1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,600 to have with us one of the missionaries that our church has supported for I don't know 2 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:14,840 how many years. Miss Payne maybe you could tell me how many years. Since 1961, so that's 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:23,840 about 20 years if my mathematics is correct. Her father was a pastor of Emmanuel Church 4 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:44,240 and when was that period of time? We're delighted that you're here visiting Zelsworth and we 5 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:50,040 hope that you have a good stay. We welcome you to Johnson's our missionaries to South 6 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,680 America. We're also here this morning service. I saw him during the middle of the sermon 7 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:58,200 but it's too late to introduce him at that point. But we're delighted with their popping 8 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:03,080 in and out occasionally so you have a chance to greet them I hope. Tonight we're going 9 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:09,200 to talk about the subject of prayer as we continue our series on basic training for 10 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:17,160 believers. Did you try to look me to Mark chapter 1 verse 35 to what I think is one 11 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:30,680 of the most humbling verses in all of the gospels. Mark chapter 1 verse 35. It says 12 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:39,480 and in the morning rising up a great frown before day Jesus went out and departed into 13 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:54,240 a solitary place and there prayed. That verse speaks volumes to me concerning the matter 14 00:01:54,240 --> 00:02:05,920 that's before us tonight. Prayer. Here we have God the Son getting up a long while before 15 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:17,600 the sun even rose going out by himself to a lonely place and there praying to the Father. 16 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:22,680 And I want you to notice the context of the verse because it comes after one of the busiest 17 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:30,640 days that Mark records in his gospel. Jesus had been busy the day before healing and casting 18 00:02:30,640 --> 00:02:37,360 out demons. In fact it says in verse 32 that the night before even after the sun had set 19 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:42,800 that they brought people to him who were diseased and possessed. And it says the whole city 20 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:50,440 was gathered at the door there. Peter's mother-in-law's home. And Jesus worked late into the night 21 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:57,320 in his ministry. And then it says after that exhausting day he got up early the next morning 22 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:04,040 and went out to a solitary place and prayed. This is but one of the occasions recorded 23 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:11,640 in the Word of God when Jesus took time to be by himself in prayer. We recall that before 24 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:19,040 he chose his disciples he spent a whole night in prayer asking God for direction unbattling 25 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:27,520 in those important choices of which men should walk with him and know his discipleship. Prayer 26 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:33,960 is important to the Lord Jesus Christ and dear beloved brother and sister in Christ 27 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:44,000 how can we therefore take it casually or carelessly as we so often do. Whenever I speak about 28 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:50,160 prayer I feel humbled and I feel almost unworthy to talk about it because I don't feel that 29 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:58,600 I pray enough. I think all of us share some of those emotions. A dear friend of mine who 30 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:07,120 went to be with Christ just a year ago in July. After being in the ministry over 40 31 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:13,400 years said to me you know I've done a lot in my ministry and he had. He had pastored 32 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:19,800 a number of churches he had preached in this country and in foreign countries. He was a 33 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:26,840 student of the Word of God he had an IQ that was probably double mine. In his early years 34 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:34,280 when his eyes were good he read 5,000 pages a week of books. In his latter years when 35 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:43,880 his eyes were bad he dropped to 2,000 pages a week. He said my biggest regret in my life 36 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:57,240 is I didn't take more time to pray. Sometimes we apologize to people and we say well there's 37 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:05,000 nothing I can do for you I guess I can only pray. And we have the wrong emphasis don't 38 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:10,120 we? Because there's nothing greater that we can do for ourselves or for anybody else 39 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:18,120 than pray. And we have done nothing until we have prayed. I'd like for us to consider 40 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:22,400 prayer tonight. I hope you got an outline on the way in. If you didn't you might just 41 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:26,840 lift your hand right now and the answers can get one to you. But there are some folks 42 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:32,680 who need them if you don't mind gentlemen just coming up quickly and passing those out. 43 00:05:32,680 --> 00:05:42,440 But prayer is an important part of a growing Christian's life. A growing child has at least 44 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:51,080 four needs. He has a need for love, for food, for exercise, and for rest. He has a need 45 00:05:51,080 --> 00:06:04,360 for love, for acceptance. Food for nourishment. Exercise for development. And rest for renewal. 46 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:09,960 It seems to me that these four needs of a growing child parallel what we as God's children 47 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:18,200 need as we grow. We need love. Where do we find that loving acceptance? Well hopefully 48 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:25,320 we find it within the local church where we fellowship with other people. We need food 49 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:31,080 to nourish us. Where do we find our spiritual food in the will of God? It is our milk, our 50 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:40,200 meat, our honey. It is our balanced diet of spiritual things. We need exercise for development. 51 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:46,360 It seems to me that that is a parallel to the challenges and the tests and the opportunities 52 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:53,480 that God brings to us in our work. And then we need rest. We need times for refreshment 53 00:06:53,480 --> 00:07:01,640 and renewal. What provides that to us spiritually? Well it seems to me that's prayer. For it 54 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:07,880 is in prayer that we find that refreshment of the inner man that enables us to go on 55 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:15,000 and deface life's challenges. I'd like us to consider tonight some of the basic Bible 56 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:21,240 truths about prayer. Undoubtedly we will not say anything new for some of you, but hopefully 57 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:27,880 we will stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. To others of you we may say something 58 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:34,200 that will stir you to a deeper prayer life. Frankly I'm not sure we need more praying, 59 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:39,960 but I do think we need better praying. And that's what I want to talk about. What is 60 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:47,560 prayer anyway? Let me describe prayer in terms of three things. I see prayer first of all 61 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:56,200 as the expression of a child to his father. Remember with me how Jesus taught the disciples 62 00:07:56,200 --> 00:08:06,840 and us to pray. How are we to begin? Part of the first two words class, our father. So 63 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:13,400 when the disciples said, Lord teach us to pray, Jesus said, this is how you should pray. 64 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:25,400 Our father. And so prayer in one essence, perhaps in its basic essence, is a child speaking 65 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:32,840 to his father. How does a child speak to his father? Well he speaks very simply. A child 66 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:42,280 speaks with trust. Twice in the gospels the apostle Paul says that God has sent his spirit 67 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:52,360 into our hearts and that his spirit teaches us to say, Abba Father. What does that word 68 00:08:52,360 --> 00:09:00,280 Abba mean? Well there was a rock music group over in the Scandinavian countries that had 69 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:09,720 us serve that title. It's not talking about that. What does Abba mean? Well it comes from 70 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:20,840 an or make word. And what it really means is Bada. It's the very simplest expression of 71 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:30,520 a child as he begins to speak. One of the sweetest sounds any parent can ever hear is 72 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:38,360 that word Bada or Mama from a little child. Oh you hear all kinds of gooing and the other 73 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:42,840 little noises that are very, very important. And you write them down and remember them 74 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:52,440 in the baby book you know. I tell you when they come out with Bada especially. Or Mama 75 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:58,680 if you're a mother. That is true music to your ears. And what the apostle is saying 76 00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:06,040 is that the Holy Spirit has caused us to be born into God's family and we begin by saying 77 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:17,480 Bada. Very simple expression. Someone has said that this term Bada denotes unreasoning trust. 78 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:25,480 Now that's the way a child is. A little baby. A child is not reason. Let's see this is a 79 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:31,320 man and this is a woman and they're taking care of me. So this must be father and this 80 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:37,320 must be mother. No it's not a child is it? A child knows that here are two people caring 81 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:42,520 for him and giving him love and meeting his needs. And he hears those terms from others 82 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:49,960 and he begins to pick up. This is Bada and this is Mama. It's an expression of trust. 83 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:56,680 An unreasoning trust. And that's the way that we speak to our father. We don't reason it out. We 84 00:10:56,680 --> 00:11:01,640 can't see why God should listen to us or why he should answer our prayers. But he invites us to 85 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:11,160 come and so we come with that unreasoning trust. It says Bada. A very deep intimate term. And then 86 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:20,920 there's the term father. Jesus said pro our father. The Holy Spirit says Abba father within our hearts. 87 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:28,440 And that's a term that expresses an intelligent understanding of relationship. 88 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:36,680 Our prayer life begins with Bada and in some sense it never leaves that. Simple trust. 89 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:43,960 But we need to grow in our understanding of what we're doing as we pray. We are talking to our 90 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:51,720 father in heaven. And then secondly, prayer is a tool that is used by a laborer to do his work. 91 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:58,920 Turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 for a moment. And notice what the apostle says to the Corinthian 92 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:09,960 believers. He mentions his experiences and how difficult a time he has been having. But then 93 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:18,760 he says in chapter 1 verse 11 of 2nd Corinthians, you also helping together by prayer for us. 94 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:25,080 We're just going to pick that clause out of the verse because that's the point I want to make. 95 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:32,920 Paul says you are helping us by your prayers. And so prayer is not only the communication of a child 96 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:40,920 to his father. The prayer is a tool, a spiritual tool, but is used by a laborer to accomplish his 97 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:50,760 work. I'll repeat what I said earlier. We can do nothing greater than pray and we have done 98 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:58,920 nothing until we have prayed. Prayer is the tool that God gives to us. When the only church was 99 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:04,360 being built and that foundation was being laid, the apostles were beginning to be overcome by all 100 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:10,520 the details of the administration of the ministry. And so he said pick out some men who can assist us. 101 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:19,480 We will give ourselves continually to the word of God and to prayer. Because you see it was the 102 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:25,000 preaching or the teaching of the word of God in prayer that was their work. Those were the tools 103 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:30,360 they were using to lay the foundation. And there was a danger that they should get bogged down in 104 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:39,960 the details of the administration of the ministry. The word of God is the brick. Prayer is the mortar. 105 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:47,080 And that's how we build the church. If you were to build a building just by tiling up bricks, 106 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:53,800 what would happen after a while? They would all fall over. They have to be cemented into place 107 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:59,240 by prayer. And folks, we can teach the word of God and we can preach it to people, but if we do 108 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:04,600 not cement the word of God into their lives by prayer and if we do not cement into our own lives 109 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:09,880 by prayer, we are just piling up bricks that eventually may lead to a collapse and a disaster 110 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:16,760 in our spiritual lives. As we take in the word of God and the bricks are put there, there needs to 111 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:25,560 be a sealing of our doctrine, the teaching into our lives by prayer. That's an important job of a 112 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:35,320 pastor, a pastor teacher in one of our small churches. Of every one of us, prayer. And then 113 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:44,280 thirdly, prayer is rust for a weary pilgrim. You know, Peter emphasizes our pilgrimage. He says, 114 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:51,640 we are strangers and pilgrims in this world. This world was not created to make us feel at home, 115 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:55,480 although we should not be surprised at times to be uncomfortable in the world. 116 00:14:56,280 --> 00:15:03,400 We are pilgrims here and we need to rust. We get worried. And so Peter says as he concludes his 117 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:14,360 letter, chapter five, verse eight, casting all your, what? Your care upon him right. For he cares for 118 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:22,120 you. The word casting, that means to throw, means to throw all your anxieties upon him because it 119 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:32,360 matters to him about you. God is concerned about you as his pilgrim. And so prayer is to us a 120 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:39,400 marvelous rust of which we can be released from the pressures and the burdens and the anxieties 121 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:46,200 of our lives. That's what prayer is. Threefold answer to that. How then should we pray? 122 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:54,680 Let me give you just the general formula for prayer. Prayer is in a general sense now, 123 00:15:54,680 --> 00:16:01,320 there may be some exceptions to this. Or in a general sense, prayer is to be directed to the 124 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:13,160 father, through the son and by the spirit. Each person of the Trinity has a part in our prayer 125 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:18,440 life. In the first place, our prayer is to be directed to the father. Jesus said, here's how 126 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:26,840 you pray, disciples, our father. In John chapter 15, John chapter 16, as he was getting ready to 127 00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:31,320 leave and preparing them on that night when he established this Lord's table that we're about 128 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:41,080 to observe. He said, now I want you to pray to the father in my name. And so generally speaking, 129 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:48,120 our praying should be directed to the father. It's not wrong to direct our prayers to the Lord Jesus, 130 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:55,160 nor is it wrong, I believe, to direct our prayers to the Holy Spirit. But generally speaking, 131 00:16:55,160 --> 00:17:01,560 our praying should be such that it is directed to the father. And then it is to be through the son. 132 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:09,000 That is, it is to be in recognition that we're coming to the father because of our relationship 133 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:16,280 to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus said, pray in my name. With the recognition that you're 134 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:23,240 coming to the father through me, through the authority that I give you. In Ephesians 2, 18, 135 00:17:23,240 --> 00:17:32,040 it says that we have access to the father through the son. That word access is a marvelous word. 136 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:40,120 There was a word that was used in that day to describe the privilege that a person had to 137 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:48,120 come before a sovereign because of the rights of another. In other words, let's suppose that you 138 00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:54,280 and I were to go to the city of Rome and we wanted to meet Caesar. Well, you just didn't meet Caesar. 139 00:17:55,640 --> 00:18:03,560 He was up there fiddling on his roof, I guess. And if you wanted to meet Caesar, you had to have 140 00:18:04,120 --> 00:18:12,200 an inside track to his throne room. If you knew somebody, maybe a senator, you could gain access 141 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:19,720 to Caesar. When you appeared before Caesar, you were there because of another person. Now that's 142 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:26,760 what we have in Jesus Christ. We can come directly to the father because we have access given to us 143 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:34,200 by Jesus Christ. According to Hebrews 10, 19, a new and living way has been opened to God whereby 144 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:42,200 we may come to the throne of grace. In the Old Testament, there was a sealing off of God's people 145 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:48,680 from his presence. There was a veil that hung in the temple and only that high priest could go into 146 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:54,280 the very presence of God once a year. And it was on the day of atonement and then with blood in a 147 00:18:54,280 --> 00:19:03,160 very carefully prescribed manner. When Jesus died as God's perfect and final substitute for sins, 148 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:09,400 that veil was torn, wasn't it, from the top to the bottom, signifying something very significant. 149 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:16,280 And that is that we may come to the presence of God now through him. And then prayer is to be offered 150 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:26,760 in this world. Prayer that is offered in the energy of the flesh is not very useful. When we 151 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:35,320 now pray, it needs to be with a recognition that we need to pray in the Holy Spirit. That's what 152 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:45,320 Jude tells us, Jude verse 20. Ephesians 6, 18 says, praying therefore for all saints in the Spirit. 153 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:53,480 He's not talking about some kind of a charismatic experience. What he's talking about is being 154 00:19:53,480 --> 00:20:00,120 energized by the Spirit in our inner man so that we can lift our voice to God with spiritual power. 155 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:06,280 The Spirit of the Lord within us, according to Romans chapter 8, prays through us when we don't 156 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:11,000 even have words to utter. Have you ever been to the point you didn't know what to say? 157 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:19,800 I have. There are times when I simply didn't have words to express the left foot on the inside. 158 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:28,440 The Holy Spirit then enables us sometimes to form words. Other times, he simply prays through us 159 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:35,080 and we don't utter a sound. He prays according to the will of God. And so prayer is to be to the 160 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:42,360 Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit. That's how we should pray. And then thirdly, 161 00:20:42,360 --> 00:20:51,000 for that should be prayed. You listen to the average prayer meeting and what do you find? 162 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:59,640 You find people praying for the sick and praying for the unsaved. Now I'm not saying that's wrong. 163 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:07,240 We have to pray for the sick, as far as I know. And we have to pray for unsaved people. 164 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:13,800 If you look at your New Testament carefully, you'll find that there was not much praying in the New 165 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:21,640 Testament for either of those requests. And then those early days when the signs of the apostles 166 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:30,760 were still being evidenced, the apostles healed some directly. But how much prayer is there in the 167 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:39,320 New Testament for sick people? Not very much. When Timothy was sick, Paul didn't say, well Timothy, 168 00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:44,040 I'm praying for you. He said, Timothy, take a little wine for the sake of your stomach. 169 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:47,400 Just take some medicine, in other words. 170 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:55,960 How often do you find Paul praying for unsaved people to come to Christ? 171 00:21:55,960 --> 00:22:00,920 I'm not saying it's wrong to do that. But if you look at the praying of the apostle Paul, 172 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,600 you find very, very little, if anything, said regarding that subject. 173 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,920 By and large, Paul did not say pray for unsaved people to be saved. 174 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:20,120 He said, go out and witness to them. That's what he said. Sometimes I think that we excuse ourselves 175 00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:29,480 for not witnessing by saying, well, I'm praying for them. Oh great. But the command is to go to them 176 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:38,760 and tell them, not pray for them. Well, to pray for labors to go into the harvest fields. 177 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:46,680 Then answer this third question, for what should we pray? What can we say to that? 178 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:51,320 I think the best thing that you can do and that I can do is to study the prayers of the Bible. 179 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:59,400 Then we can learn what we should pray for. When was the last time you prayed for another Christian 180 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:07,240 to have insight into the will of God that he may know the hope that he's called to? 181 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:13,880 You say, I'm not sure I understand all of that. Well, I'm not sure I understand all of that. 182 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:21,240 Well, I'm not sure I do either. It's good to meditate on it and then to pray it for ourselves 183 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:26,040 and for others. When was the last time you prayed that some person be strengthened with 184 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:31,800 might through his spirit in the inner man? You see, those are phrases lifted directly out of 185 00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:37,960 scripture. We may pray those with full authority knowing we're praying according to the will of God. 186 00:23:37,960 --> 00:23:42,520 When was the last time you prayed for someone to let hold of the love of Christ 187 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:45,880 that ultimately they can be filled with the fullness of God? 188 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:54,440 We would do well, dear folks, if we would go through the New Testament and look at the prayers 189 00:23:55,080 --> 00:24:02,120 that were uttered by those people and pray as they pray for the things that they pray 190 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:10,680 and pray for more spiritual results in life than tangible things. Not wrong to think of tangible. 191 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:17,960 In fact, when Jesus taught the disciples to pray, he said that we may pray for our daily bread and so 192 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:23,880 on. There's nothing wrong with praying for the tangible physical material things that we need. 193 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:30,440 But the thing that is emphasized is the spiritual. And that ought to be the focus of our praying. 194 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:35,560 And perhaps one of the reasons that our praying today is not all that it could be or should be 195 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:42,040 is that the focus of our praying is not proper. We're praying on the material level, 196 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:50,120 when our prayers will have to be geared to a spiritual level. Think about it. Pray about it. 197 00:24:50,120 --> 00:24:57,720 Study it in the Word of God. Let me just close with some thoughts that I've had regarding prayer. 198 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:02,760 I've shared these with some of you before, but I'd like to share them briefly with all of you tonight. 199 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:11,960 One of the thoughts that I've had regarding prayer is this. Well, sometimes I talk too much when I pray. 200 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:17,720 Do you want to feel that way? There is a time to be still and to know what the Lord has got, 201 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:27,000 to be quiet before him. There's a time when I think I talk too much, and my real need is just 202 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:33,960 to be quiet and listen to the inner voice of the Spirit. It never bothers me, frankly, when we have 203 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:40,440 a prayer meeting in the Word of God. I think that's the time to be quiet. I think that's the time 204 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:45,400 when we have a prayer meeting and there's a group praying and there's a silence of a minute or two 205 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:52,600 minutes or even five minutes. Some of the best praying gets done during that period of silence. 206 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:58,440 As the Spirit of God says things to us throughout the group. 207 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:07,000 I've also thought this, that I need to be aware of overused, repetitious phrases. 208 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:11,000 Even the phrase in Jesus' name gets to be meaningless after a while, doesn't it? 209 00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:14,840 We kind of tag it on as the way to tell people we're done praying. 210 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:19,320 And that wasn't why Jesus said to pray in his name. It's not what it means. 211 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:27,000 What would happen if all of us took the word bless out of our vocabulary? 212 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:35,000 We would hardly know how to pray, wouldn't we? Try praying sometime and not using the word bless. 213 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:42,680 Let's see what happens. What about the word just? J-U-S-T. 214 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:48,920 You'll find yourself thinking, Lord, we just prayed that you would just do this and just do that. 215 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:56,520 Just. That's a more common, a more recent one that seems to be popular. 216 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,160 What are filler words and phrases that we use? 217 00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:06,680 There was a person in one church, our pastor, who used the name Lord over and over and over again. 218 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:11,400 Wow, there's nothing wrong with saying Lord in praying. He did it so often. 219 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:14,600 But you knew, well, we used the filler word. 220 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:19,720 It was count his word, filling an empty space in his prayer. We would avoid those kinds of things. 221 00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:22,600 Wow. So our praying is real. 222 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:28,600 And that brings me to the third part. Trying to be honest with God when I pray. 223 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:38,520 I think I'm fooling anyway. When I pray and have these long sentences that are filled with 224 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:48,040 hyperboles and whatever they are. You know, at times when I think about when I'm praying, I say, 225 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:56,440 oh, come on, Paul, you know what you're saying. You feel that way? We need to be honest with God. 226 00:27:56,440 --> 00:28:01,000 When was the last time you said, Lord, when in the world are you going to answer this prayer? 227 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:09,400 How long are you going to wait till I die? I'm paraphrasing Psalm 13, verses one and two. 228 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:16,920 You see, you go back to the Psalms, you find some real praying. 229 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:21,960 People who are honest with God and they pulled out their emotions. 230 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,960 I mean, what are they doing? They're not doing anything. 231 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:31,560 People who are honest with God and they pulled out their emotions. I mean, one Psalm, 232 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:37,080 Psalm that says, well, I don't understand it, but rich people don't have any problems. 233 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:43,080 Don't you understand what they're like? They're grubby hands. 234 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:50,440 They're fat. They have plenty to eat. They don't have any cares or anxieties. 235 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:55,240 And here I am, I trust you and I'm poor and I have all these. Lord, what's going on? 236 00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:59,560 And then the Psalmist says, then I went into the house, the sanctuary of the Lord, 237 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:06,760 and the Lord reminded me of their destiny. And his whole tone changes from that point on in the Psalm. 238 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:12,440 What happened? He got real in his praying, see? He told God exactly how it's felt. 239 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,720 He got halfway through and God said, now wait a minute, have you considered the 240 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:20,360 destiny of the rich who don't trust me? He said, no, I don't believe in them. 241 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:30,120 He said, oh yeah. If your heart's breaking and inside you are torn up, tell God about it. 242 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:38,440 If you feel angry and bitter at God, tell him about it. There have been times when I have said 243 00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:44,440 things that I don't brag about this, but which have bordered, I think, on blasphemy. 244 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:49,080 Because I have been honest with God about how or what it felt. And you know, I remember one time 245 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:53,560 last year when I was in Texas and things were getting hot down there in more ways than one. 246 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:59,640 And I went for a walk one night and I stomp out of the house not mad at my wife and I was so mad 247 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:07,080 at God and I told him all about it for the first block and he told me all about it for the next 248 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:13,080 three. And the time I got back to the house I had to sit out in the car and just cry. 249 00:30:13,080 --> 00:30:21,000 I repented at my words which were spoken too quickly. 250 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:28,920 What happened? Well, I was honest with the Lord. We need to be careful not to sin with our tongues, 251 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:33,640 but at the same time let's not hide some infection that's in our heart 252 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:38,040 and think that somehow God doesn't see this because he does. 253 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:43,400 And then our praying finally needs to be worship-centered. Instead of give me, 254 00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:52,920 give me, give me. Our praying needs to be Lord, I love you. And then we need to praise him and 255 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:59,000 worship him for who he is and praise him for his attributes. Praise him for his goodness and then 256 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:04,840 have some verses that perhaps we pray, return to a psalm that deals with God's goodness and read that. 257 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:09,640 And then praise him for his grace and then go on and on and on. I used to wonder how some of those 258 00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:17,080 people a hundred years ago prayed for three hours in the morning until I finally realized that they 259 00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:24,760 didn't get down on their knees and just pray for three hours as we often think. Three hours 260 00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:35,080 included long times of reading in the Word, included long times of just meditating and being silent 261 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:43,080 before God and praising God and then expressing needs. A beautiful thing. 262 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:53,080 I'd like for us to close tonight by singing a hymn. It's the one that was played for our offertory, 263 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:59,400 made to the heart of God. As we sing this, we're going to prepare ourselves for the Lord's table 264 00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:06,840 here in the front. And to the men who are going to serve, would you please come out as we sing this. 265 00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:14,200 I hope this evening this message on prayer has in some way fed you or motivated you, stimulated you 266 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:24,600 to better praying, if not more praying. Prayer is possible because of what we are about to observe 267 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:31,720 here. These elements represent something very, very precious to us. Names are important. 268 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:40,600 These elements represent something very, very precious to us. Namely, the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 269 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:46,760 Through his blood we have been cleansed and justified through his body a way has been 270 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:54,680 opened to the presence of God so that we can pray. Let's sing together, near to the heart of God, 271 00:32:54,680 --> 00:33:02,200 410 we will stand as we sing. All of you joining please.