A Sermon On Prayer

Let's open our Bibles to Matthew
6. I'm going to bring a message
tonight on prayer. I'll just call this a sermon
on prayer. Note carefully the reading in
Matthew 6, beginning with verse 5. And when thou prayest, thou shalt
not be as the hypocrites are, for they left the praise standing
in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that
they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward when men see them and praise them." That's their
reward. That's what they were looking
for, and that's what they have. But thou, when thou prayest,"
notice he uses this term over and over again, when thou prayest,
enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, that
is seeking privacy, not particularly a literal closet, but just privately,
pray to thy Father which is in secret. Thy Father which seeth
in secret shall reward thee openly. But when you pray, when thou
prayest, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do, for they think
that they shall be heard for their much praying, their much
speaking, their many words. Be not ye therefore like unto
them, for actually your Father knoweth what things you have
need of, before you ask him. After this manner therefore pray
ye. which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." A celebration of
the divine attributes. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, a seeking of God's will to be done, on earth as it is
in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,
two requests in this part of the rest, praise and thanksgiving.
Give us our daily bread and forgive us our sins, as we forgive our
debtors, or those we sin against. Lead us not into temptation,
deliver us from the evil one. Thine is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever. Amen. There is so much religion
about us. I felt impressed Monday night
in preparing or preaching my television message for two weeks
from Sunday to deal with the hypocrisy that's associated with
religion today. There's so much religion, it's
difficult to separate the false from the truth. Religion is just
everywhere. What is real and what is false? What is sincere and what's hypocritical? What's spirit and what's flesh? What is truth and what is tradition. It's very difficult. It's difficult
to separate the real from the false, the truth from the tradition. Our Lord said that. Turn to Matthew
24, and listen to what he said here. In Matthew 24, verse 23,
then, then, Matthew 24, 23, if any man shall say unto you, Lo, Here's the way, here's the power
of God, here's the presence of God, here's where God is, here's
where God is speaking, or there's where God is, there's where God
speaks. Believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs
and false apostles and false prophets and false teachers,
false religious leaders, and there shall be great signs and
great wonders, great works, big organizations, great in so much
that if it were possible, if God didn't protect them, if God
didn't hedge them about, if God didn't hold them in his hand,
if God didn't deliver them from error and apostasy and false
teachers, they would deceive the very elect. That's how difficult
it is. Deceive the very elect, if it
were possible. And nowhere And nowhere, I said
this over television, you will hear it that Sunday in two weeks,
I am heart-sick over everything that I see and hear in the name
of God today. Just totally heart-sick. I don't
see anything or hear anything outside of a few places here
and there and a few men here and there that I believe God
is in in any shape, form or fashion. it's flesh. And nowhere, nowhere
does this hypocrisy and this flesh and tradition and ritualism
show itself more than in what is called prayer and praying
today. Now that's just so. The subject
that I'm on tonight is more phoniness and hypocrisy and flesh and ritualism
and tradition in what men call prayer today on television and
in church services and invocations and benedictions and all the
rest of this confusion. There is more hypocrisy there
than any other single point. And it's more dangerous because
we are talking, we say to God. And that is the danger point,
we are talking to God. Right here in this congregation
and wherever you find them, most honest, sincere seekers after
God are totally confused on the matter of prayer. They are not
only confused, but most people are discouraged. I'm not talking
about you here. I'm talking about in most religious
places. They are confused and they are
discouraged, because they watch this so-called prayer on And
they hear prayer in other places, and they can't enter into or
take part in or duplicate what's called prayer by these people,
and they're confused. Take, for example, the matter
of tongues. Years ago, years and years ago,
way back yonder, some of my friends, close friends, preacher brethren,
got into this tongues movement. This was way back in about 1952
or 1953. whom I respected and loved and
in whom I had a great deal of confidence. They got into this
so-called gifts of the Spirit and tongues and speaking in this
gibberish. And I investigated it. I investigated
it closely. I met with them. I talked with
them. I listened to them. I let them
lay their hands on me. I tried to duplicate this business
of speaking in tongues, and I found out it's flesh. It's pure flesh. It's another spirit. It's emotionalism. My friends, trying to produce
and trying to duplicate and put in operation divine gifts that
are only God-given is counterfeit. And it's foolish to try to imitate
and produce and duplicate what is only given of God. It's foolish
And it leads to hypocrisy, it leads to phoniness, it leads
to an outward veneer of religion that the heart, in which the
heart is an abomination to God. It really is. Anything outward
that is not of the heart and insincerity before God is an
abomination to God. And like this matter of shouting
and hand-waving and excitement. Rejoicing in the Lord is one
thing. Rejoicing in the Lord is one
thing. And I do, I believe, rejoice in the Lord. My heart is glad.
My countenance is not always radiant, but my heart is glad.
And like Ronnie just prayed, some of you have had a long day
today, a hard day today, and a difficult day today. And you've dealt with the world
and you've gone about your respective businesses and all, And to measure
your spirituality in the presence of God by the noise you make
tonight is foolish. It's foolish. Rejoicing in the Lord is one
thing. That's one thing. And we can rejoice in the Lord.
We can rejoice in the Lord in a quietness of spirit and an
attitude of worship. If you're going to measure a
man's spirituality and measure the presence of God by the noise
he makes, now that's another situation. And I can't go for
it. I think it's flesh. I know that God looks on the
harvest. I know the Lord God said, my son, give me your heart.
Give me your heart. I know the Lord God said, keep
your heart out of yet other issues of life. Now, in this matter
of prayer, today we have prayer lists, we have prayer warriors,
we have prayer bands, we have prayer meetings, we have prayer
chains and we have prayer circles. Everybody talks about prayer,
prayer, prayer, prayer. And people today bow down and
say they pray before pictures, and they pray before candles. And they roll bees between their
fingers while they pray. And then I see them hold hands
in circles and pray. And I see them squint their eyes
and bow their heads and scream and holler when they pray. And
I hear them play soft organ music behind the speaker as he prays. And then I've been to a place
or two where everybody prayed at the same time in total bedlam. They call that prayer. That's
what I say, many honest, sincere seekers after God are confused.
They are discouraged in this matter of prayer, and they say,
I don't go through all this, I don't participate in all this,
I can't feel comfortable in all this, maybe I can't pray. Then again, prayer today is concerned
mainly with the flesh, is it not? Most of the prayers I hear,
they are praying for money, or they are praying about the flesh,
or they are praying about a job, or they are praying about the
world, or they are praying about a building, or they are praying
about some kind of success. It seems like to me that the
more people have, the less they pray, and the less they have,
the more they pray. Prayer seems to depend entirely
on whether I'm in a mess or whether I'm a success. It seems to me that prayer depends
on whether I'm sick or well. The sicker I am, the more I pray,
and the weller I am, the less I pray. That's what it seems
to me. It all has to do with the flesh.
And prayer just seems like, give me, give me, give me, give me,
give me. I'm thankful around here. I hear prayers that say,
thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'll tell you this, and here's
something else. Prayer today in most circles
is usually confined to organized groups. People can't pray unless
they get together to pray. And proof of this is all this hullabaloo over prayer
in the schools. Every time I hear a mention And
the way they talk about it, I'm convinced that the fellow who's
talking about it doesn't know anything about prayer. And every
time I see these bumper stickers that kids ought to be allowed
to pray, I know immediately the man driving that car knows nothing
about prayer. Prayer is one thing you can't
stop. Now, that's one thing. You can
stop me from eating, walking. You can't stop me from praying.
on earth that can prevent prayer. If a man can think, he can pray. He doesn't even have to be able
to talk. Isn't that right? So let's see if we can find out
something about prayer. I'm desperately, desperately
interested in prayer, and I believe you are. We had a little prayer meeting
a few nights ago, and some men were with me, and I prepared
a few thoughts on prayer as I feel like God has revealed it to me.
And I thought I'd pass that on to you tonight, along with something
else that I've added to it. But if you want to, take your
Bibles and if you have a little note, if you have a pencil and
a piece of paper there, you might write these little notes down,
there are four or five points that I'll give very simply and
very pointedly. But when I get through, I want
us to be more encouraged to pray. I want to have been able to take
away some of the fogginess surrounding this matter of prayer, some of
the ritualism that surrounds this matter of prayer. Some of
the tradition that surrounds it. I hear people say, well,
I don't know how to pray. There isn't anybody in here who
can't carry on a conversation. You talk to your husband, you
talk to your wife. You talk to your children, they
talk to you. You talk to your boss, he talks
to you. You talk to people. Well, to me, this matter of prayer
is simply communicating with God Almighty. communicating with
God, conversation with God, pouring out of the heart before God.
You heard an example of it a few moments ago, right in this auditorium. You heard an example of it right
in that study a few moments ago, of a man pouring out his heart
to God, communicating with God, talking to God. It's like a talk
to me. And another thing I hope when
we get through, that all of us not so much spend more time in
prayer. Time has nothing to do with prayer.
We're not heard by much speaking. They say, spend more time in
prayer. No, the time involved is not
here, it's the sincerity, it's the heart. Like Paul said, I'd
rather speak five words with my understanding in the congregation,
and 10,000 words no man understands. So I'd rather say, God forgive
me, would be better than 10,000 words that are full of hypocrisy
and verbose and show. Isn't that right? Five words
before God, uttered from a sincere heart. Would that woman be merciful
to me? The man on the cross, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. That's pretty short. There wasn't
too much time spent in prayer, but it was heard. It was heard. So I'm not plugging for more
time spent in prayer. I'm plugging for more heart in
prayer, more sincerity in prayer, more openness in prayer, more
genuineness in prayer, more just calling on God in prayer, more
burden in prayer, more love in prayer, more sincerity. You see
what I'm saying? in here and there too. So number one, the
privilege of prayer. Prayer is a privilege. Some of
the old-timers called it the duty of prayer, but I don't like
that word. It's the privilege of prayer,
and the responsibility of prayer. Listen to this scripture. You
don't turn to it. You just jot it down. I can turn
faster and read it. Philippians 4, 6. Be anxious
for nothing. Don't be alarmed. Don't stay
upset. Be of a quiet spirit, submissive
spirit, be anxious for nothing. But in everything, in everything,
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God. And listen to this one, Colossians
4, verse 2. Paul says, continue in prayer.
Colossians 4, 2. And watch in the same with thanksgiving. Continue in prayer. And then
1 Thessalonians 5, I like this so much, 1 Thessalonians 5, 17
and 18, pray without ceasing. You mean a man can pray while
he's Paul lining up a car? Can a man pray while he's in
study hall directing a bunch of loud kids? Can a woman pray
as she's taking care of her baby? We can continue in an attitude
of prayer before God, an attitude of thanksgiving and prayer and
waiting on God. In everything give thanks. This
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Two people may work side by side,
or a husband and wife may take a trip and they are driving down
the road and they don't speak a word for an hour. But they
are conscious of one another's presence. You are aware of the
presence of that person, your love for that person is there,
your not only awareness of them, but your love for them, and your
dependence, your rejoicing in their presence. You don't have
to talk. It's a spirit of unity and togetherness
and a relationship, and you can walk, Enoch walked with God.
I don't believe Enoch went around sacrificing lambs every day.
and staring at the sky. Enoch was a family man, he was
a public man, he was a farmer, he was a man who had to make
a living, but he walked with God. He was always aware of the
presence of God, his dependence on God, his relationship with
God, his love for God. He walked with God. He didn't
run around saying, I'm a Christian, praise the Lord, hallelujah,
I'm a Christian, You don't, when you're riding down, walking down
the street, you say, she's my wife, I'm married, I'm born again,
I'm married, this here's my wife. No, folks will know it. It's
so stupid, isn't religion stupid? Somebody said, I don't go to
church. I said, I don't blame you. Do you? I don't blame you. I
have to listen to what they listen to. I wouldn't go either, it's
phony. or the privilege of prayer. Listen to this. Peter says here,
that the end of all things is at hand. Be ye therefore sober,
serious, and watch unto prayer. So that's privilege. It's a responsibility. Here's the second thing that
I thought about, the conditions of prayer. Prayer has its The Lord hears prayer, but he
doesn't hear everything that's called prayer. First of all,
prayer to be heard must be in the name of Christ. It must be
through the person of Christ. Is that not right? And you know,
you didn't use that while ago, we pray this in the name of thy
son, as a ritual. That's the only way he's going
to hear it. That's the only way it's going. Our Lord Jesus said
this in John 14, verse 6, he said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life, no man cometh to the Father but by me. I may not
even say in the name of Christ as long as I know that in here. He said, Seeing that we have
a great high priest who is passed into the heavens, Hebrews 4,
verses 14 through 16, let us come boldly before the throne
of grace. The only way in the world I can
call God my Father is because Christ is my Mediator. The only
way in the world that this poor, wretched son of Adam, this sinner,
can come into the presence of a holy God is because Christ
went into God's presence first with his blood and his righteousness
and opened for me a new and living way. That's the only reason. 1 Timothy 2.5 says this, there's
one Mediator between God and me, and that's the man Christ
Jesus. I just know that. When these men are called on
to pray here, and God has given some men here the gift of prayer,
for which I am so grateful, some women, the gift of prayer, and
we are just as convinced and persuaded as we can possibly
be that the heavens are brass and the heavens are shut up to
any man who is not in Christ, through Christ, of Christ, and
believes in Christ. I know that. His blood maketh
atonement for my soul. Yes, sir, and I can come before
God only because Christ sits at his right hand as my mediator.
And there is no other way. I promise you that now. I promise
you that, and that will be clearly revealed in the day of judgment.
God is going to judge this world by that man, Jesus Christ, whom
he raised from the grave. And you say, well, I believe
everybody can call on God. Yes, sir, everybody can call on God
who calls on God in Christ. He is our righteousness. He is
our redemption. Thirdly, under point 2, this
is still the conditions of prayer in Christ. That's the first one,
in Christ. Secondly, in faith. I've got
to believe, believe God. You know, when we speak on prayer
or love or faith or these manifold graces of God we feel like we
are the least of the least and the most unworthy. But I do know
this, there is no use coming to God if we can't come in faith,
if we can't believe. Hebrews 11 says this, he that
cometh to God must believe that he is. We've got to believe. Lord, help my unbelief. Lord,
increase my faith. But we've got to believe. We've
got to believe that God is, and we've got to believe that God
is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. James 1, 5 says, If any man lack
wisdom, let him ask of God, but let him ask in faith, not wavering. For he that wavereth is like
the sea, driven to and tossed. Let not that man think he will
receive anything of God. If there is a God, help me! No,
sir. He is. He is. He is. is his Redeemer,
he is his servant. Yes, sir, we've got to believe.
He said, when you pray, believe. Believe. What sort of things
you desire, when you pray, believe! And you shall have them. Believe. We not only pray in the name
of Christ in faith, but in sincerity. If we are going to play at anything,
you know, anything, this is the thing that bothers me and I I
try, you know, I believe we ought to turn pipes over our food. Not particularly. I'm not one
of these restaurant players. I'm sorry, I just can't go through
the motions. I can't go through the ceremonies.
I just can't do it. I feel like a hypocrite. of people around me in an organ
playing and people popping off and the waitress about to walk
up, I've got to go through a little ceremony before I can eat my
food. If you want to do it, fine. But I'm sorry, I just don't like
demonstrations and ceremonies and ritualism. I just don't like
it. And even in the home, you know,
prior to the meeting, let's be sure that we're not just saying
a blessing, let's offer thanks. See what I'm saying? It's just
all for fun. Let's guard against ritualism
and praying. Have you ever stood, and you
know none of us are very important, and some people in this world
are, but have you ever talked to one of these important people
somewhere and they're looking somewhere else, hunting somebody
more important while you're talking to them? That's humiliating. And I'll tell you this, if I
can't talk to the living God in sincerity, concentration,
and genuineness, I better not go. And I'm really bothered about
that, I really am. This have a little talk with
Jesus scares me, and this let's have a little word of prayer
scares me. And that's the reason I'm so careful here, I'm trying
in these worship services I call on these men to come up here,
and I let them know, Ronnie knew yesterday that he was going to
pray tonight. I try to let them know beforehand,
let's prepare our hearts for prayer. I've been in church services
and some bishop will walk in and the preacher will call on
him to pray. I told a fellow one time, I said, when I come
in tonight, don't call on me to pray. just because I'm there,
just because I'm a preacher, just because you want to recognize
me. Let's try to find the mind of God in this thing and find
out who can lay hold on the throne. Prayer, this matter of prayer
is more important than our singing and more important than, Mike,
you're special, and more important than, maybe more important than
I hate to say more important than teaching the world, because
sinners have to come to the knowledge of Christ through the word. But
we've got to lay hold, our preaching is powerless without his Spirit.
We've got to call on God. So David said this. I looked
at Psalm 17. David said this in Psalm 17,
verses 1 and 2, "'Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give
ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned limits.' God
deliver me from famed lips, put on, let my sentence come forth
from thy presence, and let thine eyes behold the things that are
equal, things that are true, famed lips. He said in Psalm
145, listen to this, Psalm 145, verse 18, listen to this. He says, The Lord is nigh unto
them that call upon him, that call upon him in truth. And our Lord said to the Samaritan
woman, he said, God is spirit, and they that worship him worship
him in spirit and truth, and the Lord seeketh such to worship
him in truth. So what I'm simply saying is
this, sincerity, sincerity in prayer. Let's guard against the
ritualism or the expected or the ceremony type or the, now
it's time to do this. You don't do that without doing
this, and the form of it. Let's see if we can, when we
pray, pray out of a sincere heart, calling upon God. And then humility. Let us pray in humility. The
Pharisee and the public are examples. The Pharisee, well, you know
what he is. And then let's pray with confession.
and a forgiving spirit. Mark 11, 25 and 26, our Lord
said, if you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you. There's
no use praying with an unforgiving spirit. There's another, just
forget it and then pray with perseverance. I want to read
Ephesians 6.18. Ephesians 6.18, persevere in prayer, continue
in prayer. Ephesians 6.18 says this, praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, watching thereunto
with perseverance. Perseverance, supplication for
all to see. All right, let me show you this, the externals of prayer. I know
a lot of people seem to think that in order to pray you've
got to bow your head. Some people hold hands, and some
feel like you have to kneel. I've seen preachers we could
have prayer back there, and the study, and they'd come right
out here and kneel in front of that chair, and do it again. And I don't
know, I just, we said, picture, is there a position, a bodily
position for prayer? Yeah, you've got to be in some
position. Everybody's got to be somewhere. But let me show
you a few here. First Kings, Now listen to this,
1 Kings 8, verse 22. And here is Solomon. And this
is the great prayer at the dedication of the temple. How in the world
did Solomon, what position was his body, in what position was
his body when he prayed this great prayer? In 1 Kings 8, verse
22. And Solomon stood before the
altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel.
and spread forth his hands toward heaven." Now, you read that prayer
sometimes. And here is his position. That's
the way he prayed. And I bet his eyes were looking
up that day. I bet that's the way he prayed. Well, now, does
that mean we all have to do that? No, sir. No, sir. Let's look
at Genesis 24, verse 48. Now, here is another position,
Genesis 24, verse 48. And I'm sure that Solomon, I'm
sure his heart produced that position, because he was so,
he was at the dedication of the temple, and it was all so magnificent
at that time, and all so great and grand, and all those people
were out there, and he was so overcome with the glory of God,
that that's just the way he stood. That's just the way he stood. So wonderful, so magnificent,
I just can't take it all in. And that was his prayer. the
position of his body was determined by the state of his heart, Bob. Watch this one now, Genesis 24,
verse 48. And here is the servant, that servant of Abraham's that
went after the bride for Isaac, remember, and he found her, and
God honored his honored his journey, and verse 47, Genesis 24, 47,
I asked her, and I said, Whose daughter are you? She said, The
daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bound him, and
I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelet on her hand.
He saw she was the one to whom God had sent him, She was a relative
of Abraham, and he was so overjoyed at the success of his trip, I
bowed down my head and worshipped the Lord. And I blessed the Lord,
God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to
take my master's brother's daughter into his son. This man had come
so far. Paul, you preached about it one
time. He was so anxious to find the right one, the right woman,
the one for Isaac, the bride for Isaac. through whom the Messiah
would come. He was so burdened for the success
of his trip, and when he found her, and God honored his request,
he just bowed his head, just so overwhelmed and thankful. That wasn't a time for this.
That was a time for, I'm so tired and I'm so glad, and I'm so thankful,
and God's so good, and I'm so unworthy, and I just bow my head
before God. So the state of his, the position
of his body was determined by the thought of his heart. Now
let's look at another one. 1 Chronicles 17, 16. Now this
is interesting here. 1 Chronicles 17, 16. I believe this is David.
1 Chronicles 17, 16. 1 Chronicles 17, 16. Yes, sir? This is David. God made all these promises to
him through the prophet Nathan, all these promises about Solomon
and David's kingdom, his son. Look at verse 14. I will settle him in mine house,
in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forevermore.
According to all these words and according to all this vision,
did Nathan speak unto David? David the king came and just
sat down before the Lord. He just sat down and thought
on these things, and he said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what
is my house that you have brought me here? That's the position
of contemplation. He just came in and sat down
before the Lord. And this is prayer. Somebody
didn't say, It's now prayer time, David. It's your prayer time. You've missed your prayer time.
No, he just was overwhelmed, and he just sat down in contemplation.
And he said, But Lord, who am I? Who am I, and what is my house,
that you should show such mercy to me in my house?" I'm overwhelmed. And he sat there in consideration,
in contemplation, and talked to the Lord God. Let's look at
Genesis 17. Now here is another position
in prayer. determined by the condition of
the heart, dictated. God had talked to Abraham, 90
years old and 9, 100 years old. Genesis 17, verse 1. And when
Abraham was 90 years old and 9, The Lord appeared to Abraham
and said unto him, I am almighty God. You suppose John is going
to respond to that? I am almighty God. Now you walk
before me, and be thou upright and sincere, and I'll make my
covenant between thee and me, and I'll multiply thee exceedingly. It's time to do what now? time
fall on your face. And that's what he did. And Abraham
fell on his face. See what I'm saying? He fell
on his face. And God talked with him. That's
what happened on the Isle of Patmos, when John saw the glory
of Christ and heard his voice, he fell on his face like a dead
man. So you see, it's position And that's the reason I've never,
well, Psalm 95, let's look at that a minute. And you wonder,
well, Brother Mahan's not very spiritual. He doesn't tell us
how to pray and doesn't show us how to all get on our knees
at the same time. I'm afraid of that. I'm really
afraid. Brother Mahan doesn't get us
around in an auditorium in a circle, and we all hold a candle, hold
hands. We're not very spiritual around here. Well, I'm just scared
to death of it. I'm scared of the farm, I just
know there's a time for bowing of the head is a time for spreading
of the hand. It's a time for sitting down
in contemplation, it's a time for falling on the face. It's a time. And Psalm 95 is
time to kneel, verse 6. Come, let us worship, bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. And I'll tell you
this, whether my knee is bent on the outside or not, it better
be bent on the inside. Every knee will bow. Every knee
will bow. Every tongue will confess he's
Lord. God will hear prayer. Fifth, the matters of prayer. What are we going to talk about
there? The matters of prayer. Well, what do we deal with in
prayer? Well, I wrote this down. See
what you think about this. What do we pray about? I say
pray about everything pertaining to my relationship with God. I say pray about everything pertaining
to my past, present, or future. I say pray about everything pertaining
to my relationship with others. Everything. I say pray about
my flesh and my spirit and the conflict and warfare in which
I'm engaged. I say pray about my family, my
children, my grandchildren. I like what one of the men prayed
tonight. Lord, I pray for my children.
They won't pray for themselves. I pray for them. Don't you like
that? That's what Job said. That's what Job said. I pray
about my life and I pray about my death. I don't know anything
that is not a matter of prayer. Pray without ceasing, live in
an attitude of communion with God. Prayer has to do with the
will of God, does it not? It has to do with the will of
God. Now then, we learn by example,
and here's the next matter. I want to show you some examples
of prayer, and I'm going to take about 5 or 6 minutes, if you'll
be patient with me. I want you to turn to 1 Kings
18. I want you to note these prayers. These prayers are not
gaudy, they're not displays of oratory. They're simple, sincere,
from the heart to the point before God, they're plain. And these
are the prayers that God recorded in his word. This is the way
to pray. And ladies, you can pray. Men,
if you know God, you can pray. You can pray, and we need to
pray. We will pray. But now here is Elijah, 1 Kings
18. This is on Mount Carmel. This
is in that terrible conflict and debate with the 450 prophets
of Baal plus 400 more false prophets. one single man of God. And they
had carried on their long prayer meeting all day long. They had
cut themselves and gone through these contortions and all these
things. And then Elijah stood after he had soaked down the
altar with all those barrels of water, and he stood and he
prayed a 63-word prayer. That's all. You'd think he would
have got all his friends together and held hands and squinted their
eyes and fought the devil and all. He just, the man of God,
stood before God. And he said in 1 Kings 18, verse
36, it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening
sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came there and said, he didn't
scream, he said. He didn't writhe in pain and
contortion, he just said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of
Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel,
and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things
at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that
this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou
hast turned their heart back again." That's it, that's it. You mean that's his prayer? And you know what happened in
the next verse? Then the fire fell. The fire fell. That's it. That's his prayer. Let's look at 1 Samuel 2. Here's
Hannah. I love this prayer. Hannah's
prayer. Hannah's prayer. You know that
Hannah was the one that the high priest thought she was thought
she was drunk because her mouth moved, but she didn't say anything,
she was praying. And he couldn't hear her, but
she wasn't talking to him, she was talking to God. And she was
moving her lips, and he got upset. And she said she was praying,
you know. And here's her prayer here. I want you to look, the
prayer doesn't have to have all these, give me a request, and
all this sort of thing, and challenging God. is a celebration of himself
and his glory and thanksgiving and rejoicing and saluted with
a few requests. Hannah prayed and said, My heart
rejoiceth in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth
is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none as holy as the
Lord, there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like
our God. talk no more so exceedingly, exceeding proudly. Let not arrogancy
come out of thy mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and
by him actions are weighed. And the bowels of the mighty
men are broken, and they that stumble are girded with strength.
And they that were full have hired themselves out for bread,
and they that were hungry cease, so that the barren hath borne
seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The
Lord killeth, the Lord maketh alive, He bringeth down to the
grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh
rich. He bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out
of the dust, and lifteth the beggars from the dunghill, to
set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne
of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and
he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his
saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness. For by
strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall he thunder
down upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt
the horn of his anointed." That's prayer. The celebration of God's
attributes, that's prayer. That's prayer. Let me show you Numbers chapter
6. Here's a prayer of Moses. Here's a brief prayer of Moses,
but I use this so frequently when I write letters to people,
put it down on the bottom of the letter. This is the way God
told him to bless the people of Israel. Verse 22 of Numbers
6. Number 622, And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, to his son, saying, On
this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto
them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his
face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord
lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. That's
prayer. That's prayer. I want to show
you the disciples' prayer. I gave you this several months
ago, and I don't know whether it's Acts 4, verse 23. Here the disciples had been released
from prison. They had been released, I believe,
with orders not to preach in the name of Christ anymore. They
let them go, warning them. These disciples returned to the
other disciples in Acts 4, verse 24, and this is the prayer they
prayed. This is so interesting. This
is the prayer they prayed after being harassed and warned and
finally turned loose. Verse 23 of Acts 4, and being
let go, they went to their own company and reported all that
the chief priests and elders had said to them. And when they
heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord,
and they said, Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and
earth and the sea and all that in them is, who by the mouth
of thy servant David hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and
the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. for of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together
to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
it to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings."
They've threatened us. They've warned us. And you, "...behold
their threatenings, and grant unto us, thy servants, that with
all we may speak thy word, by stretching forth thy hand to
heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy
holy child Jesus.' And when they had prayed, the place was shaken."
That was their prayer. That's simple, isn't it? The prayer, believe me, like
any other conversation with one whom we love, it's simple or
it's not sincere. Now that's why it's simple or
it's not sincere. It's to the point, it's from
the heart, or it's not sincere. You know when someone comes your
way and makes some kind of flowery decoration to you, there's a
little bit of insincerity. It's like a salesman, pardon
me some of you salesmen, but it's like a salesman, he's snowing
you and you know it. He's snowing you. And don't you
touch no God. That's foolish. He said, let
the potsherds of this earth strive with the potsherds of the earth.
But don't let a man strive with, don't touch no God. Let's just
be honest, be ourselves. And why can't we right now, even
while I'm talking, some of you can be praying. Spurgeon said
the secret of his ministry was his people prayed for him. That
was the secret of his ministry. And that's the secret of everything.
And it's not, please, believe me, say, Brother, why don't you
organize some prayer meetings? That's the last thing I'm going
to do. Because you can't organize love. You can't organize a real
sincere heart crying after God. And when you organize it, it's
not real. But if it's spontaneous from
the heart unto God, if it's five minutes, two minutes, one minute,
most every prayer in this Bible can be prayed in three minutes.
But Lord God, our great power, I need you. Well, I hope that's
helpful.

A Sermon On Prayer

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A Sermon On Prayer

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