In our last of the Heart to Heart talk we were discussing the first seven verses of the sixth chapter of Matthew.
And of course we've been in a long discussion regarding this, the greatest sermon that was ever preached.
And it was preached by none other than the very Son of God, Jesus.
When we were discussing the first seven verses of the sixth chapter of Matthew,
we found that Jesus now comes to that part of his sermon that deals with the relationship of man to God.
And he talks about the giving of alms, this matter of prayer, and the matter of fasting.
And we see that in these three we have the three great means of grace.
Giving, prayer, fasting.
Do you want to know something? In the final analysis,
the real proof of our human relationship to God in this world here and now is giving.
The real test of love is sacrifice, is giving.
And as long as you have a struggle with this thing of giving,
then my friend, you have not learned to love enough.
Now, the power that creates the giving that Jesus is talking about here is prayer.
And the condition that makes prayer powerful is that of fasting.
And there you have the three, and you cannot separate one from the other.
You have the giving.
I know here Jesus talks about alms,
but there is a richer gift than even the giving of the alms, of the material.
The greatest, the richest gift that any human being can give is the giving of one's self.
And there is a place where you will so love him, there will be such a consecrated life.
There will be such a depth of prayer life.
There will be the true meaning of fasting in that life of yours.
And the ultimate result will be the giving of yourself, body, soul, and spirit.
The richest, the greatest of all giving.
And then you'll find that automatically the material giving will just fall in line.
But Jesus began this great truth by warning us regarding the reason for our giving,
the motivation for our praying, and fasting.
For remember, a reason precedes every deed.
And Jesus began this great discourse by saying,
take heed regarding the reason, the motive for your giving, your praying, and your fasting.
Now, we come to this subject of prayer.
You want to know something?
You can go into any religious bookstore and you will find volumes written on the subject of prayer.
It seems that every time a theologian or a pastor, a man of God, gets an inspiration for writing,
the subject that he will choose, nine times out of ten, will be the subject of prayer.
Until our bookshelves are loaded, literally loaded,
with volumes having been written on the subject of prayer,
preachers probably choose the subject of prayer for sermon matter more than any other subject.
They talk about prayer more than any other subject.
Prayer.
And if you were to analyze your own desire, your own thoughts,
you would say, oh, please, more than anything else, I want to know how to pray,
because the great desire of my heart is to have my prayers answered.
Do you want me to tell you something?
This thing of prayer is so simple.
It's sort of like faith. It's so simple that one misses it.
You do not have to read volumes and volumes.
You do not have to hear the great masterpieces from the lips of men regarding this subject of prayer.
You do not have to seek further.
All on earth that you have to do is to just take the words from the lips of the highest authority in heaven and earth,
the one who knew more about the subject than anyone who ever walked this earth.
Go to the authority on this subject.
See what he says regarding this subject of prayer.
He has given us the pattern for prayer.
It's so simple that even a child can understand.
Sometimes, you know, I think that many women do not want simplicity.
They want something that is difficult because that appeals to their mentality.
When it's too simple, they feel that there's something wrong with it.
Jesus was absolute simplicity.
That's the reason even this thing of living a Christian life is so simple.
It's just a day by day proposition.
It's one day at a time.
It's the life.
It isn't a struggle. It's a life.
It's you. It's living.
This thing of prayer is so simple.
And Jesus, in just a few words, leaves no doubt as to how we are to pray.
And he begins in a very practical way and tells us the real place of prayer.
You know, we've gotten this whole thing backwards.
That's the reason we suddenly are awakened to the fact that we've found that we are educated beyond our intelligence.
And we're not quite sure what we believe because what we believe really hasn't worked.
And we're not getting the results.
And we don't understand why we're not getting the results.
We become discouraged. Great organizations.
We are organized to the hilt.
Organization has not produced the results, has not produced the fruits.
What works? The simple things of the spirit.
And yet we bypass the entire simplicity of it all.
All right.
There's many a theologian who gives the impression that the place to pray is the lengthy prayer that's prayed behind the pulpit.
And he spends a great part of the Lord's day behind that pulpit, praying that long prayer.
Beautiful words.
And sometimes I wonder whether that prayer goes any higher than the ceiling of the cathedral or the temple.
I wonder if God is even listening.
For if you would listen closely, the prayer is being prayed to those in his congregation rather than to the Father.
You know, Jesus, in giving us the real place of prayer, tells us to go in to the secret place.
When thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door.
It's something as personal.
It's something between the two of you.
It's something that is very secret.
Alone.
Pray to thy Father, which is in secret.
And thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Where is the real place of prayer?
The prayer that gets a hearing?
Not in public, where man can hear.
Oh, sure, there is a place for that.
Don't you dare misconstrue anything that I'm saying.
There is a place for public prayer.
But it isn't a time to pray for the whole world and everybody in the world and your own personal needs.
The place of real prayer, the place of personal prayer, is alone with God in that secret place.
What could be more simple than that?
And there's no room for argument.
When thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to the Father.
Not the saying of prayers.
No.
You pray to the Father, thy Heavenly Father.
And when ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do,
for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Remember, God is an intelligent God.
Honestly, the way some folk pray, you would think God was deaf.
You would think God was a moron.
You would think that God didn't know how to run his own affairs.
You would think that God needed to be taught a language.
And I mean every word that I am saying to you very sincerely.
I mean that.
Jesus teaches us the simplicity of prayer.
Talk to him intelligently.
He is an intelligent person.
Speak to him intelligently.
You wouldn't think of talking to me or to your pastor.
The way some of you talk to God when you come to him in prayer.
We wouldn't listen to him.
When ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do,
for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
Now, he goes on and gives us the pattern, the real pattern for prayer.
You need no other teaching.
You need no further sermons.
You do not need to read the volumes and volumes that have been written on prayer.
If you can understand the next few words that Jesus gives as he gives the pattern for prayer.
And in the very opening sentence, we have a great doctrine of God.
This is not the Lord's prayer.
This is our prayer.
This is how Jesus taught us to pray.
Our thoughts which art in heaven.
And do you want to know something?
If you really learn to pray the first six words, you need not go further.
If really you have learned how to pray those first six words,
you can stop right there.
Our Father which art in heaven.
I know there has been the teaching that God is the Father of all mankind.
My friend, that is not true.
He is the Creator.
That is the one thing that all men have in common.
The common Creator.
God is the common Creator of all mankind.
I don't care who that individual is.
He may be an infidel, a skeptic.
He may curse the very name of God.
He may deny the deity.
He may deny the divinity.
He may deny the very existence of the supernatural being of God.
But remember, God is still the Creator of all mankind.
You and I were created in the image and likeness of Almighty God.
That is one thing that all men have in common.
But He is not the common Father of all mankind.
He does not become man's heavenly Father until they have accepted
His only begotten Son as their Savior.
When a person accepts the divine Son of the living God,
when a person accepts the deity and divinity of His only begotten Son,
when you accept His Son in the forgiveness of your sins,
then automatically God, the mighty Creator,
becomes your heavenly Father.
All this thing of salvation involves far more than just the forgiveness of your sins.
That's wonderful.
Oh, that's truly...
When we talk about salvation, we think of it though primarily in the forgiveness of our sins,
the blood that make up the atonement for the soul.
But our inheritance is far greater than just that.
There's much more involved in salvation.
At that moment, God becomes your heavenly Father.
For the very first time, you can look up when you pray and say, Father.
For at the moment of salvation, of conversion,
the new birth experience, qualified every will,
the moment that you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior,
you become an heir of God and a joint heir with His only begotten Son.
That's what the scripture means.
Now are we the sons of God.
Now.
Now is He your heavenly Father.
Now you have redemption.
You don't have to wait until death.
Now.
And you cannot pray, not really pray,
until you can look up and say, Father.
God bless you.