Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter
1. 2 Timothy 1 verse 1 says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, according to the promise of life which
is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace,
mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve from
my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day. I have remembrance of thee
in my prayers night and day. I want us to look for a minute
at the subject of prayer. I hope that we, me included,
I hope that we really learn something this morning about prayer. I
hope this will be instructive. I hope this will be helpful. Prayer is something that we all
know we are insufficient in it. We all know that we are insufficient
in prayer. We do not pray often enough and
we do not pray sincerely enough. No matter how often we pray and
no matter how sincere we think we are in it, we know that it's
not often enough and we know that it's not sincere enough. And therefore, it's something
that God's people desire to grow in. Don't you desire to grow
in true prayer? We know that our God is sovereign. Our God is sovereign. We know
that He knew everything He was going to do before the foundation
of the world. Known to God were all His works
from the beginning of the world. We know that all of his ways
and all of his works are set in stone. He is the Lord. He does not change. I heard a man say one time, well,
God changes all the time. No, he doesn't. He is the Lord. He does not change. Therefore,
we know that we cannot influence Him or change His mind. Cannot be done. But we also know that prayer
to Him is a vital, critical component of our union with Him. From the record of the Word,
we can clearly see that prayer was a vital, critical component
of our Lord Jesus Christ's relationship to His Father. He was in constant
communion with His Father. And if our Lord prayed continually,
how much more should we pray? If He prayed, If that was a critical
practice for Him, a constant practice for Him, how much more
should it be for us? God's Word commands us to pray
without ceasing. You read that and you think,
what does that mean? Here's what it means. Pray without ceasing. Turn with me over to Luke 18. Luke 18 verse 1, and he, our Lord, spake a parable
unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not
to faint. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one who said, men ought always to pray, men and women, Always
to pray and not faint. You know, people will say things
like, prayer works. You ever heard
somebody say that? Prayer works. Or they call themselves
prayer warriors. That's a bunch of hogwash. That's
all that is. That is flat hogwash. We don't pray to accomplish a
work. We don't pray to win a victory. We pray to acknowledge God's
hand in the matter. That's what we're doing. We are
acknowledging our God's hand in the matter. We do ask for
things and we're going to look at that. but we only ask according to
the eternal will and purpose of our God. But our Lord prayed and he commanded
us to pray. And because of that, the apostles
very wisely asked the Lord to teach them to pray. Go with me
over to Luke 11. This is a very wise thing to
ask for. I pray that we will ask for this. I pray he'll do for us what he
did for the apostles. Luke 11 verse one. And it came
to pass that as he was praying. Our Lord was praying, and I can't
help but just envision this scenario. Our Lord is praying here, and
the disciples were there listening to Him pray. You talk about a
blessed moment in time. A lot of times our Lord went
apart to pray alone. But here they are listening to
our Lord pray. I can envision them having their
heads bowed, just listening intently to His words, to His Father.
And when He finished praying, they realized that they needed
to learn more and know more of this communication to God. So
they wisely asked the Lord to teach them. Verse 1, It came
to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased,
one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray,
as John also taught his disciples. I was talking to a fellow pastor
about this, and he pointed out something to me that when he
said this, I thought, wow, that's amazing. This affected me. This affected
me greatly. I believe this caused me to realize
the importance of prayer like I've never realized it before. He pointed out that the apostles
did not ask, Lord, teach us to preach. Does that hit you like it hits
me? They got to the critical heart
of the matter. And I'm going to tell you this,
the foundation of preaching is praying. It is. The core of true preaching is
praying. Study is all about praying, asking
the Lord to send a message. The car ride over here is all
about praying, asking God, please meet with us. Please bless us. Please get me out of the way. And would you speak to the hearts
of your people? I don't know if it's good to
tell you this or not, but quite often when we have a long turn,
if I say, you know, turn over to Zephaniah and it takes you
a minute, that's time for me to pray. Sometimes I stand right
here and pray. Pray as you listen. Pray. They didn't ask, Lord, teach
us to preach or teach us to witness or teach us to do anything. They
said, teach us to pray. And what this tells us is we're
so dependent on God for everything, so dependent on His Spirit for
everything. But anyway, verse 1, it came
to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased,
one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray,
as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, when you
pray, say, our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, as in heaven, so in earth. He said, you start by acknowledging
your God. Acknowledge his holiness. Acknowledge his sovereignty.
Verse three, he said, give us day by day our daily bread. He said, ask for this. Acknowledge
that it is in God's hands to give it. Every good and perfect
gift comes from Him. Everything. Lord, all of our
needs, would you graciously give them to us? All of our needs,
would you graciously supply them to us? In Ezekiel 36, the Lord
said, I am going to do these things for my people. I'm going
to do it for them. But he said, I will be inquired
of them to do it. They are going to ask, they're
going to say, please, they're going to ask me to do it. Would
you please do this for us? Verse four, he said, and forgive
us our sins for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to
us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Lord in mercy. The mercy of your
blood, forgive our sins. Forgive us, verse four, forgive
us our sins. Give us, forgive us. In verse four, he went on to
say, lead us. not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. He said, ask for grace, mercy,
and peace. A week or so ago, we had a message
titled grace, mercy, and peace. Give us grace, forgive us mercy,
lead us peace, not into temptation, lead us into peace. Verse five, and he said unto
them, which of you shall have a friend and shall go unto him
at midnight and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves
for a friend of mine in his journey has come to me and I have nothing
to set before him. And he from within shall answer
and say, trouble me not, the door is now shut and my children
are with me in bed, I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto
you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his
friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as
many as he needeth. He said, the Lord is telling
them to pray without ceasing. He said, this is what I'm telling
you. Pray without ceasing. He said, this friend was heard
and answered, not because he was a friend, but because he
wouldn't go away. It was because he prayed without
ceasing. He just kept crying and he wouldn't
stop. Would you please help me? And
his buddy finally got up and said, here, our Lord is saying,
pray without ceasing, importunate prayer. Verse nine. And I say
unto you, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall
find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any
of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he
ask a fish, Will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he
shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask him? Now clearly, from this, we see
the importance of prayer. We have just witnessed the importance
of prayer. We see the command to pray. We see the importance of continual
prayer. And we see the promise of the
Lord in hearing and answering our prayer. Verse nine again,
he said, I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you. Seek,
and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. Every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh
findeth. And to him that knocketh, it
shall be opened. If the Son ask bread of any of
you that's a father, will he give him a stone? If he ask a
fish, will he give him a serpent? If he ask an egg, will he give
him a scorpion? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? He said shall,
ask and it shall. Now if that's what the word of
the Lord Jesus Christ says, if that's what God says, why is
it that we oftentimes feel like we ask him for things and we
don't get them? Anybody ever been there? You
ever feel like you ask for things over and over again and you just
don't get them? Why is it that we ask him to
heal us and sometimes he doesn't heal us? Why is it that there are times
that we feel like we're pouring out our hearts to him but he
doesn't hear us? He's not listening to our cry? Is that the case? Is there ever
a time that the Lord God does not listen to His children? Is
there ever a time where He turns His ear from His children? According
to His Word, never. Never. He said in Isaiah 65,
before they ever even call, I'll answer. Is anything too small or too
large to take to the Lord? Well, he's not going to answer
that because that's just too small for him to fool with. No. Or that's too large. Now you're
just asking too much. No. Peter said, cast all your care
on him. He careth for you. But this is what we need to understand
about our request to Him. I believe this is so enlightening.
I believe this is so important. I believe this is instructive. I believe it's helpful. This
is what we need to understand about our prayer to Him and our
request to Him. Turn with me over to Matthew
7. This is Matthew's account of
what we just read in Luke 11. Matthew chapter 7, verse 7. Ask and it shall be given you.
Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. Or what man is there of you whom
if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask
a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then being evil know how
to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your father which is in heaven give good things to them that
ask him? Good things. Here's what we must
understand. Our father only gives his children
good things. Only good things. The same as
us. If we have a proper desire. We
only desire to give our children what's good for them. Only if
it's good for them. Not everything they ask for.
Has any parent here ever given their child literally everything
they've ever asked for? I think I'm pretty safe in saying
no. Just go to Kroger or Walmart and aisle by aisle, get ready. We're going to ask for everything
on every aisle. Only what's good for them. Only what's good for them. And that's what he's saying right
here in verse 11. If you then being evil know how
to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that
ask him? If he does not give us healing,
it's not because he doesn't hear us. It's because he didn't deem
it good for us. Turn over to Psalm 84 with me. Psalm 84 verse 11 says, For the
Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. No good thing. Evil things, yes,
he will withhold them from his children. but not good things. You mean
me being healed would be an evil thing? If it goes against his sovereign,
eternal will and purpose concerning you? Yes. Yes, it would be. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done, not mine, but yours. If we pray to Him asking for
His will to be done, we do ask for things. He did say, let your
petitions be made known. But it's only in light of thy
will be done. And if that is the reigning desire
in us, rest assured, we are going to have our desire. We will have
it. If it's that His will be done,
even above what we ask, then we will have our desire. Turn
with me to 1 John 5. 1 John 5 verse 14. This is the confidence that we
have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth
us. And if we know that He hear us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we
desired of Him. We know that. If our desire is
for His, if we're asking it in His will, Lord only, if it's
not Your will, shut the door. Don't let me walk through that
door. If we desire for His will to
be done, even above our request to Him, we know that we're going
to have our desire. And that's what God's people
want. They do want His will to be done. They really do. His will is going to be done. And that's the will of all of
God's people. Thy will be done. The good things of your will.
Only the good things of your will. Well, what are some of the things
that He has declared to be good? Let me just give you a few of
these and we'll be done, okay? Look with me at James 1. James chapter 1. Here are some good things that
our Lord said, you ask for these things because these are good
things. James 1 verse 5, if any of you lack wisdom, just
in case there's anybody here that lacks wisdom, which I'll
just go ahead and tell us, that's every person in the room starting
with me. I'm at the top of the list and
then you guys are all beneath me. We need wisdom. That's what we need. We need
wisdom. Verse five, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask
of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not,
and it shall be given him. We need wisdom. What a thing
to pray for continually. Look at 2 Thessalonians 3. Second Thessalonians chapter
three. Verse one, the apostle Paul speaking on
behalf of the other apostles and and all who preach the word,
he said, finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord
may have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. Pray
for those of us who preach. Our Lord is saying in the word,
this is a good thing. This is a good thing to pray
for. I sincerely do. I don't pray for you often enough,
and I don't pray for you sincerely enough. But I do try to pray
for you, and I'm begging you to pray for me. Don't forget
to pray for me. As you're driving over here in
the car, pray for me. This is not in my hands. This
is not by man's might. This is by the Spirit of God.
But that's what we need. Pray for me that I will pray
for the Spirit. It's just too critical. This
is so critical. We need the Spirit of God to
preach. We need the Spirit of God to
hear. We need to pray for all who preach. We need to pray for
all who hear. Pray for each other. Pray for
us, the preaching and the hearing of God's word, that it will have
free course and be glorified. Free course in saving and blessing
God's people. Don't turn, but Psalm 122 says,
pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Peace with God, peace with each other. Let's pray for peace with
each other. That's a good thing. Job 42 says,
the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his
friends. With Job, it was all about, you
know, poor pitiful me. And the Lord finally showed him,
pray for your brethren. First Samuel 12 says, God forbid
that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. Turn back to Luke 11. Luke 11. Verse 9, our Lord said, I say
unto you, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and you shall
find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. What is He talking about right
there specifically? What is He talking about specifically? Look at verse 13. If you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit? to them that ask Him. He said,
you ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit and you will receive
Him. That's a comforting promise to
me. What a good and vital, necessary
thing. His will, His kingdom, His grace,
His mercy, His peace, His salvation, His wisdom. Christ is our wisdom. the preaching, the hearing of
the gospel, praying for brethren, the presence of God's Spirit.
Lord, help us to pray for all these good things. These are
good things. And with all of that being said,
for our comfort and our peace on this issue of our need of
praying to the Father, we still know how insufficient we are
in it. So for our comfort, let me leave
us with this. Go to Romans 8. This is one of the most comforting
things. I love reading this. Romans 8
verse 26. Likewise, the spirit also helpeth
our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And
he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. As important as our great need
and responsibility is to pray, in Christ, we have an advocate with
the Father, taking care of that responsibility for us. Isn't
that comforting to you? Our Lord Jesus Christ said in
John 17, Father, I pray for them. I pray for them. I pray on behalf
of them. I'm coming to you on their behalf. I pray for my people. I pray
on behalf of my people. For that, we're thankful. We're
so thankful. Lord, help us, teach us what
it is to truly