Answered Prayer - Pastor Jeff Schreve

[Music] welcome to from his heart where pastor Jeff Shrieve is in an inspiring new series entitled holy boldness lessons from Elijah the prophet of fire in today's message he'll share the secret to experiencing answered prayer [Music] [Music] stories told of a man who had a dream and in his dream he died and he went to heaven Saint Peter met him at the gates of heaven this man was a believer and Peter welcomed him in and he said I'm here to show you around heaven and he he began to show this man all the wonders of heaven and the man was just beyond himself with awe and Wonder and an excitement and they were looking at the streets of gold and the gates of pearl and all the beauties of heaven and then he saw out in the distance a building that looked kind of like a warehouse and he said to Peter he said what is that over there and Peter said all that that's a place you don't want to go over there he said no I do I want to find out what's over there it's it's just a strange building for heaven with no windows and Peter said it alright I'll take you over there he said that's a warehouse and they went into the warehouse and the man saw racks and racks and racks of gifts beautifully wrapped gifts and he said Peter what is this and he said this is the warehouse of all the unclaimed blessings things that the Lord wanted to do in people's lives but they didn't seek his face they didn't get in on the program of answered prayer and so the gifts went Unruh Civil Igea the profit of fire we're calling this series holy boldness because Elijah had such a boldness a holy boldness for the Lord and one of the things about Elijah that is brought out in the New Testament is that Elijah was a great man of God because he was a great man of Prayer Elijah knew how to pray how to connect with God how to get his prayers answered James the half-brother of the Lord Jesus Christ said this in his epistle the effective prayer chapter 5 the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months and he prayed again no doubt earnestly and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit now notice this about Elijah he's not Superman he's just a man he's a man with the nature like ours he had a human nature just like you have just like I had and he prayed earnestly that it wouldn't rain it didn't rain on the earth for three and a half years and then he prayed again that it would rain and the sky burst forth and the earth produced its fruit Elijah was a guy who knew how to pray he knew how to get his prayers answered he knew the secret of answered prayer now I'm convinced many people that don't understand the secret of answered prayer they don't know how to get their prayers answered and because they don't really know how to get their prayers answered they don't really pray very much and they don't pray with earnestness as Elijah pray they don't pray with confidence as Elijah prayed they don't pray with power and they don't pray with much effectiveness so let me ask you a question when's the last time you asked God for something very specific you know Lord blessed me is not a specific prayer you wouldn't know if he did or not really because it's just so general when's the last time you asked God for something very specific and God answered your specific request with his specific answer to that request and showed you that he hears you and he is a God who answers prayer you know for some it's been a long time for some in this room it's you'd have to say uh I don't think I've ever had that happen all that can change today as we study the prayer life of Elijah and see the secret to answered prayer first Kings chapter 18 just to bring everyone up to speed Elisha comes on the scene in 1st Kings chapter 17 he goes up against wicked King Ahab and says the King Ahab who's trying along with his wife Jezebel his wicked wife Jezebel who's trying to eradicate the worship of Yahweh Jehovah God and replace Jehovah God with bail and so she has the false prophets of bale and bales female consort the Asherah she has 450 prophets of bail and 400 prophets of the Asherah and they daily eat at Jezebel's table they're invited into the White House so to speak and they they take over spiritually and all of Israel is hesitating between two opinions well we want to worship bail because that's what a hab says to do but but then you know we were told from our forefathers we need to worship Yahweh and so there there's riding the fence and so God sends the Elijah to Ahab and says go tell him no more rain and so Elijah said hey there's not gonna be any more rain except by my word because of the sin that you're bringing upon Israel he called him a troubler of Israel and so the Lord takes they lies away and he hides them away for three and a half years there's no rain for three and a half years serious serious problem when there's no rain for that long and then God says to him in first Kings chapter 18 go show yourself to Ahab and I'm gonna send rain on the earth and he shows himself to Ahab there's the big showdown on Mount Carmel who is God the one that answers by fire he is God bales prophets they are a big goose egg they can't get bailed to do anything because bales not God and when Elijah calls on the name of the Lord he answers with fire and the people respond and they said the Lord he is God the Lord he is God and then the Elijah says gather up the prophets of bale and they seize them Alijah slew them there at the brook Keshawn and then it says this in verse 41 now he Elijah said to Ahab go up eat and drink for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower so ahab went up to eat and drink but Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel and he crouched down on the earth and he put his face between his knees and he said to his servant go up now look toward the sea so he went up and looked and said there is nothing and he said go back seven times and it came about at the seventh time that he said behold a cloud as small as a man's hand is coming up from the sea and he said go up say to Ahab prepare your chariot and go down so that the heavy shower does not stop you so it came about in a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind and there was a heavy shower and Ahab road and went to Jezreel then the hand of the Lord was on Elijah and he girded up his loins and outran a hab to Jezreel what's the secret to answered prayer I want you to notice with me three steps to getting your prayers answered three steps to getting your prayers answered step number one answered prayer comes when we get our hearts right with God that's the very first step if I'm going to see God answer my prayers I got to make sure my heart's right with him and so I have to take that first step to get my heart right with the Lord psalm 66 verse 18 the Lord says there the scripture says this if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me if I have a regard for sin if I have a place in my heart that that I have a little secluded spot for some iniquity some transgression some sin some idle if I have it there in my heart the Bible says hey forget it you're not gonna get your prayers answered God's not gonna hear you it says in Isaiah 59 verses 1 & 2 behold the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot say neither is easy or so dull that he cannot hear but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God and your sins has have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear he will not hear when you have sin in your heart and you have a regard for sin now very interesting the drought came as a result of God's Word God's Word in Deuteronomy chapter 11 the Lord had said through Moses you know Deuteronomy is just Moses last three sermons to the people before the Lord was going to take him to to heaven and he said to the people listen thus says the Lord if you forget me when you go into the land of promise and you start to worship other gods let me tell you what's gonna happen I'm gonna shut up heaven and there's not going to be any rain for you until you get things right because if you go after the the false gods and the idols that are there in Canaan it's not going to go well for you and this will be the sign there's not going to be any rain well Elijah knew what the Lord had said and Elijah came to Ahab and he just claimed the word of God and says this is what's going to happen no more rain and so there wasn't any rain for three and a half years and then in 1st Kings chapter 18 the Lord says hey go show yourself to Ahab I'm gonna bring rain but before God was going to bring rain they had to deal with the idolatry they had to take care of the prophets of bale they had to get the people off the fence how long will you hesitate between two opinions if the Lord is God follow him if Bale follow him but you but get off the fence of compromise get off the fence of non-commitment and the people did and they said the Lord he is God the Lord he is God and then they slew the prophets of Bale the 450 prophets of bale hey what's the first step in getting your prayers answered you got to get your heart right with God you got to put to death the idols in your life you have to deal with any idolatry before the rain can fall now the rain is obviously God's blessing upon his people and all of us want the rain to fall the old song says mercy drops around us are falling but for the showers we plead and we want you to pour it out upon us and God says well you got to get yourself on blessing ground and if you if you have a regard for iniquity in your heart you're not on blessing ground I'm not gonna hear your prayer and I'm gonna do for you you have to deal with the idolatry now Old Testament idolatry was some kind of a statue something that you could see that people would bow down to we don't have that really in America today they have it in other parts of the world but we don't have that in America but we have our idols see what's an idol an idol is anything that you love more than God anything you fear more than God anything you desire more than God and the very first commandment of the ten commandments as I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery you shall have no other gods before me and so when we have idolatry that hits our heart it's when some thing as Toni Eman says an idol is a noun it's a person place a thing it's some thing that takes priority over God and the Lord says in Revelation chapter two to the church in Ephesus I have this against you that you've left your first love that you used to love me with all your heart but now other things are more important than I am that's a terrible sin and we have to deal with the idols that get into our hearts see that Idol could be a husband or a wife that Idol could be a son or a daughter that Idol could be football or golf or money for many it's money that's why Jesus said no man can serve two masters either he will hate the one and love the other he a hold the one and despise the other you can't serve God and riches and that's that tends to be the American Idol in our country we deal with that and so the Lord says hey if you want to hear from me if you want to see me answer your prayer that's the very first step you got to get rid of the idols and you got to deal with that stuff and listen when you deal with the idols in your life we like to kind of manage those idols we like to kind of coddle those idols we like to think we can control those idols so we don't get rid of them entirely we just say well I'm gonna put them over to the side Lord and then I can pull them out if I want to play with them the Lord says no you don't do that you know manage them you're mortifying you don't coddle them you crucify them those who belong to Christ Jesus the Bible says have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires you take the idols and you smash them and you take the profits of bail and you slay them and you get serious about the Lord James 4:4 says this you adulteresses do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God therefore whoever wishes to make himself a friend of this world makes himself an enemy of God and enemies of God don't get in on the blessings of God so that's the very first step good news is this if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Bible says in proverbs chapter 28 verse 13 he who conceals his transgressions will not prosper but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion from the Lord so they had to deal with the idolatry you and I have to deal with the idolatry if we're going to get in on this thing called answered prayer second step toward answered prayer answered prayer comes when we not only get our hearts right but when we hear and align ourselves with God when we hear from the Lord and align ourselves with God and his plan first Kings chapter 18 it says the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year saying go show yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the earth clear word from the Lord to Elijah now when we read how God spoke to the Old Testament prophets doesn't say how he did it doesn't say did Elijah hear a voice from heaven was it like Moses at the burning bush where the Lord spoke from the bush could have been we don't know it was God communicating the word of the Lord came to him could have been came to him in his heart you know I have never heard the Lord speak audibly to my ears but I've heard him speak into my heart I've heard him impressed something on my heart you know when he speaks inside like that that can be a louder voice than if he speaks to your ears so the the God of the universe he communicated with Elijah and the word was clear now how does God do that to us today well God speaks primarily through his word and always in agreement with his word God's word is his mind in print God's Word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword the Bible is alive and the Bible is not like other books you read other books but the Bible reads you and when you spend time in this book you'll find that this book that the words just kind of leap off the page and there's something different about the Bible than any other book because it's God breathed and the breath of God is on this book and so as you read the Bible you hear from God because God speaks primarily through his word and always in agreement with his word what does that mean it means that God is never gonna impress upon you something to do that's opposite from what his word says sometimes you hear people say well you know I think God told me to leave my spouse and married this other person at work and guarantee he didn't tell you to do that so how do you know that because God says he hates divorce that's why because God doesn't want to see families torn apart that's why and so anytime you say well I think God's telling me to do this and this doesn't match up with the word then you know that's not God telling you to do that it's the enemy telling you to do that it's your flesh that's matching up with that saying yeah that's what I want to do but you're not hearing from God so God speaks through his word and in agreement with his word always and then God answers prayer keep that in mind that's how he speaks he answers prayer that is rooted in his word and rooted in his will why do we not see more things happen that we pray for because so much of the time we pray for our will and you know what God's not interested in your will or my will he's interested in his will here's the prayer promise from first John chapter 5 and this is the confidence which we had before him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us and if we know that he hears us and whatever we ask we know that we have the requests which we have asked from him but we have to ask according to his will now his word and his will they're linked together they're linked together how do I know the will of God by spending time in the Word of God because the Word of God is God's mind in print God's will in print God's desires in print and so I can find out what his will is as I spend time in his word sometimes we think well you know any prayer is one of these things that we have to do to somehow overcome God's reluctance to answer our prayer so many of us think like that you know it's like well you know you got to pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and the Lord says well you know if you pray about that for three more years I might think about and somehow we're trying to get God to do something he doesn't want to do kind of like when you were a little kid or your little kids can do that to you if they whine long enough about something you're like fine I'll buy you candy just just be quiet and listen don't ever get the idea that prayers like that that we badger God to get him to do something he doesn't want us want to do just so he gets us off his back that's not the God of the Bible that's not what prayer is prayer is not overcoming God's reluctant it's getting in on God's willingness and God's willingness is in his word it's in his will and he says if you'll pray according to my will you can have tremendous confidence as you pray and you can know that I'm gonna do what I said I wanted to do George Mueller was born in the early 1800s he was from Bristol England he's known as the man of Prayer George Mueller was the guy that's a picture of George Mueller different looking cat but he was known as a man of Prayer tremendous faith and prayer those work together the things that he did just amazing he started an orphanage with 50 cents and just on the sheer power of prayer 50 cents became 7.5 million dollars he just asked the Lord he did saw God do amazing things as he prayed I love what he said concerning prayer he said for him prayer was always a matter of finding a promise in the Word of God he said if there was something on my heart I looked through the Word of God till I found a promise in the Word of God that matched up with this need that I could say well Lord you I feel this is impressed on my heart and this is what you say in your word and he said I would put my finger on the verse and read that back to God and say God this is what you have said and Lord I'm claiming your word you know we have people today they talk about name it and claimant listen that is not biblical to name it and claim God names it and when God names it then you can claim it and when you can find a promise where the Lord says this is what I will do then you can put your finger on that and say God this is what you said and God untrusting what you said and I'm praying according to your will God answers prayers that are rooted in his word and in his will he said well what about if there's something like Lord I want a spouse where do I find that promise one of the greatest promises that I found is Psalm 37 verse 4 says this delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart delight yourself in the Lord and he'll give you the desires of your heart now what does that mean to delight yourself in the Lord the word delight literally means to make yourself soft to make yourself pliable I always think of the picture of the the Potter and the clay God is the Potter thou art the Potter I am the clay and so the job of the clay is to be soft and pliable in the hands of the master and if I will be soft and pliable in the hands of the master and I will say Lord I want to go your way wherever your way is then God says if you'll delight in me I'll give you the desires of your heart because your desires and God's desires will then match oh and God doesn't just blow past if you have a desire in your hearts to be married to have a family God doesn't say well I'm not concerned about that God loves you God's a good God so God says you just continue to make yourself soft and pliable in my hands and I'll give you the desires of your heart you can trust me with that and he doesn't say when he just says that he's gonna do that so he answers prayers that are rooted in his word and in his will and God answers prayer through a relationship not a ritual now here is what Eli just said in verse 41 he said to Ahab go up eat and drink for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower listen there are no clouds in the sky and a hadn't ranged three and a half years there's no evidence at all that rain is coming just that God said in first Kings eighteen one that he was gonna send rain so when when there no clouds a Habs not hearing any thunder and thing like that but Elijah is Elijah is why because he's hearing with the ears of faith he's seeing with the eyes of faith the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1 faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen and as Elijah got close to the Lord in his relationship he could hear from the Lord and he could hear things that the Lord wanted him to hear many of us we don't get close enough to the Lord to hear what he wants us to hear you know how God speaks as we're gonna find out next week he doesn't speak in a booming voice he speaks primarily in a still small voice in the sound of a gentle whisper and if you're gonna hear a gentle whisper you got to get close some of us are too far away from the Lord we can't hear him and and what do we do when it comes to prayer we go through the ritual of prayer and God said I'm not interested in the ritual of prayer I'm not interested in you check in a bunch of boxes that's how lots of us pray we check a bunch of boxes we just kind of blah blah blah our way through it mine's a million miles away but well I said this I said this I said this I said this and the Lord says that yeah I don't care about any of that stuff because I'm a God who wants a relationship and so answered prayer comes through a relationship with God not through ritual not just through going through the motions you know the Lord Jesus spoke of that in Matthew chapter 6 where he talked about prayer and he said don't use meaningless repetition when you pray that's what the Gentiles do he said they think they're gonna be heard because of their many words he said no when you pray you just share your need with me your father knows what you need even before you ask it so you just you just share from the heart to the God who loves you it's all about relationship you know it's really interesting about George Mueller this great and a prayer somebody who wasn't a very strong Christian prayed with him once and he said he was shocked at how Mueller prayed he said it was like I was praying with an eight-year-old I mean he's not William Shakespeare when he prays he doesn't have these lofty words and vocabulary when he prays he's just a child coming before his dad and he sees prayer answered because he's in relationship to God hey Eli just saw his prayers answered why because he knew it was rooted in the will of God it was rooted in the Word of God it was rooted in a relationship with God and that's the second step first step I got to get my heart right second step I got again aligned with God and I have to hear from him step number three answered prayer comes when we persist with confidence verse 41 now as I just said to ahab go up eat and drink for there's the sound of the roar of a heavy shower so ahab went up to eat and drink but Elijah went up to the top of mount carmel and he crouched down to the earth and put his face between his knees and he said to his servant go up now look toward the sea so he went up and looked and said there is nothing and he said go back seven times so here's Elijah he hears the sound of the roar of the heavy shower nothing in the sky nobody else is hearing anything but he hears it because he's hearing with ears of faith he tells they have go up and eat and then Elijah goes to a place on top of Mount Carmel and he gets down crouches down I can't this is about as far as I can go he gets down and he puts his head between his knees and you know that's a picture of humility to get down before the Lord and get your head down but you know what else it's a picture of I never thought about this before but it's true it's a picture of a woman in the Old Testament giving birth you know women in the Old Testament they didn't get on a table and and lie horizontal to give birth they would squat down to give birth which makes a lot of sense because there's this thing called gravity that really helps in the birthing process and so that's what they would do and they would have midwives that would help them and when they'd get down then what do you do you have to push and so you're down there low and then you're pushing to give birth Elijah is getting ready to give birth to an answer to prayer birth to a miracle that after three and a half years rain is going to come and the earth is going to produce its fruit so I want you to notice about his prayer it was earnest prayer the answered prayer is earnest prayer if this is a picture of giving birth one of the things you know about being in labor ladies is it's painful it gets your attention I mean you're not thinking about other things you're focusing in on that and when you're pushing man you're pushing with all your might because you want to get this baby out there was earnestness that means this sincerity that means an intense conviction of focus the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much so often our prayers just still and they don't have much earnestness they don't have much fervency they're just kind of like now you see it now you don't where was that there it goes oh it's just as milquetoast it's just kind of mushy God says you know when you pray those mushy kind of prayers I'm thinking that you're not very serious about this there were three paid preachers on a street corner and they were talking about fervent prayer earnest prayer and they were talking about the positions of Prayer there was a man they worked for the telephone company he was working on a telephone line right by them on this street corner and he was overhearing their conversation the first pastor said well he said you know you want to have earnest fervent prayer he said what you have to do is get on your knees you get down on your knees and then that's the position of Prayer the other preacher said no he said what you got to do is you said how to stand up you stand up and you raise your hands to the Lord and that's the position of Prayer and that gets your prayers connected to God that brings earnestness and fervency and the other guy says the third preacher said no both of you guys are wrong what you have to do is you have to get down on your face before the Lord and you get down in your face before the Lord and that brings fervency and that brings earnestness and the telephone repairman said hey guys I hate to butt in but let me tell you I prayed the most fervent prayer when I was fifty feet up on a telephone pole hanging upside down I mean that brought the fervency I mean when though when you're in a situations like I may not make it here then I begin to pray then I begin to pray none of us like to go through hard times we don't like the bad reports from the doctor we don't like the difficulties but what happens when the difficulties come your prayers change I mean all of a sudden now you're starting to pray why because you're desperate one of the problems in America is we have so much there's so much affluence so that we don't feel like we really need God people in other countries they pray with fervency why because they know if God doesn't come through I can't make it we need to depend upon God like that if we depend upon God like that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much its earnest prayer an answered prayer is unrelenting prayer he so he prays this is kind of interesting when he prayed earlier for the fire to fall God show that you're of God and the fire fell and licked up the the water and the sacrifice and the wood and the stone and everything and the people said the Lord he is God the Lord he is God that happened just like that just immediately it came but now he's praying for rain which God had said he was going to bring and he prays and nothing happened I mean can we relate to that I can relate to that a lot better than I pray and boom the fire Falls immediately I mean it's you pray and there's nothing so what's so what's the deal God you said you were gonna do this but there's nothing so then I pray again hey go check and see if there's a cloud again there's nothing go a third time nothing go a fourth time nothing go a fifth time nothing goes six times nothing okay god I forget I forget it I quit I'm packing up my prophet stuff and going back to Tisch B I mean I guess you don't want to do what you said you were gonna do that's not what he did he kept praying send him back a seventh time you know there's something about God he loves persistence why because persistence shows there were serious earnestness and fervency shows were serious and persistence shows that were serious and Jesus told two parables that come to my mind they talk about persistence see about the woman with the unrighteous judge he preferenced that parable in Luke chapter 18 with these words men ought always to pray and not to faint not to lose heart not to quit not to throw in the towel and the woman kept coming before the judge give me legal protection against my opponent against my adversary and it just says I don't fear God I don't care about man but I'm going to answer this woman's petition because she is wearing me out Jesus told another parable about the friend that came at midnight remember that he comes to his friend at midnight he knocks on the door he said hey open up the guys like go away I'm we're down for the night he said no you got to open up I had a friend that showed up at my place and I have to feed him and I don't have enough to feed him so you're gonna have to give me some bread so I can feed him he said go away I'm not doing that it's midnight and he wouldn't leave kept knocking he kept knocking kept knocking finally the guy got up and gave him what he needed and Jesus said do you know why I got up not because he was his friend but because of his persistence God loves persistence hey have you thrown in the towel on something you're praying about something that you know is the will of God but you say I don't think this is work listen in so many marriages where we have difficulties in marriages we need to remember that God his will is that a husband loves his wife and Ally a wife respects her husband he doesn't want the marriage to be torn apart so you have great confidence to pray God save my marriage God changed me to be the spouse you want me to be God do a work here and I'm not gonna give up I'm gonna keep knocking I'm gonna keep knocking I'm gonna keep knocking hey it's better to die in faith than to live in doubt so if it doesn't happen so would you stand before the Lord and say well Lord I believed you too much I guess I shouldn't have believed you that much no you want to believe God all the way to the end it's unrelenting prayer answered prayer is unwavering prayer unwavering prayer what does that mean means you don't need you don't lose steam you don't start to doubt it's like Abraham when God gave him the promise that he was gonna give him a son and abraham considered his own body as good as dead in this body of his wife as good as dead and he said how is this gonna happen based on the promise of god and it says in romans chapter 4 yet with respect to the promise of god he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith knowing that what he had promised he was also able to perform it's the george mueller thing god you put your finger on the promise god this is what you said this is what you said god if you don't do what you said god then you would be a liar and i know you're not a liar god and i know it says in the book of kings with solomon that no word of your good promise has ever failed and so god this is what you promised and I'm clinging to your promise god loves it when we do that because it shows them that we believe answered prayers unwavering prayer and it says in verse 44 and it came about at the seventh time that he said behold a cloud as small as a man's hand is coming up from the sea and he said go up say to Ahab prepare your chariot and go down so that the heavy shower does not stop you so it came about in a little while that the sky grew black with clouds and wind and there was a heavy shower and Ahab Road and went to Jezreel seventh time hey what do you see servant I see a cloud and it's the size of a man's hand literally just his palm as some translations say the size of the cloud the size of a man's fist that's a little cloud little cloud that's all Elijah needed and he said that's it that's my sign from God that's when he's going to bring the rain you go tell a hab hitch up his chariot get it ready and go down to Jezreel it's 15 mile trip to Jezreel go down to Jezreel so the heavy shower doesn't overtake him he just believed God and he saw God answer and then lastly answered prayer is strengthening prayer then the hand of the Lord was on Elijah and he girded up his loins and outran they have two Jezreel hey Habs in a chariot chariots pulled by horses Elijah I mean he's not a track star but the hand of the Lord was on him so he could take his robe and he could stuff it into his belt and he could run and he was running like the wind and the Bible says in Isaiah 40:31 the day that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint and God gives you strength as he answers your prayer one of the things I'm not good at doing this but I need to start doing this as have a prayer book and in the prayer book have requests on one side and answers on the other requests and answers and when you see the answers to your specific prayers if their general prayers is hard to know if they're answered but if they're specific prayers and God specifically answers that strengthens your faith because you say see you see what he did here and you see what he did here and the God who worked in the past is is still the same God and he can work in my present and he can work in this problem that I'm facing right now and it strengthens your faith George Mueller had a book like that he had fifty thousand prayers in it he said that five thousand of them were answered the same day five thousand I love the story that I ran across about his life see there's more about George Mueller that we know about as a relative contemporary than there is Elijah Elijah was a man of Prayer and Mueller was a man of prayer and when George Mueller was 70 years old he lived to be 92 or 93 92 I think when he was 70 years old he began to go out to preach the gospel around the world he logged 120,000 miles on the sea in 17 years well he was off the coast of Newfoundland and the fog was thick and the ship wasn't moving very quickly and he had a conversation with the captain and the captain shared this story the captain said I was a marginal Christian and he said but Muller was on the ship and everything changed when I had this conversation in this encounter with George Muller he said he came up to me he said I was on the bridge I'd been on the bridge for 24 hours because the fog was so thick and it was a scary time on the sea and Muller came up to me and said captain I've come to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon he said it was Wednesday I told him it's impossible he said very well if your ship can't take me God will find some other means of locomotion to take me I've never broken broken an engagement in 57 years he the captain said well you know I'd willingly take you but I'm helpless he said how can I help you he said let's go down to the chart room and pray and the captain said I looked at this guy you saw a picture of it he looked a little odd he said I looked at this guy and thought to myself what lunatic asylum could that man have come from I've never heard of such a thing he said mr. Mueller do you know how dense the fog is and he said no my eye is not on the density of the fog but on the Living God who controls my every circumstance the captain said that Mueller got on his knees and prayed one of the most simple prayers he was the one who said he prayed like he's eight or nine years old and this was his prayer Oh Lord if it is consistent with your will free please remove this fog in five minutes you know the engagement you made for me in Quebec on Saturday I believe it is your will for me to make that engagement said when he finished the captain was getting ready to pray and Muller put his hand on his shoulder and said you don't need to pray he said to him first you don't believe his will and you don't believe that God will do this and second I believe you already has answered and there's no need whatever for you to pray about it he said I looked at him and Muller said captain I have known my Lord for 57 years and there has never been a single day that I have failed to gain an audience with the king get up captain and open the door and you will find the fog is gone he said I got up and the fog was gone George Muller believed God and he got to his appointment in Quebec on time [Applause] Elijah believed God and God did amazing things they think back to that dream all those things in that warehouse of heaven how many packages are up there with your name on them unclaimed blessings from God answered prayers from God things he wanted to do but you didn't call upon his name you weren't very serious about prayer you didn't get in on his will and on his plan and you left so many things unruhe sieved and we can change that starting today my friend we've been talking about holy boldness taking a stand for Jesus Christ and listen you can't do that until you know for certain you have a personal relationship with him until you know for certain that you've been born again has that ever happened in your life if not it can today pray this prayer from your heart just say Lord Jesus I need you I know that I'm a sinner I'm lost and I can't save myself but Jesus I believe that you are God in the flesh I believe you died on the cross for my sins and rose again on the third day and Lord right now I ask you to come into my life forgive me of all my sins change me from the inside out make me the person you want me to be I surrender my all to you Lord Jesus my friend if you'll pray that kind of prayer and mean it the Lord will come in and your life will never be the same I'd love to hear from you to know that you're watching to know that God is using this broadcast to make a difference in your life to know that you just prayed that prayer to receive Christ as Savior and Lord please take the time to call that toll-free number write me email me let me know what's going on and how we can pray for you you really are important to God you're important to us and we're here for you thank you for watching from his heart the viewer supported broadcast ministry of dr. Jeff Shrieve who believes that no matter how badly you've messed up in life God still loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life you can find out more about that plan when you go - from his heart not barging [Music] you you

Channel: From His Heart Ministries

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Id: Y6TEKKwWbEs

Length: 47min 25sec (2845 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 15 2018