Sermon Transcript

Get your Bibles open this morning to Joshua chapter 10. The direction of the Christian life is…? Onward! Are you moving onward with God—through the battles, through the fight? This morning, we’re going to look at another story that reminds us that our God is fighting for us. I just want to let you know, even before we finish—this is going to be a little bit of an unusual service: We’re first of all going to examine someone who fought by faith and someone who exercised great faith in response to the truth that God is fighting.

But we’re not just going to examine that; we’re going to exercise bold faith today. I want to give you the point of the message here, up front. It is this:

 

Big Idea: God moves in response to bold faith to change impossible situations.

 

I want you to put quotation marks around the word “impossible,” because if you are a Christian, and if we know that we have a God who is fighting for us, then we understand that there is nothing impossible for us. Do you understand that the Christian life is a supernatural life? It’s unexplainable apart from God.

I remember hearing Dr. Adrian Rogers say that we as Christians have no right to be believed as long as we can be explained. Is there anything in your life that you can point to and say, “See that right there? That’s unexplainable apart from God!” Or is it that you’ve just been well-educated and you’ve got some money and you can make things happen? You get good grades and you have influence? Or is it that you are living a life that is absolutely unexplainable apart from a supernatural God breaking through and winning some battles for you?

As long as your life is explainable, then your life is not believable. The outside world is looking to see, is there anything different about our life that can’t be explained apart from God? Now, let me tell you—the passage of Scripture we’re about to dig into is unexplainable. Now, that’s a challenge to me, because my job description is to explain the Scripture to you. I can’t explain this one, okay? But I believe it—and I want you to believe it, too. I can’t explain how it happened; I can only explain that it happened, and maybe why it happened.

So, are you ready to see this unexplainable story? Let’s begin in Joshua 10:6 (ESV): “And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal, saying, ‘Do not relax your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us…” Underline those two words, “save us” and the next two words, “help us;” “and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill country are gathered against us.’”

You’re like, “Gibeonites? Amorites? What? What in the world is this?” Do you remember last week, we learned that Gibeon was an enemy nation of Joshua, Israel and ultimately, of God. And through Gibeon’s deception, he got Joshua to enter into a covenant with this enemy nation. This nation that God wanted God to make war with, Joshua made peace with, and he entered into this covenant. As soon as the covenant was made, the covenant got tested, because these five kings from these Amorite cities attacked Gibeon. That will test a covenant.

So, Gibeon cries out and says, “Hey, Joshua! Remember that little covenant we entered into? Remember how we made peace? Remember how your friends are my friends and your enemies are my enemies? Well, I’ve got some enemies. So we need you to come over here and fight on our behalf. We need you to fight with us and for us.” And so, sure enough—not because Joshua thought it was a great idea, but because there was a covenant that was made—Joshua and his armies went up and fought on behalf of Gibeon.

Do you see the picture of the gospel in that story? You and I are Gibeon. We’re enemy rogue nations from God, and God has not made war with us—He has made peace with us through the blood covenant of His Son, Jesus Christ. He’s turned us from enemies into friends, therefore whoever attacks us attacks who? Attacks God! And my enemies are now God’s enemies. And anytime I feel like I’m surrounded and I’m attacked, what should I do? Like Gibeon, I should cry out and say, “Hey, Jesus! Don’t relax Your hand now! Remember that covenant relationship we’re in? I need You right here, right now. I’m in a battle; I’m surrounded. Save us! Help us!”

If you’re in covenant relationship with God, you can be assured that whatever battle you are in, your God is fighting for you. That’s just the introduction. Sorry, I got a little worked up in the introduction! Here’s the first thing I want you to see:

 

• Bold faith acts upon the promises of God. (v. 6-8)

 

Let’s see what happens here in verse 7: “So Joshua went up from Gilgal…” That was kind of headquarters. “…He and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor…” So Joshua says, “Sure enough, we’re in covenant,” and he marches to the defense of Gibeon. Then, in verse 8—what would you expect it to say? You would expect verse 8 to say, “And Joshua did great and mighty acts!”

But notice, there’s a promise that comes first in Joshua 10:8 and 9: “And the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.’ So Joshua came upon them suddenly…” Underline the word “suddenly.” That’s going to be an important word later. That word suddenly means Joshua didn’t procrastinate, Joshua didn’t waste a second at the beginning of this battle—even though he’s going to need more time at the end of it. He didn’t waste any time at the beginning of it.

“…Having marched up all night from Gilgal.” The word “up” is significant there. It’s actually an elevation change. He actually marched fifteen miles uphill with those mighty men of valor in the dark. Scripture says, “all night from Gilgal.”

And then, in verse 10, you would expect to see Joshua doing some great things. You would expect to see, “And Joshua threw them into a great panic…and Joshua struck them with a great blow…and Joshua chased them by the way of the ascent…and Joshua struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.” But that’s not what it says, is it? Who did all this? The passage says in verse 10, “It was the Lord!” So, who’s fighting, Joshua or the Lord? The answer is, “Yes!” Joshua is fighting and the Lord is fighting, and the Lord is fighting through Joshua.

That’s a great lesson for us: Bold faith acts upon the promises of God. God gave Joshua a promise: “The outcome has already been predetermined. You’re going to win the battle.” Now, knowing that is a lesson for us. Before we can have confidence to fight our battles, we have to make sure that we’re in the right battle—that we’re fighting the right enemy.

And so God sends Joshua with great confidence, saying, “There’s a promise. Not a man will be able to stand against you!” And so, as we talk about faith this morning—bold, audacious faith to stand against the enemy—we need to first of all hear the promises of God. We need to be assured of the Word of God acting in us. Before we can act in faith, the Word of God has to saturate my mind and my life.

This is the way it works. From the New Testament, we understand that faith comes from hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ. So, before you can act in faith, before you charge hell with a water pistol, before you engage the enemy, you need to be commissioned by God, a word from God to say you’re fighting in the right battle.

Here’s the way it works: if faith comes from by hearing, then we need to understand, hearing God’s Word is what initiates my faith. Without a word from God, all you’re doing is wishful thinking or, at worst, fortune-telling—which is an abomination to God. It’s not that I’m going to create some desire of my heart, to make my life easier, or get rid of people who annoy me, or change my situation or circumstance so that I’ll have an easier life. No, I will only exercise faith in what I’ve heard from God. Hearing God’s Word initiates faith.

And then, praying God’s Word activates faith. If you pray God’s Word, what you’re saying is, “God, what You said is true, and I, by faith, am going to believe what You said is true!” Again, you won’t pray much if your mind is not saturated much with the Word of God. And so, praying God’s Word activates faith.

Then, obeying God’s Word demonstrates faith. Don’t tell me you have bold faith if you just hear God’s Word and fill your mind with an encyclopedia full of Bible knowledge. And don’t tell me that you just pray God’s Word if somehow hearing God’s Word and praying God’s Word doesn’t activate obedience and change in your life.

And so, as we have faith and we pray God’s Word, we want to make sure we’re praying according to God’s will. So the question for us is this, “How can we be sure that we have heard a word from God?” Now, this is a big question in a lot of different churches. So much confusion about, “How can I pray in faith and exercise faith in my life?”

Please hear me: The will of God is found in the Word of God. There is never anything God is going to ask you to do that He has not already spoken to in His Word. So, as you read God’s Word and hear God’s Word preached, you should be bending your ear to the Spirit of God to illuminate the Word of God, so that you can act in faith and obedience to God. The further you move away from the written Word of God, the less confidence you can have that you have heard from God. Anything else is just wishful thinking. So, in order to pray in faith, you have to believe that you have heard from God.

So, how can you pray, knowing you’ve heard from God? You pray Scripture to God. You can always safely pray that the church would prosper and that the Great Commission would be fulfilled. Why is that true? Because we’ve saturated our minds with Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

So, do I need to pray about whether or not I need to be making disciples? No. Do I need to pray about whether or not I need to take any steps in becoming a disciple? No. I just need to obey in faith. That’s exactly what God wants. And so, I can pray big audacious, bold prayers that the church would prosper, and that disciples would be made, and that the community would be revived, and awakening would come to this world through a strong, prosperous, disciple-making church. I can always pray in faith about that.

I can always pray that someone who is outside of Christ would come, in repentance, to Christ—because of this verse in 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord…is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Anybody that you know that is not a believer, you can always pray—by name—that they would repent and come, knowing that is the will of God.

You can always pray that you would patiently endure suffering because of what we read in 1 Peter 4:19: “Let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” Now, do you see what that verse says? That there are times when it is God’s will for you to suffer. Do you have room in your theology for a God who would allow you to suffer? “Why would God do that?” So that it would train your soul to exercise faith in the suffering while you do good. It brings great glory to God. As a matter of fact, most Christians on the planet right now are enduring incredible suffering while they are exercising great faith.

So—those are just three examples. When you read God’s Word, you can act in faith. Joshua heard a word from God, “Do not fear. Not a man will be able to stand against you.” And do you know what happened immediately? Joshua began to march. We get our marching orders from the Word of God.

Here’s the second thing:

 

• Bold faith is rooted in the power of God. (v. 9-11)

 

Again, here in Joshua 10:9, the passage says, “So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal.” And then in verse 10 we see those four things that the Lord did. 1) “And the Lord threw them into a panic. . .” 2) “the Lord struck them with a great blow…” 3) the Lord “chased them,” and 4) the Lord rained down these hailstones upon them. And then look at the end of verse 11. It says, “There were more who died because of the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.” Don’t you love that? It was a reminder that the battle belongs to the Lord, and it was just a little commentary.

If you’ve ever won any kind of spiritual battle; if you’ve ever been victorious over any temptation—any temptation—you should not bow up in the mirror and say, “Well, look how sharp my sword is! Look at how much spiritual victory I have claimed in the Name of Jesus!” No! You should fall on your face in humility and worship the God who has fought for you. It’s an understanding of how helpless we are to win any battle apart from the Lord engaging our enemy. There were more that were killed by the hailstones, that the Lord did miraculously, then those who were killed by the sword.

Now, as you read through this, if you’re engaged like I am – I was really convicted by this because—I don’t know about you, but—you’ve probably noticed, if you’ve come to Harvest anytime at all, I have a very high view of the sovereignty of God. How many of you understand, like me, God does not need me? God can do anything He wants. He’s not obligated to answer my prayer—He doesn’t need me in any way to win any spiritual battle. God can do whatever He wants to do completely apart from my effort. Anybody with me on that? Yeah.

But do you know what that often times tricks me into believing? It tricks me into believing, “I don’t need to march, I don’t need to fight and I don’t need to pray. If the Lord’s got this battle under control, then I can just sit over here on the sideline, and I’ll just cheer at the end: ‘Wo-o-o! Go, God!’” But, throughout this story, we see something that theologians call “the divine/human cooperative.”

God fought, but God also expected Joshua to fight, and God doesn’t want you sitting on the sidelines waiting for God to fight battles you ought to be fighting. He expects you and I to be engaged in the battle. He expects you and I to have big vision for victory. He expects us to pray big, bold prayers and to engage in battle and expect God is fighting through us and for us.

I believe God can do anything He wants to do. I believe God is able to exercise His power, but sometimes I struggle with whether or not God actually wants to exercise His power. I was challenged by reading this. I was like, “God, I don’t want to embarrass You in any way, so I don’t ever want to pray something that’s not Your will. So, I just want to kind of stay in my safe little box, and I don’t kind of want to speculate on battles that You want to win, and I don’t want to engage in battles that You don’t want to fight. And I don’t want ever pray anything that would end up in an unanswered prayer, because an unanswered prayer would kind of make You look bad, and I don’t want to make You look bad.”

And I felt like God just kind of said, “Trent! Really? You think itty-bitty little you is somehow going to embarrass Me? No! There is no enemy too strong for God! There is no vision too sweeping for God! There is no prayer too big for God!” And, as a matter of fact, what we see in the Bible is this – I can’t explain this to you, and as a person who has a high view of the sovereignty of God I don’t know how to explain this. But listen, there are some things God will not do until we pray that He will do them.

We know that from James 4:2. Do you remember the little verse: “We have not because we ask not.” There are so many things we live without because we don’t expect God to do them. We don’t believe, not only that God has the power that He’s able to do it but that He actually wants to do it. So, bold faith is rooted in the power of God.

Then, the third thing is this:

 

• Bold faith believes God for the “impossible.” (v. 12-14)

 

Now, I’m going to read something to you in the Bible that’s going to challenge your faith. I said early in the message that the Christian life is supernatural and unexplainable. I want to read to you something that I do not have the ability to explain to you, but the Bible just simply says in Joshua 10:12, “Joshua spoke to the Lord…” Isn’t that great? First the Lord speaks to Joshua—that’s always the sequence. God initiates—and then Joshua responds by speaking to the Lord, “…in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel…he said in the sight of Israel…” Here is Joshua’s prayer, “‘Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.’ And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.”

So, Joshua had fought this battle all day. He had marched all night to get there. Remember, he didn’t waste a second in the battle. And yet, he was running out of time. And he prays a prayer for God to send the battle into overtime. Maybe he feared that under the cover of darkness the enemy would get away, and so he—by faith—prays a big, audacious, hairy prayer. And asks God to do something that was “impossible.” “Just stop the sun right there until the enemy has been defeated.” And, lo and behold, God answered his prayer!

Now, I cannot explain to you what happened. We could think about some options here. We kind of know scientifically – remember back to fifth grade when we learned that the sun actually doesn’t move across the sky? Have you learned this? Do you get this? The sun is not moving; the sun is in the center of the solar system and the earth is revolving around. The earth rotates, which gives us the appearance that the sun is actually moving. Do you know this? Some of you need to take notes—you’re learning this for the first time! This is awesome, okay? But we still use the language, right? We love to talk about the sunrise and the sunset, even though we understand it’s just the earth rotating, right?

So, the most obvious explanation. Just kind of on the surface we would think, if the sun stood still in the sky, what does that imply about the rotation of the earth? The Lord stopped the rotation of the earth. Which is a little hard to believe. Because, I mean, wouldn’t that just create a big jerk and we would all fall down? And that would do something to gravity—we’d all float up into space?

How many of you believe that if God can stop the rotation of the earth, He can kind of deal with the consequences, right? I mean, all you have to do is believe the first verse in the Bible, that “the Lord [God] created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) If He created it, He can stop it, start it, keep it going. All that would need to happen in order for everything just to blow apart is for God to stop making it happen, right? So we believe in a miraculous God!

Now, for those of you who don’t have as much of an appetite for a supernatural God, other explanations have been offered. Some would say, if you dig down into the Hebrew language and look at those words, “the sun stood still”—some would say, “You know, if you really kind of bent things around a little bit, you could interpret it to say, ‘The sun stopped shining.’ So, maybe it was an eclipse.” We’ve seen those, right? That seems a little supernatural.

We understand how the moon sometimes moves between the earth and the sun, and it gives the appearance that there’s darkness. But then, you think, “Well, how would darkness extend the day? That wouldn’t help anything.” Right? As a matter of fact, if you read the Bible, it tells us where the moon was in the story, anyway. Scripture says the sun was on one horizon, over Gibeon, and the moon was on the other horizon over this this place called Aijalon. They were juxtaposed. The moon wasn’t anywhere near the sun! That’s a problem.

Other people say, “Well, you could explain it by saying the sun’s light was maybe refracted. So, maybe the earth’s rotation didn’t stop, but God maybe somehow made the sun, its light rays, to go around the earth.” Okay, whatever.

Other people say, “The whole story’s just poetic. It didn’t really mean that. It just kind of seemed like a really long day!” How many of you had ever had a day where it felt like it was never going to end? This is like, “Aww man!” So people say, well, that’s what happened.

We know that’s not what happened, because of the next thing that we read in the story. Scripture says in Joshua 10:13, “Is this not written in the Book of Jashar?” Apparently there was an extra-biblical book, another history book. We don’t have that book anymore, but apparently this was well-known; it was recorded history. The passage continues, “The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day. There has been no day like it before or since…” So, I don’t know how long your day was on Tuesday, but it wasn’t like this day, alright? This day was a different day. This was a miraculous event.

We don’t know exactly how it happened, but we believe it did happen, and it teaches us this lesson: God answers impossible prayers, and changes impossible situations. He is fighting for us. Have you ever felt like you were out of options? Have you ever felt like you were out of time and needed God to do a miracle to create more time?

Have you ever felt like you were out of health and needed God to step in? You know, it’s not until you are out of options, you’re out of strength, you’re out of courage or you’re out of money that your prayers get really bold. Anybody, like me, ever been there and prayed those prayers? Now, some of you quite honestly are like, “Out of money? No. I’m really healthy…my kids are not too out of line…” And you know what, I guarantee you—I can examine your prayer life, and it’s not real bold.

You pray prayers like this, “Lord, lead, guide and direct me, and whatever other synonyms I could throw into that statement. Because I’m sure You didn’t understand what ‘lead’ meant, so I said ‘guide,’ and if You didn’t understand ‘guide’ I’ll throw ‘direct’ in there. God, do You understand what we’re talking about?” And God’s like, “No! What? Pray something bold!” You don’t ever have to pray this prayer again: “Lord, be with us.” Really? Is that as bold a prayer as you can get? God is everywhere present at the same time. Wherever you are, He’s there! He’s with you, okay? So, can you think of something a little more extravagant, a little more impossible, a little more severe, where God needs to enter into your situation?

Now, I can remember what it’s like to be out of money. Before we planted this church, we lived as missionaries for fifteen years, and we didn’t receive a salary for what we did. We didn’t receive a dime from the organization we were ministering with. What that meant was, we had to pray that God would meet our financial needs. And as we would pray, we would write a few letters and ask others to pray with us, and “if you’ve got a little extra change, that would help us fulfill the mission.” So we would pray real hard.

And I remember, with Andrea, there were times we would get on our knees and we would pray for specific amounts of money because we needed specific amounts of money – like tires on the truck or something to buy food with, and God would miraculously provide. For fifteen years He did that. And I can remember almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day, we’d say, “God, we are out of money, and we need you to miraculously provide.” And every time, He did.

My faith’s not real strong, but the greatest evidence of God to me is the fact that somehow He takes care of Trent and Andrea. “Because,” our friends said to us, “we’re watching the way you live, and it’s impossible for you to live that way.” Yeah, it is, apart from God.

Can I be honest with you? Here we are seven years into Harvest. We didn’t take a salary for the first six months of this church. We just kind of kept believing God and He provided. But, you know what? Now, graciously, the elders actually pay us to do this. Every two weeks I get a paycheck. I know what it’s going to be. It’s the same amount every week. But do you know, I find myself not praying as much that God would meet our financial needs.

If you have money, your money does what God can do; if you have health, your health does what only God can do. But when you are out of money and out of health and out of time and out of love, what do you pray? “Help me! I need it now! And God, if you can make the sun stand still, You can meet this need!” And He does it every single time.

Is there anything unexplainable in your life that you can point to and say, “See that right there? That is only because of God.” If not, maybe God needs to get you to a place where you’re out of options. You say, “But, what if I pray and God doesn’t answer?” That’s a real thing, because—quite honestly—there will be times when you will pray for the sun to stand still, and the sun will set. And it is in the darkness that you have to trust God that’s the sun’s going to come up in the morning, and He’s going to keep you going. He’s going to sustain you and He’s going to give you all the light that you need.

I like what Tim Keller said in his book on prayer. He said, “When you pray, God will either give you what you ask for, or He will give you what you should have asked for if you knew everything He knows.” You see, we would not question anything God does if we knew everything God knows. How many of you, like me, do not know everything God knows? And you’re okay with that? And yet, you can pray big, bold prayers, believing that God always answers. God will answer every prayer. He will either say, “Yes,” “No,” or “Wait.”

So, God is fine with you praying big, bold prayers. When you do pray for financial provision, I’ve got good news – He’ll answer that prayer. He will either give you money or He will give you contentment to live without the money, because He knows what you really need is contentment. Because contentment solves problems money can’t.

When you pray for health, He will either give you healing…How many of you ever prayed for somebody and God healed them? Anybody? Somebody prayed for you and, “Man, that just cleared right up; God healed me! That’s great!” See the hands around here? God does miraculous things! But how many of you have ever prayed for somebody and they died? Does that mean that your faith didn’t work—that your faith was broken? No. Sometimes God gives healing, and sometimes God gives peace and gives trust.

Sometimes, when you’re praying for protection—and the threats against you are real, and you’re worried and you’re anxious, and you don’t know what you’re going to do—sometimes God removes the threat and sometimes God answers the prayer by giving you courage to stay in the face of the enemy and fight the battle.

Sometimes you pray that God will fix your spouse. How many of you have ever been a spouse who got prayed for, because you needed to be fixed? Raise those hands! I see those testimonies! I know—I’ve seen the stories out there, I could tell some of them. I will not call names, but you were the spouse that was prayed for that needed to be fixed…Sometimes God fixes spouses, and sometimes He gives you love for the spouse that needs to be fixed, and gives you forgiveness and mercy and grace because God answers the prayer according to His will, not just to make your life easier.

God is not obligated to do anything, and yet—this is the good news! The greatest miracle, in this story, is not that the sun stood still. I want to show you the greatest miracle. Look down here at Joshua 10:14: “There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man…” That’s the greatest miracle! That, somehow, a holy, infinite, all-wise God would somehow bend His ear to this part of the universe, to the neighborhood where you live, and hear your desperate cry for help. That’s a miracle!

And if God would listen to your prayer, and have the ability to listen to the prayers of all those who would cry out to Him in impossible situations, what is keeping you from praying? What is keeping you from asking God to do big things in response to your big, bold audacious faith?

Now, the way we’re going to conclude this service is by walking you through a little exercise. As you came in, you should have received a bulletin. Did you get that? You need the notes inside of there. If you turn those over, there are five steps there. We’re going to take some time to put pen on paper and to actually create some prayers that require some faith.

If you didn’t get a bulletin on the way in, we’ve got some ushers. Just lift your hands, and we’ll get this piece of paper to you. Everybody needs a piece of paper. We’re going to complete this paper as we finish the service. This is our “sun-stand-still” prayer. Here’s the first thing:

 

1. Identify an impossible situation you’re facing right now.

And, please understand, Jesus said, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37) What is the impossible situation that you believe needs to change in your life? Let me give you some suggestions.

Some of you have broken relationships. Maybe it’s a marriage, maybe it’s a spouse, maybe it’s a child, maybe it’s a parent. I know teenagers in this church who are praying for their parents, because they are pursuing a divorce. That’s an impossible situation, and you want God to change that situation.

Some of you parents are praying for some kids that aren’t praying for you. Because their hearts are hard and cold and they’re running away from God. Pray that God would change turn those hearts.

For some of you, it is financial provisions. Career aspirations. Spiritual awakening in your heart, in your marriage, in this community, in this country. That’s a prayer that’s a big, bold prayer of faith, and we believe God can answer that prayer.

Some of you need physical or emotional healing. Some of you have loved ones that are far from God, and you want to pray that they’ll return. Some of you need strength to face temptations that you have fallen to over and over and over.

Finding and loving a spouse for a lifetime. For some of you, the problem is finding them; for others of you, the problem is keeping them once you’ve found them. You want to pray that God will enter that situation.

Or ministry resources and opportunities. Part of my big, bold praying is that God will provide for this church that needs more pastors, and needs more small group leaders, and needs a pastor with more wisdom than he has. And more square footage in which to put the people who are showing up, so we can make disciples. Big, bold, audacious prayers.

What’s the impossible situation you are facing? I want you to begin to write that down. And then:

 

2. Write it out with specific wording.

 

Notice what Jesus said to a blind man in Mark 10:51: “Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’” Now, Jesus is standing looking at a man who is blind. Don’t you think his need would have been a little obvious? And yet, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus wanted him to specifically verbalize his need. “And the blind man said to him, ‘Rabbi, let me recover my sight.’”

Specific prayers get specific answers. The reason why some of you can’t point to any specific answers to prayer is because you pray so broadly and generally. Target an impossible situation and identify it with specific wording.

And then:

3. Express your confidence to God, that He is able to move on your behalf.

 

1 John 5:14 and 15, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

 

4. Verbalize your trust in God’s goodness and in God’s timing.

 

I love this verse. When you’re praying for something and it doesn’t seem like God’s answering, what am I supposed to do? Psalm 37:3-5, “Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.” What does that mean? I’m not supposed to escape the situation; I’m not supposed to sit on the sidelines—I’m supposed to keep marching, keeping fighting, keep doing what I’m supposed to be doing—every opportunity I have.

And then, “Delight yourself in the Lord…” Don’t just delight in the gift, but delight in the Giver!  “…And he will give you the desires of your heart.” And while you’re waiting, “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Trust God for His goodness and His timing.

And then, finally,

5. Thank God for His answer.

 

You say, “He hasn’t answered yet!” Thank Him anyway. Thank Him in faith. And don’t just thank Him for the answer— but thank Him for the patience He’s providing you while you wait.

1 Thessalonians 5:18, “Give thanks in all circumstances…” – the good and the bad – “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Does this mean it’s the will of God to change my circumstances? No. It’s the will of God for you in your circumstance, whatever you’re facing—you can believe that’s God will for you, until He changes it.