On the subject of answered prayer, one person shares the following story. She said, “approximately twelve and a half years ago, my husband and I purchased a home in Gas City, Indiana. We moved in (along with our four daughters) and, to our amazement, found we’d inherited thousands upon thousands of blackbirds. Never, in my entire life, have I seen such a mess as the blackbirds left! Months went by, then came warm weather and they were as bad as ever.
One day, my brother parked his car in front of my house, for twenty minutes, and thought he’d never get it clean! Cleaning my sidewalk would take every bit of two hours and, the following morning, you couldn’t even see our sidewalk or front yard. The stink was out of this world! The rain seemed to bring out the entire aroma. Besides, my eighteen-month-old daughter wanted to play in it. Ugh! As energetic as she was, I had to keep her locked in the house.
As time passed, my nerves became very raw from this type of existence. Being desperate, I asked the Lord if He’d help me find a way to rid myself of these birds … especially since I was using my home for Him. So, believing the Lord would help me find the answer, I began my search.
Asking neighbors if they could tell me how to get rid of the birds, every answer they gave was either illegal or impossible. So, I called the Health Department, thinking ‘if they saw the mess – they’d have to do something.’ However, they never showed up. Then, a long-time neighbor told me I might as well give up. Those birds had been there eighteen years and no one had been able to get rid of them. Having eight or nine trees didn’t help either.
Beginning to read the book, GO HOME AND TELL (by Bertha Smith, a Southern Baptist missionary to China), I was amazed as she’d tell of numerous accounts where the Lord had rid her of pests that were unbearable. She’d give scripture references of the Lord’s promises, then claim them as her own, as she went to her knees asking the Lord for deliverance. I must admit, I didn’t know what to think. Searching the Bible, as Bertha had given references … sure enough, the promises were there. Oh, it touched my heart! I didn’t know the Lord did things like that. Could I really just ask Him to take them?
Appealing to Him, I said, “Well, Lord, if you can do these things for Bertha Smith, you can surely deliver me of these birds. Lord, I’ve done all I know to do except cut the trees down and my husband won’t let me do that. (He thinks it would greatly depreciate our property.) Lord, you gave me this house and I’m using it for you. You know this isn’t a fit place for worship, in this condition. So, Lord, just take them.”
Praying for three nights, while getting angry at the birds … I commanded them to leave, in the ‘name of Jesus’. My neighbor, then having come for a visit, noticed such quietness that she just knew something bad was wrong. Going outside to see what it might be, we discovered the birds were gone!
Quiet for the next three days, on the fourth evening, the birds came back. I went to tell my neighbor to move her car, so she wouldn’t have to wash it. But, she insisted, “You prayed.” I responded, “I know. No one but the Lord could have taken them, even for three days.” Refusing to move her car, in about fifteen minutes, all the birds flew away at once. It was a sight!
After this, I‘d sit on a neighbor’s porch, in the evenings, and observe the birds as they’d flock to the trees, then flee. It was as though the trees were wired with electricity. Before, neighbors always avoided walking down my sidewalk. If they had no other option, they’d run past my house, and yet would, in spite of everything, get sprinkled from the birds. But now, they’d stop and ask, “By the way, what happened to those blackbirds?” I‘d chuckle, then share my testimony of what the Lord had done. They would leave amazed. Living there for ten years, I never had that problem again.1
Why Answered Prayer Is the Proof You Need to Take a Stand: that’s our focus on this week’s: Light on Life.
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Please consider telling your friends and family about the Light on Life Podcast. Help get the Word of God out. We are going to start Season Seven continuing with John’s Gospel. Word of mouth has always been and will always be the best form of advertisement. Thanks for spreading the Word.
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Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s challenge is:
Challenge: Share your answered prayer testimony to encourage others in this area? Please share your God adventure in the comments section below.
About Emery
Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 35 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.
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Podcast Notes
Answered Prayer: the Proof Is in the Eating
- You know, no intelligent person can argue with the results of God answered prayer.
- Understand that ANSWERED prayer is what we are talking about today, not devotional prayer.
- Devotional praying is a different kind of prayer – prayer to fellowship with God.
- The more I go along, the more I desire to get away from religious tags that as time has gone forward means little or nothing.
- Some Christian-ese terms are like tires with no thread left on them.
- Prayer is talking to God.
- I enjoy ‘talking to God’ way more than I do praying.
- Do you understand what I mean by that?
- Answered prayer is the prayer of faith.
- It’s the prayer Jesus alluded to in Mark 11:22–24
Mark 11:22–24 (ESV) — 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
- The pinnacle of the prayer of faith is the answer.
- If you say that you’re believing God and don’t see the result if you don’t realize the end of your faith if there’s no light at the end of the dark tunnel – it’s just all dark and you’re okay with that, then all you are doing is being religious.
- You can pray and not believe.
- Words can be uttered in your prayer closet that doesn’t get any higher than your nose.
- They don’t reach the hearing of God.
- Believers should be concerned enough, in these cases, to ask questions and be willing to dig into the Word to see where they are missing it.
- Excavating God’s Word is one key to unlock the puzzle of answered prayer.
My Personal Journey on the Road to Answered Prayer
- I remember I struggled with this subject as a fairly young believer.
- Why weren’t answers more frequent?
- I didn’t waver, but I sure did wonder.
- It seemed like all of a sudden, there was a change.
- Answers to prayer began to come with greater occurrence.
- I still had a severe case of the ‘wonder whys’.
- I don’t know about you, but I like to know why things work or don’t work.
- In the midst of this wondering, the Spirit of God showed me this verse.
John 15:7 (ESV) — 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
- Abiding in Jesus, which means to settle down or remain in Him, AND Jesus Words abiding in you is the ticket to results.
- That’s why I said to you earlier, you have to get into the Word if your short an answer.
- These are some general comments along this boulevard.
- Let’s jump into a portion of God’s Word today.
Answered Prayer and the Man Born Blind
- In John’s gospel chapter nine, let’s look at the aftermath of a man receiving deliverance from a life-long condition.
- Let’s understand the boldness that this man had.
John 9:24–34 (ESV) — 24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
Answered Prayer and Speaking Your Convictions
- With that thought here’s the illustration of the day.
In the United States in the early 1950s, a crisis arose when Senator Joseph McCarthy made widespread claims of Communist infiltration into all areas of American life. In the hysteria that followed, many lives were ruined, the ranks of foreign diplomats were decimated, and charges of Communist leanings were made against numerous high officials, including the president. No Republican of national stature would challenge Senator McCarthy, not even the president. Finally, Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith, the only woman in the Senate, rose to present a scathing ‘declaration of conscience’ condemning Senator McCarthy for his irresponsible tactics. In 1954 the Senate passed a censure motion that brought the crisis under control. It began because one woman dared to speak her convictions.2
- The “best man” in this case was a woman with convictions.
- This man who was born blind was bold to speak out his convictions when challenged by the religious hierarchy.
- Why?
- Because he received an answer to his situation.
Staring Down Religion with the Weapon of Answered Prayer
- In the face of the vicious pit-bull attack of religion, the effectiveness of receiving an answer to a debilitating life long condition gave this man the strength to stand.
- Marvelous.
- Religion poked fun at him.
- It tried to steal the blessing of sight.
- Religion always puts people in the dark.
- “Give glory to God”, religion said — trying to sound all pious.
- “We know that this man was a sinner.”
- Isn’t that amazing sinners, full of the devil are healing people?
- Who was really full of the devil in this story – that religious bunch?
- They were running over with devils.
- Full of the devil?
- Yes, that’s what Jesus said in the previous chapter.
Religion and Devils
John 8:44 (ESV) — 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
- So if you want to know what Satan is like, look at this so-called religious crowd.
- Now, this responded with boldness over his newfound sight.
- And he testified with great boldness: “whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
- What this man needed to stand against the forces of evil was an answer to his prayer.
- Now, you might say, ‘But there is no record that the man prayed.
- And, that statement is true and right.
- There is no gospel record.
- But, here’s the thing, there’s also no record that he didn’t pray.
- Sometimes you can tell as much by what God didn’t say as by what he did say.
- Here is what we do know for certain and for sure: this former blind man was a Jewish man born to synagogue going parents.
- We have John’s record of that.
- “Synagogue going people” pray – they prayed all the time – they prayed every day.
- Praying to the one true God is part of being Jewish.
- Surely this former blind man prayed, certainly, he talked to God.
- I don’t think that’s a stretch at all.
- You know the Bible doesn’t record that Jesus took a bath or combed His hair, but I’m sure He did.
- There’s no doubt in my mind that both this former blind man and his parents talked to God about their situation.
Answered Prayer: Staying with What You Know
- There is another point now that we should see.
- This former blind man said I love calling him that by the way — former blind man — “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know.”
- This man did not dwell on what he did not know — he centered his testimony on what he did know.
- That means for one, you don’t know everything to receive a miracle.
- In fact, there were plenty of other things this man did not know.
- There are plenty of things that you and I don’t know but the Lord still blesses us.
John 9: 35–38 (ESV) — 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and sit is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
The Son of Man
- This man didn’t even know that it was the magnificent Son of Man who had healed him — he had no clue.
- Why did Jesus refer to Himself as the Son of Man here instead of the Son of God?
- The answer to that is located in Daniel seven.
Daniel 7:13–14 (ESV) — 13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
- Remember that this prophecy about the ‘Son of Man’ was hundreds of years before Jesus.
- Hundreds of years, like around the sixth century BC.
- Daniel gave forth this prophecy and with it came with a wondering among those who heard it.
- Who was this Son of Man to whom was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him?
- A man, a messiah, a mighty king, who was this Son of Man?
- Can we identify Him who has a dominion which is an everlasting dominion, a kingdom that shall not pass away or be destroyed?
The Gospels Identify the Son of Man
- They point to Jesus as the Son of Man because He declared it of Himself.
- Matthew records these words ‘Son of Man’ applying to Jesus twenty-eight times.
- Mark? — thirteen times.
- Luke bears witness twenty-five times and John, twelve times.
- Just listen to a handful of these references.
- In the gospels, the Son of Man has the power to forgive sins.
Mark 2:10 (ESV) — 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—
- In the gospels, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day
Mark 2:28 (ESV) — 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
- In the gospels, the Son of Man is coming in the cloud of glory.
- This is not an ordinary man.
Mark 14:62 (ESV) — 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
- Again, not a common man.
- Seated at God’s right hand.
- And here, in John’s gospel, the Son of Man is a healer of a blind man’s eyes.
Significance of the Son of Man
- Now, the point I’m making is that this man was aware of the significance of the title ‘Son of Man.’
- Because when Jesus declared to the man that He was the one, the man didn’t question what the title meant.
- Listen to the conversation again.
Jesus said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The former blind man answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and sit is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
- The former blind man knew the scriptural significance of those three words.
- As vital and powerful as all of this is, this blind man did not know who healed him.
- He didn’t know, but he still received healing.
- Do you have to know how everything works in God to take a stand for Him?
- This account in John nine is clear: no you don’t.
- Do you have to know all about how healing works to declare Jesus as your healer?
- Again, no you don’t, but you do need the courage to believe it.
- With that thought, here’s the illustration of the day.
Show Them What Side You’re On
During the War Between the States, Rebel and Union soldiers were in a skirmish near a home. As they were shooting at one another, an aged grandmother picked up her broom and started toward them. Someone called for her to come back, that she could do no good with a broom. She replied, “I can at least show ‘em which side I’m on!”3
Answered Prayer and Having A Good Profession
- Rise up and declare what you believe.
- Your testimony of Jesus should not be ‘Dead Sea’ still.
- Take a stand for Jesus.
- Has Jesus answered any prayer of yours?
- If he has declare it, and cling to the reality of it.
- No one can tell me that Jesus is not a healer because I have seen what the Lord did in bringing Sharon out of a brain aneurysm.
- The former blind man had no idea who Jesus was or how He gave him his sight.
- He had no clue.
- What this man did was hold to the bit of revelation that was real to him.
- He knew he was healed and he understood that it had to be a righteous man who was the hand of God to him.
- Listen to the Psalmist’s words.
Psalm 34:15 (ESV) — 15 The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
- Or to words of the wise man in Proverbs who declared:
Proverbs 15:8 (ESV) — 8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
- God’s power manifest in the man’s condition was more than enough to cover his ignorance: the man said, ‘Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’
- He took a stand on that and went up the road healed and whole.
- And, you can do the same.
- You guys have a great God week and we’ll see you next week for another edition of Light on Life.
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