Lustful Pray-Ers — Carter Conlon

I'd like you to turn in your Bibles with me to the book of James, please, in the New Testament. I have a message this morning that the Lord's given me entitled, Lustful Prayers. Not prayers. Prayers. Lustful Prayers.

Father, I want to thank you, Lord, with all of my heart this morning. God, you are leading us as a people into a storm. We have to know how to pray now. You've been teaching us, you've been wooing us, you've been drawing us.

So I pray, God, would you give us an open heart to be able to hear what needs to be spoken. We know that it's only the prayers of your people that can move the mountains that we're now facing in our present world.

For the sake of the children, for the sake of our homes and families and communities, teach us to pray. Help us, Lord God, to put away the hindrances to what you would want to do through the prayers of your people.

Give me the grace, Lord, today to speak this and give us all the grace to hear it. This is your word. This is the thought of your heart for this day. Lord, I want to thank you for being so faithful to always give your word in this house.

Now give me the grace that I need, the strength. Give us the ears and the hearts to understand and to embrace your word. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. James chapter 4, beginning at verse 1. Now James is believed to be the half-brother of Jesus Christ.

Obviously, the father of Jesus was God. The father of James was Joseph. And his mother, of course, was Mary. He was considered the head of the church in Jerusalem, and so his letters carried incredible weight and authority.

And he was writing this particular epistle from his own hand to many who had been dispersed around because of the persecution that arose against the church. And many of them, of course, were new believers in Christ.

James knew firsthand the power of prayer, obviously, in the home that he was raised in. He would have understood that. And he was trying to convey something to the church of that time about what God wanted to do through their lives.

And we would be wise, I think, in our generation, when we are beginning to experience and will, in the days ahead, experience an increased measure of persecution, as they did, to understand where the power of prayer lies.

Where do wars, chapter 4, verse 1, James, where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that warn your members? You lost and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain.

You fight and war, yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask amiss that you may spend it on your pleasures. The original King James says that you may consume it on your lusts.

Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously, but he gives more grace?

Therefore, he says, God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Lament and mourn and weep and let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. How would you like to get a letter like that?

Well, as a matter of fact, you actually did. It came from the hand of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, given to the Apostle James, who wrote it to the early church, and it has just as much validity for you and for me today as it did for them.

Strong words. Not too many people preach like this anymore. As a matter of fact, not too many people preach like Jesus did. But he's writing to this early church, this young church, that is having difficulty making the break from an old way of thinking and an old way of living and embracing this new life that was theirs through Jesus Christ.

And that's the battle we all go through. We come to Christ. We come to the cross. We recognize that he died in our place. We want heaven to be our eternal home. We open our hearts. We ask for forgiveness.

God promises that he will receive us. He gives us of his Holy Spirit. And then the promise after that is that we're a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old things pass away, and behold, all things have become new.

Now, the problem with us, as well as with them in the days of James, is not with the new things, it's with the old things. It's hard to let go. It's hard to let go of old ways of reasoning, old pursuits, old ways of thinking, old habits, old practices, old things that we thought were going to make us happy.

Somehow, I feel in this generation, we fail to understand that we fully belong to Jesus Christ when we come to him. He now has the right to our life. He has the right to our future. He has the right to decree what our life is going to look like.

He has the right to direct us on a path that will bring glory to his name. The difficulty we face, as I said, as Jesus said in Matthew chapter 9 and verse 17, you can't take new wine and put it into an old wineskin.

And many people want this new life of Christ, and they want to put it into an old way of thinking, an old way of living, and have, in a sense, the best of both worlds. I get to enjoy everything this world has to offer me, and I get heaven at the end.

And sad to say, there's actually a theology in our generation that proclaims that that is what the gospel is. But yet, James says it's adultery against God. He likens it to a marriage where one of the partners are both unfaithful to each other.

This supposed coming to Christ, but yet retaining this love for the things of this world. This inordinate affection, as it is, divided in the heart, wanting everything the world's got to offer and wanting everything heaven's got to offer.

And James calls it adultery. That's pretty strong language. He says if you want to be a friend of the world, you actually become an enemy of God. If you go elsewhere in the scriptures, it talks about those who in the last days, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, whose mind is set on earthly things.

And Paul actually says they are enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ. Even though they're in the house of God, they're enemies of the cross. The gospel of Matthew chapter 6, verses 31 to 33, Jesus said to his own disciples, he said, Do not worry, saying, What shall we eat?

What shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek, and your heavenly Father knows that you need these things. In other words, he's telling his disciples your old way of thinking, how you lived your life, how you went through your day, those things that were so, so important, the self-focus that was so evident in all of your pursuits.

Don't let these things now govern your future any longer. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Seek first the kingdom of God. Let your prayer be as Christ taught, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

And all these things will be added to you. And I can bear witness to that. And I know there are many people here who have walked with God for years. Listen to me, those that are younger. I'm older now, and I've walked this, and I've seen this.

As we have sought the kingdom of God and his righteousness, God has added all these things that you need. God will give them to you, and God can take them away if he wants to as well. I remember years ago, preaching in eastern Canada, having given my career, having dedicated my family, having founded a church, having a zeal for the kingdom of God, preaching in eastern Canada to come home and find my house burned to the ground.

We lost everything. We didn't even have clothes for our children. We ended up having to stay at the home of another pastor. And I remember one morning, it was in January, I used to jog most every day, and I went out for a run that day.

And the only thing I think I had was a toothbrush at that time. And I said, well, Lord, I've done my part. I'm seeking your kingdom and your righteousness. And you said all these things shall be added to me, so I'm not going to worry about.

I'm not going to worry about what I'm going to eat or what I'm going to drink or what I'm going to wear. I'm putting it all in your hands, and I'm going for a run. And that's exactly what I did. And I stand here today to tell you God was beyond faithful to our family.

Thank God for his mercy. Seek first the kingdom of God. Seek first in your life. God, what's your will for my life? Not trying to fit Jesus into another plan. Not trying to make Jesus part of an old pursuit.

Not looking for happiness in Christ, but going back, in a sense, to that which governed your life before you knew him as Savior. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, his value system, his heart, his will for your life.

That which he has destined you to do that will bring glory to his name. There's something God has given you to do. Do you understand that? But you won't know it until you start to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.

You put away these other things that just so want to occupy so much of our thinking and so much of our time. Now, in Mark chapter 11, Jesus left us both an example and a promise. Let me just tell you this story.

He was going to Jerusalem, and he's heading up from a town called Bethany to Jerusalem, and he comes across a fig tree. The Bible says he was hungry. In Mark chapter 11, verse 12, it just says simply he was hungry.

And seeing a far-off fig tree having leaves, he went to it to see if he could find something on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And in response, Jesus said to it, Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.

And his disciples heard it. Now, in the morning, the next day as they're going back up into Jerusalem, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered away.

So Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God, for assuredly I say to you, Whoever says to this mountain, Now, the only mountain in the area is Jerusalem. Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

Therefore, I say to you, Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Now, the counterbalance to that incredible promise is in the book of James. When James says you ask, but you do not receive, because you ask in error that you may consume it on yourself.

You see, there's a power in prayer, not when prayer is exercised towards myself, but when it's exercised towards other people. The whole kingdom of God, you know, the scripture says, Seek first the kingdom of God.

If you look at Jesus as our example, going up into Jerusalem, his whole purpose was to die for the sins of humanity. His whole purpose was to be given so that we might have life. His whole purpose was to break the bondage of hell and darkness and the penalty and power of sin and to give us a new life.

The whole purpose was to bring us home again to him for all of eternity and to leave us on the earth empowered by his Holy Spirit as a witness to this and subsequent generations after this moment in history, right down to ours of who he is, of what he can do, of why he came.

He was completely given. Now the Bible says he was hungry and he walks up to the tree. Now if his focus was on himself, he would have just said to the tree, By this time tomorrow, when I pass by again, you will have fruit.

That's what some of us would do. We would look and we'd say, I'm hungry. The tree has no fruit. So I'm going to command the tree to bear. He could have actually said, bear fruit right now. And the tree would have borne fruit that very moment.

But you see, it wasn't about himself. The tree, of course, in my understanding, represents the whole of humankind's effort to cover itself with fig leaves as Adam and Eve once did in the garden. The whole of human effort to try to be righteous or clean in the sight of God by human effort, by human will, by human ingenuity, believing the lie that in ourselves we can be as God is and become judges of what's good and what's evil.

And so as he walks up to that tree, I'm always convinced that he's looking at Adam back in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve covered with fig leaves who once had the glory of God. And he looks at them and he says, this tree says, no one eat fruit from you again.

I'm going to destroy your power to deceive. I'm going to destroy your power over humankind. That power that causes men, women, and children to believe that in themselves they can be godly. I'm going to go to the cross and I'm going to destroy this power of arrogance that got into the human heart.

And I'm going to make a way into eternal life for everyone who comes to me believing. And he looks at the tree and you see it's not about him. It's about us when he curses that tree. No one eat fruit from you ever again.

In other words, I'm coming against this deception for the sake of others. Not for my own sake. He was offering his own life up for our sakes. And even his prayer when he stands in front of the tree was not about himself.

It was about no man. Let no one eat fruit of you from you ever again. From there he goes into the temple. In Jerusalem in the temple it's the place of prayer. It's the place where God's presence was supposed to be on the earth.

It's the place where humankind was supposed to come in and have an encounter with the living God. Be transformed. It's the place where God had set apart a people for himself like you and I are in our generation.

A people who are other minded. A people who are set upon an eternal kingdom. A people who have the power of God in their lives and have a supernatural testimony of God's delivering power. And when he walked in all he saw were tables and money changers and goats and doves.

You see, when the focus is on self it's only natural that the house of God turns into a place of merchandise and convenience. That's when everyone is focused on themselves and this is the only time in the Bible you see literally the tangible anger of God.

In the Gospel of John it talks about he made a scourge of cords. And there was a fury that rose up in the heart of the Son of God. Now these temple money changers had guards but nobody would dare raise their hand against him.

And he had no armament but a scourge of leather cords. I'll tell you there's few times ever that you see the anger of God like you see in the Son of God in this moment. Because of what self focus had done to the house of God.

This light casual treating of what we're called to be on the earth. And he overthrew the tables and said my house is to be a house of prayer for all nations but you've made it a den of thieves. Now in the morning he came back the next day.

This is when they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter said oh look master the fig tree which you cursed is withered away. And this is where he makes this incredible promise to you and I have faith in God.

For surely I say to you whoever says to this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done he will have whatsoever he says.

Therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you receive them and you will have them. If the focus of our prayer is that even these mountains of deception mountains that we're finding in our society today mountains of incivility mountains of gender confusion mountains of immorality mountains of violence on the horizon mountains of confusion on every corner at every conceivable level if the focus of our prayer is that people be released from the grip of delusion then we have the power he said to speak to these mountains.

And the promise is that they will be cast into the sea. There's such incredible power in prayer there's such a need in this generation for the true bride of Jesus Christ the true bride to come back to an understanding of where our power really lies.

We have power in prayer. It was promised by the mouth of the son of God who cannot lie that when our prayers are focused on his kingdom his righteousness they're focused on the people that he died to save.

When we're praying for the right reason we can speak to mountains and they have to move. In James chapter 4 and verse 5 he says do you think the scripture says in vain the spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously there's a jealous yearning in the heart of God for you and I to discover this incredible power of prayer again which is resident in us when we ask him to do what only he can do for the right reasons.

When we step out in faith and our prayer is not about me, myself and I it's not about my clothes my food, my house my life, my career now there's a season to pray for some of those things I understand that and there's nothing wrong with that but that can't be the all consuming direction of our heart you understand with the word of God it can't be our only focus.

We are left on this earth to push back darkness so that men, women and children who are destined for an eternal flame separated from God might be set free so that prison doors might have to let them go wounded hearts might be healed blinded eyes might see we have incredible power in prayer and we're going to rediscover it in the last days.

I believe that with all of my heart. I believe the church is going to finish like she began. I believe that we are going to have an upper room experience all over again. When we gather together in one accord and in one spirit when we gather together as they did on the day of Pentecost and say oh God I'm here for your purposes on the earth and I yield my body as a living sacrifice for you, for your kingdom and for your righteousness and for the people you died for and God I'm asking you for an empowerment of the Holy Spirit that you would raise me up out of weakness, raise me up out of mediocrity give me power over the self focus that so wants to dominate my life and God send me out into the marketplace with something supernatural in my life.

And when they were all with one accord they prayed together in one spirit. Suddenly a rushing mighty wind came into that room and cloven tongues of fire sat on every one of them. Oh God. Would you do that again Lord God Almighty.

Would you do that again. Would you. Would you baptize your church with your Holy Spirit. Would you lift us out of weakness and bring us into strength. Would you take us out of self focus and give us heavens focus.

But he gives more grace. Therefore he says in verse 6 of James 4. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. There is an incredible grace of God available to you and I when we're ready to admit that we can't break free from self focus without his help.

You can't. I can't. None of us can. It's only in Christ. Can this be done left to ourselves. We spend our whole day thinking about ourselves let everyone perish that we pass on the street. We'll be focused only on ourselves.

It takes the grace of God and it takes a humble heart to say Lord I can't break free from these chains of this flesh that wants to govern my mind my thinking my life. It wants to dictate even my prayers.

I need the power of the Holy Spirit to break free. And when we're willing to pray that way God says his incredible grace available. I'm experiencing that grace now in a deeper way than I've known in a long time.

Just like you. I'm just like everyone that's here. I like comfort too as well. I'd rather be where the sun is shining than where it's snowing and raining all the time. I'd like to be in a happy place where people like each other and there's no cursing incivility.

I'd like I don't think a place like that exists but I'd like to be there if it did exist in this world. I'd like to go fishing just like the disciples did. There's lots of things I'd like to do but my Bible says I'm to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Seek first the kingdom of God admitting before God. Lord you're going to have to do this for me because I can't do it for myself. I don't even care Lord unless you give me a heart to care. I won't go there unless you burden me to go there.

I won't be the person I'm called to be unless you take me by the hand as you did that blind man and you just lead me out of town and spit in my eyes God. I won't be able to see. I won't be able to go.

We're all the same and we all live in the same boat. But we all have access to this incredible grace when we get to the point of saying God. Would you touch this heart. Would you touch this poor heart that wants to live for itself that wants to serve itself that wants to think all day about itself.

That wants its own comfort. That doesn't really care about the masses going into an eternal Christless hell God. Would you touch this heart. Would you put in it the compassion that needs to be there. Would you put in it the faith that you say can be mine to move mountains so that people can actually be free.

Would you make a difference through my life. Would you take me oh God from where I am. And would you take me to where I need to be. James says draw near to God. And he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts.

You double minded lament and mourn and weep and let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. In other words if your joy is coming from other than what God has destined your life to be then let that be taken away.

Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. I'm not sharing this message to condemn anybody today. I'm in the same boat as I shared as you are. But for the sake of our present culture for the sake of our families for the sake of our children for the sake of those who are thirsty all around us.

We need God to lift us up again. There is no way forward if he doesn't take us there. There's no strategy. There's no super preacher going to rise up. There's just a church people like you and I. Last week I took a walk.

I went down in an evening. I went down on Broadway all the way down to 30th I guess 32nd somewhere down there. And you look at the debauchery in our streets. Now you look at how dark the people have become.

You listen to the conversation the cursing the vileness. It's. I never thought I'd live to see a day like this the threatenings of darkness against everything of light. And I found myself praying out loud for the people.

But I also prayed God help me. God help me to make a difference. Because this situation is way beyond anyone's ability it requires you to come and glorify your own name again. And so God help me. I don't know how to get into where I need to go.

You can't touch these people without the Holy Spirit. There is no way this generation is going to turn through the testimony of a casual self-seeking church. We'll just become salt trodden under the foot of men.

I found myself praying out loud because you can do that now have mercy. Jesus have mercy. All you got to do is put one of those white things in your ear and somebody thinks you're.

On the phone I found myself saying God have mercy.

God have mercy. God have mercy on them. God have mercy on these people. God have mercy on this city. God have mercy on our children. God have mercy on our families. God have mercy on those caught in sin.

And I had a picture come into my mind. I was in this crowd going down the sidewalk you can barely move. Everybody seems to be going in the same direction. And I had a picture folks I just want to I just have to share it with you of World War II of the Jewish people being herded into boxcars thinking they're being taken to a destination.

They're being told you're being taken to a nice comfortable place not knowing they're destined for the slaughter. And I'm I'm watching these people go down the street and they don't know. They're being herded by darkness into a place of unspeakable sorrow.

And there's nothing can turn it around but the spirit of God. There's no voice that can be raised that can make a difference in this society. Now the only voice that can make a difference is the ones found at the throne of God who are seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Because I believe God can turn around this moment in our society. I believe that because he said you can speak to this mountain and it has to be moved. He said whatsoever you ask for believing you will receive that's red letter in my Bible.

And I make no apology for what Jesus said the only voice that matters now I have the privilege of being on the radio. I have the privilege of of having somewhat of an influence. But it's not that voice that's going to make a difference.

It's the voice at the throne. It's the one alone in his apartment her apartment at night going to the throne of God. That's the voice that's going to make a difference. It's your voice. It's you. It's us corporately when we get together to pray.

It's your voice as you travel to your workplace throughout the day. And you're asking the Holy Spirit to replace that old value system with something new. God almighty. Don't let me claim to be married to you and yet have a heart that's so distant from yours.

Don't let the indictment of James chapter 4 be mine. God let my heart be one with you and you're the only one that can do that. I can't. I can't Lord the greatest prayers I've ever prayed my whole life that have opened a doorway into something of him is Lord.

I can't. I can't God. I don't know how to do this but you do. And your Holy Spirit lives inside of me. So you're going to have to take me by the hand and lead me out of the city. You're going to have to touch my eyes.

You're going to have to touch my heart. You're going to have to change me. I started praying that again a few years ago and he's answering my prayer. I have a new burden that God's brought to my heart.

I have something new that he's doing in my life. And I thank God for that with all of my heart I challenge you. I beg you as your pastor walk humbly before God and simply say Lord use my life for your glory.

Change me help me. I can't go there if you don't take me Lord but I want to. I want to. I recognize Lord that it's not in me. I don't even really care. But you can change that you can help me escape self-focus and you can bring me into that which my life is supposed to be according to you Lord.

You can bring me to that place and let me just tell you the promise is in that place. Mountains can move that place. Prayers are answered. The supernatural takes over the natural in that place. Hell gives way to heaven.

Captivity has to give way to freedom. Blindness gives way to sight and pain gives way to healing. This is a defining moment for the church in our generation. We don't have five more years to get this right folks it's now or never.

So I challenge you with all my heart as James once said to the early church humble yourself in the sight of God and he will lift you up. So Father I have delivered what you put on my heart and I want to thank you Lord that you spoke it to my heart first.

So I stand the most convicted of all this day. There are places I've not gone yet but I'm asking you to take me there. There are degrees of self-denial I've not known but you can give me the power that I need to go there.

There's compassion that's lacking in my heart but you can renew it and replace it with yours. You promised that if I would walk humbly that you would lift me up. So Lord I take you at your word. You showed us that if our prayers are not focused on our own comfort that we can speak to mountains and they have to move.

So Lord I simply take you at your word and I thank you that you cannot lie. I ask you Lord God Almighty in the days ahead. I ask you for 60 million people to turn to you in this country. I ask that the mountain of pain, sorrow, and unbelief be moved.

I ask Lord that you would do what only you can do. Years ago as a young police officer I asked you for 100 ,000 souls and I saw it in one day. So Lord I will not limit you send a revival to this nation Lord that can only come from the Holy Spirit and let it begin in our hearts Lord here today and I thank you in Jesus name.

Praise God here's my altar call for you Lord take me there. I hear you. I hear you Lord and I don't know how to get there. But I know you can take me there. I know you can make me into the person I need to be.

And I want my prayers to matter. And I want you to do through my life what only you can. So here we are Lord your church your people the testimony that you've left on this side of eternity to declare to those who live in darkness that we've seen a great light to help those who are imprisoned to find a way to freedom.

And you told us we can move mountains. And I believe you Lord I believe you with all my heart. So Lord God give us the courage to believe that you can use each of us Lord for your glory. Give us the faith to understand that if we will walk your way that miracles can begin to happen for people all around us.

Help us Lord God to follow in your footsteps. When you went to the temple Jesus it was to give yourself as a sacrifice. Help us Lord. Help us Lord help us Lord. I pray God that we can step through that veil today and move into the place of faith trusting you believing you God that you actually can use us for your glory.

We think of the mountains Lord that all who are at this altar have to face mountains in the home the community in the workplace. God you told us we could speak to them and they would have to move mountains of unbelief in our own homes with some of our own children and grandchildren.

You said we could speak to it. And we take you Lord it's your word father. We thank you. We speak to this mountain of godlessness that would want to swallow this whole nation and corral its inhabitants and send the populace into hell.

We speak to this mountain and command it to be moved from our shores in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of his cross in the greatness of his victory in the truthfulness of his word who said whatever we ask for believing we shall receive Satan.

We stand against you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We command your strongholds to be broken the delusion that you have poured upon so many to give way to light God. We ask for a sweep of mercy across this nation north to south from east to west.

Mercy mercy, mercy sweeping away the refuge of lies, mercy drawing in countless numbers of souls into your kingdom. Mercy Lord mercy and grace. Father we thank you Lord that we are not powerless. Thank you.

You've given us your promises. Thank you Lord. As your people you said if we'd humble ourselves and pray and seek your face and turn from our wicked ways you would hear from heaven forgive our sin and you would heal our land.

So God we take you at your word. We take you at your word Lord and we recognize that it's not by might nor by power but by your spirit that this victory will be won. God thank you Lord. God. Thank you God.

Thank you Lord. God thank you that even as we pray now you are pushing back darkness in this city even as we.

Pray you are.

Bringing a conviction of sin upon the population. Even as we pray Lord God you will sweep away the refuge of lies and let men women and children come face to face with the Holy God. Thank you Lord for mercy.

Thank you that one day we will dance in the street of this city and say only God could have done this. Only God could have done this. We give you praise and glory Lord. For your word is true. Your word is true Lord God.

Thank you. Thank you Lord for the prayers that will be prayed in this house. Thank you for people who will pray across the nation. Thank you for prayers that will erupt in people's homes. Thank you Lord God.

Thank you Lord God that you will answer every cry every heart every tear. We give you the praise and we give you all the glory in the mighty mighty name of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Hallelujah hallelujah.