Why Should I Pray for What Seems Impossible — Carter Conlon

God bless you this morning, and God bless all of our visitors that are here with us today. Luli McCoy and her team from the communication ministry are going to be at the information table at the end of the service today.

If you're able to give us a couple of months of your time and help, it would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Our budgets are limited and we simply can't hire any more full time people. But if you can, if you can help us, there's just a lot of work and it's piling up on them.

And we'd appreciate it very much if you've been looking for a ministry where you can help get the word of God out. This would be a good one for you to consider getting involved in. Three o 'clock this afternoon prayer service.

We are praying and fasting for a period of 21 days as a church. Now, that doesn't mean we're fasting for 21 days. What it means is that people are taking the time to set apart half a day a day of putting away food except for liquids and spending that time in prayer, believing God for this city, for the five boroughs of New York City.

And I'm so gladdened today to find out that almost a thousand people have signed up on the prayer board, praying 24 hours a day and doing prayer walks. I mean, just going out on the street alone or maybe two by two and just just walking together and and praying out loud for these various boroughs.

And thank God for that. Thank God. Deeply appreciative of how you have embraced this time of prayer and fasting. Now, I'm going to be speaking a message this morning from the book of First John in the New Testament.

The Message on Impossible Prayer

Now, the last book is a revelation. Just go back a few pages from the last book in the New Testament. You'll find First John chapter five and then the book of Daniel chapter nine in the Old Testament.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel. Then you have Daniel. Now, Father, I thank you, God, with all of my heart. Lord, we're living in a momentous time. Help us, Lord Jesus Christ, help us not to fail the grace that you've given us.

Help us, Lord, not to make the mistake that the children of Israel made when they came to the very borders of the supernatural and drew back. And died in a in a desert. Father, God, help us. We lift our voices like your own disciples did when they said, Lord, increase our faith.

Lord, you've got to help us. We can only believe as much as we can. Like the father with a child that was in difficulty said, Lord, I believe help my unbelief. Lord, you've got to help us to hear. You've given us ears, but we can't hear with them if you don't enable us.

You've given us minds to read your word, but we can't fully embrace it unless you give us the heart to embrace it. And so I stand before you as your people do. And I'm asking you, Father, to take us farther than we've ever gone before.

Give us hearts to believe you, Lord. Give us hearts and ears to be able to hear you. Lord, we have only one desire today. It's all that's in my heart is that your name be glorified in this generation.

I'm tired, Lord, of your name being thrown around as if so casually and so worthlessly. It's not appropriate. I'm asking you, Jesus, your name be glorified. I'm asking you, Father, to do something so profound in this city that the whole world will have to take notice.

My God, I know the judgment must come to this world, but I see in your word where mercy precedes it. I see a mercy call in my heart, and I'm asking you, God, to give us the grace to believe this. Give us faith to pray like we've never prayed.

Lord, you're not interested in empty words. That's all religion has to offer. Empty, repetitive words. You're not interested in these things. You're looking for a heart of faith. And so, God, I'm asking you, Lord, in this church and in my life, when I open my mouth to pray, it be filled with faith.

God Almighty, I yield my body to this purpose. I yield my mind and my heart to this purpose, and I'm asking you to do this. Do it sovereignly. Do it supernaturally. Do it whatever way you want to do it.

I'm just asking you to do it. Bless those that are hearing this day, God. Bless those that are in home fellowships. Bless the churches that are listening. My God Almighty, in the name of Jesus, give us faith, Lord, to believe you.

Lord God, help us not to look at impossibility and call it anything other than what you call it. Give us grace, Lord. Give us grace in this generation. Give me the ability to speak this. You put this on my heart.

Help me, God. Father, I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to read to you something from the word of God that caused my heart to explode in faith this week. I read it. I can't tell you how many times I've read this book.

I don't know how many times over the years, but I've never seen this. I've never understood it. It's as if God hides his word sometimes until the right season comes. Remember when Josiah was rebuilding the temple and calling the people back to the worship of the true God.

It was then that the book of the law was discovered. It's not that it hadn't been around. It's just nobody, it was hidden. And the Lord just doesn't casually throw his word around. If he knows that there's a generation who's not going to listen to what he has to say, he'll hide his word until an appropriate time.

Otherwise, we would read it and we would just become more hardened to it and callous to it. I want to just read you 1 John chapter 5 verses 13 to 16 and try to explain it to you. And the title of my message is, why should I pray for what seems to be impossible?

Now, these things, verse 13, 1 John 5, 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you might know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. Anything, my Bible says. This is the confidence. If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.

And if we know that he heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. It's amazing. I'm reading it slowly so that it can sink in. If we know that he heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Now, verse 16 ties into this. If any man sees his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. Now, these are incredible words. How deeply am I to embrace them?

What does it mean that I can pray for my brother and God will give him life unless he has sinned a sin unto death? Now, I'm hoping that I'm going to be able to explain this very, very clearly before we get to the end of this message.

Daniel’s Prayer and the Open Door of Promise

Now, go to the book of Daniel, please. Chapter nine. If you already have a marker there in the Old Testament, Daniel, chapter nine. Now, the Bible tells us in Daniel, chapter nine, that Daniel understood by the word of the Lord.

In other words, the word of God was quickened to him. From the book of Jeremiah, actually, chapter 25, primarily verses 11 and 12. It was written clearly. It was written plainly that the chastisement of the Lord upon his people and upon his nation was nearing completion.

He understood it. It says in the first year of his reign, Daniel nine two. I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

Now, Daniel saw something that the casual seeker of God doesn't see. He was a man given to the seeking of God. He was a man giving to living in right relationship with God. And it's not that others didn't have access to these scriptures, I'm sure.

But suddenly, at the end of all of this time, it's not even the Daniel wasn't a seeker of God. But suddenly the muddy water clears as it is. And suddenly you see deep into the scripture. And he understood that a doorway was about to open.

And anyone who wanted to return to where the place of God's true blessing and purpose was found could go there. He saw it. He said, Lord, you have determined a specific time where you actually chastised your own people because of the careless handling of the word of God.

They had the presence of God as a nation. They had the word of God, but they got caught up in the prosperity. They got caught up in the blessing. They became casual, bored, maybe with the narrowness and the simplicity of going to the temple and offering sacrifice and having their prayers answered and ministering to the stranger.

And all of these things that God had so clearly come down and manifested his presence and said, this is what my house is about. It's to be a house of prayer. And when people come in, I'm going to sovereignly answer them.

And the name of God would be brought to reputation in the earth because of this. But the people, the caretakers of the house as it is, the caretakers of the temple became so utterly careless with what had been given to them.

Just as you and I can become careless. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we can become casual and careless with the things of God. And because of that, the Lord allowed their enemies to come and overpower them.

And take them into captivity. And to those that were in captivity, the reports would be coming back that the temple is destroyed. The city is in ruins. The testimony of God is in shambles. We are in captivity.

And it would seem like such a hopeless and impossible situation. And that suddenly in the midst of it all, this man Daniel is seeking God. And off of the pages of scripture begin to lift this incredible promise.

That a doorway is about to open. Now that's impossible. To the natural mind, it's impossible. How could it happen? We're captivated by then the controlling power of the known world. Yes, taken into captivity by the Babylonians.

And now the Medo-Persians have come in and conquered Babylon. These are not people naturally given to kindness. These are not the people who you can petition the king and say we'd like to go back. And build a testimony that glorifies God and the earth.

And declares him to be more powerful than you are. There's absolutely no way. These are not people that are even sympathetic to the things of God. So not only is Jerusalem destroyed, but the people of God are captivated in a sense by the nations of the world that have surrounded them.

And suddenly Daniel sees a door about to open. He sees it in the scriptures. It's not, you know, a lot of people claim to hear voices. I don't hear voices. I see God always speaks to me through his word.

That's how he speaks. He's already made an open and plain declaration of who he is and what he does and how he intends to do it. There was a church in Revelation chapter 3 called Philadelphia. And the Lord said to this church, you have only a little strength.

You've kept my word and you've not denied my name. He said, I'm going to set before you an open door and no one can close it. Because you've done these things. He said, false religion is going to be forced to bend before you because of what I'm about to do for you.

There are people, he said to Philadelphia, who've claimed a relationship with me. But you're going to so bypass them. Those who have been concerned about the honor of God. Those who have not denied the name of Jesus Christ.

Those who have stayed true to biblical Christianity. I'm going to open a door. And those who've had a relationship with me, but it's not been true. They're going to have to bow before your feet. He said, they're going to have to acknowledge that I've loved you.

In other words, I'm going to do something so powerful for you and so supernatural. That one more time, like in the book of Acts chapter 2. The 3 ,000 religionists, as it was, bowed at the feet of 120 that were in the upper room.

Now there's no evidence that many people were aware of this. But as I said earlier, the plans of God always come to those who are truly seeking him. Now, what did Daniel do with this information? He did as he was accustomed to do.

He began to pray. Verse 3, it says, I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I saw this in the word of God and I set my face to see it happen.

I went to the throne of God. Now, Daniel did something in the next verses I'm going to read to you that you and I should be aware of today. Now, he was a righteous man. He had not been personally responsible for the suffering he'd been brought into.

He was just a young man when he was taken in a mass and forced deportation from the nation of Israel into Babylon. He had been castrated, made a eunuch in the Babylonian king's court. In other words, so those things that are most important to a Jewish boy, family is gone.

No chance of a family, no chance of a relationship. He could have been so bitter and he wasn't responsible. He was a young man walking with God and serving God. But because of the casual handling of the truths of God by his own people, he was taken into captivity and he suffered incredible hardship and pain because of it.

He wasn't personally responsible for his own suffering. But he included himself within the ranks of those who had been justly judged and you'll see it here. He did not say they did this and they did that.

No, there's something in his prayer. It was now we did this. We casually handled your word. We walked away from the truth that we once knew. And it reminds me of Christ. Christ Jesus was a righteous man, obviously the son of God.

And he had not been personally responsible for the mess that had come upon humanity. But he included himself within the ranks of those that were justly judged when he went to a cross. And so you and I have a responsibility to not pray just for ourselves when we pray.

We don't pray, oh God, bless Times Square Church. And that's a wonderful prayer. Thank God if you pray it. But we've got to go beyond that. It can't be just our own church, our own denomination, our own family.

It's bless the people of God. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If you came down, Lord, in our midst today. If you manifested your glory in the sanctuary, there's not one of us could stand.

No matter how many days we fast or how long we pray, we could not stand. Because in our own selves, there are all areas in every one of our hearts where we've fallen short of the glory of God. Daniel 9, 4, he says, I prayed to the Lord my God and made my confession.

And said, oh Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping covenant and mercy to them that love him. And to them that keep his commandments. Verse 5, we have sinned and committed iniquity and have done wickedly.

And have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments. Daniel said, God, we sinned when we left the simplicity of your word. When we started trying to manage the church from the minds of men.

When we started to come up with formulas and theories that have not come from the word of God. We sinned by departing. Neither have we hearkened to your servants, the prophets, which spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

And Daniel says, it's not as if you left yourself without a voice. There were voices raised up. There were people warning about where we were going, but we were not willing to listen. Oh Lord, verse 7, righteousness belongs to you, but unto us confusion of faces as at this day.

To the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel that are near and far off. Through all the countries where you've driven them because of their trespass that they've trespassed against you.

Oh Lord, to us belongs confusion of face. To our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, because we've sinned against you. This is our portion, Daniel said, this confusion of face. In other words, we are the people of God, but somehow we've been marginalized.

Somehow we've been surrounded. Somehow seemingly captivated by forces beyond our control. But you, he says in verse 9, to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, though we've rebelled against him.

Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his ways, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets. Yea, verse 11, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing that they may not obey thy voice.

Therefore, the curse is upon us, is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, because we've sinned against him. Now, if you go back to Deuteronomy, you'll see that.

Says that you'll work and not prosper, you'll strive and not succeed in a sense, but we're talking in a spiritual sense. Verse 12, and he's confirmed his words which he spoke against us and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil.

For unto the whole heaven has not been done, as has been done upon Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us, yet we made not our prayer before the Lord God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand the truth.

I think about 9 -11, I think about what came to this, I think about this constant crumbling now of the infrastructure of this country. The crumbling of the family, the crumbling of our financial system, the ineptitude of our political system.

It seems to be all falling apart at the same time. God's judgment is just on societies that turn from him, but it's gradual. Thank God he doesn't just judge us in one day. This came upon us, but it didn't turn us to the Lord our God, that we might understand where we've failed and come back to truth again.

We sang a few songs, we sang God bless America half a dozen times, and then just walked away from everything that God was trying to speak to us as a people. Therefore has the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he does, for we obeyed not his voice.

So that's the state. There has to be a true recognition. When I pray now for this country, I don't exclude myself from being part of the problem. I don't put myself before the throne of God as the solution, and everyone else is the problem.

That's arrogance, it's pride, and James said clearly the Lord will resist that kind of prayer, but will give grace to the humble. And Daniel went before God and said, Lord, is there anybody here who can say you've been everything that you should have been in Christ?

Is there one? Please don't raise your hand because you'll be so embarrassed when this video is replayed in heaven and you see your hand raised. And you finally see yourself in the light of God and realize, as I said last week, you're just a junkyard that God has stored the treasure of his son inside of.

So please don't do that. But Daniel now begins to appeal to that which really matters. In verse 15, he said, Oh, Lord. Our God. You brought your people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and you've gotten yourself renowned, as at this day we have sinned and done wickedly.

Oh, Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let that anger and that fury be turned away from that city, Jerusalem, the holy mountain, because of our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers.

Jerusalem and our people and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now, therefore, oh, our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake.

Oh, my God, incline thine ear and hear, open thine eyes and behold our desolations in the city that is called by thy name. For we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercy.

Oh, Lord, hear. Oh, Lord, forgive. Oh, Lord, hearken and do defer not for thine own sake. Oh, my God, for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. Now, here's the key. This this is where the prayer turns.

This is where faith comes into the heart. Daniel says, Lord. I'm not praying. I'm not bringing you anything of my own. I'm not saying you should do this because any of us have done right. But for your holy namesake, because it's your name that's at stake here.

You are the God who brought us out of captivity and brought us into an inheritance. And your name was once glorified in the earth. And because of our carelessness, your name has been cast down. Your name has become a reproach among the people.

And Daniel says, Jesus is. If you and I are praying Daniel's prayer, we'd say, Jesus, for your namesake, revive us again. For your namesake, bring back to life that which was dead. For your namesake, get glory to your name, Lord.

I'm not appealing to you because we've done anything right. And we're not bringing to you our righteousness. We're not bringing our program to you. We're not bringing our statistics to you. We're not bringing anything of ourselves to you.

We're simply appealing for the glory of your name, Jesus. For the honor of your name. That one more time in history that men would not scoff but rather tremble when the name of Jesus Christ is spoken.

This is the heart of Christ. And it's the absolute heart of prayer. John 12, 28. Jesus said, Father, glorify thy name. It came right from the mouth of the Son of God. That was his mission. That was his ministry, to glorify the name of his Father.

Then there came a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and I will glorify it again. Thank God for that verse of scripture. I have glorified it throughout all history and I will glorify it again.

God will continuously glorify his own name. I think of the battle that Israel once had with the Philistines. And David, the young man who was going to be king, came into the camp. And the reason he went into the battle with Goliath is because the name of God was being maligned by this opposing army.

And by this voice of confrontation and conflict and challenge that was coming to the people of God. And nobody could fight it because they were all caught in their own strength and caught in their own strategies.

And they'd lost sight of the power of God. Now, God answers Daniel. And he gave him an understanding in the rest of this chapter, although I'm not going to read it. You can read it when you go home. But he gave him an understanding that the answer to his prayer will eventually lead through a season of great trial before the ultimate victory.

It's amazing. He gets an answer, but it's not the kind of an answer you and I would expect. And a messenger is sent to him and unlocks to him all of the future, in a sense, to the coming of Christ. And he shows him trial, difficulty and hardship and perplexity among nations.

Difficulty, which I believe that you and I are going to go into in greater measure in the days that we're in now. Now, in a similar measure, those in the upper room, as well as in Acts chapter four, they knew that the answer to their prayers would most likely bring many of them into the sufferings of Christ.

And yet still they prayed. I don't know the exact prayer in the upper room, but it must have been something like this. Lord, we've all failed you. We ran when we should have stood. We were quiet when we should have testified.

We boasted a loyalty which we were not able to fulfill in our own strength. Abject failures, everyone in the room. From those that had leaned on his chest to those that had made vocal boastings before him.

One thing I'm sure these people knew, that they weren't going anywhere without the strength of God. But I believe that they prayed something like this. Lord, use us to glorify your name and to draw many to yourself.

They knew that for God to answer this prayer, they would be brought into a place of scorn and derision. Now, there would be great fruit born into the kingdom of God. But I remind you that when they came out of the upper room, yes, there's 3 ,000 turned, but there were also mockers there.

That accused them of being foolish and intoxicated and other things like this. And there will be mockers. When you and I pray, Lord, glorify your name through me. You're literally ensured you're going to be brought into a place where, yes, there will be fruit.

But you will have to endure the mockery of a failed and fallen society. And of many who are not going to go with God in the future. In Acts chapter 4, the disciples were arrested Peter and John and they were threatened.

They were threatened by the powers that then existed that they were no longer to speak in this name. And I'm sure those threats were very real. It was very real to them. Yet they went back. They gathered in a prayer meeting and they prayed, stretch forth your hand and use us in greater measure to affect our generation.

And they knew that for God to answer their prayer, that it was going to be hardship for some of them. And of course, history lets us know that that was the case. There was a Roman arena and many other such like things, not for everybody, but for many.

But still they prayed. They didn't pray for some cosmic visitation of God that will change their whole nation in a moment of time. They prayed that God would use them. They prayed for the courage to stand in the marketplace.

They prayed for divine healing to flow through their hands and for the work of God to be continued in the earth. Now, God answered Daniel's prayer. Later on, as we study the text of scripture, we see that Cyrus the king issued a decree.

Suddenly God moves upon an impossible situation. Imagine how incredulous it must have been when this door opens and word gets around. A decree has been issued. We can go home. We can rebuild. The testimony of God's glory can be established in the earth again.

Not only that, but some are saying that the glory of the latter house will be greater than the glory of the former. But not everyone returned when the call came. Everyone was invited, but not everyone returned.

That initial return was about 50 ,000. Remember, it says you can pray for your brother unless he has sinned a sin unto death. And here's how I would define this. It's no longer regarding or even desiring the lordship of Jesus Christ.

The people who are called by his name, but they no longer regard him. It's simply a casual association. And just like in Romans chapter 1. The scripture tells us they once had the truth, but they held it in such light regard.

That they eventually changed the image of God. In their minds and without restraint, they began to call that which is evil, good. It's a sin unto death. To so casually handle the word of God that they can't hear anymore.

Won't hear. Don't want to hear. When the word of God comes in the heart, it's crucify this Christ, we have another one that we've made. We have another Christ that we're following. We don't want this Christ of Calvary.

We don't want this beat up and bruised and wounded savior. We don't want to walk in the pathway that he has prescribed for our lives. We don't want to share in the suffering. We don't want to be misunderstood.

We've created another Christ. And they so loosely and casually handle the word of God that they can't hear anymore. But to those who did return. The Bible tells us they build a temple of greater glory than the former.

This is the temple that Jesus came to. It was the physical temple they rebuilt. Now they had a real struggle in rebuilding it. But they kept moving forward by the word of God that he brought through his servants.

They completed the temple. It didn't look like much to many of them. But it was the temple that Jesus came to. It was the temple that he walked in. It was the temple that he did the miraculous and spoke clearly and plainly.

Praying for Life in Hopeless Situations

Now back in 1 John chapter 5. Where we began. I want to read it to you again. And this is the confidence, verse 14. That we have in him. If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask.

We know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death. He shall ask. And he shall give him life. For them that sin not unto death. He shall ask.

And he shall give him life. Though the situation looks overwhelmingly impossible. He shall ask and he shall give him life. The majority of New York City have not sinned unto death folks. Oh they've sinned.

But the sin unto death is when you can't hear the voice of God anymore. And you don't want to hear the voice of God. But I believe that many people do want to hear the voice of God in our generation. There is an inner hunger.

There is an ability. And on you and I, this promise. I hope it's not just me. That sees this. But what I read. Is that if I ask for my brother. Now when I looked it up it just means fellow human being.

As well as it can be somebody who once knew God in his back slit. If I ask. God will give him life. Now the death means. In the original text it means just cut off from the enlivening influence of God.

If you see your brother cut off from God. And you ask you'll give him life. Which means you'll quicken him. You bring him back to life again. It's a moment in history where God says I've set before you an open door.

As my people. Not just for yourselves but for many others. If you will simply ask in faith. Standing on the promises of the word of God. That if I ask for my brother. If I stand in front. You see there's a lot of churches in the city that are almost empty now.

And have very little influence. But there are people that are willing to hear. And it may look like a cemetery but that doesn't mean anything to God. He's well able to bring life out of the grave folks.

That's who we serve. That's who Christ is. And hasn't history taught us. That that's where Christ's name is truly brought to glory. If we can do it. Then there's a shared glory may I say that. We write books about it and we put out strategies and we tell everybody else how to do it.

And that's essentially what we've probably done for the last 20 or 30 years. No no. God in his mercy brings us to a place. Where he's the only one that can make a difference. He lets Lazarus die. Lets Martha quote all the scriptures she wants.

Lets Mary fall and weep at his feet. He waits until the situation is totally hopeless. And then comes in and does what only God can do. And brings his own name to reputation. History teaches us this over and over again.

135 ,000 people come against the nation of Israel. God calls a young man called Gideon. He initially starts with about 20 ,000 or so people. And then he brings it down to 300. Because the odds were too much in Gideon's favor.

300 versus 135 ,000. Then gives him a ridiculous battle plan. To the natural. Put a torch in an earthen jar. Stand in three companies on the mountain side. Take the torch off the jar. Smash it. Put the torch high.

And yell the sword of the Lord. And the sword of Gideon. That means the word of God in the mouth of a human vessel. That's really what it means. The word of God in the mouth of a human vessel. And one more time God brings his own name to glory.

He waits until Daniel is in the lion's den. And the stone is put on the top. And the king's seal is on it. Before he shuts the mouths of the lions. And brings his own name to glory. And turns the laws of that nation.

Waits until the Hebrew boys are in the furnace. All wrapped up in their coats and thrown in. To the furnace before he appears. And delivers them out of the furnace. And brings his own name to glory. The king said I threw three men in the fire.