two says,
and whatever we ask, we receive from him because we
keep his commandments and do what pleases him. Now, this
verse really flows from verses twenty one and twenty two
that says, beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,
(03:28):
we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask we
receive from him because we keep his commandments and do
what pleases him. The idea is that when our heart
doesn't condemn us, well we have confidence before God and
we're not fearful of him, but rather we can come
(03:48):
boldly before him like a child to their father, knowing
that when we pray, he hears us, and he answers
our prayers. So answered becomes a way of knowing that
we're God's child. And that's why Jesus could say in
the Sermon on the Mountain in Matthew chapter seven, verses
(04:11):
seven to eleven, ask and it will be given to you.
Seek and you will find, knock and it will be
open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the
one who seeks fines and to the one who knocks
it will be opened. Or which one of you, if
his son asks for some bread, will give him a stone,
(04:33):
Or if he asks for fish, will he give him
a serpent. If you, then, who are evil, know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father, who is in heaven, give good gifts,
give good things to those who ask him. In other words,
the inventory we take to ask ourselves is our prayers
(05:00):
being answered. You see answered prayers a sign of our
confidence before God. If our heart isn't right before God,
and we're living in sin, well, then how can God
answer our prayers? And unanswered prayers may be a sign
(05:20):
that not all is well with our relationship with God.
Proverbs chapter twenty eight, verse nine says, if one turns
away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer
is an abomination. That is to say that if someone
isn't paying attention to the law, they're not obeying it,
(05:45):
then what right do they have in asking God for anything.
On the other hand, Proverbs fifteen eight says, the prayer
of the upright is acceptable to him. And this is
what John is trying to communicate. If we're walking in
the council of God's word. If we're seeking to obey
(06:05):
his commands, then we can expect to see answered prayers.
And isn't that what Verse twenty two says. And whatever
we ask we receive from him because we keep his
commandments and do what pleases him. You see, when we
obey God and we're pleasing him, then we can expect
(06:29):
that God will answer our prayers. And so the question
is are you seeing your prayers being answered? Now? Let
me also say that this does not mean that God
is going to give us every little thing that we
ask for, as though he's some sort of a celestial
Santa who gives gifts to good little boys and girls. No, no, no,
(06:52):
this is what John wrote in chapters five, Verses fourteen fifteen.
And this is the confidence that we have him. Listen
to this now, that if we ask anything according to
his will, he hears us. And if we know that
he hears us, and whatever we ask, we know that
(07:14):
we have the requests that we asked of him. And
now I want you, I want you to know this,
the words according to his will, this is what he's
talking about. In chapter three, the open ended statement about
answered prayer comes with some constraints. You see, praying for
God to send somebody along to give us a new
(07:36):
car may not be in God's will. In fact, if
the truth be known, there might be a lot of
things we ask for that are not in God's will. Yes,
we can pray for healing. Yes we can pray for relief,
or that God would remove our troubles, or a lot
(07:57):
of other things. But it might be that some of
our troubles are actually God's will for us, that He's
using them to conform us to his image and knock
off the rough edges of our lives. Maybe you remember
Paul's prayer in Tewod Corinthians twelve, where he was experiencing
(08:21):
what he called a thorn in the flesh. Now we're
not sure what it is, but he didn't like it
and he wanted it gone. So Verse eight says, three
times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that he
should leave me, that it should leave me. And you
(08:43):
know how God answered that prayer. God answered with a big,
fat no. Three times Paul asked three times, God said no.
But this is what God wanted Paul to know. God said,
my grace is sufficient for you, for my powers made
(09:04):
perfect in weakness. You see, God had a plan for
Paul's life that was going to be perfected through his weakness.
God wanted him to trust in his power and not
in his own power, and the only way God could
get him to understand that was to allow him to
have a thorn in the flesh. Now after that, Paul responded, Therefore,
(09:30):
i will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me
for the sake of Christ. Then I'm content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions,
and calamities. For listen to this, for when I'm weak,
(09:52):
that I am strong. You know, a lot of times
we don't know God's plan for our lives. But that
doesn't mean we should stop praying. It simply means that
we should be praying in his will. The answer we
might we get might be no, and we need to
be ready for that. Jesus knows how that feels. Remember
(10:17):
when he was in the garden before his arrest, he
was praying, and he said, Father, if you are willing,
remove this cup from me, nevertheless, not my will, but
yours be done. And of course the cup was not removed.
And Jesus bore the wrath of God for our sins
on the cross. So I come back to the question,
(10:40):
are your prayers being answered? Can you point to some
specific ways your prayers have been answered? Maybe some of
those answers were no, and you've taken that as no
answer at all. I challenge each of us to take
some time this week to look and see how God
(11:01):
has answered your prayer. And if you can't answer that question,
maybe it's because your inventory shelves are empty. Maybe there's
some things that need to be made right with God.
Take some time to do that, and then keep praying.
(11:22):
We'll finish this series next time. Thanks for joining me.
I hope this helps
Hi, I'm Mark. Thanks for joining me today on Words
of Truth. Hey, by the way, if you feel like
this podcast is helpful to you, well maybe you know
somebody else who could benefit from it. Why don't you
send them a link. I'd appreciate that very much. In
the last podcast, I began talking about a spiritual inventory.
(00:24):
You know, every year, businesses will connect an inventory of
all of the products they have on their shelves. Why
do they do that? Well, it's important to know what
a store has on their shelves so that they can
know what they need to order for their customers. Makes sense, right,
but also so that the owner can have a tax record. Well.
(00:47):
In the last cast, I concluded by asking a question,
are you a person of truth? Now we're looking at
first John, you see it when it comes to our
spiritual condition, it's a good idea to take inventory, man,
(01:08):
this is the time of year that a lot of
people do that. It's good to step back and evaluate
where you are in your walk with the Lord. It
could be that what's on the shelves isn't what you
thought was on the shelves, or maybe what you think
about yourself isn't really true. So take this spiritual inventory,
(01:36):
and we began with verses nineteen to twenty four from
First John, chapter three, which says, this is how we
know that we belong to the truth, and how we
set our hearts at rest in His presence. If our
hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than
our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends. If our
(01:58):
hearts do not condemn, we have confidence before God and
receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his
commands and do what pleases him. And this is his
command to believe in the name of his son, Jesus
Christ and the love one another. As he commanded us.
(02:20):
The one who keeps God's commands lives in him and
he in them. And this is how we know that
He lives in us. We know that we know it
by the spirit He gave to us. Again, we closed
last week by looking at our hearts and asking ourselves,
if we're people of truth? Do we walk in the truth?
(02:43):
Are we living in such a way that our hearts
don't condemn us? I would encourage you to go back
and listen to the last podcast in the series and
then come back to this one, and let's get to
the second point, not only should we look at our
heart in our spiritual inventory, but we should also look
(03:05):
at our prayers. That's right, our prayers. Verse twenty two says,
and whatever we ask, we receive from him because we
keep his commandments and do what pleases him. Now, this
verse really flows from verses twenty one and twenty two
that says, beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,
(03:28):
we have confidence before God, and whatever we ask we
receive from him because we keep his commandments and do
what pleases him. The idea is that when our heart
doesn't condemn us, well we have confidence before God and
we're not fearful of him, but rather we can come
(03:48):
boldly before him like a child to their father, knowing
that when we pray, he hears us, and he answers
our prayers. So answered becomes a way of knowing that
we're God's child. And that's why Jesus could say in
the Sermon on the Mountain in Matthew chapter seven, verses
(04:11):
seven to eleven, ask and it will be given to you.
Seek and you will find, knock and it will be
open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the
one who seeks fines and to the one who knocks
it will be opened. Or which one of you, if
his son asks for some bread, will give him a stone,
(04:33):
Or if he asks for fish, will he give him
a serpent. If you, then, who are evil, know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father, who is in heaven, give good gifts,
give good things to those who ask him. In other words,
the inventory we take to ask ourselves is our prayers
(05:00):
being answered. You see answered prayers a sign of our
confidence before God. If our heart isn't right before God,
and we're living in sin, well, then how can God
answer our prayers? And unanswered prayers may be a sign
(05:20):
that not all is well with our relationship with God.
Proverbs chapter twenty eight, verse nine says, if one turns
away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer
is an abomination. That is to say that if someone
isn't paying attention to the law, they're not obeying it,
(05:45):
then what right do they have in asking God for anything.
On the other hand, Proverbs fifteen eight says, the prayer
of the upright is acceptable to him. And this is
what John is trying to communicate. If we're walking in
the council of God's word. If we're seeking to obey
(06:05):
his commands, then we can expect to see answered prayers.
And isn't that what Verse twenty two says. And whatever
we ask we receive from him because we keep his
commandments and do what pleases him. You see, when we
obey God and we're pleasing him, then we can expect
(06:29):
that God will answer our prayers. And so the question
is are you seeing your prayers being answered? Now? Let
me also say that this does not mean that God
is going to give us every little thing that we
ask for, as though he's some sort of a celestial
Santa who gives gifts to good little boys and girls. No, no, no,
(06:52):
this is what John wrote in chapters five, Verses fourteen fifteen.
And this is the confidence that we have him. Listen
to this now, that if we ask anything according to
his will, he hears us. And if we know that
he hears us, and whatever we ask, we know that
(07:14):
we have the requests that we asked of him. And
now I want you, I want you to know this,
the words according to his will, this is what he's
talking about. In chapter three, the open ended statement about
answered prayer comes with some constraints. You see, praying for
God to send somebody along to give us a new
(07:36):
car may not be in God's will. In fact, if
the truth be known, there might be a lot of
things we ask for that are not in God's will. Yes,
we can pray for healing. Yes we can pray for relief,
or that God would remove our troubles, or a lot
(07:57):
of other things. But it might be that some of
our troubles are actually God's will for us, that He's
using them to conform us to his image and knock
off the rough edges of our lives. Maybe you remember
Paul's prayer in Tewod Corinthians twelve, where he was experiencing
(08:21):
what he called a thorn in the flesh. Now we're
not sure what it is, but he didn't like it
and he wanted it gone. So Verse eight says, three
times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that he
should leave me, that it should leave me. And you
(08:43):
know how God answered that prayer. God answered with a big,
fat no. Three times Paul asked three times, God said no.
But this is what God wanted Paul to know. God said,
my grace is sufficient for you, for my powers made
(09:04):
perfect in weakness. You see, God had a plan for
Paul's life that was going to be perfected through his weakness.
God wanted him to trust in his power and not
in his own power, and the only way God could
get him to understand that was to allow him to
have a thorn in the flesh. Now after that, Paul responded, Therefore,
(09:30):
i will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me
for the sake of Christ. Then I'm content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions,
and calamities. For listen to this, for when I'm weak,
(09:52):
that I am strong. You know, a lot of times
we don't know God's plan for our lives. But that
doesn't mean we should stop praying. It simply means that
we should be praying in his will. The answer we
might we get might be no, and we need to
be ready for that. Jesus knows how that feels. Remember
(10:17):
when he was in the garden before his arrest, he
was praying, and he said, Father, if you are willing,
remove this cup from me, nevertheless, not my will, but
yours be done. And of course the cup was not removed.
And Jesus bore the wrath of God for our sins
on the cross. So I come back to the question,
(10:40):
are your prayers being answered? Can you point to some
specific ways your prayers have been answered? Maybe some of
those answers were no, and you've taken that as no
answer at all. I challenge each of us to take
some time this week to look and see how God
(11:01):
has answered your prayer. And if you can't answer that question,
maybe it's because your inventory shelves are empty. Maybe there's
some things that need to be made right with God.
Take some time to do that, and then keep praying.
(11:22):
We'll finish this series next time. Thanks for joining me.
I hope this helps
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