Obtained Promises Through Faith and Prayer

In the book of Hebrews there is a hall of faith found in chapter 11 and in this hall of faith are found examples of men and women who have gone before us in lives of surrender to God. Special merit is given to these servants of the Most High as we read of them in chapter 11 of the book of Hebrews. The Scots call these individuals worthies and worthy they are indeed to be our examples but the world was not worthy of them.

Let me read you a portion of Hebrews chapter 11 beginning in verse 35 which tells of their exploits in the name of the Lord. Women received their dead raised to life again and others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword.

They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins being destitute, afflicted, tormented of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. I will stop there.

Remember this passage the next time you're complaining about having to wait in line for your latte at Starbucks. This passage of worthies and the preceding ones to it are worthy of our attention and our focus will be this morning. It will be on the verse which precedes this passage which I just read.

Our text today is Hebrews 11 33 which declares, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions. Now first that it was through faith we notice that these mighty acts were performed and notice secondly that the two words obtained promises, well that's our focus today friends. The title of my message today is obtained promises through faith and prayer.

You see these two faith and prayer go together like biscuits and butter. You can eat a biscuit without butter and it will be okay but when your biscuit is buttered well it just hits the spot if you know what I mean and buttered by itself well that's not even appetizing. The two go best together and if you try to obtain an answer to prayer without the necessary faith to accompany that prayer then you will not obtain your promises as you should.

Through the years God has given me some promises in his written word and endorsed those promises by his Holy Spirit to me in a personal way. God has kept his promises to me. He is a faithful God even when I have been unfaithful to him.

One thing I have learned as a believer is that prayer is the engine of all Christian activity and the train track of prayer is faith. Without faith your prayers will be derailed. Without faith your prayers won't go higher than the ceiling.

Without faith prayer is inactive. They go hand in hand and they must go hand in hand for us to obtain the promises of God to us. Our passage of Hebrews in chapter 11 even starts out this way.

Listen to how verse 1 begins. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders did what? Obtained.

They obtained a good report. Keep on going and you will see it is all about faith. By faith Abel, by faith Enoch, by faith Noah, by faith Abraham.

And then it says in verse 13, these all died in faith. Listen friends, you cannot even be pleasing to God without it. For verse 6 declares, but without faith it is impossible to please him.

When Jesus stopped the raging sea he reprimanded his disciples by saying, where is your faith? And I ask you today friend, where is your faith? Are you so downcast that your faith is weak? Are you so troubled that your faith is like a flat tire that won't go anywhere? Perhaps your prayers have been hindered by your own lack of faith. Maybe you have some promises of God that you've been hanging on to, but you have not been standing on them with the necessary faith. You have not been doubting God's ability to answer your prayers and deliver, but maybe you've been doubting his willingness to do so.

Is that true dear friend? He is able, but is he willing? It's an issue of faith and it's an issue of prayer. You see for prayers to be answered and for promises to be obtained, we must properly align ourselves to God. If we are living in sin, we can't walk with God.

Amos tells us, can't two walk together unless they be agreed. If you are in a sin, then you are out of step with God. There are several things which can hinder our prayers.

One is an unforgiving heart. If you have an unforgiving heart toward another, then chances are your prayers will be hindered. Is that not what Jesus declared? But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

And the Apostle Peter tells us to be Christ-like in our marriage, that your prayers be not hindered. How can your prayers be answered if you harbor bitterness toward your spouse? So it's critically important that our walk with God and our walk with our fellow man is properly aligned for our prayers to ascend up to heaven with impact. And this matter of faith and prayer are vitally correlated to one another in obtaining the promises of God to us.

Listen friends, faith is the oil of prayer that lubricates the wheels to make them turn toward heaven. And prayer is the backbone of faith. Prayer is the conduit by which faith travels upward.

Prayer is the rope, and faith is the anchor. Prayer is the beast of burden that carries the load, which is activated by faith. Look at our Hall of Faith found in Hebrews, and you will read, By faith Noah, by faith Abraham, by faith Moses, by faith Jacob.

But these worthies not only had faith, they had the work of prayer, which undergirded their faith. They each were men of action who acted through faith. They did, they acted.

Study the Bible, and you will see that these men were not lazy men. These men were not mystics who only had faith. These were men of action.

Listen, Noah built, Moses forsook, Abraham obeyed, and Jacob wrestled. They had action accompanying their faith. When we study our Bibles, we see that prayer is annexed to the promises of God, and those promises turn upon the hinge of prayer.

But there is no turning, no activating, no obtaining, without the accompanying faith. Do you see that? Faith and prayer, they go hand in hand. In Genesis chapter 15, in verse 6, it states regarding Abraham, and he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness.

You see, friends, Abraham had the necessary faith, but there came a day when Abraham had to act on that faith in his God, and God watched his servant demonstrate that acted out faith in Genesis chapter 22. We see this, and Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and they went, both of them, together. Abraham was ready to believe God, no matter the cost, even if it meant giving up his very son, and God loved you so much, dear friend, that he gave up his only son for you.

There is toll associated with the activity of God, sweat and equity, heaven is taken by violence. Jesus had faith, but he also spent entire nights in prayer, acting on that faith. If you want to obtain the promises of God, then you must be greatly familiar with God.

You must walk with Him in a daily walk of prayer. You must spend time with Him in seasons of desperate prayer. You must walk with Him in holiness, and obedience, and faithfulness.

Get to know your God, friend, get to know your God, and you will be better equipped to hear Him when He promises you something from His Word and by His Spirit. The importance of the daily quiet time cannot be emphasized enough. The one thing that impacted my own life more than any other, by being mentored by Stephen Olford, was this aspect of having the daily quiet time.

That's what he taught me. It is essential. Dr. Stephen Olford had power in the pulpit when he preached, because he spent the necessary time on his knees and with his God.

We want the power, but we don't want the sackcloth and ashes that accompany it. If you are not spending quality time walking with God in a daily quiet time with Him, then it's no wonder that your prayers are ineffectual, for to have power with God and influence with man comes only from a close walk with the Almighty. I can tell you right now, brother preacher, that if you lack power in the pulpit, it's because you spend more time in your sports and entertainments than you do with your God.

Be honest with yourself and repent of the lack of time on your knees and in your Bible. Men of former days, men like Jonathan Edwards, who were mighty with God. He was mighty with God because he spent 12 hours in his study every day with God.

Martin Luther shook Germany because he trembled before God for three hours every day in prayer. Listen, brother preacher, you spend three hours on the golf course working on your handicap, but you won't spend three hours with God each day. And you wonder why your faith is so weak, and your prayer is so feeble, and your sermons so meager.

This whole aspect of obtaining promises hinges on our prayer life and our faith life. And both prayer and faith strengthen one another, and activate one another, and motivate one another. The Apostle James gives us this reason for our unanswered prayers, but let him ask, in faith, nothing wavering.

For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. Listen, friends, I can paraphrase that in the Johnston Version, which reads, let not that man think for one skinny minute he shall receive anything of the Lord.

Without faith, your prayers are like lead balloons. Without faith, your prayers are waves crashing against the shoreline and going nowhere. And without the burden, and activity, and desperation, and importunity of prevailing prayer, faith will not have the channel from which to flow.

They go hand in hand, friend, hand in hand, like butter and biscuits. I was sitting at Cracker Barrel the other night with my daughter, and we were enjoying our buttered biscuits. And God takes delight in our prayers when they are spread with faith.

Do you hear me, friend? My message has been on obtained promises through faith and prayer. If you remember that you will have a better prayer life through doing these things, then you will experience the joy of seeing God as a living God acting on your prayers and faith. You will have a vital walk with God as you obtain His promises made to you through the exercise of prayer and faith.

They both need exercise, friend. They both need to be strengthened. And only the daily exercise of each of them will strengthen them in concert, one with the other.

Then, and only then, will you experience more of God as those promises become a reality in your life and a testimony of your faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.