Mapping Out Your Prayer Life @ WFMC

“Mapping Out Your Prayer Life – It’s Kind of Like a Clue”

9/30/07

II Chronicles 29-31

Do you have a prayer plan for your life?

It’s like the little boy getting some training from his dad on prayer. A friend took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands. When lunch time arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him. They ordered lunch, and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, "Son, we'll just have a silent prayer." Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but he just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, "What in the world were you praying about all that time?" With the innocence and honesty of a child, he replied, "How do I know? It was a silent prayer."

Do you have a prayer plan for your life?

Big question isn’t it!? That kind of question is filled with lots of little questions, like:

What is prayer? Who do I pray to?

What do I pray about? How do I pray?

Why should I pray?

If I pray, where am I going with all this? Where will it take me?

When is God most apt to listen?

There are lots of questions we have about prayer, but there is one looming question above all these. Is there really someone out there? When you call out to God, how do you know he is listening? How do you know he will answer your prayer? You see God is closer than you think.

Video – “Answering Machine”

II Chronicles 30:27b says, “and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, his holy dwelling place.”

I want to work on one thing today. How do we get our prayer to reach God, the holy dwelling place of heaven? John Kitna a week ago left the game because of a concussion, said that he prayed to be healed, and returned to the game in the 2^nd half without any of the evidence of the concussion. He claims to have been healed. He went on to lead the Lions to victory that day, including a flying leap to make a first down. The next week of course the Lions got shalacked by Philadelphia, so God was evidently teaching them humility.

Question; If John Kitna really was healed, how did John’s prayer reach heaven so fast, and the answer come so quick? Good question.

Let me give you the context of this verse we just read. It goes like this.

“The priests and the Levites stood to bless the people, and God heard them, for their prayer reached heaven, his holy dwelling place.”

This was the description of Hezekiah the present ruling king of Judah. Hezekiah was the minority of kings of Judah that did all he could to honor and worship the Lord.

You see this was not always the case. Hezekiah’s father did not call upon the Lord. Look at II chronicles 28:1-2. Ahaz did not do what was pleasing to the Lord.

In the 27^th chapter, Jotham called upon the Lord. In chapter 26, Uzziah did.

But in chapters 21 and 22, Jehoram and Ahaziah both did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

So what was it about Hezikiah that God heard his voice, his prayer reaching heaven.

Do you want your prayers to reach heaven?

Look with me at the circumstances surrounding this verse I have shared with you.

30:1 Now look at 29:1-2

This kind of gives us a clue as to why Hezekiah’s prayers reached heaven.

Let’s look at some of the clues that might tell us why Hezekiah’s prayers reached heaven. The context here is that Hezekiah, a brand new king is leading the people to the celebration of the Passover. This is the most prominent festival for the Israelites.

Look with me at 29:3 “In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord” (A new king is in town, and the first thing he does, is, go to church. Even reopens the church)

Here’s our first clue. Open the door of your heart.

When Keith proposed to April in the Christmas Eve Service, and she said yes, was it a guarantee that April would say yes? Each time we open a new door or an old one there’s risk isn’t there? Will God come through? Will he say yes. And even more generally, all of life’s doors have risks.

But not for Hezekiah. First month, first year for him. Sounds like his first action. So you believe in God like that? Would you like to open your heart like that? Remember, this is not just a church on a corner. There’s only one synagogue per town or city. And this is not just any town, this is Jerusalem. The apex of the Jewish life. So you can imagine what this mean to God as well.

Are you fearful of opening a door in your life to God? Ask your most pressing questions about prayer as you read these 3 chapters later on, or even now. Maybe the rest of this message is not for you, but this first point. Sit back and read Hezekiah’s life story in these 2 chapters. Many of your answers are there.

Let’s read on. 29:4 “He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side and said: Listen to me Levites. Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the Lord.” In other words, have a garage sale.

We find 2 clues here: 1)consecrate yourselves. Then 2)consecrate the temple.

Consecrate means: THE DEVOTING OR SETTING APART OF ANYTHING TO THE WORSHIP OR SERVICE OF GOD.

In other words, are you willing to set yourself apart to the worship and service of God?

This clue goes on – “remove all defilement from the sanctuary. Our fathers were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the Lord our God and forsook him.” And it goes on to describe how they did it. It took them a long time. Days, not hours. I’m sure they had to call in some dumpsters.

Here’s your clue: Confess your heart. Remove things from your life that you know are not honoring to God.

When we were in Lansing, we bought our first home. The couple had lived in it for 60 years. Both had passed away, so now it was an estate sale. I saw it first, and the paths through the house were narrow, with 4-6 foot stacks of newspaper and every other kind of items they saved over the years. When I went back to Judy, I described the layout. Judy loved it, and saw it in her mind. When she went it was cleared out. Good thing, cause I know Judy would not have allowed us to live there. What do you need to clear out. It took dumpsters to clear out the trash. The gentleman was a lock smith, so had need for chemicals. I was in the basement and picked up a liquid bottle laying on a shelf. It said glycerin. I gingerly set it back down. Add that to the purchase agreement, I quickly remarked.

29:10 gives another clue: Hezekiah says, “Now I intend to make a covenant with the Lord”

Here’s your clue: Make a pact with God. Say, God I am together with you in this thing. I believe.

4 things they did in their covenant with God: 1)they stood before him, 2)served him, and 3)ministered before him, 4) and burn incense before him.

Here’s your clue within this clue: When you make a new covenant with God, be specific.

I want to be specific here. My example here is something you can do for your pastors In your bulletin you received a card that says prayer partners on it. It is really the feet to this message. Calling out to God for our leaders is one of the most important things we can do. Mapping out your prayer life, could include intercessing for your leaders. In one context it was the king. In another, like here today, it’s your pastors.

Would you be willing to pray for you pastors every day, as best as possible, supporting them and encouraging them in their work? God is calling us to make the first sacrifices, the first steps to lead, the first risks knowing that every step is a new one for true leaders. Fill it out and hand it into the care team on your way out. You will begin receiving a weekly e-mail with specific ways you can pray for the pastor you have signed up for.

29:25-30 Hezekiah has them burn the first sacrifices.

The clue? Leaders always go first. Simply put: leaders lead.

29:31-36 Then Hezekiah calls all the priests and Levites to bring their sacrifices.

Here’s the clue: Good leaders follow their leader.

The final stop of our Prayers reaching heaven journey is at the beginning of Chapter 30:1 Hezekiah sends out a letter to all of Judah. Come he says and celebrate with me.

Final clue to get your prayer to heaven? Rejoice, celebrate the right things. When you start celebrating what God has given, or sent, it is only then he will send more. Do you pray and then when the answer comes you say, oh, isn’t that nice, or do you say, shazzam, like Gomer Pyle. Nobody celebrated over good news like Gomer. Of course many believe Gomer was one brick short of a load, or was he? He didn’t know better than to celebrate life’s littlest things.

Application: Prayer for your leaders. Why? If our leaders do not go first, nobody goes. King after king didn’t care to restore the temple of God, and the people followed. If we do not walk holy, and call you to holiness, there is no reason to be here. So here’s what I want you to do. Take the card in your bulletin and make a commitment to pray for one or more of your pastors.

Ezekiel gives us some real clues to think about. He lived them through his life. he lived to them for his family, he lived them for his church. He lived them for his country.

A tale is told about a small town that had historically been "dry," but then a local businessman decided to build a tavern. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that "no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not." J.K. Johnston, Why Christians Sin, Discovery House, 1992, p. 129.