Do You believe?
Mark 9:14-29 I do believe, help me in my unbelief
Purpose
of this class:
o
Not about prayer but about praying
o
I do not have a
magic bullet or Cupid’s arrow to solve your prayer challenges
o
I see my job is
to inspire you to pray.
o
Experience – As
difficult to inspire Christians to pray as to convert a person
o
To urge, convict,
encourage - Parakaleo
- Heb 3:12-13
o
I cannot teach
you to pray
o
My prayers are
for me
o
I find my God and
he listens to me and I listen to him
o
You will have to
do this yourself
A beggar telling other beggars where to find the
bread.
o
Sometimes my
teaching can seem arrogant
o
Give me grace.
Mark 9:14-29
·
The prototype
prayer
o
Seeking out God
§
Found the
disciples
o
This was good,
but not the same as finding God and Jesus.
o
The fellowship is
good, but not a replacement for finding God
§
Talking to Jesus
was talking to God
§
Conversations
with Jesus can be taken as forms of prayer.
§
Do a personal study on Jesus’ conversations as forms
of prayer.
o
“I asked the
Disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.
§
Disciples letting
the man down
§
Disciples let us
down
o
“Oh unbelieving
Generation, how long will I put up with you?”
§
Being confronted
by his faith and lack of it
§
How long will
Jesus put up with our lack of faith?
o
“Bring the Boy to
me.”
§
The faith to take
our prayers to Jesus and God
§
When all else
fails – God never fails
o
“If you can do
anything, have pity on us and help us”
§
Begging the God
of the universe to do something
o
“Everything is
possible for him who believes”
§
“I do believe, help
me in my unbelief”
§
One of the most
profound prayer in the Bible
o
Belief vs. Faith
·
Only one word in
the Bible (Pistis, Pisteo)
·
Word study - Disbelief
= unpersuaded
à Apeitheo
·
My job tonight
(as I see it) to persuade you to start praying.
o
Having your
prayers fulfilled because of your asking and faith (or lack thereof)
§
Jesus drives the
spirit out
§
Jesus answers the
man’s prayer
o
“Why couldn’t we
drive it out?”
§
Sometimes the
demons are not ours to command
§
Jesus has the
authority – had to bring the boy to Jesus.
§
They were not
prepared to drive it out – lack of faith.
o
“This kind only
comes out with prayer”
§
Sometimes prayer
is the only solution
o
My tendency used
to be to try everything else first
§
Do you really
believe this?
§
Enough faith to
drive you to your knees?
·
NOTE: Jesus did
not pray in that moment
o
Only conclusion -
Jesus’ life of power came from his devoted life of prayer
o
Jesus was a man,
like you and me (have to remember this)
§
but he was
prepared by God through prayer
§
In the moment he
could command the demon
§
Power for a daily
life comes through prayer.
My
story
·
Age – 42
·
Relegated to
watching over my family – sidelined by the church pattern
·
Ride to work, sit
at work - Walking – Mark Potter
·
Didn’t tell
anyone what I was doing.
·
Always believed
that prayer was the key to something much greater
·
Had always
“prayed”, but it was perfunctory – something to do
·
Wayne Axelson
o
A different
vision for the church
o
A different
vision for relationships
·
Milton Drake
o
gave me the book
by George Mueller
o
Deep faith in God
through prayer
o
Confident,
abiding, waiting prayer.
·
The fire
·
prayer for my
family – changes without me changing it
Luke 11:1-13 “teach us to pray”
·
This is a prayer
unto itself
o
We can pray
this prayer – “Lord, teach me to pray, the way you taught the apostles”
·
Notice: not teach
us how to pray
·
How did Jesus teach them to Pray
·
[Lord’s prayer –
(Tonight we are talking about believing)]
o
Jesus
taught them to pray by convincing them it was worth it:
·
“Ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened”
o
Do I believe
this? Do you believe this?
o
Help me in my
unbelief
o
Are you willing
to pray it boldly, over and over until God gets up and give you as much as you
need?
§
Not necessarily
as much as you want
o
Do you believe this scripture?
·
God is a good father
o
The relationship
of father to son.
§
What if your son
came to you …?
§
Would you not do
anything for that son?
o
We want good
things for our children
·
Especially wants
to give his spirit!
·
Do you believe in the spirit of God?
o
Rom 8:26-27 intercession
in prayer
o
According to the
will of God!
o
Comfort, Power, Hope,
Sanctification
o
What does the H.S. Do in your life?
o
Do you believe in the H.S.
o
Do you know the
role of the H.S. in your prayer life?
o
Do you actively
ask for a greater awareness of the H.S.?
o
“I do believe,
help me in my unbelief.”
Luke 18:1 – 8 The judge and the widow
o
Won’t God bring
justice to those who cry out to him day and night?
o
Are we wearing
God out with our prayers?
o
Do we believe
this?
o
Have you been
hurt in some way and want justice?
§
James 5: Healing
prayer
James 4:1-6 Quarrels and fighting, bitterness,
o
You do not have
because you do not ask
·
Might have added
- “You don’t ask because you don’t believe (have faith)”
·
You ask but you
do not receive because you want to spend it on yourself
o
Personal
testimony about healing prayer.
o
Will the son of
man find faith on the earth?
·
Notice the
context context – Prayer!
·
You can’t have
faith for someone else
·
No one else can
have faith for you!
·
You must have
faith for yourself
o
You have to
pray – cannot leave it to someone else!
o
If you have faith, Jesus will find it when he returns
o
It’s Okay to ask
for more faith.
§
“Increase our
faith” Luke
17:5 – this was a prayer!
§
Context is
repeatedly forgiving others
§
We can pray about
this.
o
One of the most
powerful consistent prayers I do.
·
do you believe enough to wear God out with your asking?
Matt 6:5-8
o
Prayer is between
you and God
o
To some extent –
this is your secret
o
George Mueller –
Never asked man for something he knew God should and would provide.
o
“God knows what
you need before you ask him”
o
Do you believe
this?
·
So why should you
bother praying?
o
Prayer is not
about asking
§
Lord’s
prayer is not about asking. (Look
at it!)
o
Prayer is about
relationship with God
§
Matt 6:25-33 Chasing after everything God wants to give us
·
Seek his kingdom
and his righteousness (relationship)
§
Matt 7:21 Very Religious, very scriptural
·
no relationship with Jesus
§
John 5:39 Search
the scriptures, but They refuse to come to me to have life
·
Pharisees, very
religious, very scriptural (for their time)
·
Wanted to know
truth and do it themselves
§
Phil 3:7-11 Very
religious – but “I want to know Christ”
§
How do you know
someone you don’t spend time with?
o
Prayer is about
purifying your heart so you can have a relationship
§
Confession of sin
§
Self examination
before God (Heb 4:12-13 he sees it all anyway)
·
Just because
someone else sees it doesn’t mean we see it, Right?
James
5:16 The prayer of the righteous avails much
·
Do you believe
that God is more capable than you of doing many things
o
Prayer for rain
o
Requires
righteousness – Relationship to God that is right.
o
All comes back to
relationship
·
Paul’s prayers
·
Protection –
·
Prayer for
healing
o
Only passage in
the NT that talks about healing - prayer
Do
you believe?
·
Core Beliefs – we live
under core beliefs
·
If you did not go
to work you might lose your job - what do you do?
·
If you ignored
your spouse, you might lose her or him – What do you do?
·
If you don’t pay
your mortgage, your house will be taken away?
·
If you don’t stop
to put gas in the car it will run out of Gas – what do you do?
·
Drug abuse can
ruin your life – What do you do?
·
Eating right – 3
times a day – seldom miss – out of your way to do so.
You
can tell what you really believe by what you do! An easily seen task.
o
Do you really
believe in prayer
Do
you believe in prayer?
·
“Say to this
mountain”
·
Healing for you;
bitterness, anger, fear, resentment … – James 5
·
Peace that
surpasses understanding - Phil 4:3-6
·
Wisdom – James 1
– God gives without finding fault
o
Solomon’s prayer I Kings 3:4-15
·
Holy spirit intercession according to the will of God.
·
“Bring the boy to
me”. – We have to take it to Jesus
·
“All things are
possible for those who believe”
·
“This kind (some
things) only comes out with prayer”
·
“Boldly approach
the throne of Grace, to find grace in the time of need” (Heb 4:16)
·
You can change
God’s mind; Abraham, Moses
·
You can touch the
lives of people beyond your reach (Gal, Eph, Phil. Col.)
·
Knowing the love
of Christ that surpasses knowledge
·
That you can find
God
·
God will speak to
you.
·
That you can hear
is voice
·
God is more
powerful than you and if you ask, more will be accomplished than if you
persevere yourself
·
Seek first the
kingdom – all else will be taken care of
If
we believe all these things (truly believe, have faith) why are we not spending
our days in prayer instead of action?
Where
are the elders that move the heart of
the congregation by invisible, importunate prayer?
Where
are the teachers
whose teaching emanates from a deep trust that the Holy spirit moves their
words. Whose teaching springs from a prayer life where God works through it.
Where
are the Evangelists whose prayer
lives move God to send out workers into the harvest field – who are so
convinced that they go there themselves?
·
The fields are
white – lift up your eyes –
·
pray to the God
of harvest that he would send out workers
Where
is the congregation that is so deeply embedded in prayer that God opens the
flood gates of blessing and fruit on the dry, thirsty and hungry land?
Questions
and answers: