The Proper Approach To God in Prayer

John 15:7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

2 Kings 19:19

Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD God, even thou only.

One of these days we are going to find ourselves in a tough situation. Its going to be as hard as the day the armies of Sennacherib, King of Assyria surrounded the city of God's people. But for most of you, life may very well pass by with little tough times. No matter. Prayer is the daily focus we must have in our lives if we are to be close to the Lord.

God's people often pray hard when there is something hard to pray about. Yet no matter what our level of difficulties are, prayer needs to be just as serious, deep, sincere and directed in our most prosperous day as in our most perilous day!

When I think of prayer I think about King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 19. The situation was grim. The opposing armies encamped around the city were fierce, ready, willing to destroy just as they had done all the neighboring city states in the area. They were bold to brag on two points, 1. They did it all themselves, 2. They conquered all the gods who were supposed to be mightier than they.

Now when you come to a situation in life that looms just like Hezekiah's enemies, what shall we do. Here is the formula, and is not a magic one or any such thing, its just the proper response to tribulation before our God, lest we try to handle it ourselves.

Let's see the problem,

1. Assyria was the most powerful nation at the time, eating up as many vulnerable people they could.

2. They had all the means to carry out all their threats.

3. They taunted anyone with any allies other than themselves

4. They outnumbered any opposing force

5. They described in detail what they would do to anyone who was for them or against them

In Short, they wanted to be ruler over everything.

Let's see the players

1. Sennacherib, devout worshipper of Nisroch, the god of the Assyrians, confident in himself and his power.

2. Hezekiah, devout worshipper of the Jehovah God, the God of all Creation, confident in HIM and and HIS power

What did Hezekiah do?

1. He heard the taunting of Rabshekah and Sennacherib.

2. He received the letters and took them to the house of God

3. On His Knees--No, the text doesn't say it, but anyone who is submissive to God does so, thus He laid the accusations out before the Lord

4. He desired that all the world would know by the defeat of the most powerful army, that it was THE LORD who is God alone in the Earth.

5. He was confident in the answer given him by the prophet Isaiah.

So how does all this relate today,

Simply, Satan is still Satan. When we find ourselves in tribulation, his first move is to try to dethrone our image of God and His power in our lives. This is what life on his end is all about, to discredit God wherever he can and cause God's people to turn from Him. This is what the Assyrians did, they stood outside the city walls and attempted to demoralize the people to weaken their resolve to fight. Satan will attack us, cause fear and doubt to surround us on all sides and let us "know" its hopeless, God has left us, there is no use to call on Him or anyone to save you or me. I have first hand knowledge of this and I have faltered listening to Satan. Interestingly noted that Hezekiah instructed the people not to answer the taunting of the enemy. Such we are taught in Scripture to resist the Devil and he will flee from you, James 4:7

The problems we face are real, just as the army encamped were real. The problems are not going to go away on their own unless God acts on our behalf. Here is where we get down to business. Hezekiah did the right thing, the thing we oft neglect, he took all the care cast upon him and went straight to the Source, God, the Only One who could ever help them.

We should do like wise. Hezekiah poured out before the Lord in this fashion and so should we:

1. Came before God in the proper manner, Humbled

2. Admitted the peoples weakness and the enemies strength

3. Acknowledged God's power and His control

4. Desired for God's glory to be the greatest reason for their deliverance

When we come to God with a problem just as similar we need to do theses things too. We cannot come on our own strength. We cannot come on our own terms. We must be Humble. We cannot bargain, barter, negotiate! We must come just as we always have been, Helpless and Humble before God. We do so and acknowledge His Sovereign Power and Authority. You see it is through the WEAK He glorifies Himself. Sennacherib thought Power came through might. He was wrong.

Sennacherib's largest mistake was to proclaim himself mightier than the God who made him, and it cost him literally everything.

So what happened to the vulnerable weak people of God? The Lord heard Hezekiah's heartfelt faithful prayer. Thus Israel never drew a sword, notched an arrow, or threw a stone. The next morning Sennacherib noticed God walked through his camp last night. All that the pagan king trusted in, was now laid dead by the hand of the angel of the Lord. To be exact, 185,000 slaughtered with no effort whatsoever. That is our God! He is Powerful, Strong To Save and is more than able to Deliver.

Look to Him in faith, knowing that no matter how fierce the adversary looks, God is Greater. Its so hard and we are tested sorely, but this life is not the end. Our Home and Hope is with Him, YET know that IN THIS LIFE, our God does Deliver, He does Save, He does do Miracles!!! To deny that, we must take a knife and remove 2 Kings 19 from the only Book God ever wrote! When you consider how God delivers and His power to heal, what Joy should be ours. I will be the first to admit that its hard even difficult to take our eyes off the visible and put it on Him. Destruction seems so real and hope so vanished. Let us encourage one another to trust in our God who delivers and come to Him Properly in Prayer. God delights in our Faith in Him (Heb. 11:6). May our chief aim be that of Hezekiah, to desire the whole world See our God by seeing the Hand of His Miraculous Deliverance. May it be so with us today, whatever we are facing, and as I write this we are facing hard times. I don't know when someone will read this, but when you do, know that our God is Greater and Stronger than all who oppose us. May we trust in His ark of Safety.

Lord, we need your Help! We are vulnerable to the attacks of the world, sickness and Satan. We come before You with humble hearts acknowledging Yourself as the only God and that we are looking to You for our deliverance as did Hezekiah. May our chief desire to be through our Deliverance is that Your Name which is above all will be clearly seen and believed on by a watching world. Make haste to help us. Cleanse our hearts from sin and may we be found abiding in You always we pray, Amen.