Prayer and what it unlocks

Q: What does the Bible say about the power of prayer?

The Bible teaches that prayer is a means through which we communicate with God and unlock His blessings, especially when asked in Jesus' name. The Bible emphasizes the significance of prayer in the life of a believer, particularly as a way to honor God and receive His blessings. In John 14:13-14, Jesus assures us that whatever we ask in His name, He will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. This indicates that prayer is not merely about our requests but about acknowledging God's sovereignty and His glory in the answers given. Furthermore, the scriptures highlight the importance of praying with an attitude of faith and submission to God's will, ensuring that our petitions align with His desires.

Q: How do we know prayer in Jesus' name is effective?

Praying in Jesus' name is effective because it acknowledges His authority and the salvation and grace we have received through Him. Praying in Jesus' name is essential because it reflects our recognition of Christ as our mediator and the source of our access to God. In His teaching, Jesus emphasizes the power and privilege we have as believers to come before the Father through Him (John 14:13-14). When we pray in His name, we invoke His authority and righteousness, acknowledging that we do not merit God's blessings on our own. The effectiveness of prayer is rooted not in our eloquence or worthiness but in the intercession of Christ, who presents our prayers before the Father as a sweet savor. Therefore, it is not only a time of asking but also a declaration of faith in the atoning work of Christ on our behalf.

Q: Why is asking God in prayer important for Christians?

Asking God in prayer is important because it expresses our dependence on Him and invites His action in our lives. Asking God in prayer is fundamental to the Christian faith, as it illustrates our acknowledgment of God's sovereignty and our reliance on His provision. Through prayer, we are reminded that we are to approach God with humility, recognizing that our needs are met by His grace and mercy. The Bible encourages believers to ask, seek, and knock, reinforcing the significance of persistence in prayer (Luke 11:9-10). It also highlights that our prayers should align with God's will, ensuring that we seek His glory rather than merely personal gain. Thus, asking in prayer is not only an expression of our needs but a means of growing in faith and trust in God's character and His goodness.

Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to the Gospel according to John. John chapter 14, and reading from our text, verses 13 and 14. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. John 14, verses 13 and 14. You'll notice the repetition in verse 13. Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do. And in verse 14, if ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it, reaffirm twice.

What is on my spirit this morning is prayer and what it unlocks. Just some things to note first. What is prayer? Prayer appointed by God is that man honours is able to speak to God. In our public prayers here, in the time of prayer, on behalf of the congregation, I speak in prayer presenting the petitions and worship to God. When it comes to the preaching as now, is now the other way around. God is speaking to you as far as I preach the Word of God. He is speaking to you through that Word. One goes one way, the other goes the other way.

And yet, often especially in private prayer, there is a two-way because there is communion and fellowship between us and the Lord. There are different types of prayer. We have the closet prayer I have mentioned. Our Lord exhorted to that, as contrasting with what the Pharisees did, which made long prayers and in public. He said, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, shut thy door, and pray unto thy Father, which seeth in secret. and he will reward thee openly. There's that which is just before between us and God. Then there's family prayers when we gather the family together around us, the family altar.

Then there is public prayers like we have here or at a service or a prayer meeting. And there is differences as well as to how those prayers are actually made. Especially closet ones may be silent. We may have those prayers that are spoken, or like Hannah, whose lips moved but her voice was not heard. There are differences in that way. There may be those times of prayer where to those round about us we do not appear to be praying at all.

Nehemiah was like that. When the king was asking him what he would be when he heard the tidings of the state of Jerusalem, so I prayed unto the Lord. The king would not have known. I've had situations that have been like that as well, and I have no doubt you have as well.

It's a wonderful thing to realise that we may call upon the Lord at any time, in any place, whether in a real attitude of prayer or just silent prayers. I always remember the incident when I got on an aeroplane in Melbourne, I was flying up to Sydney, and the chap next to me had come down from Brisbane, but he'd fallen asleep and hadn't got off the plane at Sydney, so he was on the plane back at Melbourne, and he was so angry and upset, he was cursing and swearing and swearing, and I thought, what shall I do? If I reprove him, he'll be even worse. And that was a time when I prayed silently, in a way he could not know that I was praying, to know what to do and how to tackle it.

Then, when the pain took off, we were served with refreshments, and then not even thinking, I put my table out, bowed my head in prayer, and was obviously in prayer, asking the Lord's blessing on the refreshments. Oh, he said, you're a Christian. And I've been swearing and cursing. Oh, I'm so, so sorry. And the Lord answered my silent prayer that he didn't know of by my evidently being in prayer. He said, you didn't reprove me. You didn't say anything. You didn't have a go at me. And there was me. And he was quite as good as anything all the way the rest of that flight. And at the time, I really thought the Lord show the difference there and answering prayer by prayer. The Lord knows how to answer our prayers.

So there are different types of prayer and there are different aspects of prayer as well. Sometimes it's helpful to go through, like we've read, the Lord's Prayer. and use that as a basis for how we pray. Not saying the exact words, but following in the line of that with adoration and with praise and with supplications, with thanksgiving. But sometimes it's helpful to remember it with the acronym ACTS. And if we take the A as adoration, So we come before the Lord firstly in praise, adoration, giving him the honour and glory due unto his name, reminding ourselves whom we're coming to and in the attitude of real worship. And then the C is confession, confessing our sins, our inequities, what we are before God. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And the T is thanksgiving. The scriptures exhort us, let your requests be known unto God with thanksgiving. And we are to remember to, in everything, give thanks. And the S is supplication. Asking.

And that is the one that is upon my spirit this morning. I nearly had for us to sing 394, and in that prayer we have at the end, have you no words? Think again, words flow apace when you complain, and fill your fellow creatures' ear with the sad tale of all your cares. were half the breath thus vainly spent to heaven in supplication sent, your cheerful song would often be, hear what the Lord has done for me.

And I find with myself that I am often so backward in prayer. I know the worth of it. I know that I should. often backwards. And sometimes I realise I have forgotten to pray. I start to do something, start to perhaps prepare a service or come into the study or into the closet and maybe have the reading and then something happens or the mind goes away and before I'm praying I've got something else on my mind. And it's something that really is a battle And we need to be mindful of and to be really encouraged because I know many of those times where the answer has been so conspicuous. And I think, why am I doing this? Why when the Lord has such power, such ability to answer, why am I not always in prayer and always asking?

And of course we have Satan that would stop us up, hinder us. The world lures us away. We've got a deceitful evil heart. But it's good as often as we realize we've forgotten to go again in prayer and to seek again. And so I want to This morning, though many things could be said on the many different aspects of prayer, to just think of this one, the asking.

And remember, we don't just want to serve the Lord for what we can get from him. I believe my context here, we address that. And we think of the Canaanitish woman who came worshipping him. saying, Lord, help me. So it is an act of worship, asking the Lord to help.

There are those, of course, that may not pray for weeks, but then there is something that they want, and they'll pray for that, and they'll ask for that. But I trust that we are those in the habit of prayer, that we do pray But to be more encouraged that we ask of the Lord for those things that we painfully feel we don't have, we don't have ability. And of course, there are things that involve other people or nations or churches that physically we can't touch, or maybe loved ones that are the other side of the world. But when we know the power of prayer, then we might say there's nothing we can do, but then we're reminded there is something we can do.

We can pray and we can ask the Lord to appear. So I want to look firstly at asking in Jesus' name. This is what the Lord highlights in the two verses of our text, to ask in my name. The second is the reason the Lord does what we ask. In verse 13, we read, And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Now we might think, well, that will I do, so that you'll have the things you ask for. so that my child is helped, so that you are blessed and helped. But he doesn't put that. And so in this instance, it's not thinking, well, we're just coming to our Lord to get what we want. But in coming and asking, there is a way in which the Father is glorified in the Son.

I want to look at that. in our second point. And then thirdly, the examples from scripture of the thing we need to ask for or supplicate for. Those cases that might be a help to us to think of those things we should be asking for and for the Lord to do for us. So I want to look first, asking. in Jesus' name.

This is emphasised twice here. One of our hymns says that this is the name the father loves to hear his children plead, and all such pleading he improves and blesses them indeed. He testified, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. In Philippians we read that he has given him a name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.

And I believe it is for this reason, it is a reminding of ourselves, it is a bringing before God the Father, that we ourselves do not deserve anything. have nothing in ourselves to warrant any answers at all, but when we come in the name of the Lord Jesus, He is the one that was made flesh and dwelt among us. He is the one that bare our sins in His body on the tree. He is the one that endured the wrath of God. He is the one that made way. whereby we may approach to God, and He is the one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He appears in the presence of God for us. He receives our petitions, and then they are presented to the Father as a sweet savour in His name.

In our parliaments, we're used to having a speaker. And when the members of parliament rise to speak to the house, they always speak through the speaker. They're acknowledging his presence and that he is ordering all that is done in that house. I know it's a simple illustration, but in a way, that's what we're doing when we come before Our God, in the name of the Lord Jesus, we're acknowledging that everything is through him. He is the head of the church. He is the mediator of the New Testament. It is he that is working out the sovereign will of God. He is the one that is the performer, because here our Lord says, that will I do.

Or if he ask anything in my name, I will do it. So we're asking in the name of the one who has power and will do and answer our prayers. He doesn't go and ask others to do it for us. Yes, he moves hearts, he moves men, he moves providence, heaven and earth at his command, he waits to answer prayer. But he is a reminder, this power, is being given to the Lord Jesus Christ. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. It's his position of authority and of power. And to the world, to even us, to God's people, that power is not seen until there is the request and the answers.

Our Lord reminded, and when you're speaking against plain repetition, that your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask. You might say, well, why do you need to ask? Why do we need to pray? It is here that the Father may be glorified in the Son, and God has ordained this, that prayer, and this is what is on my spirit prayer, It unlocks the blessings of God. God has appointed for it that prayer will be asked for what He is already determined to give and determined to do. Because we read that before they call, I will answer.

How far before? How far before? They go into eternity before. While they are yet speaking, the Lord will appear and do. and many answers to prayer. You can trace the answer to being in process way before we've even prayed and asked for that thing. Things have been put in train. People have made decisions, started to make a journey, made provision even before we started to pray. The devil will say, well, You didn't need to pray, it would have happened anyway. But God's word tells us different.

That he has appointed a thing, he's moved us to prayer, he's answered that prayer and for his honour and glory. So he's pleading what he has done and looking for what he will yet do in answer to our prayers. We may come with thanksgiving and then ask for more, ask for other things, not restraining prayer. Another thing to remember when we're coming in the name of the Lord. Our Lord says this in both of these verses, we are asking, whatsoever ye shall ask. Asking or supplicating is not demanding, it's not dictating.

How many will say, well, I prayed and the Lord didn't do it. As if he is just a puppet or if he's at our beck and call to just do whatever we ask for. I think I would be very frightened in prayer if that was the case. I think what if for my poor limited understanding of things, that the Lord would say to me, whatever you ask for, I'm going to give you. Whether it's good for you, bad for you, bad for your loved ones, I'm just going to give whatever you want. I'd be fearful of asking anything. I think I could ask for something and get myself in all sorts of trouble. Sometimes a no is a good answer, or not yet is a good answer.

The apostle Paul, when he prayed three times that the Lord would remove the thorn in the flesh, the Lord said, no, my grace is sufficient for thee. Better to have the thorn, have the trial, have the affliction, and have my grace, and be able to bear it, and bear up under it, than be free of it, And the Apostle's verdict was, I will therefore glory in my infirmity, that when I am weak, then I may are strong. He could see the Lord's choice was the better choice for him. So we are supplicating, we are asking, if it is the Lord's will, if it be His will, we ask these things of the Lord.

Sometimes as well, it is that we need to go again seven times. The portions that we read, in both portions, in Luke 11 and in Luke 18, we have that first in Luke 11, the friend that is coming his journey, he says, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, Yet because of his importunity, that he keeps going back and back and he won't let go of it, he will rise and give him as many as he needed. And we had the same teaching again in Luke 18 where the Lord told the parable of the unjust judge or judge that feared not God and the widow.

He says, the widow that came asking him to avenge me of my adversary, he wouldn't for a while, but afterwards he said within himself, though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, she kept coming and coming. The Lord said, hear what the unjust judge saith, and shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them.

You might say, well, if his own elect cry like that, why doesn't he answer them straight away? Why doesn't he fulfil their petition straight away? It is glorifying to God when we come believing, believing he is hearing, he is waiting his time, sometimes saying no, but we're not to measure and think, well, prayer is useless because we don't get an answer straight away.

Elijah, one time he prayed once and fire came down from heaven, consumed the altar. But then when he had to pray for rain, it was go again seven times. And the same man, same place, is now praying again and again. For what he knew the Lord had sent him to do, was appointed, Lord had said he would send rain again. And we read that in James that Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are. He prayed that it might not rain, and it rained not by the space of three years and six months. He prayed again, and the rain came. And yet we're reminded of that need to go again and to keep Another thing to remember when we're coming in the name of our Lord is that we do ask according to the will of God.

We could put it this way, really. What if someone came to us and asked us to do something, but they asked us to do something which we hated, which we didn't want to do, that would be completely against our character And we said, but we've said to ask, and now you've asked, and now I'm duty bound to do this thing, but it's not what I want to do at all.

We can't have that situation with the Lord. If the Lord is a doer of it, it is asking according to his will. James, he speaks of it in his epistles. He asked a mist to consume it, upon your lusts, just to satisfy our own earthly desires and pleasures, and not to the honour and glory of God. Things that we want, not that we need, and it's a good thing for us to let the Lord sift out our prayers in that way, not to into prayer because we think well until we ask according to his will we're not going to pray at all. If Paul did that he wouldn't have asked the Lord to take away the thorn. But it's good for us to be open that the Lord show us we're not asking a rhyme.

Of course it is the Word of God that teaches us what is acceptable in the Lord's sight and what not is why one of the things is to Look at our last point as to those examples in the scriptures of what has been asked by the Lord's people and the things that the Lord did actually do.

But if we ask anything according to his will, he will do it. And so our Lord, in the garden of Gethsemane, all the time, nevertheless not my will, but thy will be done. If it be possible, let this come. pass from me. Nevertheless not my will, but thy will be done."

So we need to be mindful of that as we come and asking in the Lord's name. We're asking Him to do things. Are they things consistent with His holiness, with His purity, with His Word? The whole Scripture is His Word. Are we asking Him to do something or permit us to do something that already He has said, I hate, I don't like this, I don't want my people walking in that way.

So we need to be mindful of that. But may the name of the Lord be precious to us, a name that we do plead and do bring before the Father Every time we pray, it's a reminder that these are blood-bought blessings. At the end of Psalm 25, we read, let him redeem us, redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. And it's a good verse to think of, that if we are to get out of trouble, the only way is redeeming out of it.

Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. In the world you shall have tribulation. These words I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. But we have peace because Christ has shed his blood. He's redeemed us. We deserve nothing from the Lord's hand at all. And it's all on mercy's ground. It's all on what he has done. May we be held then in prayer to ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. coming in our own name, with our own merits, but we're also coming, pleading these very scriptures, these texts here.

God doesn't mock, our Lord doesn't mock his people and say, here you can ask, but no you can't, I'm not going to fulfill it. He's repeated this twice. whatsoever ye ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. On to look then, secondly, the reason the Lord does what we ask.

The Lord says here, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. As the Son, as our Lord Jesus Christ is the doer, he glorifies his Father. Our Lord said, the works that the Father gave to me, they are that which I do. I glorify my Father, he said, the Jews, he says, ye glorify him not. and or speak evil of God.

The things that the Lord did on earth, his miracles, all the things that he performed, they glorified his father. He did them in his father's name. He was given that power to perform. And here he is saying to the people of God, in effect, I am going to, when I am ascended up into heaven, I will still work on this earth, and it will be to the honour and glory of God, but it will be in my name.

The disciples especially did this in the New Testament church. They raised the dead, they healed, they cured, and every time they said they did it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. and it glorified God. It set the seal on their ministry, their testimony, and it set the seal that Jesus of Nazareth, who was dead, had now risen from the dead, and therefore the blessing was upon the ministry and works of the apostles. When they heard that those at Antioch had received the word of God they sent Barnabas to see and we read that he saw the grace of God and was glad the grace of God was actually able to be seen God's answers to prayers are seen they are noticed we spoke concerning, I think in prayer, regarding Psalm 126. And there the Lord had turned the captivity and blessed the people of God that even the heathen said the Lord had done great things for them. When the spies were sent into Jericho, then Rahab said that they remembered what the Lord had done For Israel at the Red Sea, they're remembering 40 years back, that God was glorified in what he had done for Israel in bringing them through the Red Sea. God's people, it is noted what they do, where they are, and where they are praying, and answers to prayer.

That is glorifying the Father in the Son. It hath pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And yet as we ask and receive through the Lord Jesus Christ, it is glorifying the Father. Our Lord says in one place, the Father himself loveth you. We must not think there's any division between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in the goodwill, the love, and what is determined and what is appointed. We are not to think there is an angry Father and there is us as sinners and the Lord as a mediator in between, He's trying to hold the peace between the two. No, the Father himself loves his people and he has appointed this way of salvation.

It is the whole Trinity involved. It is God's ordained way of blessing for his people. May this be a real help, especially in this idea of asking. This is not all what we are receiving. It is what God has done for us, what God has appointed. Those lepers that came asking, our Lord for healing. Only one returned to give glory to God. Returned to give thanks to the Lord. And that's what it is. It's giving glory to God. Those things that are done by God. This is the Lord's work, is marvellous in our eyes. For the thing proceedeth from the Lord.

That was the case when Isaac Abraham had sent his servant to get a wife for Isaac, and the servant prays at the well, very simple prayer, telling where he was, the women coming out to get the water, what his errand was, why he was there, and asking a simple request, which a woman that feared God would do, not only give to him but to his camels also and he was able to see the answer to his prayers in that simple way.

It was not just an unconnected foolish thing he was asking for, he was wanting a practical godly woman for Isaac. He's not just saying, well, if this is the will of God, or as someone said, if I'm a child of God, let it now start raining or stop raining. That's just foolishness. It's just disconnected to the thing asked at all. But with what the servant was asking was directly, in the tokens he asked, directly concerned with the godly wife for Isaac.

And so even Laban and Bethuel, when he rehearsed the matter, they could see the Lord had done it. They could see that. I think there's three times in that. We read the actual account, and it's rehearsed a couple of times. And it's the same with the Apostle Paul, with what happened on the Damascus Road. That's rehearsed some three times as well.

But may this be then an incentive, a help to us in asking in prayer, that it's not just for our benefit. This is the way we may serve God, give God the honour and glory, and be able to say to others, like Hannah when she comes with Samuel, for this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition. that I asked of him. I wonder whether when the last time we said either to a church or to an unbeliever, to a husband, to wife, to children, that this is what we prayed for and the Lord has given us the answer. Sometimes it might be in a blessing through the service.

Always remember the time that the only time in my life I've been without work for one month out of secular work over here and making many applications and just nothing coming up at all and we were so perplexed and much prayer and private prayer and as a family and we went to Matfield when Gerald was preaching and he preached from the city Shushan was perplexed and that sermon was so blessed to us and we Got out into the car afterwards, and before we went home, we gave thanks to God for answering our prayers.

I still hadn't got a job. I think it was either the next day or the day after. The first application I put in at the start of that month, that was the place where I was to work for the next 18 or so months. They thought, well, I was. I was overqualified for the job as an engineer. So they tried and tried to get someone else for a month. They couldn't. So they asked me to take the job.

It was a wonderful provision. But the answer can be a forerunner as a blessing through the word first. And then the Lord moved in providence. But we gave thanks before the Lord moved in providence because we believed he would because of the blessing. through the ministry of the word. And you remember those times, and that is glorifying to God.

When you can, you can gather those who are like your family or that have known you've been praying and looking for this thing, and give thanks to God as the Lord has answered our petitions. May we not forget, I think the Apostle Paul, He speaks about asking the prayers of the brethren for him. Brethren, pray for us. And then he puts it that one answer to prayer redounds in the thanksgiving for many. You know, many people, many churches perhaps are praying for one individual making intercession for one that is in need and asking for spiritual blessings for them, when that is given, then all those that have been asking should be giving thanks and giving praise for what the Lord has done. We want to come to our last point and just some examples from the Word. Well we read One of the accounts was the publican praying in the temple. And what was he seeking for? Why, he was seeking for mercy. God be merciful to me, a sinner. And this is joined very much to the beautiful word in Hebrews 4 at the end of that chapter, verse 16.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So in the very attitude of prayer these two things to ask for is coming to look for mercy and look for grace. a reminder we deserve nothing at the Lord's hand, a reminder that we need grace to bear a trial, a tribulation, be able to act rightly, speak rightly. He giveth more grace. And we mentioned about the Apostle Paul and the effect of grace for bearing his trial.

And this is the thing upon my spirit. We sometimes, we struggle with things, we wrestle with things, we think, I can't bear this, I can't handle this, I can't manage this thing. But have we asked, Lord, give me grace to bear this, give me grace to act in the right way. And there's acknowledgement that I am lacking this, I'm not able to handle this thing. But if Thou just give me grace, I can. And there's asking. for this.

In the chapter that we read in Luke 11, our Lord gave the parable of how we may give good gifts unto our children. He comes at the end of that in Luke 11 verse 13. He says, How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

And I find this very encouraging because sometimes you might think, how can I pray if I haven't the Spirit? I need the Spirit first and then I'll pray. I might feel hard and cold and carnal and far off. But we come like that. Lord, give me thy Holy Spirit. Grant me thy Spirit. Soften my heart. Grant that I might be in the Spirit. And to ask. Realizing the value, indispensable, we need the Holy Spirit. And to actually ask for him. There's a beautiful context there as well.

There's an implication as well when he uses the illustration of a father is that those that are asking the Holy Spirit, they're asking something that a child of God will ask for. Do you think the unregenerate world cares whether they have the Spirit or not, whether they have the Holy Spirit of God or not. But I hope we do care, and we do. Like David after he committed adultery and murder, take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Another thing to ask for is life, life natural and spiritual. In Psalm 21, verse 4, he asked life of thee and thou gavest it him in length of days forever and ever. And the Lord says, you will not come unto me that ye might have life. That is spiritual life.

We have Hezekiah. When Hezekiah was told to put his house in order that he should die and not live, if he had have died, The line to Christ would have been broken. He hadn't got a son yet. He needed that 15 years for Manasseh to be born, a line to Christ to be made. But he turned to the wall, and he cried unto the Lord, and the Lord answered him and gave him 15 years. He gave him life. He might have situations and, well, Hezekiah could have said, well, the Lord has said this. That's it. It's done. Those at Nineveh might have said, that's it, it's done, 40 days, we're gonna be destroyed.

If we know the value of a thing or what a thing means, then even though it seems the Lord has said, no, no, you're not gonna have this, this is what's gonna happen, we still come and ask mercy and ask life. and ask those things. The amount of times that it appears the Lord has changed his mind, but he hasn't. He's always appointed that. He would do that anyway. And when we know the value of our soul, when we know what something is, then we will beg of the Lord until he says, no, don't ask me ever again on it.

We'll keep on and on while there's life that there is hope. And so may we ask for that life, natural and spiritual. When we feel so lifeless and cold and dead, ask the Lord to enliven us and to give us fresh life. Remember he said, because I live, he shall live also. And I give unto them eternal life that shall never perish. I come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. It's certainly one thing that we do need to ask the Lord for that spiritual life to be revived, manifested, felt in our souls, to have the life of God bubbling up.

Remember one time over in Australia, I first started with the firm that I was with for 12 years, went to their main office, And after work that first day, I really wanted to go back to my motel and have a nice quiet time on my own. But the manager insisted, no, come to my home and have tea with us and join with us as a family. So I went, admittedly reluctantly. But the conversation started almost straight away, asking of my faith.

And we spent the whole evening, and I could share the gospel and speak to him. of the things of God. When I came back to the motel room, the lines of that hymn, I think it's 735 in our book, are the happiness arising from the life of God within. And I felt so enlightened, so happy in spirit of being able to share the gospel, able to speak to those, and it was an opportunity that the Lord gave. that I, at first, would rather not have had.

Another thing that we may clearly ask for is that which James says in James chapter 1. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally. Of course, as a design engineer, in my engineering days, the amount of times every job that is designed to ask for wisdom, to know how to design this thing, how to make it, And it is not just in practical things, but spiritual things, in letters, in emails, in how we speak, what to speak. We need wisdom from the Lord. And we often feel to lack it. So there's one thing that we can really ask, believing that the Lord will do it. He will give us the wisdom that we need for that thing.

Another thing is that which is spoken of in Daniel, and it's put really in a negative way, you might say, in Daniel 9 and verse 13, where he's confessing. He says, as it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us, yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth."

So in other words, do we, in prayer, ask the Lord, Lord, turn me from my iniquities and cause me to understand thy truth? Now, Lord's people, we struggle with our sin. We struggle with our iniquities. Do we pray, Lord, take away the love of sinning? Take away that lust and that love of worldly things and give us to understand the truths of God. Daniel confesses them as a nation. They didn't even ask the Lord that. So may we ask. Turn us from our iniquities. May we understand thy truth. We think of the case of Cornelius. Cornelius in New Testament, 10 years after Pentecost, and how that he lived a life of prayer and of fasting. I believe he was seeking the truth. He was wanting to know the ways of the Lord.

An angel came to him and said that his prayers had been answered, come up as a memorial before God. And what happened? Peter was called forth. that he may come and speak to you words. And he came and preached to him, simple prayer, simple preaching in Acts 10. And that word was so blessed to them. The Holy Spirit fell upon them, and many were baptized there.

And so, again, if we seek, and it may be like with Cornelius, you don't know how long his prayers were. But really he was seeking to know the truth and to be blessed with the gospel, to know that blessing, that Peter was the means of preaching to him. May that be with us. You long, if I long, to know the gospel, know the truth, understand the truth, want to be blessed, want the Lord to visit our souls, and we're actually asking the Lord for this, to do it for us, and to look how the Lord will use the means through the preaching of the word.

Another way is a deliverance from captivity. We think of the case of Jonah, we think of the case of Peter. With Jonah, his case seemed completely impossible, shut up in the whale's belly, and yet his prayer came up unto God. God spoke unto the fish, delivered him out of the well's valley. And Peter, impossible case, and what's more there, the church who were praying for him were praying such unbelieving prayers.

When he was set forth, let loose from prison, his bands were loosed, the doors were opened, the keepers were as dead or asleep, and He comes and he knocks on the door. When Rhoda answers, she recognizes his voice. But those within said they aren't mad. They didn't believe. Peter continued knocking.

But captivity, bondage, impossible cases, and to be praying. Now my mother on her deathbed, and when she was blind with the cancer, that was one of the things she used to plead in prayer. that the Lord would loose her and bless her as he did with Peter.

So may we pray in that way. We think of our need for keeping. Our Lord said regarding Peter, I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. And in another time, I pray not that thou should take them out of the world. This is in John 17, beautiful. intercessory prayer but that thou dost keep them from the evil. We also pray in that way that we might be kept and kept from the evil.

Another prayer of our Lord in John 17 is that his people might be sanctified. Sanctify them through thy truth, separate us unto the Lord and that we may be one The Lord asks that, that they may be one as we are one. That oneness with the people of God and with the Lord, to actually ask for that. And then lastly, just to think of what the Lord said regarding ministers or labourers. The harvest truly is great. Pray ye the Lord of the harvest that ye send forth labourers. into the harvest. There are some things he specifically has said to us and said to the Church of God, pray for, ask for these things. So may the word this morning be a real encouragement to us to be a people of asking.

Instead of trying to manage things ourselves, being discouraged, feeling no help, that we go to the Lord and we ask, and may there be many times we come like Hannah and say, for this we ask, and the Lord has given me, or in the words of our text, the Lord has done for us, I will do it. May the Lord bless this to his honour and glory and to the good of our souls.

Prayer and what it unlocks

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the power of prayer?

How do we know prayer in Jesus' name is effective?

Why is asking God in prayer important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Rowland Wheatley

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Prayer and what it unlocks

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the power of prayer?

How do we know prayer in Jesus' name is effective?

Why is asking God in prayer important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Rowland Wheatley

Comments

More from Rowland Wheatley

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Suggested for You

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book