Preparing Your Heart for Prayer
Isaiah 63:1-14
Let’s turn to Isaiah 63. If you need a Bible go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Isaiah 63 is on page 622 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Here’s an overview of Isaiah 62 through 66. Last week in Isaiah 62 we saw Isaiah calling God’s people to pray. They were in a terribly needy place, and to encourage them to pray Isaiah teaches them that God has chosen to have our prayers move Him to act.
But Isaiah wants to help Isaiah pray effectively. So in Isaiah 63:1-14 Isaiah tells them how to prepare their hearts for prayer, and in v.15 through the end of Isaiah 64 Isaiah leads them in prayer. Then, in Isaiah 65-66 Isaiah describes how God will work in astonishing ways to answer their prayer.
So today, in Isaiah 63, he tells us how to prepare our hearts for prayer. Now why is heart-preparation so important? We can see why when we compare two men in the Old Testament who within five chapters of each other pray the exact same prayer but – but only one has God answer – the other God does not answer.
In 1 Samuel 23 David faces a problem – the Philistines are attacking Israel. So David needs wisdom – what should he do? David knew that God has chosen to have our prayers move Him to act. So David prayed and asked God for wisdom.
And David’s prayer moved God to act. God supernaturally spoke to David and told him that he should go and attack the Philistines. And sure enough -- when David went and attacked the Philistines, God gave them into David’s hand and he defeated the Philistines.
But then five chapters later Saul faces the exact same problem – the Philistines are attacking Israel. And Saul needs wisdom – what should he do? Saul knew that God has chosen to have our prayers move Him to act. So Saul prays and asked God for wisdom.
But this time God did not act. God remained silent. 1 Samuel 28:6 says that “the Lord did not answer him.”
So what’s the difference? It was the exact same situation – and the exact same prayer. So why did David’s prayer move God to act, but Saul’s prayer did not? It’s because David’s heart was different than Saul’s. David had a heart after God. David’s heart was right before God, but Saul’s was not.
And that’s why Isaiah takes 14 verses in chapter 63 to help Israel understand how to prepare her heart for prayer. So let’s take a look in Isaiah 63 at how Isaiah urges Israel to prepare her hearts for prayer – so we can learn how to prepare our hearts for prayer.
First, strengthen your faith in God’s power. Remember that Israel was living in exile, enslaved by Babylon, completely under Babylon’s power. So Israel’s faith in God’s power could have been very weak. She could have thought – we’d love to see God answer our prayers – but what can God do for us? After all, we are completely under Babylon’s power.
So to strengthen Israel’s faith Isaiah reminds Israel of what God is ultimately going to do to Babylon and all “the peoples” – those who continue in rebellion against Him. He does this in vv.1-6 which describe a conversation between Isaiah and God --
1 [Isaiah asks:] Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? [God answers:] "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save."
2 [Isaiah asks:] Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress?
3 [God answers:] "I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel.
4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come.
5 I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me.
6 I trampled down the peoples in my anger; I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."
See – Israel was thinking – “We need God to save us. But why pray – when we are under the power of Babylon – enslaved in Babylon?” But Isaiah says – God has total power over Babylon, as we can see from what He will end up doing to Babylon! Which means God has complete control over Babylon. So, Israel, strengthen your faith in God’s power – and pray!
We need to hear the same thing.
You might think – “My marriage is a disaster. But why pray -- my husband’s heart is too hard, there’s just too many issues, it’s just too complicated.” But listen – God can change your husband’s heart, solve every issue, no matter how complicated it is. You need to strengthen your faith in God’s power!
You might think – “I need a better job – or any job. But why pray -- nobody is hiring and unemployment is just too high.” Listen – God is not worried about the economy. God controls the economy. God can bring you 50 job offers tomorrow! You need to strengthen your faith in God’s power!
You might think – “I would like to be stronger spiritually – but I’ve got an anger problem, or I’m just undisciplined. So why pray when I’m just so weak.” Listen – God turned Paul the Pharisee who was trying to kill Christians into Paul the follower of Jesus who was willing to be killed for Jesus! God turned Zaccheus the money-loving tax collector into Zaccheus the lavishly generous. Strengthen your faith in God’s power!
So how do you strengthen your faith? Don’t grit your teeth. Don’t rely on your will-power. You can’t strengthen faith by yourself. So what can you do?
Two things. Turn to Jesus, and pray the Mark 9:24 prayer – “I believe, help my unbelief.” Then find verses in the Bible in which we see that God is powerful enough to do anything – and pray over those verses until you feel the Holy Spirit giving you faith. He will. He promises.
Second, be thankful for God’s goodness. When you are going through a hard time, it’s not easy to be thankful to God. It’s easy to feel angry against God. Israel could very easily have been angry against God.
So -- is it OK to be angry with God? I’ve heard people say that it’s OK – because God can handle it. But that’s not the issue. Of course God can handle it. And if you are angry, then don’t pretend before God. Tell Him how you are really feeling.
But here’s what I’ve seen in my own heart. When I start to feel anger towards God, I am starting to think God owes me something. I am starting to think I am smarter than God. And I have forgotten that in astonishing love God poured His wrath against me upon His own Son Jesus so I could be forgiven for my sins.
That’s why – if we are feeling angry against God, we need to have our hearts changed so we are thankful for God’s goodness. And so in vv.7-9 Isaiah reminds Israel of how good God has been to her --
7 I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
8 For he said, "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely." And he became their Savior.
9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
Think of God’s love and goodness toward Israel! He had chosen them to be His people – through whom He would save all the peoples of the earth. He had forgiven her sins through what the Messiah, Jesus, would do. Through all her history He had lifted them and carried them.
Remember how God provided all her needs in the wilderness – water and manna and quail? Remember how God gave her the Promised Land – a land flowing with milk and honey? So here Isaiah recounts the astonishing goodness of God in choosing and loving Israel – so Israel would be thankful to God for His goodness, and not let her present trials make her angry.
So what should you do if you are angry? Should you wait and pray later when you are feeling better? No. Turn directly to Jesus and ask Him to change your heart. Confess your anger as sin. Ask Him to help you feel the amazing goodness you have received from Him. Read Scripture describing what God has done in saving you. Recount to yourself His great goodness. And God will change your heart, and then you can pray with the thankful heart that God deserves.
Third, confess your sin before Him. Israel had repeatedly rebelled against God. God sent prophets to Israel to turn her back to Him, but she ignored them. So finally he turned from Israel and let Babylon destroy her. That’s the point of v.10 --
10 But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.
Why would Isaiah mention that here? I think it’s because it’s crucial that Israel confess her sin before God. To have God hear our prayers we need to be confessing our sins before Him.
Does that mean we need to remember and confess every single sin? No. That’s impossible. What Isaiah is talking about is the sins that we are willfully pursuing – that we are not surrendering before Jesus. He’s talking about the sins that we know about.
See, if you are stealing time or money from your boss and you are willfully pursuing that and choosing not to surrender that to the Lord, not to confess that before the Lord – He won’t hear your prayers. Not because you aren’t perfect. None of us are. But because your refusal to repent shows that you are not trusting Jesus. You are not bringing that sin to Jesus so He can forgive you and free you.
So if we want God to hear our prayers – it’s crucial that we completely surrender to Jesus – not that we become perfect, but that all our sin is surrendered to Him in confession. Be honest, and confess your sins – because of His death Jesus will forgive you and deliver you – and your prayers will be answered.
Fourth, see that God is ready to answer prayer. It would have been easy for Israel to feel discouraged over her slavery in Babylon – and think “where’s God?” And we are the same. It’s easy for us to feel discouraged over our problems – and think where is God?
But look at how Isaiah encourages Israel in vv.11-14 --
11 Then he [I think this is referring to Israel] remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. [So Isaiah is encouraging Israel to remember how powerfully God had worked back in the days of Moses – and to ask where this God is now?] Where is he [God] who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit,
12 who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name,
13 who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the desert, they did not stumble.
14 Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.
Imagine Israel saying – we are slaves in Babylon, under the power of an empire far stronger than us. Where is God?
So Isaiah says – wait a minute. This isn’t the first time you have been in slavery. Hundreds of years ago you were slaves – in Egypt. But God delivered you, by turning the Nile River into blood, filling the land with frogs, covering the land with darkness – and having all the first-born killed whose homes did not have the blood of a lamb on the door-posts.
So Pharaoh allowed you to leave. But later he changed his mind, and mustered an army to chase after you. But then you saw that the Red Sea was in front of you, and Pharaoh’s armies were behind you – remember what God did?
He had Moses stretch his right hand over the Red Sea, and God parts the Red Sea so you could cross on dry land. Then when Pharaoh’s armies try to do the same – God had the waters come back and drown Pharaoh’s armies.
Do you remember how God delivered you from Egypt? So where is this God who delivered you from Egypt? The answer is – He’s waiting for you to pray! He’s waiting for you to ask Him to fulfill His promises.
That’s what Isaiah would say to you. Do you have some problem that’s discouraging you? Isaiah would say – where is the God who freed Israel from Egypt? The God who parted the Red Sea? The God who freed Israel from Babylon? Where is this God? He’s waiting for you to shake off your discouragement and complacency and lukewarmness and cry out to Him to work.
In the 1850’s churches in this country were weak. Few people were being brought to faith. Believers were falling away. Discouragement had set in.
This terribly burdened a businessman named Jeremiah Lanphier. So he opened a meeting room in downtown New York for prayer Wednesdays at noon.
At the first meeting he was the only one there – for the first 30 minutes. But before the hour had ended 6 more people joined him. The second Wednesday there were 20 people praying together. On the third Wednesday there were 40 people – and they decided to start meeting every day at noon for prayer. Soon there were 3,000 people coming together to pray. And within 6 months there were over 10,000 businessmen praying at various locations throughout New York City.
So what happened? In a nation of 30 million people – over 1 million men and women repented of their sins and turned to trust Christ. There were several New England towns where not a single unconverted adult could be found. Historian Perry Miller of Yale University called this “the event of the century.”
So see that God is ready to answer prayer.