Title: Why Prayer Doesn't Work
2011.3.20 Sunday morning worship service
Bible: James 4:2-3
Title: Why I Can't Pray
James 4:2-3 ‘2. You lust, and you do not have, you murder; you envy and you cannot get, so you fight and fight.
Jesus also prayed (Luke 22:44, Hebrews 5:7) and commanded us to pray (Matthew 26:41). It is even said that it is a sin to stop praying (1 Samuel 12:23). What are the reasons why prayer life is not working well? Why can't I have a prayer life? Today, I hope that you will become people who can pray well as we share the sermon under the title of <Why prayer is not working.
1. for lack of repentance
Unbelievers do not pray because they do not believe in God. The problem is that a believer who believes in God always prays like an unbeliever, but does not normally pray. Unbelievers don't believe, so why don't believers pray? James 4:2 'You lust, and you have not, you murder, you envy and you cannot get, so you fight and fight...' In verse 3, it says that if you pray with this, there will be no answer. Isaiah 1:15 “When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you, and though you pray many times, I will not hear you, for your hands are full of blood.”
2. Lack of faith
Good faith can be proportional to praying a lot. I don't have a prayer life, so I can't have good faith. When a beggar goes to beg, he looks at someone who can give and asks for help. Rather, they would avoid it. Just as the saints avoid the temple, they avoid it unless it is a place to seek them. However, there is a problem in that the saints avoid God and the house of God. Our God is not a dead idol god, so why do we avoid it and not approach it? God is an almighty, non-human god and our Father, so why do we live without getting close to him? It is because you do not believe in the living God or you are not building trust in God.
Proverbs 3:6 “Acknowledge him in everything, and he will direct your ways.” Hebrews 11:6 “Without faith it is impossible to please God. He who comes to God must be there, and he rewards those who diligently seek him. 'Matt 13:58 'Because of their unbelief, he did not do many miracles there.'
3. Because there is no hope
Christianity's hope is a religion that lives with a tremendous hope that even sees the afterlife. Therefore, it is absurd that the saints have no dreams and no reason to pray. The Apostle Paul was truly a zealous servant. It was because they were full of hope to spread the gospel to as many people as possible. Phil 3:13-14 ‘13. Brethren, I do not yet consider myself to have taken hold of myself, but do one thing: forgetting what is behind and grasping what is ahead. 14 I run toward the goal for the reward of the above call of God in Christ Jesus.”
There are two types of people who no longer have wishes and dreams. One is a person who is satisfied with their reality and settles in that place, and the other is a person who has a sense of challenge. Such a person should have the opportunity to see and hear about the circumstances and history of others. That will be a challenge.
Depending on how much hope you have in your heart, you will need prayer. Those who do not have a wish in their heart will not need prayer, and if their wish in their heart is as small as a fingernail, they will pray as much as they wish, and if their wish is as large as a mountain in their heart, it will be burdensome.
There are people who will say that we only have to go to heaven, why do we need to pray a lot and live on our own? Even waiting for heaven will come in due time... It's not like waiting. 2 Peter 3:12 “Look and yearn for the coming of the day of God, for in that day the heavens will be dissolved with fire, and the elements will melt with scorching fire.”
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith, so that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Those who have hope are those who have the power of the Holy Spirit. Those who have withered the work of the Holy Spirit will lose hope and weaken their prayers. We must receive the Holy Spirit through repentance, wash away sins from our hearts, look to God, and pray with a desire. When the world sees us, we need to give the impression that we can have dreams, put hope, and pray together. Believers do not have a prayer life, but there is no way that unbelievers would come to church and pray. Christian believers pray and pray because they are full of hope.