[Modified transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], May 2020]
If our prayers aren’t answered does that mean we haven’t got enough faith, or we’re not praying hard enough? Perhaps we need a dose of realism! Life will not always be rosy, and our difficulties may actually have a positive effect on us!
Well, welcome to the third part in our series “Does Prayer Work?”.
In the first part we looked at how Jesus prayed and the fact that he told those listening that the reason that he had such a power-filled ministry with so many miracles was because he spent time getting to know his heavenly Father, taking time to build that relationship so that he knew what God was doing and he just joined in was what was going on.
In part 2 we looked at the fact that God doesn’t get necessarily what He wants and the reality of the world we live in is that it is pretty rubbish sometimes and that miracles are by very nature a rare event. Yet if we pray for God’s kingdom to come, if we pray enough, if we have faith, we can actually start to see the miracles in lives. But, if you start to think about that for a little bit more, then you realise that we’re heading into some dangerous territory. We can get to the stage where we can say ‘well, if I have enough faith’ or ‘if you have enough faith’ then you will get what you pray for. Then you can say to someone who isn’t getting what they want or maybe their life isn’t as good as it should be that “you just need to pray more, you’d have more faith”. If your faith was strong enough you could move a mountain because Jesus said that, didn’t He?
Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for faith. Numerous times when Jesus performed a miracle he said “it’s your faith that has healed you” so faith has an impact but is it really that simple? I mean, there are plenty of people who have had great faith and yet they still suffered from cancer. And actually you could look at the majority of our world who are in poverty at the moment and can you really say that they’re in poverty because they haven’t got enough faith? You really need to have a bit of a dose of realism. In the last session we mentioned the fact that the world that we are in is a mess because God let us have our way. He put our freewill before his own will and therefore we are suffering from the consequences of our choices and people, other people, are suffering for the consequences of our choices too. That is a reality.
If you think if you become a follower of Jesus Christ your life will be sorted, everything will be rosy, then you are seriously mistaken because time and time again in the New Testament we find out that is not the case. I mean, when Jesus said to his followers “pick up your cross daily and follow me” (a cross was a way of executing people and Jesus carried his cross to the place of his execution) it’s not an easy task. Paul writes in Romans about the Christian faith saying when troubles happen, when troubles occur, when things go wrong. James says pretty much exactly the same thing – when troubles come your way – when, not if. If you have become a follower of Jesus Christ then that by its very nature means that your life is going to be difficult and that’s a really key thing to get your head around. If you think that being a follower of Jesus Christ is like being on a cruise ship where you get drinks brought to you and you just have a nice relaxing journey until you get to heaven, well that’s not what it is. Christianity – being a follower of Jesus Christ – is not like being on a cruise ship, it’s like being on a battle ship because there is a war going on between the forces of darkness and God.
Now God has already defeated them through Jesus’s death and resurrection but the reality is that we are in those final throes during the those final battles, the final times when things are difficult and hard, and the enemy is fighting tooth and nail to gain ground. If you are on a cruise ship you’re a bit shocked if a hand-grenade lands near your sun lounger. If you’re on a battleship you are expecting it and you’re trained for it.
Now I’ve never been to a military boot camp but I have been to teacher-training and teacher-training was really hard; it was such a shock to the system to go into schools and to start teaching a bunch of kids that didn’t really want to be taught and didn’t really respect you because you’re only a student. If you are thinking they can’t be that bad, well, you’re obviously not a teacher! From day one you are on the battlefield, from day one you are learning your craft, you are getting better so that when you’re actually employed as a teacher you know what you are doing and you are hopefully able to do it well.
It’s the same when we go through trials and difficulties and even suffering in life. Actually Paul and James both say that your sufferings and your trials will lead to perseverance and that perseverance will lead to a strength of character and strength of character will lead to hope. The troubles of this world are honing you and shaping you into a better person, into a better follower of Jesus Christ, into someone who is more effective as a warrior for the kingdom of God. So from the moment you become a follower of Jesus Christ, from day one, you are on a battlefield, you are coming under attack and prayer is the most powerful weapon you have. Some of that suffering will be caused by the enemy and you can use prayer to defend yourself, to rebuke the enemy in the name of Jesus Christ but some of that suffering is actually there to shape you and to refine you and to hone your skills and to make you more effective.
Of course, knowing which is which is the difficult bit and perhaps that’s where you need to build, just as Jesus did, that relationship through prayer with your heavenly Father so you are better able to discern what is the will of God and what is an attack of the enemy, and therefore respond appropriately.
[1] YouTube link: Does Prayer Work? – part 3
Bible references: Matt 16 v4, Romans 5 v3-4, James 1 v2
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Contributed by Martin Shorey; © the Author
