TAKE IT TO THE LORD IN PRAYER

TAKE IT TO THE LORD IN PRAYER

Acts 4:23-31

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

August 21, 2005

Our passage this morning is a favorite passage of mine and perhaps of many. So far as the background is concerned, this event of prayer comes following upon a miraculous healing of a man lame from birth. The apostles Peter and John were arrested by the local authorities and then interrogated and questioned intensely as to what power or name they had done this miracle.

The apostles’ response was one of great courage, as Peter proclaimed: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Now, the Council members did not like this statement or the situation at all, but what could they do? “After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.”

That was a very close call! Remember that these were the very same people who, with the help of Pilate and Herod, had put Jesus their Lord and Master to death by crucifixion. And the same could’ve happened to them! So, upon returning to the other believers, they then told everyone, “That’s enough of this! This is getting far too dangerous. We’re getting out of here and going back to fishing!”

No, of course not. That’s not what they said or did. They reported all that had happened and then immediately held a congregational-wide prayer meeting. They didn’t discuss matters at length, or pray as a last resort as if to say, “Well, it’s the only thing left for us to do.”

No, they turned to prayer as the first resort and they also prayed together. “They raised their voices together in prayer to God.” The adverb translated “together” means “with one mind, by common consent, of one accord, unanimously.” This was a deliberate, unified response of prayer to God, which is a lesson in and of itself for us. But there are also other important principles for us to consider as well, principles that are worthy of application to our own prayer life, both as individuals and in community.

FOR EXAMPLE, WE SHOULD EXALT GOD IN PRAYER

IN BEING THE GOD HE TRULY IS.

The believers began their prayer together in exalting God in certain dimensions related to the very situation in which they’d found themselves. The rulers and elders of the people thought they were in control. After all, they convinced almost everyone, it seemed, that crucifying Jesus was a good thing. And they now had these believers under their authority and control, or so they thought! The believers, however, had an altogether different perspective.

“Sovereign Lord,” they prayed, “You made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.” They addressed God in prayer, acknowledging Him as the Creator of absolutely everything. In addition, they also addressed God as the “Sovereign Lord,” a Greek word from which today we get the word despot, meaning an absolute master or lord.

I want to suggest to you that this addressing of God in this way was intentional for two very significant reasons. First of all, this exalted God for who He is in the very midst of this most difficult situation. Secondly, this enlarged their faith, so as to help them remember who really is in charge!

Likewise, when you and I face troubled waters, in our prayers we ought to magnify and worship God, acknowledging who God truly is. But we ought to do this also as a means of enlarging our faith, as a means of believing and speaking in our coming to God in prayer.

Most, if not all of the names on our stained glass windows in this sanctuary are of people who went through many fiery trials, as did the apostles. But the strength of adversity was exceeded by the strength of their faith. For example, on the Heidelberg Window, there are the two names of the authors of this wonderful catechism.

In this great teaching tool, it is asked and then answered: “What do you believe when you say, ‘I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth’”?

That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by His eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because of Christ his Son. I trust Him so much that I do not doubt He will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and he will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world. He is able to do this because He is almighty God; He desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.[i]

Is this what you believe, also? Can you affirm this in your own faith and in your own prayers?

As the believers continued in their prayer, they acknowledged God’s sovereign power yet again. They referred to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the writing of the Scripture penned by David. Then they spoke how all the earthly powers, both Jew and Gentile, had turned against Jesus, the Anointed One. But while these earthly powers were certainly guilty for their own actions, God the Father Almighty was still in charge. “They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen,” they prayed. In an act of incredible cruelty, God sovereignly brought forth in that same act incredible grace and mercy in bringing forth our salvation.

As Martin Luther proceeded down the course of the Protestant Reformation, his life came into great jeopardy and he was warned of this. Once the papal envoy threatened Luther in no uncertain terms. The envoy warned him that if Luther continued in this course, Luther would eventually be deserted by all those who claimed to support him now. “Where will you be then?” demanded the ambassador. “Then as now,” Luther insisted. “in the hands of God.”

Dear friends, can you answer your adversaries today in the same way? It may be the adversary of deserting friends or family members, or of spiritual opposition, or deteriorating physical health, or ridicule or rejection in being a Christian, or internal emotional wounds that continue to fester and cause pain, or employment that never seems to come, or come in the way we expect it.

Regardless of the precise nature of your adversary, look then to your adversary and confess anew that you are “in the hands of God.” And just as importantly, look to your God and pray and confess that He alone is your Sovereign Lord, the maker of heaven and earth and the sea, and everything in them, and the One who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ!

YET ANOTHER LESSON:

LET US BE QUITE SPECIFIC IN OUR PRAYERS.

First of all, the believers knew what not to pray for – the removal of opposition. For, while in the Upper Room on the night before He was crucified, Jesus warned:

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.” [ii]

It would be inconsistent with Jesus’ teaching to pray for the removal of persecution. They thus knew what not to pray for by remembering the clear teaching of Jesus. Likewise should it be for us, as the Word informs the direction of our prayers.

Now, they also knew what to pray for and they did so, based upon the Lord’s own word – “Go and make disciples.” “Now, Lord,” they prayed, “consider their threats and enable your servants to speak Your word with great boldness. Stretch out Your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.”

Because this prayer was not only specific, but also clearly in agreement with God’s revealed will and purpose, this prayer was answered affirmatively: “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.”

Joseph Scriven was absolutely correct when he wrote in the words of his cherished hymn: “Oh what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” [iii] Peace does indeed come to those who commit all their concerns to God. That is the promise of Philippians 4:6-7, that we not be anxious about anything, but bring everything to the Lord in prayer. The question remains, however – is this what we really do?

Beth Moore, seeking to emphasize the importance of this promise, once wrote the following:

I decided that to bring home the impact of these verses I would have a little fun and paraphrase the passage from a negative standpoint. In other words, I turned this prescription for peace into a no-fail prescription for anxiety. My result looked like this:

Do not be calm about anything, but in everything, by dwelling on it constantly and feeling picked on by God, with thoughts like ‘and this is the thanks I get,’ present your aggravations to everyone you know but Him. And the acid in your stomach, which transcends all milk products, will cause you an ulcer, and the doctor bills will cause you a heart attack and you will lose your mind. [iv]

Considering this, I’ll choose the alternative, the more positive route, and I hope you will also! So, let’s be intentional about prayer, bringing everything to God in prayer, and in so doing, not only find peace, but the gracious and obvious work of God as well!

Mary Slessor certainly experienced both the peace and gracious work of God in her life. She did so in the most trying of circumstances. She was born in Scotland in 1848, was raised in abject poverty, with an alcoholic father, and a one room home with no lighting, water or toilet.

But Mary’s mother took her to church on Sundays, and there she heard and believed the Gospel. In fact, Mary became a missionary in 1875, at a day and time when very few single women did such things. But she received this call and she obeyed this call.

In 1876, Mary sailed for the Calabar Coast in West Africa, to what we know of today as southeastern Nigeria. She cared for the native people using simple medical skills, telling people about Jesus, and teaching them from the Bible.

On one occasion, a local chief was dying and if she didn’t help him, she could be accused of his death. But courageously, she removed all the magic charms and sacrificed chickens that surrounded his bed, and she gave him medicine and nourishing food. He did indeed recover, which then led to an openness to the Gospel, not only on his part, but on the part of all his wives and the members of his village.

Mary Slessor was a remarkable woman, dedicated to Christ and to people in some of the most challenging and difficult of circumstances. Part of the success of her ministry was because of prayer - specific prayer. Prayer was a mainstay of her life. When once asked what prayer meant to her, she replied:

My life is one long, daily, hourly record of answered prayer for physical health, for mental overstrain, for guidance given marvelously, for errors and dangers averted, for enmity to the gospel subdued, for food provided at the exact hour needed, for everything that goes to make up life and my poor service. I can testify with a full and often wonder-stricken awe that I believe God answers prayer. I know God answers prayer. [v]

And what of us, dear friends? What if we were to be asked, here this morning, what prayer means to us? How would we answer? How would you answer?

As we exalt God in prayer, as we bring everything to God in prayer, and as we are most specific in prayer, surely that testimony will be ours: “I believe God answers prayer. I know God answers prayer!”