How to Pray with Absolute Confidence, Part 2

Believe it or not, in Hebrews 11:1 – I’ve put it in your notes – He gives a definition for faith. “Now, faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.”

Notice what it says. The operative words: being sure and certain. Faith is having absolute confidence that something that hasn’t happened yet will happen, and that something that you can’t see will come to be. That’s what faith is.

And so, if you wanted to summarize it all: faith, therefore, is having absolute confidence that whatever God says, He will do. That’s all faith is. You can feel close to God exercising faith. You can have flu and exercise faith. You can feel distant from God and exercise faith. But any time you have absolute confidence that God said this, and you believe it, to the point of acting on it – that is what the Bible is talking about, in terms of faith.

The next question, as this passage opens up, is not only how to pray according to God’s will, but how do you know God’s will? See, at this point, I hope your mind is saying – let me just have a quick aside – I hope your mind is saying, in your heart of hearts, I pray a lot of vague prayers. I’m not sure I pray real specifically.

I think I, instead of having faith, you know what I find in my life, and probably with many of you? I find, instead of praying in faith, I’m usually praying in hope. Oh, God, I hope this happens. Oh, God, this is a good desire. Oh, God, this would be nice, if You did it.

That’s not what Jesus said. Jesus said, “When you come, asking in faith, believe that you’ve received it, and it’ll be given to you.” I don’t think He’s joking, people. I don’t think He just threw that one out to impress Peter and the boys. I think He was saying, “If you can know what the will of God is, once you understand My will, then you can ask for it, and I will deliver, and you can take it to the bank. I want you to pray specifically, and with certainty, and with confidence, and I will answer.”

Now, the question that’s a sixty-four-dollar question is: how do you know God’s will so you ask the right stuff, right? There are two ways.

The first is by the promises of God in Scripture. The second – on those areas where they’re not promises, that we’ll look at later – is by the ministry of the Holy Spirit leading you in prayer, and showing you that God can give a personal word for you in how to pray.

You see, right here in this Book – and I understand, some of the promises in this Book are just for Israel; they’re not for you and me. Some of the promises are for specific people. Hezekiah gets some special promises. But some are for special New Testament saints. But I want to tell you, there are literally hundreds of promises that I can claim, you can claim. I know it’s God’s will. I can ask according to that promise, and God promises, one hundred percent of the time, He’ll answer your prayer, when you bring that promise, and pray according to His will.

The amazing thing that I’ve learned, as I’ve been studying on prayer, is, the great men and women of God who pray, they pray with an open Bible. They pray with the Bible open. And they go to God, not thinking, Let’s see, I’ve got to read three chapters today to keep up with my little chart. They read, and they pray, God, show me Your will for me. Show me Your will for Your  family. Show me Your will for the future. And they ask God, and He gives them specific promises, and they take it to the bank, and they pray specifically, and God comes through for them.

Let me give you a couple of examples of how to pray according to the will of God, first by the promises. Let’s pretend – I’m sure no one here has this – let’s pretend some of you have a big decision to make, or you have a big problem. And you would really like to know what God would want you to do. You either need to know what to do, or you need to know how to do it. You’ve got a marriage situation, and you need to say something to your spouse, but you’re afraid, If I say it that way. Oh, gosh, if You would give me wisdom, God, about how to say it.

Or you’ve got a situation with one of your children, and you know that you are backing away, and you need to move into this situation, and speak the truth, but you know if you do it wrong, you’re going to have fireworks. And you need God to give you wisdom about how to approach your child.

Or some of you have job situations, and your supervisor, or one of the people that work for you – you need wisdom from God about how to step into this delicate situation, and know God’s will, so that He can work it out. And so, your need is wisdom.

The biblical definition for wisdom is “the ability and the skill to understand God’s design for life, and then find your part in it so it works.” So, can I tell you this morning that if you need wisdom, there’s a promise from God: James 1:5 – and then, some conditions in verses 6 and 7.

Here’s what God promises to every person in this room: “If any man” – that’s generic, man or woman – “If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach.” Right? “But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea that’s tossed to and fro. Let not that man expect that he’ll receive anything from the Lord.”

So, here’s a promise. You have that conversation, or you need to know “what,” or you need to know how to do something. The Bible says you can go right before God and say, God, my finger is on this promise. You said if I ever need wisdom, that I can come and ask. I know it’s according to Your will, because it’s right in Your Word. I’m asking, right now, for wisdom. Please give it to me. And as you do that, you can be guaranteed, with certainty, God will give you wisdom.

Now, note, you will have to keep your end of the bargain. Every promise has a condition. The condition is, it’s without any doubting. And that doesn’t mean there are no little doubts in your heart. That means the word – it talks about – it’s a double-minded man. It means that once God shows you what the wisdom is, you already sign off and say, “Whatever You show me, I’ll do.” Because you were hoping it would be a nice, little, light conversation, and you pray, and God shows you, “You need to confront so-and-so,” or, “You need to address this head on,” or you need to bring up an issue that everyone in the whole family’s been afraid to talk about.

He says, If you will ask Me for wisdom, I guarantee, a hundred percent of the time, I’ll show you exactly what to do, and exactly how to do it. That’s pretty specific, isn’t it? That’s how God wants you to pray. Where do you need wisdom? You can pray for it, and He’ll show you.

How about for deliverance? If it’s drugs, or alcohol, or pornography, or issues in your mind, or you’re involved in a relationship that you know is not holy, there is a promise from God, you can pray specifically, and God guarantees He’ll hear it.

You know what it is? 1 Corinthians 10:13. It says, “No temptation has taken you but such is common to man” – we’ve all had it – “but God is faithful and with the temptation will provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.” You can come to God. If you need deliverance, if you need help in getting over the hump of something, you can open your Bible, and put your finger on that promise, and say, God, show me the way of deliverance.

And then, the condition is that you take it. It might be joining a twelve-step program. It might be sharing your struggle with a close friend, or even your mate. It might be saying, “I’ll never drive home that way anymore.” It might be that you get your cable disconnected, because you’re up late at night, watching trash, and you keep finding yourself drawn back to it. I don’t know the way of escape, but God says if you pray specifically, He’ll do it. He’ll answer you.

The third example, here, is: how about for rest, or peace? Some of you come, and – man, if the truth were known, if we could peel back the façade of how energetic, and cool, and nice, and warm, and lovely that we all look, is you’re dying inside. You’re worn out, and you’re beat. And what you need is rest, and what you need is peace. And your RPMs are going zoom, zoom, zoom, and you open your calendar, and you think, Oh, it’s another week! And Monday here, and Tuesday here, and Thursday here, and the kids over here on Wednesday, and you’re about ready to go nuts! And some of you, you’re at the emotional end of your wits, and you think, I can’t take it! I can’t take life anymore!

There’s a promise. You can pray a specific promise, and you know what God will do? God will step in, He’ll calm the storm, and He’ll restore your body, and He’ll restore your emotions. You know the promise? Matthew 11:28: “Come unto Me, all of you that are heavy-burdened or laden” – “overwhelmed” is the idea – “and I will give you rest. Take My yoke” – “Come into My leadership, My authority for your life.” “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am meek and I’m lowly of heart.” “I’m humble. I’m not going to put a trip on you. I love you. I’m God” – “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

For some of you, you need to block off a couple of hours today, and turn off all the TVs, and turn off all the junk, and get two or three hours alone with God, and say, God, I come to You, because I need rest, and I’m dying! And you go sit in the presence of God for a couple of hours, and it’ll do more than any pill you could ever take. He’ll slow you down. He’ll show you where you need to slow down.

All those pushes, and those oughts, and those shoulds, and all those demands from people. He’ll show you what His yoke demands, and how you can say “no” to stuff, and how you can say “no” to pressure, and how you can be walking in His will, and how He can renew you from the inside out.

And the people that need rest the most are those that are sitting here, and you’ve never made a personal relationship. You’ve never asked Christ to come into your life. You’re just a great person. You’re a neat person. And people like you. And what you really long for is peace in your soul.

And right now, as I’m talking, you can shut off the whole rest of this message, and you and God can have a conversation, and His invitation, His condition to you: Come, right now, okay? Forget what that guy in the striped shirt is saying. Listen to Me. You come, right now, and you ask Me to come into your life. Ask Me to forgive you. Take My yoke. Come under My leadership, and My authority for your life. Take My Word as guidance. I’ll give you rest. I’ll give you peace. I’ll restore the relationships. I’ll give you forgiveness. You do that, right now, He’ll honor His Word.

The final one, here, is for financial provision. Maybe you’re here, and you’re thinking, How do you pray? I’ve got bills up to my ears. I’ve got credit people giving me calls. And other people keep sending me more credit cards. I’ve never understood that. Every week, they want to give me more credit cards. But you’re overwhelmed. And you look at that stack of bills, and you look here, and you think, Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi, and you think – it’s pressure all the time.

God says you can pray specifically, for financial issues, and He will answer. Here’s the promise – Philippians 4:19: “My God,” the apostle Paul writes to a struggling, young, poor church that has just given a very generous gift to his ministry, “My God,” he says, “shall supply all your needs by His riches and by His glory in Christ Jesus.”

You’ve got a need? He says, “I’ll take care of it.” Now, please don’t read that to mean, “My God shall keep my middle-class lifestyle intact.” It doesn’t say that. He says He’ll meet your needs. If you’re in debt up to your ears, if you made unwise financial decisions, God may allow some consequences, to get you in a position of getting really dependent, really quickly.

The other thing, you’ll notice is there is a condition of this passage. It is written to a group of people who don’t have much, but have been generous with the first fruits of what God gave them. This promise is for people that have financial need, but who, by faith, are giving first to the work of God. And if you’re not doing that, this promise doesn’t apply to you.

See, with every promise, there’s a condition. God promises to meet the needs of those who are trusting Him by faith. And as you trust Him by faith, with your time, and with your finances, He says, “I’ll always come through for you.” And the biggest evidence that I don’t trust Him is when I don’t give Him my time, and I don’t give Him my finances. Because what I’m saying is, If I give it to You, God, then how am I going to pay these other bills?

Finances are so important to the American Church, because it’s probably the only way, in such a wealthy society, that we ever get a chance to even trust God. Because, basically, if God died tomorrow – which is obviously impossible – a lot of Christians wouldn’t know it for months. They wouldn’t. Because God doesn’t have to do anything supernatural in your life to come through for you. And until you put yourself in a situation for Him to do that, you don’t get to exercise faith, and trust.

Well, let me ask you, here, what, then, do you do? Those are promises, and that’s how you know to pray according to God’s will, but as we wrap it up, what do you do if you don’t have a promise from God? How can you pray if you’ve got a sick friend, or a sick child, or a sick spouse?

Look at Romans 8:26 through 27. This is what God says. It’s incredible. He says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” Well, what kind of weakness? Well, when “we don’t know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in” – how? – “accordance with God’s will.”

What did our passage in 1 John teach us? If you pray according to God’s will, He hears us. If He hears us, we know for certain – what? We’re going to get what we ask.

So, there are times where you don’t have a promise, and you sit quietly, and you ask, in dependence upon the Holy Spirit: Show me how to pray here. We don’t always have a promise to pray, and so, what we need to do is depend on the Holy Spirit. How about some of you that are praying for kids, or people that you love, or people at work, and you don’t know how to pray?

Well, one of my older sons – those of you parents that are going through rough times in teens, I have been there. The name of the game in our home was sparks, sparks, and then heavy sparks. And this kid is so much like me, that we knock heads all the time. And I’m glad that he moved out of this stage, and is mature, and grown. But I remember, I said “black,” he said “white.” And he just had this rebellious chip on his shoulder. And out in public, with other people – great kid. At home, he’s testing me all the time. And I’m saying, God… And I’m communicating, “That rebellious spirit, we’re going to deal with.”

And I remember at my wits end, literally crying, doing “what I know is right,” and then going in the bedroom and telling, “Oh, Theresa, am I being too hard? Am I being an idiot? I think I’m doing God’s will – I hope. I think. Maybe.” You been there as a parent? I remember praying. I remember, as I was praying, I said, Lord, will You show me how to pray for my son? Because I was praying, Lord, will You break his spirit? That’s the problem I saw, when I prayed directly, right? I said, God, will You transform this kid’s attitude?

And as I prayed, you know what the Holy Spirit showed me? I didn’t get an audible voice, but I just sat there. And what I realized, the Spirit of God began to reveal, the best time in praying, sometimes, is shut up, and let Him speak.

And God just said, It’s not – rebellion’s not the issue. It’s hurt, and it’s woundedness. He doesn’t feel good about himself and he feels inadequate.

And boy, I started to pray differently. God, help him see himself the way You made him. God shore up the wounds and the hurts that he has inside. Because that’s where it was spewing from. And I kept the boundaries. And then, my wife and I, like absolute lunatics, looked for opportunities and times, “Hey, let’s go out for a Coke. Let’s go talk” – any common ground to just communicate to my son, regardless of his performance, that, “We love you, and you’ll never do anything that’ll keep us from loving you.”