You Might Be a Healthy Christian If... You Pray Continually, Even When Things Are Good

A bus driver named Christianus, who drove a route from Richland Center to Madison

every day, and an old free Methodist minister named Timotheus,

arrived at the same time at the pearly gates.

I'm sure you will notice that the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

St. Peter welcomed them to their eternal resting place and invited them to join

him as he escorted them to the homes prepared just for them.

The minister thought to himself, this is just what Jesus spoke about in the

book of Job, and I wonder what my mansion is going to look like.

St. Peter loaded the two into heaven's limousine and began to transport them

down the golden streets.

They passed many beautiful sights and throngs of people singing and praising God.

Soon they pulled up in front of a beautiful mansion with a well-manicured lawn. on.

The minister thought, wow, I was right.

This is an awesome place. I can't wait for my wife to join me up here.

His thoughts were interrupted, however, as he heard St.

Peter say, Pastor, please remain seated and rest comfortably as I take Christianus

and get him settled into his new home.

Pastor Timotheus thought, wow, if this is the bus driver's place, my mansion must be huge.

After 30 years of preaching God's word, the rewards must be phenomenal.

Soon St. Peter came out of Christianus' mansion and got back into the limo.

Pastor Timotheus said, boy, Pete, that place is great. I wonder what mine's going to be like.

Peter simply said, Father knows best, and continued driving.

Not far away, Peter crossed the heavenly railroad tracks—he was on the other

side of the tracks—and pulled up in front of a small, quaint,

yet pleasant-looking cottage.

He turned to the minister and

said, Welcome to your home for eternity that Father has prepared for you.

The minister was absolutely dumbfounded, trying to sound humble and not sound hurt.

The minister said to Peter, I don't mean to sound ungrateful,

but I'm a little confused.

You see, Christianus has been driving a bus his entire adult life,

and he was given a beautiful mansion.

But I've been preaching God's word faithfully for all these years,

and all I get is a small bungalow in my eternal home.

Softly, Peter replied, well, it's really quite simple, pastor.

When you preached, everybody slept.

When he drove the bus, everybody prayed. And so what drives you to your knees in prayer? Is it fear?

Is it desperation? Is it the uncertainty of life? Is it hardship? Is it sickness and pain?

Is it even just getting up in the morning? What is it that drives you to your knees in prayer?

About two weeks ago, on September 11th, we observed the 23rd anniversary of

the terrorist attacks on America in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.

When it all happened, America and the world vowed that they would never forget.

But unfortunately, America has forced itself to forget, and the attackers even

became viewed as the victims of our American bigotry.

But I don't think I will ever forget what they did. It was a Tuesday morning.

I had just had my shoulder surgery and was resting at home.

I was slow in waking up and getting around and was in an extreme amount of pain.

Nancy had taken the girls to school and gone to work. I was sitting at my computer

getting my emails at about 8.30 a.m. Central Time when Nancy called.

She said, go turn on the TV quick. Something horrible has happened.

I wonder, where were you on that Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001,

and what were you doing when time stopped and four planes were hijacked and

crashed into buildings, killing thousands of people?

As soon as I saw what was happening on television, I closed out the computer

and rushed over to the church, because the television reception was better in my office.

I was instantly horrified.

What I saw when I saw the devastation and realized with the rest of America

that extremist international terrorists were waging war against us, I became irate.

As I watched the smoke and fire and the people running away,

my mind's eye raced back Back to the event that our family had witnessed firsthand on April 19,

1995, when Timothy McVeigh and his accomplices bombed the Murrah Federal Building

in Oklahoma City where we lived.

My daughter was supposed to be going on a field trip to the museum that day,

and her bus was late at the school to pick them up on April 19th.

If the bus had been on time and they had been picked up on time,

their bus would have been directly in front of the Murrah Federal Building at

the time of the explosion.

But this disaster on September 11th was even larger and more devastating.

Devastating, and as I watched those twin 110-story buildings collapse with probably

thousands of people inside, I was dazed and left in shock.

It was just as if it wasn't really happening. It was hard to believe that it

was real, right? You all saw that.

And I was dazed and left in a shock, and I prayed, oh Lord, please don't let this be happening.

Really, let this just be some kind of show that's really not real and not live.

I said, please spare their life. Let there be some hope in this world and in this event.

I don't know what your thoughts were at that time when we were confronted with

the knowledge that 12 Al-Qaeda terrorists were involved and that they were led

by Osama bin Laden and probably Saddam Hussein with a vow to destroy America,

but I know what my thoughts were.

My thoughts were, what drives you to your knees in prayer?

No, that wasn't my thought. When I first saw the horror of the devastation,

I prayed that there would be hope.

But when I saw that it was pure evil and hatred that had caused it,

my prayers began to change.

Oh, God, rebuke Satan and destroy his evil ways.

Destroy those terrorists and even wipe out their entire countries. Make them a parking lot.

You know of anybody who prayed that? Your pastor did at that time.

Immediately, I sensed a chastening of the Holy Spirit.

Tim, what kind of hatred and evil is lurking in your own heart right now?

Okay, Father, forgive me for hatred, but let me have your righteous indignation

to throw at these evildoers.

Tim, are you righteous? Are you completely holy?

Where are your thoughts? Where is your heart? Who's controlling your ways?

Do you have the right, as Jesus did, to righteous indignation?

After receiving a gib

slap from god's two by

four i prayed father cleanse my thoughts and heart and make me pure but we know

that the things that satan does for evil and destruction god can use to bring

about good you can read this through in the entire bible but specifically in the book of Job.

Think of what happened immediately after the devastation of 9-11.

What evil intended was to divide us, to drive fear into us, and to cause us

to collapse in on ourselves.

But instead of dividing us, the actions of the terrorists united our nation

and the world against this evil, at least for a little while.

Instead of driving fear into us, their actions gave us courage and boldness to stand against evil.

America was driven to love and concern for each other, which showed itself in

the sacrificial actions of firefighters,

police officers, medical workers, clergy, National Guard members,

iron workers, and everyday citizens who, as they gave of their strength, their blood,

and money, and time in themselves in order to rescue and relieve and to make things right.

I remember in the days after April 19th, 1995, when the people in the community

were devastated and going in to try to help.

We had no gang activity in the city of Oklahoma City area because the gangs

joined each other down at the scene to help try to find people in that.

You know, if love can have its way that time, why can't it have its way all the time?

Here's a rule that you can take to the bank.

Under abnormal circumstances, abnormal responses of fear, anger,

grief, heroism, sacrifice, and superhuman feats of strength are normal.

You've heard many situations of people who have been trapped under a car in

an accident, and somebody comes along and with superhuman strength,

under an abnormal circumstance, picks the car up,

so that the Perkinson could get out.

And while these responses were amazing and heroic, we also witnessed something

even more amazing in the aftermath of that day on September 11, 2001.

Instead of causing us to collapse in on ourselves, the actions of these evil

men caused all of America and the entire world to fall on its knees before an

almighty God and cry out for help.

Desperately. Immediately after the attack, the nation was called to prayer.

Liberals and conservatives joined together in calling the nation to prayer.

The president quickly and wisely declared a national day of prayer,

and the amazing thing was that the anti-church forces, including the ACLU, remained quiet.

No one protested this call to prayer decrying separation of church and state.

Churches were filled from that day on, even the Sunday afterwards.

In fact, that Sunday when we were in Peoria, Illinois, we had a Muslim come

to church on Sunday morning, wanting to know what we would do and how we would respond to this.

And it was a response of prayer and a response of forgiveness.

And we was absolutely astonished to know that Christian people would pray for

the Muslims in the world.

Isn't it interesting that when there is devastation all around us,

when fear is trying to overwhelm us, when death is staring us in the face,

when hardships of life are besetting us, and when sickness has jumped on our

back like a gorilla, we call out to God for help.

We always call out for God when things are down.

In fact, there's an old saying that says there are no atheists in foxholes, right?

We learn that many times. I want you to turn with me to James 5, verses 13 through 16.

James 5:13–16

We're going to be reading from two different passages, and I'm going to be reading

them since they're kind of mixed in with our message.

James 5, verses 13 to 16, is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray.

James 5:13–16

Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick?

Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with

oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer offered in faith will make Make the sick person well.

And the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.

Thereafter, therefore, confess your sin to each other and pray for each other

so that you may be healed.

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Even today, 23 years after the events of 9-11, we still face evil and satanic

influence and outright hatred and dishonesty in this world.

Do I believe that God desires to use this present evil for good? Absolutely.

We've already begun to see God work. Do I believe that God wants us to call

on him in our time of need? Absolutely.

The Bible says so. After all, it's God's grace that permits us to call on him

in the time of our need for deliverance from sin.

Do I believe that God hears everyone's prayer?

Absolutely. Many people will say that God doesn't hear the prayer of a sinner

unless it's a prayer confession. I'm sorry, God hears everything.

He may not be obligated to act, but he hears every prayer.

Do I believe that God hears everyone's prayers? Absolutely. God listens for

all of his creation to communicate with him.

The scriptures tell us that even the birds in the skies cry out his glory and his handiwork.

But here's one thing I know for sure. God desires for all of us to call on him

at all times to pray continually, not just when we're in trouble.

Friends, God wants to hear from you at any time and all the time.

He never gets tired of listening to his kids.

Sorry, my mind just got distracted. I thought of our kids and,

you know, how blessed it is, the emptiness syndrome, until they come home and you listen to them.

But anyway, God listens to us all the time, and he hears us,

and he enjoys listening to us.

He loves for us just to crawl up into his lap and cry out, Abba, Father.

1 Thessalonians 5, verses 16 through 18, one little part.

1 Thessalonians 5:16–18

This is all it is for three verses there. You've heard it many times before.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is the Lord's will for you in Christ Jesus.

This morning I'm beginning a series of messages titled, You Might Be a Healthy

Christian If. Joseph, this first of these messages is, you might be a healthy

Christian if you pray continually, even when things are good.

We all seem to call out to God when there's a need, but do we call out to God

and just bless his name on a daily basis?

Healthy Christians have a healthy prayer life. On a scale of 1 to 10,

don't raise your hand and don't shout out the numbers, But at a scale of 1 to

10, how healthy is your prayer life?

Let's look at three indicators of a healthy prayer life as found in the Scripture passage in James.

The first indicator of a healthy prayer life is persistence,

found in verses 13 and 14.

How persistent is your prayer life? How long-lasting and patient are you in praying?

How continually do you call upon the Lord?

I remember when the church was known for praying the whole night through.

You remember that, right? We would come together and we would pray and pray

and pray the whole night through.

I remember prayer meetings on Wednesday night in New Berlin, Wisconsin.

When we went in, I was a kid then, fourth, fifth grade, something like that.

Went into the side room on Wednesday night where they were having prayer meeting.

And they would start out with one or two songs.

And then literally everybody just got down on their knees and began praying.

No Bible study, no orchestration of the prayer time.

They just got on their knees and began praying. Sometimes more people than one

prayed at the same time, believe it or not. You know what I know?

God understood every one of them. He heard every one of them.

And I remember listening to those, and I'm thinking, how do we do?

James told the church to pray with persistence, pray continually.

He said, if you're in trouble, pray.

If you're in good times, pray through songs of praise.

Paul taught the same thing as we read in Thessalonians. Be joyful always. Pray without ceasing.

Give thanks in all circumstances. That leaves nothing out, folks.

Our life all day long should be a life of prayer.

Jesus taught the same principle of persistence in his past prayer in Luke chapter

Luke 11:9

11, verses 9 and 10, he says, So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find.

Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds.

And to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Now I want you to know something.

The tenses of the verbs in this original language where they were written means

to keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking until you're answered.

It doesn't take a lot of faith commitment and effort to pray once about something and then stop,

that's what kids do when they send their letters to santa claus being persistent

in prayer makes it apparent to god that it's important enough to us that we

will not give up bombarding the throne of heaven praying for loved ones to come

to know christ the day is short.

Jesus is coming back. We don't know when that's going to be.

But for some people, Jesus comes back before he comes back.

I mean, I've done several funerals in the last few weeks, and for them, Jesus has come back.

We don't know when that's going to be, but we really need to be ready.

Jesus asked the question of how many of us would not give our neighbor help

in their time of need if they kept knocking all throughout the night on the

door and would not give up

But God's call for persistent in prayer doesn't mean we'll get exactly what we asked for.

Jesus prayed three times for his cup of crucifixion to pass from him.

Then he prayed that God would do his will.

Jesus was persistent, but God answered his prayer with what would be best for all mankind.

Paul prayed three times for the removal of the thorn in his flesh.

It was persistent prayer, but God wanted to use the thorn in Paul's life for God's glory.

A healthy Christian can pray with confidence that God may not necessarily give

us what we ask for, but he will give us what is best. How do I know that?

Romans 8.28 says this, and we know that in all things God works for the good

of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose.

Pastor Stephen Bly of Winchester, Idaho, was fortunate enough to have seen the

beauty of a healthy Christian's prayer life.

Gus Jensen was an 84-year-old widower who sat at the back of the church.

Most would say he didn't have a lot to offer. Pastor Steve found out differently

when he spent time with Gus one day.

You see, Gus spent two and a half hours every day in concentrated Bible study and prayer.

Then he walked three miles while talking with God.

At that current time, Gus was fasting two meals a day so he could concentrate

that time on praying for the salvation of a neighborhood boy named Anthony.

Anthony was a real mischief maker.

So the preacher asked him, Gus, how long have you been praying and fasting for Anthony? 40 days.

How long are you going to keep on praying and fasting? As long as it takes until

Anthony comes home to Jesus.

On day 51, Anthony committed his life to Jesus Christ, began his walk of faith

and transformation because of Gus's prayer.

I wonder how many of you are believers today because of the persistent prayers

of a mother, father, wife, husband, grandparent, or friend.

I know my parents wore out a lot of knees in their pants praying for me.

Some of you are here today because of a loved one who refused to give up praying for you.

Some of you just need need to surrender to the love and forgiveness that your

loved one has been praying for.

Some of us need to get serious with God.

A healthy Christian has a persistent prayer life. The second indicator of a

healthy prayer life is faithful praying.

The type of prayer makes a difference, and so does the type of person who prays.

James tells us that the prayer offered in true faith will be answered.

But he goes further and states that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

And yet I'm here to tell you that when it comes to the matter of prayer,

The power is not in the prayer itself as if it were a magic formula.

The power of prayer is in the one who hears our prayer.

You see, the power of a righteous man is powerful and effective because that

righteous person knows the will of God and is praying for God's will to be done

in all things, especially the salvation of their loved ones.

Only God who has the power to answer our prayers is the living God,

the God of Israel, the Creator God, the faith father of our living Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

A healthy prayer life is not one that believes in the power of prayer,

but one that believes and trusts in the power of the prayer answerer.

A healthy prayer life is one that trusts that fathers knows best.

Yet according to James, we can make a difference with our prayers because like

Moses and many others of the great patriarchs of faith, our prayers and our

faith can influence God.

When talking to the woman who had the issue of bleeding for 12 years,

when she touched Jesus' garment, hem of his garment, he felt something go out

of him, and he said to her, your faith has made you whole.

Our prayers can be powerful and effective with God if we're living a right life before him.

We We have no right, and it would be pride, to expect a holy God to answer our

prayers if our lives are not right with him.

Because if our lives are not righteous, then our thoughts and desires are not

righteous, and why would God act unrighteously?

If you are living like hell, don't expect to persuade the God of heaven.

The third indicator of a healthy prayer life is that it is filled with humble confession.

Jesus denounced the prayer of the self-righteous public official,

but praised the humble, confessing prayer of the sinner.

John said that he who says he's without sin makes God out to be a liar.

Self-righteous people are constantly trying to justify their own sins.

Well, it's not as bad as so-and-so.

Well, after all, nobody's perfect.

Well, after all, we're all sinners

saved by grace, well, that was just a mistake. It's really not a sin.

Or even like one of our former presidents answered when he was interviewed about

his affairs and sexual encounters,

he said that they were not sins because he was just having sexual actions with

a woman and his heart was really not in the affair.

And besides, he said, he was saved as a young child, so it doesn't matter what

he does now, he'll still go to heaven.

I'm convinced that there are a lot of people who call themselves Christian who

are either they're not true believers who have turmoil in their lives and homes

and churches because of some unconfessed sin of years ago that continues to plague them.

Sin that is unconfessed to God festers and destroys lives.

We cannot live a healthy Christian life with a holy God if we are denying our own unholiness.

Humble confession acknowledges our continual need for God's cleansing in our lives.

David prayed this after his sin of adultery. He prayed, Lord,

purify my heart, expose my sin, remove my wickedness, and know my heart today.

And that's the prayer we should be saying every day.

Purify my heart, expose my sin, remove my wickedness, and know my heart today.

Now, on a scale of 1 to 10, don't answer this, how healthy is your prayer life?

On a scale of 1 to 10, how healthy should it be?

Do you want to see God heal your heart, your home, your family,

your neighborhood, and your nation?

2 Chronicles 7.14 says this, If my people who are called by my name will humble

themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,

then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

What goes up comes down onto earth.

We need to fall on our faces and cry out to God, let him cleanse you and watch

him purify you and the church before he heals everything else.

You know, all revivals have started when people in the church called upon God

in repentance and prayer and fasting.

God desires more than anything to renew each one of us and to bring revival to his church.

And we close with this message, which is our understanding all of the time.

God is on a mission to redeem a lost world to himself, and he chooses to use

us, his chosen people, I'm going to add a part, his purified church to accomplish his mission.

Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, as we close this time of worship service,

we are reminded that too often we go about our daily activities with hardly

a mention of you, hardly an acknowledgment of you.

Until things get really bad and times are tough and we have sicknesses and we

have cancers and we have broken homes, and when we call out to you in our need

and in the bottom of our pit.

But Lord, you have called us to call out to you at all times.

You want to hear us all the time.

How much better would it be for us, Lord, and for you if we were to call out

you with notes of praise of how great you are?

Father, help us to be a people of prayer. In Jesus' name, amen.