Pastor Elwin Ahu
March 8, 2009 - W0910

How do we connect to God? I think many of us could use more prayer in our lives. But it seems difficult at times and I sometimes I wish we had a 1-800 number to God or He had a Facebook website! Another problem is that we want an instant reply and when He does not reply instantly with the answer we want, we are frustrated.

But God is always speaking. As the Bible says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge … Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” (Psalm 19:1-4 NIV). Since God is always speaking, it is not Him that is the problem, it is us. When we cannot hear Him it is because we are not tuned into Him.

This room is full of waves that transmit to our cell phones, radios and internet connections. But we cannot see them even though they are there. We will not be able to hear the cell phone message if we have the wrong number or we cannot hear the right radio station if we have the wrong channel. It is the same with God. We might not be able to hear Him because WE may not be tuned in to Him – NOT because He is silent.

And it may seem the hardest to hear God when we are going through our hardest and toughest times. It could be the toughest test for us Christians when we seem to be unable to find God though we pray and pray.

Apostle Peter himself was in a tough situation. Escape seemed impossible. In the Book of Acts 12, King Herod was on a rampage.  He had Peter arrested, chained him between two guards and assigned 4 squads of soldiers to guard him. How many of us have felt imprisoned or tied down to a problem? How many of us feel chained to an illness or addiction? When we are in those difficult situations we need to tune into God. So how do we tune in?

1.     CONNECT TO A BODY OF BELIEVERS WILLING TO PRAY.

Apostle Peter belonged to a body of believers that prayed for him. As it is written, “When [Herod] had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four squads of soldiers to guard him … but prayer for [Peter] was being made fervently by the church to God” (Acts 12:4-5). Just as there were people praying for Peter, the Lord encourages us to gather and pray for one another.

I get confused when I find out that people I know have been in trouble but have not called me. When I ask why, they often say that they did not want to bother me or were too ashamed. But as Christians we are supposed to be here for one another. So right now I want you to turn to someone and say, “Pray for me.” Do not be afraid to turn to others for support. Remember, “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst” (Matt. 18:19-20).

Alone, we are like one person playing a musical instrument but in a group we can be like a symphony making a whole concert of beautiful music. I played the clarinet in high school but switched over to playing the oboe and when practicing alone I thought I sounded ok.  However, when playing with a group then I could tell that I sounded flat. Only in a group I could see where I needed correction. It is as the Lord says, when two or more of us agree then God works His miracles. When we are in agreement in a group it helps to correct our motivation and makes for powerful prayer. If you are not in a small group, get into one! We all need someone else to pray for us. So how else can we connect to God?

2.     BE WILLING TO TRUST GOD’S TIMING AND HIS WAYS.

While imprisoned by Herod, Peter needed to trust in God. He was at peace and asleep.  As it is written, “On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison” (Acts 12:6-7). Herod was on the rampage against Christians and Peter felt that doom was coming, yet he slept! I would not be sleeping! I would be praying and pleading with God but not Peter. As the Bible says, “And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And his chains fell off his hands” (Acts 12: 6-7). Amazing! Peter was sleeping so soundly that the angel had to hit him to awaken him! Despite the trouble he was in, Peter was resting and had peace of mind because he trusted in the Lord. No matter what was going to happen to him, he was at peace with it. The world does not understand our peace of mind that we get from our trust in God. So remember, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).

Pray and then trust in God that He has a good future and a hope for you. People that are uptight and upset often are not trusting God. We have to learn to lean not on our own understanding but on God’s. So …

3.     PRAY WITH AN EXPECTANT DESIRE TO RECEIVE GOD’S BEST.

Too often though, we pray for what we want, NOT what God wants. What we pray for has to be in agreement with God’s plans. How many of us have prayed for God’s best but got a surprise instead? Well, after Peter was released by the angel he went to the house of the small group that was praying for his release. But when they were told that he was outside their door, they did not believe it! “They said to her, ‘You are out of your mind!’ But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, ‘It is his angel.’ But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed” (Acts 12:15-16). Even though that is what they were praying for! We should not doubt the answers to our prayers.

Sometimes the answers will not be according to our point of view but we have to expect God’s very best to be the answers. The purpose of prayer is not necessarily to get what we want but to bring us closer to God. As it is written, “We are certain that God will hear our prayers when we ask for what pleases Him. And if we know that God listens when we pray, we are sure that our prayers have already been answered” (1 John 5:14-15 CEV). When we align our hearts with God, the sky is the limit.

Our 6 year old son, Jared asked his mom to pray with him so that he could be MVP in his baseball game. He then asked his mom if he won MVP, would she love him? At that point it did not matter whether he won MVP or not because just by saying that, he had won his mother’s heart. So remember, when we pray with our hearts in alignment with God, the sky’s the limit.

Pastor Roy Yamamoto took a New Hope team to an Arizona prison to extend God’s hand to the inmates there. He had hoped to teach them journaling and to plant some seeds in their hearts. It was difficult. The warden at first refused to meet with Pastor Roy but later relented.  The warden initially agreed to only a small meeting place that could hold only a few inmates at a time which was disappointing and made the task so much harder because then Pastor Roy’s team would have to have dozens of Christian revival sessions to reach all 2000 inmates.  But with lots of prayer and on subsequent contacts with the warden, the planned Christian revival site kept getting bigger and bigger and finally they could have 100’s of inmates attend per session!  All in all Pastor Roy feels that New Hope reached 800 inmates!

Pastor Roy himself is no stranger to prison.  He was a criminal but he changed his life around and had people praying for him.  While awaiting sentencing, he turned his life over to God and prayed for a Christian judge to pronounce judgment. To his surprise, Judge Elwin Ahu presided over his case and set him free. Years later, when Pastor Elwin had turned to ministry himself, Roy came up to him to thank him and began a close friendship. However, unfortunately, Judge Ahu’s ruling was overturned and Roy once again was faced with some old charges.  But being a Christian, Roy prayed to God and decided to simply admit his guilt and leave it up to God to decide his fate because whatever God decided was ok with Roy.  This time another judge heard the case but also set Roy free on probation! Years later, Roy became a pastor and then baptized that judge!

Hollywood could not write a better story!  So remember, all this started with prayer!

To tune into God you have to connect to a body of believers willing to pray, be willing to trust God’s timing and His ways and pray with an expectant desire to receive God’s best.

DISCUSSION SUGGESTIONS

1.      Why not simply pray by yourself?

2.      Why should we trust God’s timing and His ways?

3.      When does trusting prayer become blind faith?

4.      How can you tell if your prayer is in alignment with God?

5.      How can you tell if your prayer has been answered?

6.      Why should we pray with an expectant desire of God’s best?