Sermon -- August 3, 1997

Seeking God's Will in Prayer

2 Chronicles 1:1-12; Romans 8:26-27



"Prayer changes things," people say. It also changes us. The latter goal is the more imperative. The primary purpose of prayer is to bring us into such a life of communion with the Father, that, by the power of the Spirit, we are increasingly transformed into the image of the Son. Richard Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home .

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Introduction:

One of my favorite movies is Willie Wonka and the Chocolate factory. Don't worry, I won't try to sing any of the songs to you. It's a film that is not only brilliant entertainment, but also, for those of us who look for such things, filled with theological themes.

For the few of you who don't remember it, here's the story: Willie Wonka is the eccentric owner of a giant candy factory. But no one has seen him for years. He lives hermit-like behind the iron gates of the factory, and no one has come in or out for years. But Willie Wonka wants a successor -- someone to take over his factory. So one day he announces a wonderful prize. The five lucky children who find a golden ticket in their Wonka bars will be given a personal tour of the Chocolate factory and -- even more fantastic -- a lifetime supply of chocolate.

The world goes crazy. There's a buying frenzy. Supplies of Wonka bars can't keep up with demand. One by one the golden tickets are found. Most of them go to rich and spoiled children -- but against all odds, one of the tickets goes to the hero of the story, a poor, lonely boy named Charlie.

The big day comes and Charlie and his grandfather, along with the other prize winners, set out on their tour of the Chocolate factory, guided by Willie Wonka himself. They begin with excitement and high spirits, and who of us would not when they are looking forward to a life-time supply of chocolate? But as they proceed the children and their parents quickly learn that what appears to be a free gift has some strings attached. One by one each of the prize winners disobeys the rules and has to leave the tour.

The greedy Augustus falls into the river of chocolate
The gum chewing Violet steals gum and turns into a blueberry (to which her father exclaims, "Violet, your turning Violet, Violet!")
Veruca tries to steal a golden goose and falls into a "bad egg" chute
Mike is shrunk and transmitted to a tv

In the end only Charlie and his grandfather are left -- they seem to have made it through the gauntlet. But just as they expect to be cashing in on the promise of a life-time supply of chocolate, Willie Wonka turns them away in anger because disobeyed the rules.

The story goes on, but let's pause, because this is the point I want to capture: Charlie and his grandfather have this wonderful promise which seems unconditional -- a life-time supply of chocolate. But when they go to cash in, their hopes are dashed and they are sent away with nothing, and left confused and angry. Why? Charlie and his grandfather were confused and felt betrayed because they didn't understand what Willie Wonka was really up to. They didn't yet understand his purpose.

And once they do understand, it changes everything. The reality was that Willie Wonka wanted to give Charlie much more than a mere life-time supply of Chocolate. Willie Wonka intended Charlie to have EVERYTHING -- to make him his heir -- to give him the whole factory.

There are many different points that could be made here; to begin with let me make just one: We all have a deep need to be assured that there is a purpose or reason behind the events in our lives. We can all put up with alot of pain and alot of pressure if we're convinced that there's a purpose in it. Think of the athlete who endures enormous pain because he or she is striving for a goal -- the marathoner who puts her body through great stress in order to compete for the prize.

But when we lose the assurance that something has meaning we lose heart, we grow discouraged.

Having some sense of the purpose of things has an enormous impact on our attitudes.

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It's that way too with prayer. If we don't understand the purpose of prayer -- if we don't really understand what God wants to accomplish through our prayers -- then we are liable to become discouraged and find it hard to pray.

Especially when we are young in our faith we often come to God as if he was the source of of spiritual candy. We think about prayer as a way of getting something that we want from God. So we tell God what we want; we ask God for things; we complain to God. And there's nothing inherently wrong with these kinds of prayer. But eventually we are bound to come away confused and disappointed when God doesn't do things the way we would like. The problem is that we haven't figured out God's purposes. We don't understand what he's up to.

We dealt with this problem last week and I talked about how God sometimes uses unanswered prayer to show us his will -- and how we need to see unanswered prayer as an opportunity to widen our vision of God and his purposes.

But surely there's got to be a more positive way to discover God's purposes than just waiting for God to say no! It would seem kind of silly to pray everything that comes to mind just to find out if it's God's will or not. I'd much rather have some postive inkling of what God's will IS so that I can pray accordingly.

You see, as we get to know God better, we begin to grow in our desire to seek God's will rather than our own. [Analogy of children growing up]

We want our desires to match God's desires. We want our prayers to reflect God's will and God's purposes. We desire to seek God's will in prayer. But how are we to do this? How can we know what God's will is?

So that's the topic for today: Seeking God's will in prayer.

Turn with me to II Chronicles 1: 1-12. On page ______ in your pew Bible.

Now here we have a clear-cut case of a prayer that was in harmony with the will of God.

God says to Solomon: "Ask whatever you want." Solomon says, "well, you know I'm feeling kind of unequal to this job you've given me -- all I really want is wisdom to rule well."

And what is God's response? YES, RIGHT ANSWER! JACKPOT! Take what you asked for and everything else too!

Wouldn't you like to have God respond that way to you? So what's the deal? What is it about Solomon's prayer that made God so happy? What's the secret here?

I think it's this: Solomon didn't ask God to change anyone else, or to change his circumstances -- he asked God to change his own heart. And by praying in this way, Solomon hit at the heart of God's purposes, because God is much more concerned with our character than with our comfort or convenience. The primary purpose of prayer is to change us -- not to change circumstances, not to change world events-- but to change you and me into the image of his son.

That is my one and only point this morning. There are other points in your outline, but you can ignore those or fill them in yourselves. I'm going to stick with this one point, so let me repeat it:

God's desire is to transform you and me into the image of his son, and the primary purpose of prayer is not to change outward circumstances, but to change us to become more like Jesus.

The passage from Romans that Dan read at the beginning of the service reinforces this point. Romans 8:28 and 29 -- "And we know that all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -- and what is his purpose -- read on: "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son , that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." God's purpose is for us to become like Jesus -- sons and daughters of God -- heirs of the kingdom of God.

So, if you want to seek God's will in prayer, the place to begin is with Solomon, asking God to change you. This is the one aspect of God's will that you never need have any doubt about: It is ALWAYS Gods will that you become more gentle with your children; It is ALWAYS God's will that you be more kind to your roomate; It is ALWAYs God's will that you be more joyful in everything; It is ALWAYS God's will that you be more patient with your boss or co-workers. The fruit of the Spirit should always be in season. If you want to be absolutely sure that you are praying according to God's will, this is the place to begin.

How does this work in practice? Let's imagine a couple of scenarios:

Case number 1. Your car just died. You have no idea how you're going to pay for repairs, or whether it is even wise to repair it. How do you pray? What might it mean to seek God's will in this circumstance? Well, you will almost certainly pray that God will somehow provide for your needs -- and there's nothing wrong with praying that way. But you most likely have no idea how God might do that. You don't know whether it's God's will for you to buy a spanking new car or maybe even to go without a car for a while. But one thing you can know for certain: It is God's will that you be thankful in all circumstances, it is God's will that you learn to trust Him more. If you pray first, like Solomon, that God will change your heart then you can not only be assured of an answer -- you can also trust that God will take care of your other needs as well.

Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when he told his disciples, "seek first His kingdom, and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself."

Case number 2. You are facing serious conflict in a relationship.





Case number 3. You are facing severe loneliness.






So if you want to seek God's will in prayer, begin with yourself, because God's primary purpose for you is to transform you to the likeness of his son.

But once you have gotten in the habit of praying this way about your own needs and situation, it is bound to effect the way that you pray for other people as well. Instead of just praying for their external circumstances, we can begin to see them the way God sees them.

I have often been intrigued by the difference between Paul's prayers recorded in scripture and my own prayers. I think I've discovered the reason. When I pray I tend to think of the externals of people's lives. But listen to how Paul prays for the Ephesians-- Look at Ephesians, 1: 15-19.

Now if I was to paraphrase this to match my normal pattern of prayer it would probably go something like this:

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious father will take care of all of your material needs in accordance with his great riches. I pray that God will provide you with the job and the comfortable house that you so badly need. I pray also that you will stay healthy and prosperous so that you will know how much God cares about you.

A bit exaggerated perhaps, but You get the idea.

So let's say you have been praying for someone who is in real need -- let's say they lost their job. How can you pray according to God's will? Well, you have no idea what God's will is with regard to their job -- but you can be absolutely certain that God wants to use this circumstance to make them more like Christ, and that is how you should pray for them.