James 4 and 5
Nov 24, 2013 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church,
Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
I.
Introduction - Truths
About God, and Prayer (Psalm 42:10, then 3)
A.
Read aloud
1.
2Chron 16:9
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to
shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
2.
Psa 34:15
The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open
unto their cry.
3.
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
4.
1Pe 3:12
For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open
unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
B.
Evidently, the God of heaven
loves to show Himself mighty in our lives!
C.
He loves to answer prayer. God is
moved by prayer more than anything else we can do
D.
Then, WHY doesn’t God answer more
of our prayers??? Why isn’t He helping us more?
E.
Oh the sceptic asks this! They
want ever greater proofs of the existence of God (Ps 42:10)
F.
But this question is also asked
by those of us who love Him, and trust Him with all our hearts! (Psalm 42:3) “Where
is thy God?”
G.
Let’s listen carefully to James,
the half brother of our Lord Jesus, as he marvellously explains why God will not
answer most of our prayers!
H.
Because there will come a time
(many, many times) where you will desperately need an answer to your prayers!
II.
Message
A.
Because We Haven’t Actually
Prayed (James 4:1-3)
1.
Most of us never really pray!
a.
Instead we fight for what we want
out of life
b.
We LUST for things – just
grabbing for things like a child in a toy store
c.
We hate and throughout history
have even killed just to have what we want
1)
All the wars, and battles of
history
2)
They all come down to someone
fighting to have what someone else has
3)
Ah, in the name of a god
sometimes, but always for themselves!
d.
In our modern “enlightened”
world, even today, We would rather fight and argue and resist people, and carry
grudges and hatred…, than we would pray!
e.
James says, We desire to have,
and are FRUSTRATED when we don’t get what we want!
2.
The problem is…
a.
You and I don’t really spend time
in worship of God… No! We are at WAR with Him, and we don’t even know it!
b.
We have just expected God to do
things for us without us having to take the time to humbly ask God in prayer!
c.
We have the bad habit of trusting
OTHER people’s praying, without ever having developed our own prayer life!
3.
When we DO try and pray, we end
up just “wishing” for things
a.
Said a few words into the air
b.
Flippantly thrown a few of our
“wants” up to God – like a child giving Santa their Christmas list
c.
Other times we have gone into the
presence of God and only Argued with Him over what we want versus what we know
HE wants
d.
We have even Arrogantly Demanded
of God to do what we want – treated God like a Servant, instead of as the
Sovereign Lord of lords!
4.
But Prayer is:
a.
Asking! Asking God for what we
need… ASKING!
1)
Not all the performing, scheming,
manipulating God
2)
Just asking like a child
b.
Prayer is Believing!
1)
Believing that He knows what you
need and wants to meet your need
2)
Believing He can do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think
3)
Believing that God is all you
need!
c.
Waiting – don’t misunderstand.
There is a lot of waiting on God most of the time
1)
Gentlemen, your wife is worth
waiting on
2)
So is the Bank, and the coffee
maker…
3)
more so is GOD!
4)
In this day and age we have sped
everything up, and then expected God to keep up too!
5)
Nope! He takes HIS time, on
purpose, and for good reason!
6)
Psalms 25:5
Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my
salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. GLADLY!
d.
Prayer is also Wrestling – it
takes WORK! Effort! Time! Thought! Struggle!
1)
Wrestling with God some times
2)
But usually wrestling with our
own feelings and fears
3)
Not fighting God, but learning
how to hold onto God when everything else is out of control, and when He is
testing us to see if we need only Him!
e.
Praying not that complicated… but
it is more than any of us want it to be!
5.
Do you pray? Have you prayed
today? Do you pray every day? About everything? You can! And you must, if you
want GOD’S help! (James 5:13-15)
a.
Jas 5:13
Is any among you afflicted? let him pray.
b.
Jas 5:15 And the prayer
of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he
have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
6.
The Christians of the First
Century prayed!
a.
“And
when they had prayed the place was shaken.” (Acts 4:31).
b.
The Holy Spirit guided those
simple, uneducated disciples as they prayed to God for wisdom and strength.
c.
I am afraid our prayer meetings
fall far short of the great prayer meetings of the early Church.
d.
Read James 5:16 “The
effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
The Power of Prayer still works today! Prayer will cause us to turn our
world upside down.
e.
Our World today needs God! So it
needs much prayer.
f.
Think of all the unsaved and
their destiny
g.
Consider all the drug addictions,
all the SIN people are in bondage to
h.
All these things should motivate
our prayer life. Our prayer list should get longer each day.
i.
Do you pray regularly for your
loved ones, for your neighbors, for your co-workers, for your friends, enemies.
Do you pray for our government officials, for leadership in high places. Do you
pray for our Taoisech, Dail leaders, the courts of this country?
j.
We have SO much to pray about and
for, and yet we pray less and less if at all!
7.
Did you know that God has limited
Himself to the prayers of His people? What a thought!!!
“Ye have not because ye ask not.”
8.
And therefore, THAT is why we
don’t see answers to prayers – because we haven’t really prayed!
B.
Because We Are Not Right With
God (James 4:4-8)
1.
Look at how strongly God’s word
describes US
a.
As adulterers and adulteresses
b.
As friends with this world, with
this culture – what’s wrong with that?
1)
This culture is at war with God –
hates God!
2)
So, HOW can we flirt with it, and
yet say we love God???
3)
We mainly love this world – if we
were honest! We spend so much time trying to have friends (which are important),
yet we ignore the God of Creation!
4)
You wouldn’t get away with that
in your marriage?
c.
As His enemy
2.
All of that is what is blocking
the answers to our prayer
a.
Sin (Isaiah 59:1,2; Psalm
66:18,19) – blatant, unconfessed sin that we don’t care if it is there
b.
Disobedience - We don’t live a
life in obedience to God
1)
Pro 28:9
He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall
be abomination.
2)
1Jn 3:22
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
3.
What kind of a heart do you have?
a.
Don’t worry about having a
perfect heart, or sinless heart
b.
But a CLEAN, SOFT HEART (2Kings
22:19) Young king Josiah
c.
Is your heart proud, stubborn,
arrogant, demonic, filthy, envious, bitter, lustful, hard, apathetic, critical
of others?
d.
Then no wonder that we are not
getting answers from heaven!!!
4.
God has something that can cover
all of that sin – HIS GRACE!
5.
All He is looking this morning
for is humbleness before him; calling upon the cleansing power of the blood of
Jesus Christ to wash you and I thoroughly from our sinful attitudes
6.
And then he will draw near unto
us!
C.
Because We Have a Strong Enemy
(James 4:7)
1.
Don’t forget about HIM! Zech 3:1
And he shewed me Joshua the
high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his
right hand to resist him.
2.
He resists the work of God (Dan 10:1-6,
10-13)
3.
And he spends his time resisting YOU –
just like in sports… the opposing team is determined to NOT allow you to
succeed!
4.
So remember that, the next time you
pray. There will be a fight
5.
Just thank God we are already on the
winning side!
D.
Because We Have No Emotions in
Prayer – We Don’t Weep (James 4:9,10)
1.
Oh we do at the movies: thrilled,
excited, scared, sad, even tearful
2.
And we do at our sports: pulling
for your team, angry at the opposing players, determined for your side to win
3.
But we leave that all behind when
we attempt to pray
a.
That’s when we go so very quiet
b.
We become so UNREAL before God –
when we should be THE most real!
c.
We only go through the “motions”
of prayer, not the E-motions
d.
Sin has hardened us from being
able to show our emotions
4.
God commands us to:
a.
Drop all the fake laughter and
fake joy that we carry around all day
b.
And to become afflicted, and
spend some time mourning and weeping over your sin, and over the lost and over
the needs of this world
5.
We are in need of a good dose of
real-ness, low-ness, humble-ness
6.
THAT’S when God will reach down
and lift us up!
E.
Because We Are Not Right With
each Other (James 4:11,12; 5:9)
1.
We are so calloused about how we
treat each other: condemning, mocking, judging, speaking evil things about other
people
2.
Instead of praying for each
other, we instead
a.
Fight each other
b.
Hold onto grudges because of
hurts done against us
c.
Become bitter and hard towards
each other
d.
Are unable to forgive each other
for the smallest of things even!
3.
Fighting, and strife only blocks
the answers of God (1Peter 3:7)
4.
The ONLY way to break the cycle
Jesus says, is to (Mt 5:44)
a.
Bless each other
b.
PRAY for each other
c.
And FORGIVE everyone of
everything (Mark 11:25,26)
5.
If you want answers to prayer,
look at James 5:16
a.
Confess your sins to GOD
b.
AND… confess your faults to the
ones you have hurt
c.
And pray for those you have hurt
d.
And THEN God will hear the
prayers of yourself as a righteous man or
woman, who is now right both with God and men
F.
Because We Are Unwilling to
Wait on God (James 5:7-11)
1.
We are so Impulsive. Just expect
God to act on our behalf the very moment we pray: Like a magic wand, or even
ordering Pizza!
2.
If there is a God in heaven (and
there is), then HE is worth waiting for
a.
Worth enduring, suffering while
we wait on His perfect answer to our need
b.
All God’s people throughout
history have had to wait for God’s timing, not their own
3.
If you want to learn to pray, be
ready to wait on the Lord as he answers in perfect time – in HIS time!
4.
Impatient people, have very few
prayers answered – or at least they don’t stick around long enough to see them
answered!
G.
Because We Don’t Believe God
is REALLY ABLE to Answer Our Needs (Jam 5:16-18)
1.
God is usually our “last resort”
– the being that we turn to when everything else has failed
2.
THANK GOD He is there to turn to!
3.
But what a way to treat the God
who CAN do all that we need
4.
I think because God does not do
all we WANT, we end up thinking that God cannot do what we need! What a sad
thought!
5.
So many examples…
a.
In the wilderness wandering
years, Psalm 78:19 Yea, they
(all the people who came out of Egypt) spake against God; they said, Can God
furnish a table in the wilderness? WELL, YES HE IS ABLE!
b.
Shadrach, Meschach and Abendego
were threatened with burning in a fiery furnace and questioned whether any ‘god’
could save them from the fire… to which they responded in Daniel 3:17
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from
the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
c.
The God of this Book IS ABLE to
help you through every temptation (1Cor 10:13)
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but
God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able;
but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to
bear it.
d.
He is able to give you more than
enough grace for every day! 2Cor9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having
all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
e.
God is able even to save the
guttermost, the lowest and farthest from Him! Heb 7:25
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
6.
In other words, we need more than
ever to believe that HE is able! Eph 3:20
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us!
7.
No wonder we have so few if any
prayers answered – because we just don’t believe God, and trust Him
III.
Conclusion
A.
The eyes of the LORD run to
and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them
whose heart is perfect toward him.
B.
The eyes of the LORD are upon
the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
C.
God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble.
D.
God loves to answer prayer. God
is moved by prayer more than anything else we can do
E.
So, WHY doesn’t God answer more
of our prayers??? Why isn’t He helping us more?
1.
Because We Haven’t Actually
Prayed
2.
Because We Are Not Right With
God
3.
Because We Have a Strong Enemy
4.
Because We Have No Emotions in
Prayer
5.
Because We Are Not Right With
each Other
6.
Because We Are Unwilling to
Wait on God
7.
Because We Don’t Believe God
is REALLY ABLE to Answer Our Needs
F.
No wonder we have so few if any
prayers answered