Introduction
I just returned from my third trip to Brazil and I want to thank many of you for praying for me. It is incredible how well things go when people pray.
A common need
Each time that I go to Brazil, or some other foreign country, I am amazed at the people that I see there. Not because of how different we are from one another but because of the many similarities that we share. We have much more in common that we have differences. We speak a different language, we eat different kinds of food and we may have different experiences but other than that we are all basically the same. The deep needs of our hearts – our drives and fears and hopes – are all basically the same.
I preached in a church service in one of the churches and after the service a little girl named Sara came shyly up to me. She was about 8 or 9 years old. She gave me a little note with a picture of the stage and the drum set that she had drawn during the church service. It also said, “Sara. I love you. Love, Sara.” I felt just like I was home because I get those kinds of notes around here all the time. That is one of the best perks about being a pastor.
No matter where you live one of the greatest needs of the human heart is for peace. Peace is needed, not primarily in Brazil or in the United States or not even primarily in the Middle East. Peace is needed most desperately within the human heart.
Since God created us don’t you think that He is aware of this great need? He is. And He has given us the tool – we have the technology – to have peace in our everyday lives. It is available but often goes unused.
Using what we have
I was at the hospital early one morning to pray for two people who were going in to surgery. Pastor Ron was also there. I noticed something I never noticed before. Pastor Ron had a cell phone on his belt. I talked with him later that day and asked him, "Pastor Ron, would you give me your cell phone number so I can get a hold of you?" "Sure, you can have the number, but it won't do you any good since I never turn it on."
He had all the technology but certainly wasn’t using it to its fullest capability.
Most of us are this way with prayer. God has given us the most powerful and useful spiritual technology for life. Most of us wear it on our belt but we don't have it on. Or, if we are, we are not using it to the fullest -- not using all the functions.
Prayer is the key to achieving daily peace in our lives, but most of us don’t use it that way. Let me show you today the connection between prayer and peace.
What is prayer?
If I were to ask you, “What is prayer?” what would your answer be? I would get a number of different answers. Some people think of prayer in only this way: Prayer is asking God for things. Others seem to think that prayer is telling God what to do. Some see prayer as just a routine to fulfill. When I was a kid we prayed every day before dinner and bedtime but we said those prayers so fast that I didn’t even know what we were saying until I got curious and said them in slow motion. Still others, I’m sure, think of prayer as having no real benefit.
But prayer, more than anything else, is the key to real peace in perilous times. How does prayer brings peace? Here’s how:
Prayer makes me aware of God’s presence.
Prayer is the primary way to be aware of God's presence.
Elisha's prayer for his servant
Now, here's a bad day.
The king of Syria had sent a great army - with chariots, horses, soldiers, the wholworks - against the prophet Elisha. They came at night. (You can't sneak up on a prophet, by the way.) Imagine this: The servant of Elisha got up early in the morning, got the coffee on and went out on the front porch to get the paper. As he bent over, he thought he had noticed something different. Was it real or a dream? He straightened up slowly and looked around. He suddenly came awake and saw this great army completely surrounded their house. There was no way out of this hopeless situation.
He went running into the house screaming for Elisha.
*** Scripture Reading: ***
2 Kings 6:16-17 (NKJV) 16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Elisha’s prayer didn’t bring the presence of God. Those chariots of fire were already there before the prayer, but prayer made Elisha’s servant aware of the nearness of God’s presence. What we need more than anything else is a confidence in God’s presence. The immediate circumstances didn’t change. The enemy army was still there surrounding the house. But suddenly it wasn’t so distressing anymore. There was peace in the midst of an otherwise desperate situation.
Prayer - Presence - Peace
Let me read you a couple more verses from scripture:
Isaiah 41:10 (NKJV) 10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Isaiah 41:13 (NKJV) 13 For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’
Psalm 23:4 (NKJV) 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
God’s presence brings real peace.
This is the only way to real peace. Many people try other means. They try to take a detour to peace without God. It won’t work. You can’t go around it.
A TIME OF PERIL
In John 14, Jesus was speaking with His disciples only hours before He would be arrested and then led off to be crucified. It would be, without a doubt, the most perilous time in their lives. They had already experienced some trouble. Jesus knew that. There was even more trouble to come. Jesus knew what they were about to face.
Jesus knows your troubles
Jesus knows that troubles that you have faced in your life. For some of you there have been grave troubles indeed. There have been some things that you haven’t shared with anyone else because you don’t think that anyone else would understand. But Jesus knows and Jesus understands. He also knows the troubles that you will face in the future. There is no trouble that He cannot bring peace into.
*** Scripture Reading: ***
John 14:1 (NKJV) 1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
It’s up to you
Jesus said in this perilous time, “Let not your heart be troubled.” This is a great need and, apparently, something over which I have control. Jesus would not have said, “Let not your heart be troubled” if they had no choice in the matter. If a troubled heart – a heart that is tossed around like a storm at sea – is inevitable then it would be cruel for Jesus to say, “Don’t let that happen.” You can let your heart be troubled or let not your heart be troubled. It is up to you. Do not think that you have to accept a troubled heart because you don’t. Even in perilous times – especially in perilous times – I need to hear these words, “Let not your heart be troubled.”
1. Jesus didn’t say, “Let not your mind be confused.”
Notice that Jesus did NOT say, “Let not your mind be confused.” This will happen in perilous times, there’s nothing you can do about it. This was going to happen with the disciples. When Jesus was arrested they were terribly confused. “What’s going on here? Isn’t He God? How could He let this happen?”
The same things go through my mind in perilous times. “Why is this happening to me? What are you doing, God? Can’t you stop this? I don’t get it.”
A family with questions
I was over at a the house of a family from our church whose son is dying of cancer. He is four years old. He has undergone years of surgeries and treatment and medicines. There is nothing more they can do for him now and the doctors say he has only weeks or months to live.
They had this question, “Why?” They hadn’t been able to answer that question and neither could I. I don’t know why. Troubling times are beyond my understanding. If my peace is tied into my understanding then I am toast.
Your mind cannot bring peace. Only your heart can bring peace. (Prov 3:5-6, Phil 4:6-7)
2. Jesus didn’t say, “Let not your life have any troubles.”
Jesus also did not say, “Let not your life have any troubles.” You can’t control that, either. Troubles will come. You can count on it. No matter how hard you try to keep your life trouble-free, they will come.
When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Peter thought that he could keep it from happening. He took a sword and started swinging. Jesus told him to put it down. There was nothing that they could do about it. There’s nothing you can do about it, either. How much guilt and regret do we deal with about things that were going to happen anyway?
Your strength cannot bring peace. Only your heart can.
I wonder if Peter faced guilt and regret. I’ll bet he did. I bet in those days between Jesus’ arrest and resurrection that Peter thought many times, “It’s all my fault. I should’ve protected Him. I shouldn’t have let Him go to Jerusalem. I should’ve fought harder. I should have kept swinging that sword.” He dealt with guilt and regret like us.
Guilt says, “If only I were a better person than bad things would happen to me. God doesn’t really like me.”
Regret says, “If I wouldn’t have done that bad thing then this wouldn’t be happening. I’m being punished.”
· Rid yourself of guilt and regret.
Like spiritual vultures, guilt and regret feed on people in times of trouble. Don’t let them pick you apart.
Your mind will be confused in times of trouble. It is beyond your control. Your life will have troubles no matter what you do. It is also beyond your control. What can you do?
3. The key to peace: “Believe also in Me.”
Jesus said, “You believe in God…” – the same God who created everything and holds the whole universe together – “…believe also in Me.” In the same way, believe in Me, the guy who knows you, is standing right beside you and has been with you every day.
· The God out there is also right here.
He is a God who is near, is present and Who understands what you’re going through. That is the secret of peace and it comes through prayer – simply spending time with God. Knowing that the disciples could face the most perilous time, and so can we.
Conclusion
The last chapters of Ezekiel paint a wonderful picture. It is the New Jerusalem, a place where there will only be peace all the time. It is described in great detail and then the last words of that prophetic book are these: “…and the name of the city from that day shall be: ‘The Lord is there.’” (Jehovah Tsidkenu) That’s the only way for real peace.
*** Special Song: ‘A Living Prayer’ (Jessica Chambers) ***
In this world I walk alone / With no place to call my homeBut there’s one who holds my hand / The rugged road through barren landsThe way is dark the road is steep / But He's become my eyes to seeThe strength to climb my griefs to bear / The Savior lives inside me thereIn You're love I find release / A haven from my unbeliefTake my life and let me be / A living prayer my God to Thee(Take my life and let me be / a living prayer my God to Thee)In these trials of life I find / Another voice inside my mindHe comforts me and bids me live / Inside the love the Father gives
