Your Prayer Has Been Heard

Someone asked me this week if I believed in angels. I told them, “Yes, I do.” Why would God not create powerful creatures to do his bidding? He made us.

Angels do not appear throughout scripture anymore than they appear throughout our lives. But they appear at strategic moments in the lives of God’s people.

The name “Gabriel” means “the man of God” or “the warrior of God.” His name is used four times in Scripture, twice here and twice in Daniel 9 where we are first introduced to him. He was sent to Daniel to reveal the prophesy about the coming of the Anointed One, the Messiah.

Gabriel stands in the presence of the Lord. He gets his orders from God Almighty. He is not accustomed to being challenged concerning his words. He is genuinely surprised, I think, by the unbelief of Zechariah.

Pray in Your Crisis of Belief:

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this?” - Luke 1:18

Are you in church praying for something you don’t believe will ever happen? Then you are like Zechariah.

Zechariah is an old man. He should have lots of faith.

• He is a priest before God. He has been chosen by the roll of the dice out of dozens of priests to fulfill a sacred duty. He is burning incense in the Holy Place in the Temple in the Holy City, the most sacred place on earth.

• He is a descendant of a long line of priests going all the way back to Aaron, the first priest of Israel. Among the families of Israel two families receive special honor: David’s family and the family of Aaron, the first priest. The priesthood has fallen into disarray. But Zechariah is a true son of Aaron. His wife is named after Aaron’s wife. They are part of a great family and heritage of faith. Zechariah should be full of faith.

But he is not full of faith. He is full of fear. He is afraid that God is not hearing his prayer. He is afraid that he is too old. He is afraid that Elizabeth is too old. He is afraid that he has been passed over.

Pray when you struggle to believe.

• Zechariah kept praying despite his fears. And you must give him credit for that. God did. God sent Gabriel to this man who had this secret prayer that he would have a child in his old age and who prayed without expecting it.

• And you will get credit, too, if you pray even when you struggle to believe. In fact, the prayer that you pray in the crisis of belief is perhaps your most powerful prayer. A great miracle came to an honest man who prayed, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

Someone said to me this week, “I am not sure that God exists. So I just have to have faith, right?” The Scripture says this: “Without faith it is impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he rewards those who diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). We relate to God on the basis of our faith even when we struggle to believe.

I want you pray now a prayer that goes beyond your doubts to a place of faith.

Pray for Your Family:

"'your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.'" - Luke 1:13

Zechariah is praying a family prayer in his old age. It is just he and Elizabeth, but they really want to have a child. It has been the focus of his prayers for many years. He prays for his wife who is disappointed that she never had a child. He prays for her peace and health. She means the world to him. And he prays that they will have a child although that seems like an impossible dream. A family prayer is a special prayer.

Pray for your family. When you pray for your family you can be sure that you are close to the heart of God. He loves your children, and your prayers for their peace, faithfulness, safety, and prosperity are close to his heart.

I want you to think now about the prayer that you most often pray for your family. I want to commend you for your family prayer. And I want to encourage you to believe that God is hearing your prayer.

• I told my daughter, Rachel, this week that we prayed for her and her family every day. And she responded, “And we pray for you.”

Pray for the Time You Live in:

"'And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.'” - Luke 1:20

Zechariah lived in perilous times. The wicked man who ruled Israel, King Herod, was not really a Jew. He was installed as king by the Romans and proved to be a murderous despot. He was not a descendant of David.

• The true throne of Israel was empty. No descendant of David reigned in Zechariah’s time.

• The true priesthood was abandoned. God’s people had no champion in the Temple in Zechariah’s time.

• Yet Zechariah prayed. And so should you.

• "We don’t get to choose the time we live in,” Gandalf told Frodo. “We only choose what we will do with our time.”
• Angels appear in turbulent times.

The appointed time had come.

• God was about to do his greatest work among the human family. He was going to use the great families of David and Aaron, restoring the kingship through Jesus of Nazareth and restoring the true priesthood through John the Baptist.

• Your time has come. You don’t get to choose the era in which you live. It is a gift, an assignment. You are called to live out your calling despite the political or economic difficulties.

Pray for the time in which you live. This is why the Bible calls upon us to pray for political leaders. Like Herod, they may be hostile to the things of God. But we must still pray. God uses even ungodly rulers for his own purposes.

• Prayer will keep you from resignation and despair about your own time and place in the world.

• Prayer will empower you for God’s assignment.

Do you have a prayer for this time? I want you to craft one today. Your prayer is nonpartisan. We have a democratic governor and a republican president. Our prayers should revolve around the Lordship of Christ and the gospel.

Pray for the Turning:

"'…he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children…'” - Luke 1:17

The Old Testament ends with this prophesy from Malachi 4:5-6: "See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents…”

Several questions: Why are the fathers not thinking of their children? Why would this be of so much importance that the Messiah’s forerunner would specialize in it?

And what does it mean?

• It means that fathers (parents) are not giving enough attention to their children, that their hearts have been turned to other things. This is true from the king on down.

• It means that hearts can be turned. John the Baptist will be successful in turning hearts toward family.

• It means that a focus on children is of the utmost importance to the heavenly Father.

There are three fathers involved in this prophecy.

• Zechariah, who prayed that he would be a father but did not believe that it would ever happen.

• Herod the King, who slaughtered the children in Bethlehem with the intention of killing the new King of Israel. He killed two of his sons. His heart was turned away from his own family and toward his own interests.

• The Father in Heaven who loves us passionately and wants to see other fathers doing the same with their children.

I want you to compose a prayer for the turning of hearts. Our era is in great need of fathers who are turned toward their children. You are praying according to the will of God with this prayer. Pray it now.

Parents and all adults, God is turning our hearts toward the children. They are precious to him. Many of them are suffering through great affliction. They need our presence, our encouragement, and our love.