Back to the Bible Radio Transcript

Back to the Bible Radio Transcript
Series: Why Doesn't God Answer My Prayers?
Program Title: Are You Treating God's Word Well Enough?
Dr. Woodrow Kroll
April 27, 2011
Woodrow Kroll: If you put your faith and trust in Jesus, you’re given a
special gift.
Tami Weissert: You’re given total access to God through prayer.
Woodrow Kroll: Yes, but some things can affect how God hears and
answers your prayer. Hi, I’m Woodrow Kroll.
Tami Weissert: I’m Tami Weissert.
Woodrow Kroll: And this is Back to the Bible.
Tami Weissert: Our focus this week is on prayer, and specifically on the
roadblocks that keep God from answering our prayers.
Woodrow Kroll: Yes, Tami, and I think that the analogy of roadblocks helps
us here. When you drive down a highway, you may encounter a roadblock.
There’s construction or a hazard or something in the way. The highway is
still there. It hasn’t disappeared. We just have a problem to work out before
going on it. Prayer is our highway. It’s our access to God. The things we do
or, perhaps, things we don’t do can block our prayers from moving forward.
It doesn’t mean that we’ve lost access to God; we just need to know how to
deal with those roadblocks so that we can continue communicating with God.
Tami Weissert: Today’s roadblock has to do with how we treat God’s Word,
or in some cases, mistreat it. Here’s Dr. Kroll with our Back to the Bible
study.
Woodrow Kroll: There are some people who don't believe the Bible is
God's Word and, therefore, they don't ever read it. There are some people
who believe it's the Word of God. They believe that it is inspired of God, and
they still never read it!
There is a high percentage of people, in the United States at least, who
believe the Bible is God's Word. They just don't ever read God's Word. There
are others of us who believe it’s God’s Word. We read the Word of God, we
treat it with respect, and we want to make sure we do the things that God
asks of us in His Word. We want to make sure we’re consistent in reading
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the Word and applying it to our lives and living it out in our lives. We want to
show respect to God because, after all, it is the only Book He ever wrote. We
want to show that respect to Him.
There are others that have such a high degree of respect for God's Word
that they worship the Word. They see the Bible as the only revelation of the
mind of God to the minds of men, and they worship every word and they
forget it is a record of God's mind. So, instead of worshiping God, they
worship their Bible. They would never write in their Bible. They would never
mark their Bible. They would never put their Bible on the floor. They would
never put another book on top of their Bible.
I want to tell you: I grew up taking my Bible to high school. We could do
that when I was a teenager. I always made sure my Bible was on the top.
For two reasons: (1) out of deep respect for the Bible; and (2) I wanted my
classmates to know that it was there. Often they would come to me and ask
me questions about the Bible. It was a door to open my witness to them.
But I don’t want you to think that you worship the Bible (you fall prey to
bibliolatry, the worship of God’s Word) to the exclusion of worshipping the
God who gives us the Word. The Bible is a vehicle that takes us to God. It’s
a revelation of the mind of God to the minds of men. But if by reading the
Bible we never connect with God, we have failed in seeing the Bible
correctly.
Today I want to talk with you specifically about what the Bible has to say
about treating God's Word well enough for God to answer our prayers.
Again, this is one of those subjects that you say to yourself: "There can't
possibly be anything in the Bible that relates to how I treat the Bible and
whether or not God wants to answer my prayers." And I would say to you:
"Oh, yeah? Listen to this, Proverbs 28:9: “If anyone turns a deaf ear to the
law [that's the Word of God; that's just a synonym for the Bible], even his
prayers are detestable."
What that means is this: If I have a Bible and don't read my Bible, or if I
read my Bible and don't heed the things that I read in the Bible. Then I go
away from that Bible and I say: "Lord, that was interesting stuff." Or if I
haven't read it, I say: "Lord, I don't need the Bible. I have modern books to
read. Besides, everybody knows about all those stories and those fables that
are in the Bible." My approach to the Bible has a lot to do with God's
approach to answering my prayers.
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If I don't believe the Bible is God's Word, if I don't ever read the Bible, then
He says: "I have turned a deaf ear to His law." And, as a result, my prayers
are detestable to Him.
That’s a tough thing for me to take, because you and I live in a society in
which the Bible is revered by some and hated by others and neglected by
most. It’s that neglect, I think, that He’s talking about here. Jesus said: “If
you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and
it will be given to you" (John 15:7). These verses about abiding in Christ
mean that we are to abide in the words of Christ. Where are the words of
Christ recorded for us? They are recorded in God's Word.
If I have a Bible and once a week I pick it up when I go to church, but I pray
often, God reminds me that His Words are not abiding in me. They are
abiding in His Word, which I only go to once a week.
I think it's extremely important that we make the relationship we have with
God's Word a strong and solid and consistent relationship; because, if we
don't, we not only make for ourselves the problem of Bible illiteracy, we also
make a problem in God hearing our prayers.
It was G.M. Trevelyan who said one time that in the 17th century people
quoted the Bible. In the 18th century people quoted the classics. In the 19th
century people quoted Shakespeare. And in the 20th century people quoted
each other. Isn't that true? And now in the 21st century we are not quoting
anybody.
The fact is that Bible illiteracy keeps us from having our prayers answered.
That's what the Bible has to say to us. I think it's important for us to
recognize that when the Bible relates to not spending time in God's Word,
and that in itself being a hindrance to our prayers being answered, it's very
serious about that.
Think with me about this: God only wrote one Book. And in that one Book
He reveals to us what's on His heart and what's on His mind. If we don't
care enough about God to read what He said to us, to read what's in the
Bible, if we don’t care enough about God for that, why would we think that
God would be eager to answer our prayers?
The reason He says that our prayers are detestable to Him is because we
have neglected His law. We have turned a deaf ear to His law. There are two
ways we can do that. The first way is by reading the Word of God and not
paying any attention to it. The second way is by hearing the Word of God
but not applying it to our lives.
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We know what God wants from us. We know what we ought to do. But
somehow we just can't bring ourselves to do it. Then, in light of that, we still
feel that we should go to God and He should listen to us every time we pray.
And God says: "No, that's not the case. That's not the way it works. If you
don't treat my Word well enough to read it, understand it and obey it, then
your prayers are detestable to Me. There's something I don't like about your
prayers."
That doesn't say He doesn't like us; it just says He doesn't like us not
treating his Word well enough when we come to Him in prayer. That's the
second way that we can get our prayers detestable for God. The first way, of
course, is to have the Word of God and never to read it.
There are a lot of people who are going to be in church on Sunday just like
this, too. They have the Word of God. They don't need to take it to church
any more because the pastor puts it on the PowerPoint and it comes up on
the wall. They don't read it through the week. In fact, they have every kind
of Bible you could think of.
You go to Amazon.com today and try to look up a Bible. You will have more
than 1,000 selections. You can buy red Bibles, green Bibles, blue Bibles. You
can buy cowhide, imitation cowhide, imitation-imitation cowhide. You can
buy XYZ study Bibles or ZYX study Bibles. We have more Bibles today
available to us than we have ever had in history. We read our Bible less than
we ever have in history. That's what is a deterrent to God answering our
prayers.
Among the roadblocks that we set up, often the roadblocks that keep us
from getting answers to our prayers, one of those roadblocks is: We know
we have God's Word, and we don't do anything with it. We never read it. We
don't respect it. We don't live by it. There it is, sitting there on the coffee
table--the world's best-selling coffee-table Book, and the world's most
unread Book.
If we don't treat the Word of God well enough, God says to us: "You are not
abiding in Me. You are not letting My Words abide in you" (that means dwell
in you, stay in you, be in you all the time) and, as a result of that, your
prayers are prayers that are detestable to Me. They are not prayers I want
to hear, and they are not prayers I am going to answer." So, the very way
we treat the Word of God has a bearing on whether or not God hears us.
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Tami Weissert: You’re listening to Bible Teacher Woodrow Kroll in a series
on Why God Doesn’t Answer Prayer.
Wood, we’ve talked at other times about Jesus as our access to God. It’s
because of Him that we can come and pray at all and expect God to
respond. Now we’re trying to balance that with this idea that God answering
our prayer depends on what we do or don’t do. Help us understand this.
Woodrow Kroll: There are always two issues that relate to our lives, and
that is: What God does for us and what He expects us to do for Him.
What He expects us to do for Him to lead to our salvation is simply believe;
not to work for our salvation, but simply believe. Faith plus nothing is what's
required for salvation. Every time someone came and asked the "do"
question: “What must I do to be saved?” (the Philippian jailer asked Paul
that), He said, "You don't do anything. You believe and you are saved."
The rich young ruler came to Jesus and said: "What must I do to inherit
eternal life?"
I think it is just innate to us to think that the only way to get to heaven is to
do something that pleases God. We all just believe that innately, normally,
as a matter of course. But the Bible says it is something exactly the opposite
to that. It's not what you do that's important. It's what He has done for you.
Salvation comes by our believing that what Jesus did at Calvary is all that
God required to pay the penalty for our sin. That all relates to Him. None of
that relates to us.
This is James' point in his epistle. Once we have discovered that you cannot
work for your salvation, once we receive that salvation, then the other thing
we have to discover is the work that comes as a result of being saved. This
is the opposite side of salvation by faith through grace. And this is the grace
of working out our lives every day the things that God wants for us.
This is where prayer comes in. You're right. Our access to the Father is
based entirely on what Jesus Christ did for us. If Jesus doesn't give us
access to God, we don't have access to Him. But even though the access is
open, even though Jesus is the password and we type in the password, there
are still things we can do that clog up the lines of communication. If Jesus is
the on-ramp to the super highway, there are still accidents that occur on the
on-ramp that keep us from getting on the super highway.
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What we are talking about are all those barriers that sometimes we set up
ourselves. Then we complain because God doesn't hear us and God doesn't
answer our prayers. These are things over which we have control. But often,
as you say, they are not things that we have thought a lot about. When we
think about them we say: "OK, I can deal with that, but I just needed to
know that it is something I had to deal with."
Tami Weissert: At Back to the Bible, we’re excited about bringing you
Bible teaching to help you understand God’s Word and grow spiritually. But
as we’ve heard, there’s another aspect of our spiritual life that’s important.
And that’s prayer. Talking to God. Getting to know Him better. Pouring our
hearts out to Him and seeking His will and making our needs known. That’s
all part of prayer. We want to be part of your experience with prayer, too. If
there’s something you would like us to pray about with you, any special
request you have, go to backtothebible.org and click on the “Prayer” request
button on the Home Page. It’s easy to submit your requests, and you can be
confident that we will pray for you. The Prayer page also gives you an
opportunity to pray for us, with updates on our ministry and prayer needs.
That’s the new “Prayer” request page at backtothebible.org. Or in Canada:
backtothebible.ca. Check it out today.
Today on Back to the Bible, we’re talking about the way we treat God’s Word
and how that influences our prayers and God’s response. Let’s return now
and learn more about how not being in the Word affects our prayer life.
Here’s Dr. Kroll.
Woodrow Kroll: The Bible didn't say we had to be in the Word every day.
What the Bible said is: We need to connect with God. And the way we
connect with God is through His Word.
The issue then becomes: How often do you want to connect with God? The
less you want to connect, the less you will be in the Word. The more you
want to connect, the more you will be in the Word.
We don't want to be legalistic and say: "You must read your Bible 30
minutes a day or God is not going to answer your prayers." The fact of the
matter is, though, if we don't spend time reading God's Word, God says:
"Even your prayers are detestable to Me. If you have a deaf ear to My law,
you don't pay any attention to what I say; and besides that, you don't even
read what I have to say.” God is saying to us: "Why would I be interested in
answering your prayers?"
There is a delicate balance here. The balance is in knowing that we have to
treat the Word of God respectfully. We have to treat the Word of God with
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the kind of respect that says: This is a book. What do you do with a book?
You read it. You understand it. You apply it to your life.
I have been privileged in my lifetime to write more than 50 books. The
greatest compliment a person can ever give to me, as an author, is to say:
"I read your book." You don't have to say you liked it; “read it” is enough for
most of us. I wonder what we will say to God at the Judgment Seat of Christ
should He ask us: "Did you read My Book"?
There are some Christians who have gone their entire lives, they have been
saved for 50 years, and never took the time once to read all of God's Book.
In the process of doing that, what they have done is they have turned a deaf
ear to the law of God. Without realizing it, they have even made their
prayers detestable.
What we want to do is remove that roadblock. The way to remove this
particular roadblock is simply to spend time in God's Word and pay attention
to what He says to us and do what He asks us to do.
Of all the things that we do, all the roadblocks that we set up to God
answering our prayers, I think one of the greatest ones, one of the biggest
roadblocks, is asking for the wrong reasons.
You say to yourself: "I would never ask God for something for the wrong
reason." But I know that's true in my life. And you know it's true in yours.
It's something we do all the time. It's having just a motivation that's impure.
James 4:3 says: "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with
wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your lusts." What
James is saying there is pretty simple. We come to God and we have an
agenda, and we want something from God, and we say to God: "This will be
good for me and it will bring glory to You." But our motivation is entirely
wrong. Having entirely wrong motivation destroys God's intent in answering
our prayers. If you want your prayers answered, make sure you go with the
right motivation.
The former New York Yankee star, Bobby Richardson (strong believer,
wonderful man of God), one time prayed this prayer. He said: "Dear God,
Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else." That's pretty simple. But
that's the motivation by which we come to God.
We only want what pleases God in our prayers; not what necessarily benefits
us, but what pleases God. Don't allow improper motives to keep God from
answering your prayers.
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It’s kind of like the woman who broke up with a guy, and she finally wrote
him a letter, and she said: "Oh, dear Jimmy, I was such a fool. I should
never have broken up with you. I’ve had great unhappiness since we have
been apart. Please, please take me back. Please say that you will take me
back. There's just a big emptiness in my heart that only you can fill. I love
you, I love you, I love you. Please take me back. PS: Congratulations on
winning the lottery." You see, her motivation just bleeds through that letter.
We can't hide our motivation from God. Sometimes we come to God and our
motives are not good motives. When we do that, we are destroying our
ability to have God answer our prayers. One of the significant ways that you
and I can take care of removing roadblocks is with regard to motivation.
C. S. Lewis once wrote in his Letters to an American Lady: "Humans are very
seldom either totally sincere or totally hypocritical. Their moods change,
their motives are mixed, and they often themselves are quite mistaken as to
what their motives are."
That's true. Sometimes my motivations in coming to God in prayer are
hidden even from me. I just have a bad motivation, and I don't even know
it. But the times that I don't know my motivation is wrong, compared to the
times I do know my motivation is wrong, are very small.
I know if I am going to God for the wrong reason. I know if I am asking for
the wrong things. (We are going to talk about that a bit in our study
tomorrow.) I know if I am asking out of His will. And I know if my motivation
is not a proper motivation. It's pretty evident to me, and it's always evident
to God.
If there's something in your life that keeps you from asking for the right
reason, keeps your motivation the wrong motivation, you need to do with
that the same that you do with anything that is sin. You need to admit it.
Say: "God, I came to You. But this was my motivation. I know it's wrong,
and You obviously know it's wrong." Deal with it as sin, confess it, get it
behind you, change your motivation. Come to God with the right motive.
And when you come to God with the right motive, then you get the right
answer.
Again, remember James 4:3: "When you ask, you do not receive." Now,
that's what we are talking about this whole week. Why does God choose not
to answer our prayers? "When you ask you do not receive, because you ask
with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your lusts."
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That doesn't mean that I never ask for anything for myself, but it does mean
that I never ask for anything for myself for the wrong reason. I have to
make sure that what I am asking for I think is the will of God, likely is the
will of God. But more than that, down deep inside I have to make sure I am
asking for the right reason.
Tami Weissert: You’re listening to Back to the Bible with Bible Teacher
Woodrow Kroll. Wood, since our motivation makes a difference in how God
responds to our prayers, give us some examples of some wrong motives.
Woodrow Kroll: One would be selfishness. We ask God to give us steak
instead of hog dogs because we like steak better. Maybe we can’t afford
steak, but we pray for it anyway because we’re selfish. We want the best,
even if it means not having money to do other things that are important.
I think another would be self-centeredness. We pray that God will bless our
work for Him, our personal ministry, because the more He blesses it, the
more people will take note of it. The more who take note of it, the more
they’ll support it. The more they support it, the more fame we get, which we
promise to give back to God, as long as He keeps blessing us. You see, there
are too many “Me’s” in that sentence, too many “Us’s” in there. Bad
motivation in prayer is when our prayers are all about us and not about God.
Tami Weissert: That makes sense. Wood, I love the Bobby Richardson
prayer.
Woodrow Kroll: Yes, “Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less,
nothing else.”
Tami Weissert: If we start our morning with that prayer, how do we then
keep that mindset the rest of the day?
Woodrow Kroll: Any teacher will tell you that repetition is the key to
learning. We have to be careful not to check in with God in the morning and
hope those micro-minutes will last us all day long. We need to spend time
with Him every hour, every few minutes. We need to keep checking in with
Him so that the prayer mindset is renewed hour by hour in our lives.
Tami Weissert: So this short little prayer we could say once every hour,
just keep it right at the forefront.
Woodrow Kroll: We could. In fact, more frequently than that. Rather than
just letting our mind wander, we could let our mind wander toward God and
just spend a few seconds in communion with Him.
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Tami Weissert: Wood, you’ve given us quite a number of roadblocks to
prayer--six so far. There are more. So tell us what we’re looking at
tomorrow.
Woodrow Kroll: We’re looking at number 7 and number 8. The big question
tomorrow is: Are we asking for the wrong things? God’s not going to give us
what’s wrong for us to have. One of the questions we have to deal with is:
Are we asking for the right thing when we pray to God? Or are we asking for
all the wrong things? We’ll take up that topic tomorrow here on Back to the
Bible.
It’s time for us to wind up for today. Before we go, I want you to know what
a privilege and honor it is for me to be invited into your life each day to open
God’s Word and to find Him there. Without you, there would be no reason
for us to do what we do here in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Thank you for being there for me and for all of us here at Back to the Bible.
We appreciate it, and we appreciate you. God bless you. I’m Woodrow Kroll.
Have a good and godly day.
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