Stand in the Queue: How to Pray Until You Get Results
Dr RJ Sing, 24 min
Originally recorded as “Praying for Results”
Sermon outline
God wants to answer your prayers so that your joy may be full, so ask for a definite result, remind Him of what He has said and refuse to let go until it comes.
Main text
- John 16:23-24
Opening
The recording begins with him already reading John 16:23-24: ask, that your joy may be full. He walks through four or five scriptures to show that Jesus wants to answer prayer without a shadow of doubt, then says the real question is how we have been asking, which is what he will teach that night.
God wants to answer: ask, and seek Him diligently
Jesus says whatsoever and anything, so it is not God who limits us but we who limit God, as long as we ask according to His Word, which is the plumb line. God rewards those who seek Him diligently, whether they feel like it or not. He chose you out of millions and will take care of you, but a double-minded man receives nothing.
Illustration: God called you: 'He dialed your number. You just said yes.' And asking for anything does not mean a married man may ask for another wife.
“It's not God that limits you, it's us that limit God.”
- John 16:23-24
- Hebrews 11:6
- John 14:13-14
- John 15:16
- Matthew 6:26-30
- James 1:6-8
- Genesis 32:26
1. Pray for results
Ask the Father in the name of Jesus, not in your own name or anyone else's, and know what you are praying for. We use our intelligence in business, with people and in the kitchen, but in church we act like spiritual zombies. Establish your need, search out the scriptures that promise it, apply them diligently and do not let go until you get a result.
Illustration: A man walked around a prayer meeting making a big noise. When the pastor asked what he was praying for, he said, 'I don't know.' And try leaving the baking powder out of a cake: you get a flat cake.
“If I have a need, establish what is my need. And then I search out scriptures that promise that.”
- John 16:23
2. Put Him in remembrance
He takes it that the foundations are already in place: you are born again, baptised in the Holy Spirit, fasting and living a lifestyle of private and corporate prayer. On top of that, confessing God's Word is reminding God of what He said. Moses changed the outcome for Israel by saying, 'But Lord, you said', and you can do the same with any Bible promise instead of pleading week after week.
Illustration: Smith Wigglesworth said God delights in His children having the audacity of faith to say, 'God, you promised it, now do it.' He tells how Wigglesworth stood a dead man against a wall, rebuked the spirit of death, picked him up again when he fell and commanded him to rise, and the man coughed and came alive.
“When are you going to stop pleading and say, Lord, you said that if I get saved, you will save everyone in my household.”
- Isaiah 43:25-26
- Exodus 32:11-14
- Acts 16:31
Persistent faith: don't give up, and having done all, stand
Jesus told parables to teach persistent faith, and the woman with the issue of blood did not come casually. If you want something badly enough you keep chasing it until it manifests. There are also times when, after fasting, praying and doing everything, you simply stand, and in an emotional low you keep quiet rather than uproot your seed with the wrong words.
Illustration: For five years he had wanted a big screen TV. When a store advertised one on sale he arrived with Mark at three o'clock, was told the doors would open at six, and stood, sat and walked in the queue for three hours until his legs went numb. He ran in, bought it, and took it home in the van that same night.
“The TV is not the issue. The persistence is the issue.”
- Matthew 9:20-21
- 2 Corinthians 1:20
- Numbers 23:19
- Ephesians 6:13
- Proverbs 18:21
3. Persist in prayer
When people attack you, it is not the people but the spirits working through them, and while you cannot control people you can bind those spirits. Keep on even when the enemy tries to hinder you, use the Word as the sword of the Spirit and resist the devil yourself. For money, he does not beg: he speaks, thanking the Father that favour and money come to him, because God created with words and so can His children.
Illustration: When the church first started he prophesied to the car park that it would get full. Now he speaks to the chairs to be filled and prophesies that the church will get another piece of land.
“You can't control people, but you can control those spirits.”
- Ephesians 6:12
- Matthew 18:18
- Ephesians 6:17
- James 4:7
- Hebrews 11:3
Putting it into practice
- Decide exactly what you are asking God for, and find the scriptures that promise it.
- Ask the Father in the name of Jesus, and remind Him: 'Lord, you said.'
- Seek God diligently, whether you feel like it or not.
- When you are low, keep quiet rather than speak against your own prayer, and stand.
- Bind the spirit behind the attack, resist the devil and speak God's Word over your need.
Closing
He closes the service in prayer, asking that as the church studies prayer and intercession and takes in the Word they will get results. He prays that God will teach them to pray in faith, believing and understanding, and asks for godly understanding and wisdom.
Declarations he led
- God's a rewarder.
- Whatsoever.
- Pray for results.
- Don't give up. Don't let go.
- Stand in the queue.
- Resist him.
In his words
- “It's not God that limits you, it's us that limit God.”
- “He dialed your number. You just said yes.”
- “The TV is not the issue. The persistence is the issue.”
- “When you are having an emotional low, you'll speak the wrong things. And you'll uproot the seed and kill it.”
- “You as a child of God can use words to change your circumstance.”
Every scripture in this message
- John 16:23-24
- Hebrews 11:6
- John 14:13-14
- John 15:16
- Matthew 6:26-30
- James 1:6-8
- Genesis 32:26
- Isaiah 43:25-26
- Exodus 32:11-14
- Acts 16:31
- Matthew 9:20-21
- 2 Corinthians 1:20
- Numbers 23:19
- Ephesians 6:13
- Proverbs 18:21
- Ephesians 6:12
- Matthew 18:18
- Ephesians 6:17
- James 4:7
- Hebrews 11:3
- Proverbs 4:7