Quote from Forum Archives on May 13, 2004, 10:56 am

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

THE LIBERATING POWER OF PRAYER #2/2
LIBERATED FOR LIFE
May 9, 2004

Text: Psalm 34

Last week, I began a two-part sermon about the liberating power of prayer
and used some of the prayer principles included by Oliver North in a
small book entitled True Freedom: The Liberating Power of Prayer. Last
Sunday, I introduced three of these prayer principles. As a quick
reminder, they were: (1) prayer liberates us to live as we were designed,
in intimate relationship with God; (2) prayer frees us from the
stranglehold of sin’s power; and (3) prayer frees us from self-deception
and reminds us that we’re God’s children. This morning, I will continue
with three more liberating principles of prayer.

Principle number four: prayer frees us to hear and heed God’s truth, not
the world’s lies. It is not unusual for us to read a statement in the
Bible and try to explain it away in light of the world’s wisdom. After
all, we learn from the Bible that servanthood, poverty, and even
sacrifice are beneficial. The world teaches and esteems pretty much the
opposite. For instance, so often we are accustomed to hearing that
freedom and fulfillment are to be found in material wealth. Now, many
successful people have used material wealth for some great purposes. But
the pursuit of material wealth as the source of freedom and fulfillment
is a worldly lie. John D. Rockefeller once said, “I have made many
millions, but they have brought me no happiness.” (Oliver North, True
Freedom: The Liberating Power of Prayer, Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah
Publishers, Inc., 2004, p. 55)

David wrote Psalm 34. We learn from verses 4, 8 9, and 11, “I sought the
Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears… Taste and
see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing… Come,
my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.”
David’s emphasis is that his source of wisdom comes from God. As a king
of a nation, David had access to numerous sources of wisdom and learning.
He could have relied exclusively upon advisors for every major decision
he faced. We can be certain that he did have appointed advisors in his
court. Nevertheless, David depended upon God’s wisdom, not the world’s
wisdom.

Whether intentional or not, worldly wisdom is deceptive. Look how many
times God’s Word in the Bible is replaced by our standards. God thinks
that a marriage should last throughout our lifetime, but the world ends
marriages because of some nebulous “irreconcilable difference.” God
thinks we should forgive those who do bad things to us, but the world
plots to seek revenge. God thinks that we should care for children both
in and out of the womb, but the world calls the taking of a helpless life
“choice.”

So how can we learn to trust in God’s wisdom and not the world’s wisdom?
Through prayer. Prayer will keep us connected with God and will teach us
to see the difference between God’s truth and the world’s lie. Oliver
North writes, “Pick a lie…any lie. God’s Word gives a corresponding
truth, opening the way to freedom. But we can only fully understand and
obey God’s truth when we walk daily in His presence.” (Oliver North, True
Freedom: The Liberating Power of Prayer, Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah
Publishers, Inc., 2004, p. 55) Prayer frees us to hear and heed God’s
truth, not the world’s lies.

Prayer principle number five: prayer frees us from our limited
perspective so that we can receive God’s unlimited blessing. Oftentimes,
we have a particular idea of what it means to be “the best.” We want “the
best” for ourselves, our children, our loved ones, our country, and so
on. Wanting “the best” is not in and of itself wrong. The point where we
stumble is when we strive for “the best” with no regard for “the best”
that God wants to give.

David wrote in verses 1-3, “I will extol the Lord at all times; his
praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the
afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his
name together.” David sought the Lord first. It was not a matter of what
kind of “best” David could provide; it was a matter of what God would
provide. Imagine for a moment that you live in a trench that extends
above the top of your head. Your view is limited, but that is where you
live and what you are used to. Naturally, you think that the “best there
is” is right there in your world. But what if you could extend yourself
beyond the trench? What if you saw that there were horizons that extended
much further than you originally thought? Would you not develop a
different viewpoint of what “the best” might be? We sometimes laugh at
the fact that as soon as we buy a new computer, it is outdated. In that
technology, “the best” does not last long because someone is constantly
developing new technology that exceeds the last. The horizon for “the
best” keeps expanding.

In a way, that is what we experience when we seek “the best” from God
instead of from ourselves. The horizon of “the best” keeps expanding
because God does not have the limits that His children do. Prayer opens
the way for God to work out His dream for my life, to provide His
resources for my fulfillment, to pour His unlimited blessings into my
life and heart. Oliver North shares an illustration of this truth. “Syd’s
son Nathan has been a Legomaniac all his life… One Christmas Nathan
wanted a particular Lego set that contained some specialized pieces… It
was one of those drop-a-hint-every-day-since-Thanksgiving requests. But
Syd didn’t give Nathan what he asked for. Syd did his homework and
discovered a different set containing the same special pieces, but three
times as large. He bought it and wrapped it up for the big day. Though
Nathan was adamant about the ‘best’ gift Syd could give him, to Nathan’s
delight Syd surpassed it on Christmas morning. To this day, when Syd is
conscious that God might have far more to give than Syd’s imagination
allows him to ask, he says, ‘God, this is a Lego prayer. Please answer
according to the abundance of your wishes.’ Here is a man who knows what
he doesn’t know.” (Oliver North, True Freedom: The Liberating Power of
Prayer, Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2004, p. 63) Prayer
frees us from our limited perspective so that we can receive God’s
unlimited blessing.

Prayer principle number six: prayer frees us to know and fulfill God’s
great purpose for our lives. Remember when David was just a shepherd boy
in his father’s household? No one imagined, not even God’s prophet
Samuel, that this youngest of Jesse’s sons would become anyone like he
eventually became. No one imagined that a boy named David could have any
chance against mighty Goliath. No one imagined that as a young man David
could elude the forces that jealous King Saul put into the field to
capture him. If anyone living in David’s time had been told these things
before they happened, they would have thought that nothing could be
farther than the truth.

Yet, here is David, king of Israel, singing songs to God. Read with me
verses 19-22. “A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord
delivers him from them all; he protects all his bones, not one of them
will be broken. Evil will slay the wicked; the foes of the righteous will
be condemned. The Lord redeems his servants; no one who takes refuge in
him will be condemned.” I would not be surprised if a few times along the
way David wondered what he had gotten into. After all, being pursued by a
reigning king is no small matter. Facing the many enemies that crossed
Israel’s borders to do harm to inhabitants and resources is no small
matter. But David did not give up. He continued to be in relationship
with God through prayer, and he continued to discover God’s great purpose
for his life. In fact, the only times that David could not achieve great
things were those times when he failed to pray. As we acknowledged last
week from Psalm 32:3-4, David experienced some rather serious
consequences when he refrained from prayer. “When I kept silent, my bones
wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand
was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” Not
only was David not great at such times, he was outright debilitated. His
solution to such a dilemma was always to return to the Lord, as in
chapter 34, verses 17-18. “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears
them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the
brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Prayer frees us
to know and fulfill God’s great purpose for our lives.

Oliver North completes this book with a section sub-titled “The Doorway
to Freedom.” “It’s my prayer that the heart of God would become your
greatest source of encouragement and refreshment for the rest of your
life. I’ve given you some words on paper, but God offers Himself - every
day, every moment. In my early years, I thought I was as close to God as
anyone could be. But, as I’ve shared already, I only knew about Him. I
had not met Him in Person. When I entered into the personal, liberating
relationship with God that I now enjoy, the way I did it was simply to
recognize that I had disobeyed God - I confessed that I was guilty and
that I deserved an eternal death sentence. But I also knew that God had
sent His Son, Jesus, to be declared ‘guilty’ of my sin and to die in my
place, and I accepted the gift of His sacrifice for me. At that moment,
God liberated me from the condemnation I deserved, and He adopted me as
His son… forever. If you haven’t trusted Jesus as your Savior, all you
need to do is what I did. If these words reflect your true desire, you
can say to Him, ‘Lord, I’m guilty, and I don’t deserve You. But I do
accept the gift of You Son’s death in my place. Thank You for forgiving
me and for accepting me as Your child.’ In that moment, you’ll enter into
a whole new universe of freedom.” (Oliver North, True Freedom: The
Liberating Power of Prayer, Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah Publishers, Inc.,
2004, pp. 89-90)

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

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