One In A Million - Bob Yandian

One in a Million
Bob Yandian
Jan 2, 2008

Grace Church

Psalms 65:1-3 KJV
(1) Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.
(2) O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
(3) Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.

Verse 1 talks about praise, 2 about prayer and 3 about purging our sins.

Praise in verse 1 is silent praise. It refers to silently waiting on God. Praying to God and getting overwhelmed and getting silent is an example of this. There are times to praise God and times to be silent. This verse show that we should only praise God. We have no one else to turn to. Verse 2 shows we should only pray to God.

1 - If God cannot be praised at the moment - be silent
2 - If God cannot be prayed to at the moment - the only one to pray to will be God.
3 - There is no one else to go to that can forgive us of our sins - go directly to God, not someone on earth.

Vows may be made before man (verse 1) but they are really made before God. When you make a vow you are making it to God. Think before you make a vow.
All men will eventually go to God in prayer (verse 2). All men will come to God as well. So how does God hear your prayer when you pray. God may have a million people praying to Him but he does not necessarily hear them unless they are praying within the guidelines. But He hears all of those that do individually.

Five guidelines to God hearing and answering your prayers. They are guidelines not steps or rules. God can answer stupid prayers as well as ones done properly.

1. Approach God as He is not in heaven but right there with us.
   Jeremiah 23:23-24 KJV
   (23) Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
   (24) Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
   
   Speak to Him out loud. It helps you (and others) to get your thoughts right. God can recognize prayers not spoken out loud. Approach God like he cares and wants to hear us.
   
   
2. Approach God in simple faith. It does not make any difference how much faith you have, use what you have. One man said to Jesus 'help my unbelief.' Jesus took him where he was at and worked with it.
   John 15:7 KJV
   (7) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
   
   1 John 5:14-15 KJV
   (14) And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
   (15) And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
   
   James 1:6 KJV
   (6) But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
   
   
3. There must be no sin in our lives (or at least ones that we know of).
   1 John 1:9 KJV
   (9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
   
   Do not dredge something up to find a sin in your past. You know when you sin. The old hidden sins God will let you know of when you are ready.
   
   Psalms 66:18 KJV
   (18) If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
   This is when you know you have sin in your life and you do not deal with it.
   
   Proverbs 15:8 KJV
   (8) The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
   You can do all sorts of sacrifices but if there is wickedness in your life He can not hear it.
   
   John 9:31 KJV
   (31) Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.
   This includes sinning Christians that God cannot hear.
   
   
4. There must be no unforgiveness in your life. If you have not forgiven someone God can not hear your prayer.
   Mark 11:25-26 KJV
   (25) And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
   (26) But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
   
   When Job forgave his friends his life was able to be turned around.
   
   
5. No discord in our marriage relationships.
   1 Peter 3:7 KJV
   (7) Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
   
   Weaker vessel is not that she is weak in many different things. The vessel is the body we have. Men are stronger than woman. Men need to use the strength to honor her. Men are to make it right first so that prayers shall not be hindered.
   

So how do you standout in the crowd praying to God. Follow these and you will most likely will. But many can be doing this. God will still hear you as you were the only one praying. When you go saved most likely others were doing so at the same time. God heard you. That should be an example to you.

Unless otherwise noted, all scriptures are King James version. The notes are based on what I heard. They may or may not reflect what the speaker said.