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Welcome to day five of our look at 1st Thessalonians chapter three in daily
drive time devotions. Yesterday we looked at verses 11 to 13 together, but Paul
had to teach us about prayer. We're going to focus on those same verses again
today, a more specific look at specific prayers.

Let me just tell you a story about prayer in my life, our family's life. Years
ago when our oldest son Ryan was in kindergarten, he got a goldfish. He put it
in a bowl and unlike many of the other goldfish that we'd gotten down through
the years, this one actually lived for more than a day.

That was a miracle in and of itself. The fish started to grow, Ryan got attached
to it, our family got attached to it, he named it Goldie. It became a family
pet.

One day Goldie started not swimming quite straight. We changed the water, we did
all the things we were supposed to do, but he still wasn't quite swimming right.
We thought he'd probably be okay, just let the water, the air get to him, he'll
be fine, we told Ryan.

A few hours later Goldie was floating on top of the bowl. He didn't look okay.
In fact, he looked dead.

Ryan was looking into the tiny eyes of this little goldfish and he said, "Maybe
we should pray for him. " You know those tough prayer spots you get in as a
parent? This was one of them.

Well we said, "Okay Ryan, you can pray for him," but we tried to set him up for
what might really happen. In the morning he's still like this, we'll understand
because God takes goldfish away sometimes. So Ryan prayed for his goldfish.

Well the next morning Shondell and I were laying in bed, the goldfish bowl
happened to be in the hallway outside of our room and we heard Ryan get up
before we did, we heard his little feet pattering towards the goldfish bowl,
we're lying there with our teeth clenched and all of a sudden we hear this
sound, "Yay! " he yells. The goldfish was alive.

Let me ask you, when was the last time God surprised you like that? Oh by the
way, this just happened to be Easter morning that this happened. When was the
last time that God surprised you like that?

In fact, let me ask you even a more important question. When was the last time
you asked him to? I understand that God doesn't answer every prayer the way that
I want him to, but I don't want that understanding to keep me from praying with
all my heart for God's specific answers to prayer.

Often, in our attempts to not face the disappointment of an unanswered prayer,
we stop praying specifically and we miss the joy of answered prayer in our
lives. How do I pray specifically in a wise biblical way? In ways that God says
I'm going to answer.

In Paul's prayer, there are four directions for specific prayers. Paul has some
incredible lessons to teach us and I think one of the most incredible about
prayers in these few verses. We have a good example here of how the Spirit
helped the apostle to pray exactly for what these people needed.

An example we need to learn from. Four specific things to pray for. Number one,
we pray for God to remove obstacles.

That's one of the specific prayers that Paul teaches us to pray. In verse 11,
"Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to
come to you. " Clear the way.

Get the obstacles out of the way. God's will is a powerful thing and when the
obstacles are out of the way, his will is done. That's how powerful he is.

If his will isn't being done, there's something in the way. The only reason
there's something in the way is because God's allowed something to be in the way
for a time. He's allowed Satan to reign on this earth for a brief amount of
time.

He's allowed a world to exist in which we can do evil. We can make choices
against him. He has allowed that.

So when those obstacles are out of the way, his will will be done. That's why we
pray that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven when it's done
immediately. When I pray for X to happen, I also need to pray specifically, Paul
is teaching us here, that Y and Z will be taken out of the way so that X can
happen.

Now X, Y, and Z, that's not very specific when we're talking about specific
prayers. So let me be more specific. If you're praying for someone to come to
know Christ, then you say, "Jesus, I not only pray for them to have faith, but I
pray that these obstacles will be taken out of the way.

" The obstacle of some friendships they may have or a relationship they may have
that's keeping them from considering Christianity or a doubt that they may have
that needs to be answered. Now, once those obstacles are out of the way, they
still have a choice. Now, it's not going to force them to become a believer, but
you can pray with faith specifically that the obstacle will be taken out of the
way.

Now, by the way, Paul prayed this prayer, obstacles will be removed. Did this
prayer that Paul prayed right here ever get answered? Yes, it did.

In Acts 20 verse 1, Paul talks about going to the people in Thessalonica once
again. He reminds us that when we pray specifically, it doesn't always happen
immediately, but God does remove the obstacles and we see his answers to prayer
in our lives. There's a second thing to pray for.

You pray for God to increase love. In verse 12, "May the Lord make your love
increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does
for you. " There's two words that focus on how love grows in this passage.

He says, "I pray that your love may increase and your love may abound. "
Increase and abound, that's how love grows. It grows and it overflows.

To increase is to grow in your life, to abound is to overflow in your life. It
increases and it abounds. It overflows and then it's able to increase.

It increases and then it's able to overflow. The two are tied together. That's
the process.

It has to happen that way. You can't have it overflow into other people's lives
unless it's increasing in your own life. But you cannot have love increase in
your own life unless it's also overflowing into other people's lives.

It takes both. That is the process. Paul says don't just pray for circumstances
to change.

Pray for your character to change, the character of others to change. You can
pray for God to give you things and he'll answer those prayers and it's a thrill
when he does that. It's an exciting thrill.

"God, I need this thing," and God answers that prayer. The Bible tells us to ask
God for all of our needs and it might be exciting when he answers those prayers.
Of course it is.

But you know what you can also do? You can pray for God to increase your love.
You can pray for God to increase the love of the people around you.

And that is a greater thrill. You pray for God to remove obstacles. You pray for
God to increase love.

You pray, number three, for believers to grow. In verse 13, "May he strengthen
your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God
and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his holy ones. " Pray for
the hearts of believers to change.

The theologian Dallas Willard was once asked, "What is prayer? " And one of the
definitions among many that he gave was, "It's a means of forming a character
fit to reign with God. " We need to pray that for each other.

We need to be praying for each other to grow. Don't just pray for your own
growth. Pray for other people to grow.

And when we do that, people do grow. God answers that prayer. Jesus has already
said that's his will in our lives.

That's what he's working to do in our lives. So you get along with the plan of
God and you pray for the plan of God in people's lives. Now, can this really
happen?

I pray for someone to grow and it really occurs. Yes, it can. I've seen it
happen hundreds of times.

And the times that I've remembered, I don't always remember, the times that I
remembered to do this, I have seen God almost always very quickly honor this
prayer. Why? Because you're praying for a believer who has the Holy Spirit in
their life.

And God wants to do this in their life and he's given us his word to accomplish
this in his life. It is his will and the obstacles are pretty easy to remove and
it happens. You pray for people to change, for our character to grow.

And then there's a fourth thing Paul reminds us to pray for here. He says you
pray for God's greatest will. In verse 13, "May he strengthen your hearts so
that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when
our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his holy ones.

" When you pray, do you pray for the greatest thing that God can do in that
circumstance? I'd encourage you, don't pray 25% prayers, don't pray 50% prayers,
pray 100% prayers. Paul did that here.

"May he strengthen your hearts so that you'll be blameless and holy in the
presence of our God and Father. " That's 100% prayer, blameless and holy. He
didn't say, "I pray for you that you'll grow a little.

" He didn't say, "I pray for you that you'll be a little bit more faithful. " He
said, "I pray that when you stand in Jesus's presence, holy, blameless. " 100%,
100% of God's greatest will for their lives.

That's what he prayed for. Now remember that in the New Testament, we have
truths beside each other that we are made holy by the forgiveness of Christ and
we're being made holy by our growth in Christ. And Paul refers to both, I
believe here.

One has to do with salvation, our standing with God, the other has to do with
sanctification, our growth in Christ. And I think Paul is thinking about both
here. Strengthen your hearts because you will be blameless and holy in his
presence because of what Christ did and you're also growing towards a blameless
and holy life because of what Christ is doing.

He prayed confidently for 100% of God's greatest will. How about you? Apply this
to a practical decision that you have to make.

When you think, if only God would give me this job in Kansas City, where I
really feel like my family's needs would be met and I could be excited about
that job and be used of God in that job, if God would just give me that job. But
then you think, "No, I'm not going to ask for that, I'm just going to ask God to
give me a job. " 25% prayer.

Or, "I'm going to ask God to give me a good job that uses my skills and where I
can serve him. " A 50% prayer. Don't pray 25% prayers, don't pray 50% prayers.

Pray 100% prayers. God, I'm not sure it's your will, but I sense that it's
Kansas City. I sense that it's your will for me to be there to make a
difference.

And God, if my sense is right about this, I pray with all my heart that you
would get the obstacles out of the way. I pray that that would happen so that I
could serve you there and make a difference that I sense I could make for you
there. Pray 100% prayers.

Now two questions to expand your prayers to 100%. Question number one is, what
do you want God to do most in your life? What is the thing more than anything
else that you want God to do?

Jesus often asks that question of people, "What do you want me to do for you? "
Now you might be thinking, "What if what I'm asking for is wrong? " If with all
of your heart, 100% of yourself, you ask God for the wrong thing, then God, with
all his heart, 100% of himself, is going to tell you it's the wrong thing.

But if you never ask for it, you're never going to know. You know one of the
reasons we don't ask God for it? Because we're afraid he doesn't want to give it
to us.

We're afraid it's going to be a no. And so we don't ask because we don't want to
hear the no. We hold out, hoping somehow we can get it by ourselves without
having to ask God.

But if you want God's will in your life, you say, "What do you want God to do
most? " And you ask him for that 100%. But don't stop there.

Also ask, "What do you believe God wants to do most? " What do you want most?
What do you believe God wants to do most?

That takes it to a higher level. What do you think God wants to do most in the
place that you work? What do you think God wants to do most in your family?

What do you think God wants to do most in your heart? What do you think God
wants to do most in this church? When you start to pray like that, you are
praying 100% for God's greatest will.

In fact, let's take a minute to pray that kind of prayer right now. Do right now
what we've been talking about. Pray for God's greatest will in your life, in the
life of someone that's on your mind right now.

Pray with humility and pray with confidence. Humble confidence. As you say,
"God, here it is.

Here's what I'm asking for. " And I just open my heart to you. And as a child, I
come to you and I ask for this with all that I have.

God, you know I'm praying with humility. If you say no, if you say go in a
different direction, I will accept that. But right now, as best as I know, this
is what I sense is your will.

And so I pray for it. I put it in your hands, Jesus. I trust you with this.

In your name, amen. Well next week, we're going to be looking at 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians 4 has some of the clearest teaching about the second
coming of Christ anywhere in the New Testament.

If you've ever been confused by the book of Revelation, 1 Thessalonians 4 is the
place to start in the New Testament, I believe, when it comes to understanding
the second coming of Christ. Join us next week.