Pastor Jon Burgess
December 30, 2018 - W1852

Welcome, New Hope! Right now, we’re in a weird in-between spot—New Year’s is not here yet; and it’s after Christmas—we’re wandering, waiting, wondering! I am praying that we will clue in on the most important New Year’s resolution we can make for 2019: A four-letter word that will literally change your life and make sure you step into everything that God has for you in 2019! P-R-A-Y, pray! You may be getting a little fidgety and nervous—feeling a little guilty?!

Even if prayer is not on your list of resolutions for the coming year, most of us know that a core essential of being able to walk with God is that we talk with Him—that’s what prayer is! Yet, some of us have somewhat given up on prayer because we don’t have the confidence that we will get the desired result.But, if we saw immediate answers, we would probably pray all the time! Remember, God promised He will hear every prayer, but He doesn’t tell us when or how He’ll answer it, or by what means He will use to bring it to pass. Since God does not operate on our timetable, we lose faith!

Some of us look at prayers as letters to Santa! (Do people still write letters to Santa?I did some research, in case you were also wondering.) It turns out that not only are people still writing letters to Santa in this digital age—more people are doing so!The USPS office has designated an area for letters to Santa, instead of a dead letter file! At the Santa Claus Museum in Indiana, 200 or so volunteer elves respond to about 20,000 letters a year!

This practice started in the early1900s, and the elves have actually answered these letters! There are also groups of people that buy the requested gifts for the children, and send them as if it came from Santa!No wonder the letters to Santa are increasing—the kids are passing the word around that if you mail a letter to Santa, you just might get a gift in the mail. Incredible!

Recently, Cyndi (my wife) shared that at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. People actually send letters to God. Where do all the letters to God go? We know where letters to Santa go.

Many rabbis handle these letters for prayers—for 12 years Avi Yaniv has received about a thousand letters to God sent to his office. He separates them and hand delivers them to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and puts them into holes inside of the Wall.

Rabbi Yaniv said many of the letters come from people with depression, stress, or grief—asking for healing of a family member; peace between and a man and his wife, between Israel and Arab countries; some want material goods—a good job, a good wife, a nice car, and a lot of money! Basically, it’s a grown-up letter to Santa!

Recently, I went to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. As I was kneeling to pray, I noticed that some of the prayers had fallen out of the wall, on to the ground. Immediately, I thought, what if this was your only hope that God would hear you; so you saved your entire life to travel to get your prayer in the wall—and someone like me knocks it out!?

Does that mean God doesn’t hear your prayer? Does that mean it doesn’t reach its desired address? I can’t imagine living life with the uncertainty of a God who may or may not hear my prayers. When I received Jesus Christ as my Savior, it was not a religion, but a relationship with God—knowing that when I talk to Him, He hears me, and He talks to me—I don’t have to wonder if He hears my prayers. Do I have doubts? Of course I do, just like the rest of us.

Jesus tells His disciples a parable that they should always pray and not give up (our tendency is to give up praying when we feel that God is not hearing us). Luke 18:1-8 NLT:“¹Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ⁶ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’”

One day a lady at our journaling session told a story about a letter her mom wrote to her mail lady, expressing her gratitude for picking up all her packages to be mailed.Ironically, the letter got lost in the mail and didn't show up for 10 years! The mail lady responds to her mother and says, "I got your letter in the mail, and, boy, did I need it! My husband just passed away and I needed your words of encouragement to know that my life made a difference somehow.” 10 years later!

We often get mad at God and stop talking/praying to Him, because He's not operating on our timetable. We operate within the confines of a finite reality; our God is infinite. He sees the beginning from the end, and knows exactly how, and when we need the answer to that prayer. He always delivers on time—not our time—but His time!

The moment we pray, something is set in motion in the spirit that we cannot see; but, if we will continue to pray and believe, God will bring the answer when we need it—so that when He returns, He will find a people of faith who refuse to give up on a just God, who hears and answers prayers!

Not a single prayer of faith is ever misplaced or falls to the ground; the angels collect and carry each prayer to heaven—they don't accidentally drop it! Everything in heaven matters and is important to our God—so He has a specific place for our prayers! His angels in heaven have one job: To hold our prayers for God to answer at just the right time! Psalm 141:2 NIV says: "May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.”

Imagine fighting cancer not once, not twice, not three times, but seven times in seven years! And on the seventh round, the doctor says, “Cancer has eaten through the bone in your foot, and if you put too much pressure on it, it will literally break off! You need to put your foot in a cast, and use a cart to roll in.” This is where Scott Hogle found himself.

Scott and his wife Kate have been a part of New Hope since 2003. He joined the New Hope regional board in 2011, and is the senior vice president of sales at iHeart Media. Kate has been one of our amazing leaders in the Women in the Word Ministry. And over the years, Scott has been teaching in our School of Church Leadership and the John Maxwell seminars at New Hope.

This year, Scott again faced cancer! He can tell you all about chemo and radiation, but I asked him to tell us about prayer:

[Video]

I had an overwhelming desire to be at New Hope on a Tuesday morning. But I had forgotten they held staff meetings on Tuesdays and thought maybe I should leave—but I knew I needed to be there.So, I went in and sat at a table. In the middle of the staff meeting, Pastor Jon Burgess said, “I want to lay hands on Scott, and the rest of you too, let’s pray for him.”

As I was leaving the office, I met two Pacific Rim University students who also offered to pray for me. One of them said, ”God spoke to me this morning, and I’m supposed to pray for someone.” I said, “Pray away." I asked for their names and said, “Thanks so much for your prayer," and left.

A few days later, on Saturday, before I got up, I saw myself running. And even though I had not walked for 2 ½ months and could not put weight on my foot, I knew that I was going to walk that day, when I woke up!

Something physical had happened; my faith had risen to make me think that I could do this!I got up and went to the kitchen; my wife Kate looks at me walking and says, "What are you doing?" I said, "I'm walking," and told her the story. For the next three days, I walked slowly with a little bit of pain, but I'm walking!

During that time, I read all the gospels in the New Testament and discovered that there was never anyone who came to Jesus that didn't get healed!If He can heal leprosy, cause the blind to see, the lame to walk, the dead to rise, heal broken relationships and cancer, then everything else is just a piece of cake for God! I've learned to trust in God’s Word more than in my feelings or circumstances—feelings and circumstances may change, but God does not!

I walked for three days, but on Wednesday morning I woke up and couldn't walk! For two days I'm talking to God, asking what happened? Did I fall out of faith? By Friday, I'm really sad.

I got this impression: “You need to go into your heart, the soil of your heart, and begin to see yourself walking again—go into your imagination!” I knew what God was talking about. On Saturday morning, I woke up and as I did my devotions, I said to the Lord, "Okay, I’ll speak to my mountain because Mark 11:24 says to speak to your mountain and anything that I say in faith, believing, I shall have what I say!”

I spoke to my mountain, and God said, "I want you to pray as you walk." I guess a prayer walk. A lot of people do that, so I got up off the chair and started walking and praying—I've been walking ever since!

[End Video]

Scott asked me to thank you for your prayers. He is in complete remission, and his blood is completely clean! Thank you, Lord!

For some of us, the walk of faith will only happen when we understand that not a single prayer of faith is ever misplaced, even though you may feel that you’re just surviving, just making it, or maybe you're stuck. The Lord wants you to know that when you pray the prayer of faith, He will bring you back to your center again.

And that's what makes Scott's prayer and testimony so poignantly powerful. The walk of faith, it's not a formula—it's about a person named Jesus! He teaches us frail humans how to walk out our faith, one step at a time. Walk by faith and not by sight!

As we rejoice over all the amazing things that happened over 2018 (the baptisms, salvations, small groups, discipleship, and the generations being reached), I believe they are all directly attributed to how God moved this past year! This was the first year in the history of New Hope that we didn't let a single month go by without a 24-hour prayer cycle! The quiet revolution of humility starts when we get on our knees! We consider this so important, that we pray over all the prayer requests that come in, and for the specific things that we will be doing as a church. It’s a reminder to us of why God put us here—we’re called to be a people of prayer!

We are stepping into a new year: To a prophetic place with a confidence that cannot be shaken; that is not dependent upon circumstances or situations; we trust in a just God—that if He says He hears our prayers, we believe it!

God will use someone to answer your prayer; will you be the answer to someone else’s prayer? Are you aware of whom God has put in your path to assist? You will experience breakthrough in every place that you talk and walk through with Jesus. This is His promise!  

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1. When were times God took a long time to answer your prayer?

2. When were you challenged when fear or uncertainty overcame your faith?

3. What are some of your prayers to the Savior?

4. Who has been an answer to your prayer?