Prayer by J.C. Ryle. This sermon was originally preached sometime in the mid to late 1800s. Our text for today comes from two verses. First, Luke chapter 18 verse 1, disciples should always pray and not give up. Our second verse 1 Timothy 2 verse 8, I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer. Prayer is the most important subject in Christianity. All other subjects are second to it. Reading the Bible, listening to sermons, attending public worship, going to the Lord's table. All these are very, very important. But none of them, none of them are so important as private prayer. I propose in this sermon to offer seven clear reasons why I use such strong language about prayer. I draw to these reasons the attention of every thinking man or woman who is listening to this sermon. I venture to assert with confidence that this sermon deserves serious consideration. In the first place, prayer is absolutely necessary to a man's salvation. Prayer is absolutely necessary to a man's salvation. I say it is absolutely necessary, and I say so with caution. I am not now speaking of infants or the retarded. I remember that where little is given, there little will be required. I speak especially of those who call themselves Christians. And of such I say, no man and no woman can ever expect to be saved who does not pray. I hold salvation by grace as strongly as anyone. I would gladly offer a free and full pardon to the greatest sinner that ever lived. I would not hesitate to stand by his dying bed and say to him, Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. But I cannot see in the Bible that a man or woman can have salvation without asking for it. I cannot find that a man will receive pardon of his sins who will not so much as lift up his heart inwardly and say, Lord Jesus, Give it to me." It is not absolutely necessary for salvation that a man must read the Bible. A man may have no learning or be blind and yet have Christ in his heart. It is not absolutely necessary that a man should hear the public preaching of the gospel, though he must receive the word by some means. He may live where the gospel is not preached publicly. or he may be bedridden or deaf. But the same thing cannot be said about prayer. It is absolutely necessary for salvation that a man must pray. There is no royal road either to health or learning. Princes and kings, poor men and peasants, all alike must attend to the needs of their own bodies and their own minds. No man can eat, drink, or sleep by proxy. No man can learn the alphabet by proxy. All these are things which everybody must do for himself, or they will not be done at all. Just as it is with the mind and body, so it is with the soul. There are certain things absolutely necessary for the soul's health and well-being. Each one must attend to these things for himself. Each must repent for himself. Each must submit to Christ for himself. And for himself, each one must speak to God and pray. You must do it for yourself, for nobody else can do it for you. How can we expect to be saved by an unknown God? And how can we know God without prayer? We know nothing of men and women in this world unless we speak with them. We cannot know God in Christ unless we speak to him in prayer. If we wish to be with him in heaven, we must be his friends on earth. If we wish to be his friends on earth, we must pray. In the second place, a habit of prayer is one of the surest marks of a true Christian. A habit of prayer is one of the surest marks of a true Christian. All the children of God on earth are alike in this respect. From the moment there is any life and reality in their religion, they pray. Just as the first sign of life in an infant when born into the world is the act of breathing, so the first act of men and women when they are born again is praying. This is one of the common marks of all the elect of God. They always pray and do not give up. The Holy Spirit, who makes them new creatures, works in them the feeling of adoption and makes them cry out, Abba, Father. The Lord Jesus, when he saves them, gives them a voice and a tongue and says to them, be silent no more. God has no speechless children. It is as much a part of their new nature to pray as it is of a child to cry. They see their need of mercy and grace. They feel their emptiness and weakness. They cannot do otherwise than they do. They must pray. I have looked carefully over the lives of God's saints in the Bible. I cannot find one whose history we know much about, from Genesis to Revelation, who was not a person of prayer. I find it mentioned as a characteristic of the godly that they call on the Father, that they call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I find it recorded as a characteristic of the wicked that they do not call upon the Lord. I have read the lives of many great Christians who have been on earth since the Bible days. Some of them I see were rich and some were poor. Some were educated and some were uneducated. They came from various denominations and some were independents. Some loved a very structured worship service and some liked it rather informal. But one thing I see they all had in common They all have been people of prayer. I study the reports of missionaries in our own times. I see with joy that heathen men and women are receiving the gospel in various parts of the globe. The people converted are naturally unlike one another in every respect, but one striking thing I observe at all the missionary stations, the converted people always pray. I do not deny that a man may pray without heart and without sincerity. I do not for a moment pretend to say that the mere fact of a person praying proves anything or everything about his soul. As in every other part of religion, so also in this, there is plenty of deception and hypocrisy. But this I do say, that not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian. Not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian. He cannot really feel for his sins. He cannot love God. He cannot feel himself in debt to God. He cannot long after holiness. He cannot desire heaven. He has yet to be born again. He has yet to be made a new creature. He may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope, knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured it is all vain talk if he does not pray. And furthermore, I say that of all the evidences of the real work of the Spirit, A habit of hearty private prayer is one of the most satisfactory that can be named. A man may preach from false motives. A man may write books and make fine speeches and seem diligent in good works and yet be a Judas Iscariot. But a man seldom goes into his closet and pours out his soul before God in secret unless he is serious. The Lord Himself has set His stamp on prayer as the best proof of true conversion. When He sent Ananias to Saul in Damascus, He gave him no other evidence of His change of heart than this, He is praying, He is praying. I know that much may go on in a man's mind before he is brought to pray. He may have many convictions, desires, wishes, feelings, intentions, resolutions, hopes, and fears. But all these things are very uncertain proofs. They are to be found in ungodly people and often come to nothing. In many cases they are not more lasting than the morning mist and the early dew that disappears.

A real hearty prayer, flowing from a broken and repentant spirit, is worth all these things put together. I know that the elect of God are chosen to salvation from all of eternity. I do not forget that the Holy Spirit, who calls them in due time, in many instances leads them by very slow degrees to an awareness of Christ. But the eye of man can only judge by what it sees. I cannot call anyone justified until he believes. I dare not say that anyone believes until he prays. I cannot understand a silent and speechless faith. The first act of faith will be to speak to God. Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to life. How can a man live and not breathe is beyond my comprehension, and how a man can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.

Let no one be surprised if he hears ministers of the gospel dwelling aloud on the importance of prayer. This is the point we want to bring you to. We want to know that you pray. Your views of doctrine may be correct. Your love of evangelical religion may be warm and unmistakable. But still, this may be nothing more than head knowledge and party spirit. The great point is this. whether you can speak to God as well as to speak about God.

3. There is no part of religion so neglected as private prayer. We live in days abounding in religious profession. There are more places of public worship today than there ever has been before. There are more persons attending them than there ever have been since we became a nation. And yet, in spite of all this public religion, I believe there is a vast neglect of private prayer. I would not have said that a few years ago. I once thought in my ignorance that most people said their prayers and that many people prayed. I have lived to think differently. I have come to the conclusion that the great majority of professing Christians do not pray at all.

I know that this sounds very shocking and will startle many, but I am convinced that prayer is just one of those things which is thought to be a private matter And like many private matters, it is shamefully neglected. It is everybody's duty, and as it often happens in such cases, it is a business carried on by very few. It is one of those private transactions between God and our souls which no eye sees, and therefore one which there is every temptation to pass over and leave undone.

I believe that thousands, thousands never say a word of prayer at all. They eat. They drink. They sleep. They rise. They go to work. They return to their homes. They breathe God's air. They see God's sun. They walk on God's earth. They enjoy God's mercies. They have dying bodies. They have judgment. and eternity before them, but they never speak to God. They live like the animals that perish. They behave like creatures without souls. They have no words to say to Him who holds their life and breath and all things in His hands, and from whose mouth they must one day receive their eternal sentence.

How dreadful this seems! But if the secrets of men and women were only known, how common it would be. I believe that there are tens of thousands whose prayers are nothing more than a mere form, a set of words repeated by rote without a thought about their meaning. Some say a few hasty sentences picked up when they were children, many mutter their prayers in bed, or move quickly over them while they wash or dress in the morning.

Men may think what they please, but they can count on the fact that in the sight of God this is not praying. Words said without heart are as utterly useless to our souls as the drum beating of the poor heathen before their idols. Where there is no heart, the lips may move and the tongue may wag, but there is nothing that God listens to. There is no prayer.

Saul, I have no doubt, said many a long prayer before the Lord met him on the way to Damascus. But it was not until his heart was broken that the Lord said, he is praying, he is praying. Does this surprise any of you? Listen to me and I will show you that I am not speaking as I do without reason. Do you think that my assertions are extravagant and unwarranted? Give me your attention and I will soon show you that I am only telling you the truth.

Have you forgotten that it is not natural for anyone to pray? The carnal mind, the natural mind, has a hatred towards God. The desire of man's heart is to get far away from God and to have nothing to do with Him. His feelings towards Him is not love but fear. Why then should a man pray when he has no real sense of sin, no real feeling of spiritual needs, no thorough belief in unseen things? no desire after holiness in heaven. The vast majority of men and women know and feel nothing about these things. The multitude are traveling on the wide road to hell. I cannot forget this. Therefore, I say boldly, I believe that few people pray. Have you forgotten that it is not fashionable to pray? It is just one of those things that many would be rather ashamed to admit is their practice. There are hundreds who would sooner storm a beach in battle than confess publicly that they make it a habit to pray. There are thousands who, if obligated by chance to sleep in the same room with a stranger, would lie down in bed without a prayer. To ride a horse well, to shoot well, to dress well, to go to balls and concerts and theaters, to be thought clever and congenial, all this is fashionable, but not to pray. I cannot forget this. I cannot think a habit is common which so many seem ashamed to admit. I believe that few people pray.

Have you forgotten the lives that many live? Can we really suppose that people are praying against sin night and day when we see them plunging right into it? Can we suppose they pray against the world when they are entirely absorbed and taken up with its pursuits? Can we think they really ask God for grace to serve Him when they do not show the slightest desire to serve Him at all? Oh no, it is clear as daylight that the great majority of men and women either ask nothing of God or do not mean what they say when they do ask. which is really the same thing. Praying and sinning will never live together in the same heart. Prayer will consume sin or sin will choke prayer. I cannot forget this. I look at the lives of men and women and I believe that few pray. Have you forgotten the deaths that many die? Have you forgotten the deaths that many die? How many, when they draw near death, seem like entire strangers to God? Not only are they sadly ignorant of His gospel, but sadly devoid of the power of speaking to Him. There is a terrible awkwardness and shyness and newness and coldness in their endeavors to approach God. They seem to be taking up a new thing. They appear as if they need an introduction to God and as if they had never talked with him before. I remember hearing of one lady who was anxious to have a minister to visit her in her last illness. She desired that he would pray with her. The minister asked her, what should he pray for? She did not know and could not tell him. She was utterly unable to name anything which she wished to ask God for her soul. All she seemed to want was the form of a minister's prayers. I can quite understand this. Death beds are great revealers of secrets. I cannot forget what I have seen of sick and dying people. This also leads me to believe that few people pray. 4. Prayer is that act and religion in which there is the greatest encouragement. There is everything on God's part to make prayer easy if men and women will only attempt it. Everything is now ready on His side. Every objection is anticipated. Every difficulty is provided for. The crooked places are made straight and the rough places are made smooth. There is no excuse left for the prayerless man or woman. There is a way by which any man or woman, however sinful, may draw near to God the Father. Jesus Christ has opened that way by the sacrifice he made for us on the cross. The holiness and justice of God need not frighten sinners and keep them back. Only let them cry to God in the name of Jesus. Only let them plead the atoning blood of Jesus and they will find God on the throne of grace, willing and ready to hear. The name of Jesus is a never failing passport to our prayers. In that name, a man or woman may draw near to God with boldness and ask with confidence. God has pledged to hear them. Think of this. Isn't this an encouragement? There is an advocate, an intercessor, always waiting to present the prayers of those who will employ him. There is an advocate, an intercessor, always waiting to present the prayers of those who will employ him. That advocate is Jesus Christ. He mingles our prayers with the incense of his own almighty intercession. Thus mingled they go up as a sweet savor before the throne of God. Poor as they are in themselves, they are mighty and powerful in the hand of our high priest and elder brother. The bank note without a signature at the bottom is nothing but a worthless piece of paper. A few strokes of a pen confer on it all its value. The prayer of a poor child of Adam is a feeble thing in itself, but once endorsed by the hand of the Lord Jesus, it accomplishes much. There once was an officer in the city of Rome who had agreed to always have his doors open. in order to receive any Roman citizen who applied to him for help. In the same way, the ear of our Lord Jesus is always open to the cry of all who want mercy and grace. It is his business to help them. Their prayer is his delight. Think of this. Isn't this an encouragement? There is the Holy Spirit, always ready to help our weakness in prayer. There is the Holy Spirit, always ready to help our weakness in prayer. It is one part of His special functions to assist us in our endeavors to speak to God. We needn't be cast down and distressed by the fear of not knowing what to say. The Spirit will give us words if we will only seek His aid. He will supply us with thoughts that breathe and words that burn. The prayers of the Lord's people are the inspiration of the Lord's Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit who dwells within them as the Spirit of grace and supplications. Surely the Lord's people can be confident that they will be heard. It is not that they merely pray, but that the Holy Spirit is pleading for them. Think of this. Isn't this an encouragement?

There are surpassing promises to those who pray. There are surpassing promises to those who pray. What did the Lord Jesus mean when he spoke such words as these? Ask, seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives, He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. What did the Lord mean when he spoke the two parables of the friend at midnight and the insistent widow? Think over these passages. If this is not an encouragement to pray, then words have no meaning at all.

There are wonderful examples in scripture of the power of prayer. Nothing seems to be too great, too hard, or too difficult for prayer to accomplish. Prayer has obtained things that seemed impossible and out of reach. It has won victories over fire, air, earth, and water. Prayer opened the Red Sea. Prayer brought water from the rock and bread from heaven. Prayer made the sun stand still. Prayer brought fire from the sky on Elijah's sacrifice. Prayer turned the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Prayer overthrew the army of Sennacherib. Mary, Queen of Scots, said it well when she said, I fear John Knox's prayers more than an army of 10,000 men. Prayer has healed the sick. Prayer has raised the dead. Prayer has procured the conversion of souls. The child of many prayers said an old Christian to Augustine's mother will never perish. Prayer and faith can do anything. Nothing seems impossible when a man has the spirit of adoption.

Leave me alone is the remarkable saying of God to Moses when Moses was about to intercede for the children of Israel. The Aramaic version translates it, stop praying. So long as Abraham asked mercy for Sodom, the Lord went on giving. He never ceased to give until Abraham ceased to pray. Think of this. Is this not an encouragement? What more encouragement can a man or woman want to lead them to pray than the things I have just told them about prayer? What could be done to make the path to the mercy seat any easier and to remove all obstacles from the sinner's way? Surely, if the devils in hell had such a door set open before them, they would leap for joy and make the very pit ring with joy. But where will the man or woman hide themselves in the day of judgment who neglect such glorious encouragements? What can possibly be said for the man or woman who dies without prayer? God forbid that any of you should be that person.

5. Diligence in prayer is the secret of eminent holiness. Diligence in prayer is the secret of eminent holiness. Without question. There is a vast difference among true Christians. There is an immense gap between the greatest and the weakest in the army of God. They are all fighting the same good fight, but how much more valiantly some fight than others. They are all doing the Lord's work, but how much more some do than others. They are all light in the Lord, but how much more brightly some shine than others. They are all running the same race, but how much faster some run than others. They all love the same Lord and Savior, but how much more some love Him than others. I ask any true Christian, are these things not true? There are some of the Lord's people who never seem to be able to advance and grow. From the time of their conversion, they never seem to be able to advance and grow. They are born again, but they remain babies all their lives. They are learners in Christ's school, but they never seem to get beyond ABC. They have gotten inside the fold, but there they lie down and go no further. Year after year, you see in them the same old habitual sins. You hear from them the same old experience. You note in them the same need of spiritual appetite, the same squeamishness about anything but the milk of the word, and the same dislike of the strong meat of the Bible, the same childishness, the same feebleness, the same trivialness of mind, the same narrowness of heart, the same lack of interest in anything beyond their own little circle, which you noted 10 years ago. I say this with sorrow and grief, but I ask any real Christian, is it not true? Now there are some of the Lord's people who seem to be always growing, always growing. They grow like the grass after rain. They increase like Israel and Egypt. They press on like Gideon, though sometimes exhausted, yet keeping up the pursuit. They are always adding to grace and faith to faith and strength to strength. Every time you meet them, their hearts seem larger and their spiritual stature bigger, taller, and stronger. Every year they appear to see more and know more and believe more and feel more in their religion. They not only have good works to prove the reality of their faith, but they are zealous of them. They not only do well, but they are unwearied in doing well. They attempt great things, and they do great things. And when they fail, they try again. And when they fall, they are soon up again. And all this time they think of themselves as poor, unprofitable servants, and believe that they do nothing at all. These are those who make religion lovely and beautiful in the eyes of everyone. they obtain praise even from the unconverted, and win golden opinions even from the selfish men of the world. These are those whom it does one good to see, to be with, and to hear. When you meet them, you could believe that like Moses, they had just come out from the presence of God. When you part with them, you feel warmed by their company, as if your soul had been near a fire, I know such people are rare. I only ask, is it not true? Now, how can we account for the difference which I have just described? What is the reason that some believers are much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference in 19 cases out of 20 arises from different habits of private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray very little and those who are eminently holy pray a lot. I dare say this opinion startles some of you. I have little doubt that many look on eminent holiness as a kind of special gift which none but a few must ever pretend to aim at. They admire it at a distance and in books. They think it beautiful when they see an example near themselves, but as to its being a thing within the reach of any but a very few, such a notion never seems to enter their minds. In short, they consider it a kind of monopoly granted to a few favored believers, but certainly not to everyone. Now I believe that this is a most dangerous mistake. I believe that spiritual as well as natural greatness depends far more on the use of means within everybody's reach than on anything else. Of course, I do not say we have a right to expect a miraculous grant of intellectual gifts. But I do say this, that when a man or woman is born again by Jesus Christ, Whether they will be exceptionally holy or not depends on their own diligence in the use of God's appointed means. And I confidently assert that the principal means by which most believers have become great in the Church of Jesus Christ is the habit of diligent, private prayer. Look through the lives of the brightest and best of God's servants, whether in the Bible or not, See what is written of Moses and David and Daniel and Paul. Note what is recorded about Luther and the Reformers. Observe what is related of the private devotions of Whitefield and McShane. Tell me of one of all the godly fellowship of saints and martyrs who has not had this mark most prominently. They were people of prayer. Oh, my friends, depend on it. is power. Prayer obtains fresh and continued outpourings of the Spirit. He alone begins the work of grace in a person's heart. He alone can carry it forward and make it prosper. But the Holy Spirit loves to be petitioned, and those who ask most will always have the greatest amount of his influence. Prayer is the surest remedy against the devil and besetting sins. Prayer is the surest remedy against the devil and besetting sins. That sin will never stand firm, which is vigorously prayed against. The devil will never maintain influence over us when we ask the Lord to help us. But then we must spread out all our case before our heavenly physician. We must ask Christ to send them back to the pit. Do we wish to grow in grace and be very holy Christians? Then let us never forget the value of prayer. 6. Neglect of prayer is one great cause of backsliding. Neglect of prayer is one great cause of backsliding. There is such a thing as going backward in religion after making a good profession. Men and women may run well for a season, like the Galatians, and then turn aside after false teachers. Men and women may profess loudly while their feelings are warm, as Peter did, and then in the hour of trial deny their Lord. Men and women may lose their first love as the Ephesians did. Men and women may cool down in their zeal to do good like Mark the companion of Paul. Men and women may follow an apostle for a season and then, like Demas, go back to the world. Men and women may do all these things. It is a miserable thing to be a backslider. Of all the unhappy things that can happen to a man or woman, I suppose it is the worst. A stranded ship, an eagle with a broken wing, a garden overrun with weeds, a harp without strings, a church in ruins, all these are sad sights. But a backslider is a sadder sight still. There is no doubt that if the person is truly a Christian, then the true grace will never be extinguished and true union with Christ will never be broken. But I do believe that a man or woman may backslide so far that they will lose sight of their own grace and despair of their own salvation. And if this is not hell, it is certainly the next thing to it. A wounded conscience, a mind sick of itself, a memory full of self-reproach, a heart pierced through with the Lord's arrows, a spirit broken with a load of inward accusation. All this is a taste of hell. It is hell on earth. What is the cause of most backsliding? I believe, as a general rule, One of the chief causes is neglect of private prayer. Of course, the secret history of backsliding will not be known until the last day. I can only give my opinion as a minister of Christ and a student of the heart. That opinion is that backsliding generally first begins with neglect of private prayer. Bibles read without prayer. Sermons heard without prayer. Engagements to marriage without prayer. Travel undertaken without prayer. Homes chosen without prayer. Friendships formed without prayer. The daily act of private prayer itself, hurried over or gone through without heart. These are the kind of downward steps by which many a Christian descends to a condition of spiritual paralysis or reaches the point where God allows him to have a tremendous fall. We may be very sure that men and women fall in private long before they fall in public. They fall in private long before they fall in public. They are backsliders on their knees long before they backslide openly in the eyes of the world. Like Peter, they first disregarded the Lord's warning to watch and pray, and then like Peter, their strength is gone, and in the hour of temptation, they deny their Lord. If any of you are really Christians, then I trust you will never be a backslider. But if you do not wish to be a backsliding Christian, remember the hint I give you, mind your prayers. 7. Prayer is one of the best ways to attain happiness and contentment. We live in a world where sorrow abounds. This has always been its state since sin came into the world. There cannot be sin without sorrow, and until sin is driven out from this world, it is vain for anyone to suppose he can escape sorrow. Some, without doubt, have a larger cup of sorrow to drink than others, but few are to be found who live very long without sorrows or cares of one sort or another. our bodies, our property, our families, our children, our relations, our friends, our neighbors, our worldly callings. Each and all of these are fountains of care. Sicknesses, deaths, losses, disappointments, partings, separations, ingratitude, slander, all these are common things. We cannot get through life without them. Someday they will find us out. The greater are our affections, the greater are our afflictions. And the more we love, the more we have to cry. And what is the best way to acquire cheerfulness in such a world as this? How will we get through this valley of tears with the least pain? I know no better way than the habit of taking everything to God in prayer. There is a friend always waiting to help us if we will only tell him our sorrow. A friend who pitied the poor and the sick and sorrowful when he was on the earth. A friend who knows the heart of a man and woman for he lived 33 years as a man among us. A friend who can weep with the weepers for he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, a friend who was able to help us, for there never was earthly pain he could not cure. That friend is Jesus Christ. The way to be happy is to be always opening our hearts to him. Oh, that we were all like that poor black Christian who only answered when threatened and punished, I must tell the Lord, I must tell the Lord. Jesus can make those happy who trust Him and call on Him. Whatever their outward condition is, He can give them peace of heart in a prison, contentment in the midst of poverty, comfort in the midst of bereavements, joy on the brink of the grave. There is a mighty fullness in Him for all His believing members, a fullness that is ready to be poured out on everyone who will ask in prayer. Oh, that men and women would understand that happiness does not depend on outward circumstances but on the state of the heart. I want all of you to be really happy Christians. I am certain I cannot urge on you a more important duty than prayer. And now it is high time for me to bring this sermon to an end. I trust I have brought before you things that will be seriously considered. I heartily pray to God that this consideration may be blessed to your souls. Let me speak a parting word to those who do not pray. Let me speak a parting word to those who do not pray. I do not dare to suppose that all of you are praying people. If you are a prayerless person, permit me to speak to you this day on God's behalf. I can only warn you, but I do warn you most solemnly. I warn you that you are in a position of dreadful danger. If you die in your present state, you are a lost soul. You will only rise again to be eternally miserable. I warn you that of all professing Christians, you are most utterly without excuse. There is not a single good reason that you can show for living without prayer. It is useless for you to say, you don't know how to pray, you don't know how to pray. Prayer is the simplest act in all of religion. It is simply speaking to God. It needs neither learning, nor wisdom, nor book knowledge to begin it. It needs nothing but heart and will. The weakest infant can cry when he is hungry. The poorest beggar can hold out his hand for charity and does not wait to find fine words. The most ignorant man or woman will find something to say to God if only they have a mind. It is useless to say you have no convenient place to pray in, no convenient place to pray in. Anyone can find a place private enough if they are so inclined. Our Lord prayed on a mountain, Peter on the housetop, Isaac in the field, Nathanael under the fig tree, Jonah in the whale's belly. Any place may become a prayer closet and be to us the very presence of God. It is useless to say you have no time to pray. It is useless to say you have no time to pray. There is plenty of time. if men and women will only utilize it. Time may be short, but time is always long enough for prayer. Daniel had all the affairs of a kingdom on his hands, and yet he prayed three times a day. David was ruler over a mighty nation, and yet he says, Evening, morning, and noon I cry out in distress. When time is really wanted, time can always be found. It is useless to say, you cannot pray until you have faith and a new heart, that you must sit still and wait for them. It is useless to say, you cannot pray until you have faith and a new heart, that you must sit still and wait for them. This is to add sin to sin. It is bad enough to be unconverted and going to hell. It is even worse to say, I know it, but I will not cry out for mercy. This is the kind of argument for which there is no warrant in scripture. Seek the Lord while he may be found, says Isaiah. Call upon him while he is near. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord, says Peter to Simon Magus. If you want faith and a new heart, go and cry to the Lord for them. The very attempt to pray has often been the arousing of a dead soul. Yes, there is no devil so dangerous as a speechless devil. O prayerless man and prayerless woman, who and what are you that you will not ask anything of God? Have you made a covenant with death and hell? Are you at peace with the maggot and the fire? Have you no sins to be pardoned? Have you no fear of eternal torment? Have you no desire after heaven? Oh, that you would awake from your present folly. Oh, that you would consider the coming end of your life. Oh, that you would rise up and call upon God. Yes, there is a day coming when men and women will pray loudly, Lord, Lord, let us in. But all will be too late. when many will cry for the rocks to fall on them and for the hills to cover them who would never cry to God. In all affection I warn you, beware lest this is the end of your soul. Salvation is very near you. Do not lose heaven because you wouldn't ask. Let me speak in the next place. to those who have real desires for salvation but do not know what steps to take or where to begin. I cannot but hope that some of you may be in this state of mind. And if there is only one such person here, then I must offer that person encouragement and advice. In every journey, there must be a first step. There must be a change from sitting still to moving forward. The journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan was long and worrisome. Forty years passed away before they crossed the Jordan. Yet there was someone who moved first when they marched out of Egypt. When does a person really take their first step in coming out from sin in the world? They do it in the day when they first pray with their heart. If any of you desire salvation and want to know what to do, I advise you to go this very day to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the first private place you can find and plead with Christ in prayer to save your soul. Tell him that you heard that he received sinners and has said, whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. Tell him that you are a poor, wretched sinner and that you come to him on the faith of his own invitation. Tell him that you put yourself wholly and entirely in his hands, that you feel evil and helpless and hopeless in yourself, and that unless he saves you, you have no hope to be saved at all. Plead with him to deliver you from the guilt, the power, and the consequences of sin. Plead with him to pardon you and to wash you in his own blood. Plead with Him to give you a new heart and plant the Holy Spirit in your soul. Plead with Him to give you grace and faith and will and the power to be His disciple and servant from this day and forevermore. Yes, go this very day and tell these things to the Lord Jesus Christ if you are really serious about your soul. Tell Him in your own way and in your own words. Do not doubt His willingness to save you because you are a sinner. It is Christ's business to save sinners. He Himself says, I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Do not wait because you feel unworthy. Wait for nothing. Wait for nobody. Waiting comes from the devil. Just as we are, go to Christ. The worse you are, the more need you have to go to Him. You will never mend yourself by staying away. Do not fear because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor. Jesus can understand you. Just as a mother understands the first babblings of her infant, so does the Blessed Savior understand sinners. Do not despair because you don't get an answer immediately. While you are speaking, Jesus is listening. If he delays in his answer, it is only for wise reasons and to test if you are serious. Pray on and the answer will surely come. If you have any desire to be saved, remember the advice I have given you this day. Act upon it honestly and heartily. and you will be saved. Let me speak lastly to those who do pray. Let me speak to those who do pray. If I know anything of a Christian's heart, you to whom I now speak are often sick of your own prayers. You can understand David's words, I hate vain thoughts. You can sympathize with that poor converted soul who is overheard praying, Lord deliver me from all my enemies and above all from my own evil self. There are few children of God who do not often find the season of prayer to be a season of conflict. The devil has a special rage against us when he sees us on our knees. Yet I believe that prayers which cost us no trouble should be regarded with great suspicion. I believe we are very poor judges of the quality of our prayers and that the prayer which often pleases us least often pleases God most. Permit me then, as a companion in the Christian warfare, to offer a few words of exhortation. One thing at least, we all feel, we must pray. We cannot give it up. We must go on. I recommend then to your attention the importance of reverence and humility in prayer. Let us never forget what we are and what a solemn thing it is to speak with God. Let us beware of rushing into his presence with carelessness and flippancy. Let us say to ourselves, I am on holy ground. This is none other than the gate of heaven. If I do not mean what I say, I am trifling with God. If I hide sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Let us keep in mind the words of Solomon. Do not be quick with your mouth. Do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. I recommend to you in the next place, the importance of praying spiritually. By this I mean that we should always labor to have the direct help of the Holy Spirit in our prayers, and above all things, beware of formality. There is nothing so spiritual that it cannot become a form. And this is especially true of private prayer. We may insensibly get into the habit of using the finest possible words and offering the most scriptural petitions, and yet we may do it all by rote, without feeling it, and walk daily around an old beaten path like a horse in a mill. I know there are certain critical things we want every day, and that there is nothing necessarily formal in asking for these things in the same words. The devil and our hearts are the same every day. Of necessity we must each day go over old ground. If the skeleton and outline of our prayers are by our habit almost a form, then let us strive that the clothing and filling up of our prayers are as much as possible of the Spirit. I recommend to you in the next place the importance of making prayer a regular business of life. I would like to say something of the value of regular times in the day for prayer. God is a God of order. Disorder is notably one of the fruits of sin. But I would not bring anyone under bondage. I only say this, that it is essential to your soul's health to make praying a part of the routine of every 24 hours in your life. Just as you allot time to eating, sleeping, and business, so also allot time for prayer. Choose your own hours and periods. At the very least, speak with God in the morning before you speak with the world, and speak with God at night after you have finished with the world for that day. But settle it in your minds that prayer is one of the vital things of each day. Do not put it into a corner. Do not give it the scraps and leftover minutes of your day. Whatever else you make a business of, make a business of prayer.

I recommend to you in the next place the importance of perseverance in prayer. Once having begun the habit, never give it up. Your heart will sometimes say to you, we have had family prayers. What big harm is it if we leave our private prayers undone for today? Your body will sometimes say, you are sick or sleepy or weary. You do not need to pray now. Your mind will sometimes say, you have important business to attend to today. Cut short your prayers. Look on all such suggestions as coming directly from the devil. They are as good as saying, neglect your soul. I do not maintain that prayers should always be of the same length. But I do say, let no excuse make you give up your prayer time. It is not for nothing that Paul said, devote yourselves to prayer and pray continually. He did not mean that men should be always on their knees, but he did mean that our prayers should be like the continual burnt offering, a thing steadily persevered in every day. Never forget that you may tie together morning and evening devotions by an endless chain of short prayers throughout the day. Even in the company of others, or while at work, or going down the street, you may be silently sending up little winged messengers to God, as Nehemiah did in the very presence of King Artaxerxes.

I recommend to you in the next place the importance of earnestness in prayer. It is not necessary that a person should shout or scream or be very loud in order to prove that they are serious, but it is desirable that we should be energetic and fervent and warm and act as if we were really interested in what we were doing. It is the prayer of a righteous man that is powerful and effective and not the cold, sleepy, lazy, listless one This is the lesson that is taught us by the expressions used in scripture about prayer. It is called crying, knocking, wrestling, laboring, striving. Let us settle it in our minds that cold prayers are a sacrifice without fire.

I recommend to you in the next place the importance of praying with faith. We should endeavor to believe that our prayers are always heard and that if we ask anything according to God's will, we will always be answered. This is the plain command of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. We should cultivate the habit of pleading promises in our prayers. We should take with us some promise. and say, Lord God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and this house. Do as you have promised. Above all, we should cultivate the habit of expecting answers to our prayers. The church at Jerusalem prayed without ceasing for Peter in prison, but when the prayer was answered, they would hardly believe it. It is a serious saying of old, there is no surer mark of trifling in prayer than when men don't care if their prayers are answered or not.

I recommend to you in the next place, the fullness of prayer. I do not forget that our Lord warns us against the examples of the Pharisees, who for show made long prayers and commands us when we pray not to use vain repetitions. But I cannot forget, on the other hand, that he has given his own sanction to long devotions by continuing all night in prayer to God. In this day we are not likely to err on the side of praying too much. Rather, might it not be feared that many believers in this generation pray too little? Isn't the actual total amount of time that many Christians give to prayer very small? I am afraid these questions cannot be answered satisfactorily. I am afraid the private devotions of many are most painfully few and limited, just enough to prove they are alive and no more. They really seem to want little from God. They seem to have little to confess, little to ask for, and little to thank him for.

Yes, this is completely wrong. Nothing is more common than to hear believers complaining that they do not grow in their faith. They tell us that they do not grow in grace as they would desire. Is it not rather to be suspected that many have just as much grace as they ask for? Is it not the true story of many that they have little because they ask for little? They do not have because they do not ask. We are not limited in Christ but in ourselves.

I recommend to you in the next place the importance of being specific in prayer. We ought not be content with general petitions. We ought to specify our wants before the throne of grace. It should not be enough to confess we are sinners. We should name the sins of which our conscience tells us we are most guilty of. It should not be enough to ask for holiness. We should name the graces in which we feel the most deficient. It should not be enough to tell the Lord we are in trouble. We should describe our trouble and all of its circumstances. This is true faith and confidence. We should believe that nothing is too small to be named before God. What would we think of the patient who told his doctor he was ill but never went into particulars? What would we think of the wife who told her husband she was unhappy but did not specify the cause? What would we think of the child who told his father he was in trouble, but nothing more? Let us never forget that Christ is the true bridegroom of the soul, the true physician of the heart, the real father of all his people. Let us show that we feel this by being unreserved in our communications with him. Let us hide no secrets from him. Let us tell him everything that is in our hearts.

I recommend to you in the next place, the importance of intercession in our prayers. There is a tendency in us to think only of our own souls, our own spiritual conflict, our own progress in religion, and to forget others. Against this tendency, we have a need to watch and strive, and especially in our prayers. We should strive to be a public spirit, We should stir ourselves up to name other names besides our own before the throne of grace. We should try to bear in our hearts the whole world, the heathens, the Jews, the Roman Catholics, the body of true believers, the professing Protestant churches, the country in which we live, the congregation to which we belong, the family and home in which we live, the family and relations which we are connected with. For each and all of these we should plead. This is the highest love. I recommend to you in the next place the importance of thankfulness in prayer. I clearly know that asking God is one thing and praising God is another. But I see so close a connection between prayer and praise in the Bible that I dare not call that true prayer in which thankfulness has no part. It is not for nothing that Paul says, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. It is of mercy that we are not in hell. It is of mercy that we have the hope of heaven. It is of mercy that we live in a land with spiritual light. It is of mercy that we have been called by the Spirit not left to reap the fruit of our own ways. It is of mercy that we still live and have opportunities of glorifying God actively or passively. Surely these thoughts should come to mind whenever we speak with God. Surely we should never open our lips in prayer without blessing God for that free grace by which we live and for that loving kindness which endures forever. Never was there a celebrated saint who was not full of thankfulness. I recommend to you in the last place the importance of watchfulness over your prayers. Prayer is that point of all others in religion at which you must be on your guard. It is here that true religion begins, here it flourishes, and here it decays. Tell me what a man's prayers are, and I will soon tell you the state of his soul. Prayer is the spiritual pulse. By this, the spiritual health may always be tested. Prayer is the spiritual barometer. By this, we may always know whether it is fair or foul within our hearts. Oh, let us keep an eye continually on our private devotions. Here is the essence and substance and backbone of our practical Christianity. Sermons and books and tracts and committee meetings and the company of good men are all good in their own way, but they will never make up for the neglect of private prayer. Note well the places and society and companions that keep your hearts from communion with God and tend to make your prayers difficult. There be on your guard. Observe what friends and what occupations leave your soul in the most spiritual frame and most ready to speak with God. Do these cling and adhere too tightly? If you will only take care of your prayers, I will promise that nothing will go wrong with your soul. I offer these points for private consideration. I do it in all humility. I know of no one who needs to be reminded of them more than I do myself. but I believe them to be God's own truth, and I would love to know and understand them more. I want the times we live in to be praying times. I want the Christians of our day to be praying Christians. I want the church of our age to be a praying church. My heart's desire and prayer in preaching this sermon was to promote a spirit of prayerfulness. I want those who never prayed yet to rise up and call on God. And I want those who do pray to improve their prayers every year and to see that they are not slacking off and praying in the wrong way. Amen.