17 Sep IHOP (International House of Prayer) Can I have your order please? Part 3
Many years ago, the Pope was shot. During that time I remember a prominent Christian recounting an encounter he had with God during this tragedy. This Christian minister was praying over the Pope and talking with God about the millions and millions of people that must be praying right now for the Pope. The Christian minister thought God must be very busy with all the people praying. I will never forget God’s response back to the minister, “I’m not that busy at all…not that many people are praying in faith!”
The Bible tells us, “…without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). In keeping with our restaurant theme, so many of us are not placing our “order” in prayer correctly and therefore are not getting the “service” we desire.
Last week we began to lay some foundational principles of prayer and we began our discussion on “4 Powerful Principles of Prayer”:
- Prayer is a Demonstration of Love.
- Prayer is a Recognition of Grace.
This week let’s continue our discussion…
- Prayer is an Invitation to His Will (Matt. 6:10).
In Luke 4:5-6, the Bible tells us “And the devil taking Him (Jesus) into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto Him, ‘All this power will I give unto thee and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it.’”
If my Executive Pastor, Pastor Dave Goldner, came up to me today and said, “Pastor Jim, I know you are originally from Ohio. I also know how much you love the Ohio State Buckeyes. I will give you one million dollars if you’ll curse Ohio State.” That would be no temptation whatsoever because I know Pastor Dave does not have a million dollars!
This was a legitimate temptation because Adam turned his God-given “lease” to this world system over to the devil. Yes, God ultimately owns it all (see Psalm 24) but He leased it to Adam and Adam in turn “sub-leased” it to the devil (see II Cor. 4:4 and Eph. 2:2). In everyday language, the devil moved into Adam’s God-given house and God found Adam hiding in the back yard. Now just like any house owner who has rented his house, God can’t just walk in anytime He wants. God is a just God who upholds the law…He now must be invited in! God does not get to do all He wants in this world…He is waiting to be invited in! Remember this, God does not go where He’s needed…He goes where He’s invited!
Someone said, “Where was God when those two planes hit the twin towers in New York on that ill-fated day on September 11, 2001?!” The same place He’s always been when we invited Him out of our schools, court rooms and society! He is a gentleman who goes only where He is invited!
I watched Christian after Christian on television after the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech share (with good intentions but wrong information), “God has some reason for all of this.” I can tell you the reason, it just has nothing to do with God! The reason that happened is because this world system is run by the devil and he has certain crazy people do the devil’s work! Where was God in all this…where He always is waiting to be invited in to preserve, protect, heal and restore! He remains redemptive, present, and awaiting to fix man’s messes! We wrongfully assume that everything that happens is automatically the will of God, and that if it is the will of God that it will automatically happen! If that were the case, Jesus was wasting His breath when He told us to pray, “Come thy kingdom and be done thy will on earth as it is in heaven” (this is how it reads in the original Greek – see Matthew 6:6-10).
If I see my child’s car broken down on the highway he does not have to ask me, I will automatically fix his car. However, don’t ever think I love my kid more than God loves His kids…remember, there are legal issues here that God cannot break. He is love but He is just. We know it is God’s will for everyone to be saved (see I Tim. 2:4, II Pet. 3:8-9), yet people die and go to hell every day. People assume if God wanted something done…He’d already be doing it. No! The prayer of faith is His invitation!
Next week, we’ll continue our series.