A Study In Prayer

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

The Bible emphasizes that prayer is vital for a believer's relationship with God, serving as a means of communication and spiritual armor. The biblical teaching on prayer underscores its necessity in the life of a believer. Ephesians 6:11 states that prayer is integral to putting on the whole armor of God, equipping us to stand against the spiritual forces we face. It is not merely a ritual but a vital part of our communication with God. James 1:5 encourages believers to ask God for wisdom, indicating that prayer is how we seek divine guidance and strength. Thus, prayer is both a shield against the spiritual battles we encounter and a crucial means of obtaining grace, wisdom, and the blessings we need for our daily lives.

Q: How do we know prayer has power with God?

Prayer is powerful because it is the means by which we communicate our needs and desires to God, with the promise that He hears and answers us. Prayer is recognized in Scripture as a mechanism through which believers are granted access to God's power and grace. In James 4:2, it states, 'You do not have because you do not ask,' emphasizing that prayer is the channel for seeking and receiving from God. The call to 'Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find' (Luke 11:9) assures believers that their petitions are heard. This promise reveals that prayer is more than a duty; it is a dynamic relational engagement with God that yields profound results in accordance with His will.

Q: Why is understanding the parts of prayer important?

Understanding the parts of prayer helps believers to structure their prayers in sincerity and faith, enhancing their communication with God. The structure of prayer can guide believers in their dialogue with God, enhancing the depth and sincerity of their requests. Philippians 4:6 mentions 'prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,' indicating key facets of effective prayer. Acknowledging God's attributes, confessing unworthiness, and offering praise are vital components that frame our approach to the Almighty. When prayer becomes mechanical rather than heartfelt, we risk losing its essence. Therefore, recognizing these components assists in ensuring that our prayers are not only requests but also expressions of our reverence and trust in God.

Q: How should prayer be offered according to the Bible?

Prayer should be offered sincerely, in faith, and guided by the Holy Spirit, while being attentive to the will of God. The manner of offering prayer is essential for its effectiveness. Believers are called to pray in the Spirit (Jude 1:20), emphasizing the need for spiritual alignment in our communication with God. Furthermore, prayers should be offered with an understanding of who God is, acknowledging His power and our dependence on Him. Sincerity is paramount; as Psalm 17:1 reminds us, our prayers should not come from 'feigned lips,' but rather from a genuine heart. Ultimately, it is crucial for prayers to align with God's will, reflecting the attitude found in Acts 21:14, 'The will of the Lord be done,' emphasizing submission to His divine plan.

Now the longer I live and the more I study the Word
of God and try to find out something about God, something about His
way and something about His purpose, and the more I try to find the
will of God for myself and for this church, And the more I try
to preach the gospel, the more I feel the need to pray, and
the more I feel the need for prayer, and the more I covet
the prayers of those who know God, and the more I am thankful
when someone whom I believe to be in communion with God tells
me that he's praying for me. Turn to Ephesians chapter six. Now prayer is a part of the believer's
armor. Prayer is a very vital part of
the believer's armor. In Ephesians chapter six, in
Ephesians the sixth chapter, verse eleven, Paul said, put
on the whole armor of God. that you may be able to stand
against the wiles, the trickery, subtlety of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, or blood and flesh, but we wrestle against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.
That's our battle, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore,
because of this conflict, this in the spiritual realm. Take
unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day in having done all to stand. Stand therefore
having your loins girt about with truth." The loins of this
area here. It's a girdle. The truth of Christ
is the girdle wrapped around with the Word of God. The truth
of God. And having on the breastplate
of righteousness, this area, not my works, but His blessed
obedience, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with the
truth of God, having on the breastplate of Christ's righteousness, and
your feet, that's the foundation area, your feet, the firm footing,
be established with the preparation of the gospel of peace. preparation,
always ready to preach it, always determined to preach it, to know
nothing but Christ in Him crucified, always ready to take it to others,
the gospel of peace with God and peace with one another. Verse
16, above all, taking the shield of faith. Faith shields us against
false doctrine. Faith shields us against the
attacks of Satan. Faith shields us against the
attacks of this world, whereby wherewith you may be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet
of salvation. The helmet of salvation is Christ,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Now,
with all of this, praying always, praying always, with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit. This praying is communication
with the Commander-in-Chief. We talk about the armor of the
believer, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness,
the loins girt about with truth, the shield of faith, the sword,
the Word of God, but using it, we've got to remain in communication
with Him who is our Commander-in-Chief. And that's prayer. That's the
vital part of the believer's armor. And then prayer not only
is a part of the believer's armor, mentioned along with faith, righteousness,
the word of God, the gospel, truth, but prayer has great power
with God for obtaining blessings and removing evil things. While we're over here in the
latter part of the New Testament, turn to the book of James. James
chapter 1 verse 5. Prayer has great power with God. James 1 verse 5. If any of you
lack wisdom, let him ask of God. Let him ask of God, that give
it to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall
be given him. Turn to James 4. James 4 verse
2. You lust and have not, you kill
and desire to have, cannot obtain, you fight and war, yet you have
not because you ask not. And our Lord in the Scripture
I read a moment ago said, Ask and it shall be given you. Seek
and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. Many
times I have gone into the pulpit and not had liberty, and I've
questioned why I did not have liberty, and then I got to thinking.
Well, I didn't ask for it. I didn't spend time before I
went into the pulpit asking God for liberty, asking God for wisdom,
asking God for the direction of his Spirit. That's what he's
saying there. You desire and you have not,
you have not because you ask not. And then prayer is the breath
of a regenerate soul. Turn to the book of Acts, chapter
9. John Bunyan said this, prayer
is the breath of a regenerate soul. As soon as a child is born,
it cries. As soon as a sinner is regenerated,
he prays. You may as well talk about a
natural man living without breath as a spiritual man living without
prayer. Acts 9, verse 10. Listen. There
was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him said
the Lord in a vision, Ananias, and he said, Behold, I am here,
Lord. The Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street
which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas
for one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he prayeth. Saul had just been regenerated. He had just been awakened. He
just met with the Lord on the road to Damascus. He had been
brought down in humility and blindness, and what's the first
thing he did? He prayed. He prayed. Prayer is the speech
of the soul to God. God speaks to us through His
Word, through His servants, through His providence. We speak to God
through prayer. I'll show you an example of this.
Turn to 2 Samuel 7. Now I want you to turn over to
this passage of Scripture. It's important that you do. 2 Samuel chapter 7, prayer is
the speech of the soul to God. God speaks to us through His
Word, through His servants, through His providence. We speak to God
through prayer. Now listen to this, 2 Samuel
7, God speaks to David, verse 4. It came to pass that night
that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell
my servant David. Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou
build me a house for me to dwell in, whereas I have not dwelt
in any house since the time that I brought up the children of
Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in
a tent and in a tabernacle." Now, God speaking to David through
his servant. Go tell my servant David this.
Now then, look at verse 18 of the same chapter. Verse 17. According to all these words
and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David. It is God speaking to David through
Nathan. Now look at the next verse. Then went King David in
and sat before the Lord, and he said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house? that thou
hast brought me hitherto. And this was yet a small thing
in thy sight, O Lord God, but thou hast spoken also of thy
servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner
of man, O Lord God?" We'll stop there for the moment. All right,
that is man speaking to God. Through the Word and through
his servants, he speaks to us. Through prayer, we speak to him.
Now we can learn something about prayer by studying the prayers
recorded in God's Word. Now these things I have given
you to lay a foundation for this subject of prayer. Prayer is
the believer's armor. It's as vital a part of the armor
as the other parts listed—faith, the soul of the spirit, the word
of God, the gospel, the truth, the righteousness of Christ—praying. And prayer has great power with
God for the obtaining of our needs according to His will and
the removal of evil things. You have not because you ask
not. Ask and you shall receive. Seek
and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened.
And prayer is the breath of a regenerate soul. Let us not call ourselves
children of God if we don't pray. Let us not call ourselves regenerated
people if we don't pray. Prayer is the speech of the soul
to God. We don't even communicate with
God unless we pray. God speaks to us through His
Word. But His Word may not come to
us in precious promises, but in condemning sentences of judgment. God's going to speak to every
man, but every man's not going to speak to God, only those who
pray. And then, now let's go to this. And I want you to turn to Genesis
32. And I spent some time yesterday
and today looking at these prayers. Now I'm saying this, we can learn
something about how to pray by reading the prayers and studying
the prayers recorded in God's Word. There are some prayers.
Now prayer doesn't have to be long. The prayer the Lord taught
the disciples, our Father which art in heaven, can be prayed
in a matter of seconds. It's not how long we talk, it's
the sincerity and and the spirituality of the prayer. Now let's look
at Genesis 32, we have Jacob praying. Here's Jacob praying
to the Lord. Let's see if we can learn something
about prayer by reading these prayers. Genesis 32, verse 9,
and Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father
Isaac, the Lord which saith unto me, Return unto thy country and
to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee. I am not worthy
of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou
hast shown unto thy servant. For with my staff I passed over
this Jordan, and that's all I had when I went over Jordan, and
now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from
the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, I fear lest
ye come and smite me and the mother with the children. And
thou saidest, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed
as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude."
That's it. That's the prayer of Jacob. Now
let's look at the prayer of Moses, Exodus 32. Exodus 32. Let's see if we can learn something
about the subject of prayer by reading the prayers that God
blessed, the prayers which God heard. The prayers of men that
we know knew the Lord. In Exodus 32, verse 11, and Moses
besought the Lord his God and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath
wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of
the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief
did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, to consume
them with the face of the day earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath,
and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham,
Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine
own self, and sayest unto them, I will multiply your seed as
the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken
of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.'
And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto
his people." That's a brief prayer, but oh, the power of it. Now
let's see, look at David's prayer again. I just read a part of
it a moment ago, but I want to read some more of this prayer.
He had just become king of Israel. He wanted to build God a house.
God turned him down, told him Solomon would build a house.
David is here at the very height of his new glory, and I want
you to read this prayer with me. 2 Samuel 7, verse 18. 2 Samuel 7, 18. Then went King David in and sat
before the Lord. And he said, Who am I, Lord?
O Lord God! What is my house that thou hast
brought me hitherto? This was yet a small thing in
thy sight, O Lord God, for thou hast spoken also of thy servant's
house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man,
O Lord God? And what can David say more than
to thee? For thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant. For thy
word's sake and according to thine own heart hast thou done
all these great things to make thy servant know them. Wherefore
thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither
is there any god beside thee, according to all that we have
heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth
is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem
for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do
for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people,
which thou redeemest to thee from Egypt, from the nations,
and from their gods? For thou hast confirmed to thyself
thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever, and thou,
Lord, art become their God. And now, O Lord God, the word
that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his
house, establish it forever, and do as thou hast said, and
let thy name be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is
the God over Israel, and let the house of thy servant David
be established before thee. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God
of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build
thee an house. Therefore hath thy servant found
in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord God,
thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised
this goodness unto thy servant. Therefore now let it please thee
to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever
before thee. For thy, O Lord, God hath spoken
it, and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed
for ever." Turn to 1 Kings chapter 8. I want to show you a prayer
here. I'm not going to read it. This
one is perhaps the longest prayer in the Bible. It's only a few
minutes long, 1 Kings 8, but I want you to mark it so you
can come back to it later and read it in your private devotions. is Solomon's prayer at the dedication
of the temple, which he finally built to God's glory. But let's
read just the first few verses. 1 Kings 8, verse 22. Now it goes from verse 23 to
verse 53. But here in verse 22, And Solomon
stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the
congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hand toward heaven.
And he said, Lord God of Israel, There is no God like Thee in
heaven above or on earth beneath, who keepeth covenant and mercy
with our servants that walk before Thee with all their heart, who
has kept with our servant David, my father, that Thou promisest
him. Thou spakest also with our mouth,
and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day. Therefore
now, Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David, my father,
that that Thou promisest him, saying, They shall not fail thee,
O man in my sight, to sit on the throne of Israel, so that
thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before thee
as thou hast walked before me." Well, I'll let you read that
later, but now turn to 1 Kings 18. 1 Kings 18. This is Elijah's prayer, 1 Kings
18. Now this is one of the most significant
prayers in the Bible. This makes me just gasp every
time I read it. I think this is the greatest
prayer. of the Old Testament. It's the briefest, one of the
briefest, and yet you talk about what happened. This is when Elijah
was on Mount Carmel with all of the false prophets of Baal,
450 I believe of them, one Elijah. They were trying to prove that
Baal was God and Elijah was standing there watching them go through
all their contortions and traditions and trying to prove Baal was
God, but Baal didn't And then Elijah stepped forth and he soaked
the altar and the wood and the sacrifice and everything with
water several times. And then he prayed this prayer.
Now I want you to look at it. 1 Kings 18, 36. And it came to pass at the time
of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet
came there and said, now this is a 63-word prayer. I believe
that's all it is. But listen. 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. Then the fire of
the Lord fell. That was it. Then the fire of
the Lord fell. You talk about a prayer. We're
not heard for our much speaking. We're not heard for our rhetoric,
our rhetorical ability. We're not heard for our mournful
voices. We were heard for something else.
We could find out what it is. This man was heard. Mark that
prayer in your Bible, this 63-word prayer, and the fire of God fell. Simple, powerful. And then mark down these prayers.
Go to 2 Kings 19. Here's another one. This is the
prayer of Hezekiah, 2 Kings 19. Let's read this one, Hezekiah's
prayer. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord. 2 Kings 19, 15. He
said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims,
thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.
Thou hast made heaven and earth. Lord, bow down thine ear and
hear. Open, Lord, thine eyes and see. Hear the words of Sennacherib,
which hath sent him to reproach the living God. Of a truth, Lord,
the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations and their lands,
and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods,
but the work of men's hand, wood and stone. Therefore they have
destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God,
I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand. that all the
kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even
thou only." That's it. There is another prayer I would
call your attention to is John 17, the Lord's priestly prayer. But prayer, you see out of all
of this, prayer is an address to God from a believing heart in sincerity, through the name of Christ, Christ
being the Mediator, under the influence of the Holy Spirit,
by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, in faith, in the sincerity
of our souls, for the things which we need that are consistent
with God's will and all for His glory. Now, there are different ways
to pray according to the Word of God. First of all, there is
mental prayer, or prayer in the heart where no words are spoken.
This is prayer. Example 1 Samuel 1. Let's turn
over there. 1 Samuel 1, verse 12. Here's an example of mental prayer,
or prayer without speaking. Prayer without where no words
are spoken. 1 Samuel 1 verse 12, And it came to pass, as she continued
praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth, or he looked
at her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her
heart, only her lips moved, her voice was not heard. Therefore
Eli thought she had been drunken, and Eli said, How long wilt thou
be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee.
And Hannah answered and said, No, my Lord, I am a woman of
a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor
strong drink, but I poured out my soul before the Lord." You
can pray without speaking. Hannah did. And then there's
what we call vocal prayer or audible prayer. Turn to Psalms
3. David talks about that here in
Psalms chapter 3. There is audible prayer. Psalms,
the third chapter, verse four. Psalms three, verse four. I cried
unto the Lord with my voice. He heard me out of his holy hill,
Selah. Look across at Psalms five, verse
one. Give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my meditation. Hearken
unto the voice of my cry, my keen And my God, for unto thee
will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the
morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct
my prayer unto thee, and I will look up." This is audible prayer,
and it's prayer. And then there's closet prayer,
when a person is alone. The Lord Jesus said, When thou
prayest, enter into thy closet. The Lord which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly. Then it said, Our Lord went up
into the mountain when he was alone, sent his disciples away,
he prayed. And then there's public prayer.
Now let's look at this, Matthew 18. There's prayer where more
than one, where several people are joined together. Public prayer. Not all of them praying at once.
But there's public prayer. Matthew 18, verse 19. Again I say unto you, that if
two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they
shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in
heaven. For where two or three or more," just gives a number
here, more than one, two or three or more than one, are gathered
together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Here
are several people that have met together in his name, and
they agree on this, that they want his presence, they want
his message, they want his blessings. He said, I'll be with them. And
they ask for it. They ask for it. Now Acts chapter
one, we're still talking about public prayer now, Acts the first
chapter. Verse 12 through 14, here are
all the disciples. Verse 12, Acts 1, then return
they unto Jerusalem from the Mount called Olivet, which is
from Jerusalem, the Sabbath day's journey, and then he names all
of them, Peter and James and John. Verse 14, these all continued
with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women And
Mary, the mother of Jesus, with Mary, not praying to her, praying
with her and with his brethren. Here is the men and the women,
the apostles, Mary and his brethren, and all the rest of them who
have met together in one accord in prayer. Now 1 Corinthians
14. Now here is where we get calling
on someone to lead us in prayer. In 1 Corinthians 14 verse 15, Paul's dealing here with the
subject of unknown tongues, people speaking in the congregation
in other languages. He says in verse 15 of 1 Corinthians
14, what is it then? I will pray with the spirit and
I will pray with the understanding also. That is, I understand what
I'm saying and you understand what I'm saying. I will sing
with the Spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also,
else when thou shalt bless with the Spirit, how shall he that
occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thou giving of thanks,
seeing he understandeth not what you say?" If I'm standing up
praying in another language, how's a man down here going to
say Amen to what I'm giving thanks for if he can't understand what
I'm saying? So when we stand to pray, we pray publicly. in
language that everybody can understand, with the spirit, but with the
understanding, enabling people to say amen to the giving of
thanks. Public prayer. There's family
prayer. Turn to Jeremiah 10. Jeremiah
10. I'm giving you the different
ways to pray. In Jeremiah chapter 10, verse
25, Here are my 1025. Pour out thy fury upon the heathen
that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on
thy name. For they have eaten up Jacob,
and devoured him, and consumed him, and made his habitation
desolate. Families that call not on thy
name. Now there are the different ways
that we pray. Mental prayer which I can pray
even in a crowded room on a busy street about my work. I don't
have to be saying words to pray. Then there is vocal, audible
prayer. David said, in the morning, my voice will be heard calling
on God. Then there is closet prayer when
we are alone in secret praying to the Father. Then there is
public prayer where some of us have met together and we agree
on a thing. We want God's presence, so we
ask for it. call on somebody to pray in the
congregation, the rest of us listen and say amen to what the
person is saying, amen to the giving of thanks, amen to the
seeking of God's presence. All right, the object of prayer
now, secondly. I want you to listen to this. The object of prayer. Turn to
Psalm 69. Psalm 69. God only, never for any reason
to be offered to an apostle, to a living or a dead creature,
or to any part of nature, nor the sun, nor the moon, nor the
stars, or to any kind of spirit. I'm not talking about the Holy
Spirit now, but to God only. He is the only object of prayer,
and the one to whom prayer is directed. only to God. Psalm 69, listen to this, verse
13. But as for me, my prayer is unto
Thee, O Lord, unto Thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time. O God,
in the multitude of Thy mercies, hear me in the truth of Thy salvation. Turn back to Psalms 5, Psalms
of 5th chapter, verse 3. I read it a moment ago, but let's
look at it again. Psalm 5, verse 3. My voice shalt
thou hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I direct
my prayer to thee, only to God. Never to an angel, to Mary, to
a living or dead creature, to an apostle, to a saint, or to
a spirit, or to any part of nature is prayer ever to be directed,
but to God only. Now, prayer may be directed to
the Son of God, Remember in Revelation, John wrote, Even so, come Lord
Jesus. It can be directed to the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit, we know not
the things for which we should pray except the Holy Spirit should
ask us, we should direct us. When Stephen was stoned, he died
crying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Nothing wrong with a
person directing his prayer to the Son or to the Spirit, but
prayer is to be addressed chiefly to the Father. Why? Two reasons. Number one, because of the priority
of order he has in the Deity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Blessings in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The order of priority which he has in the Deity, and secondly,
the Father bears no office in the matter of prayer. Now the
Son is the mediator. Christ is the mediator. He said,
if you ask anything in my name, the Father will give it to you.
And the Holy Spirit is the author of prayer. We pray in the Spirit. We pray being taught the things
for which we should pray by the Spirit. So the Son has an office
work in prayer, the mediator, and the Spirit has an office
work in prayer, the author of it, the Father. has no office
work in prayer. He's the one to whom we direct
our prayer. Now my third point quickly. We've
looked at the different ways of prayer. We've looked at the
object of prayer. Now this is usually a mistake,
but I'm going to do it anyway. It's usually a mistake. And that
is to talk about the parts of prayer. And here's the reason
I think sometimes it's a mistake when we're dealing with the subject
of prayer to bring it down to the parts of prayer. When a man
tries to dissect prayer, to examine prayer, to explain its parts,
he usually winds up making it a mechanical process rather than
a bubbling of the heart to God. And I get a little bit fearful,
but turn to Philippians 4, and Paul I'm not stretching a point
here, but Paul did it here in this verse, Philippians 4, verse
6. Listen to it. Be careful for
nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known. There he's talking
about here, he's talking about three parts of prayer, supplication,
thanksgiving, and petitions, your requests. So he deals with
the parts of prayer. Let me just give them to you
briefly. First of all, in most of these prayers, which I read
in the Old Testament, there's a celebration of God's divine
attributes. For example, the disciple said,
Lord, teach us to pray. And he said, when you pray, say,
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. That's
a celebration of the divine attributes, the divine person, the divine
power, the divine perfections, who He is. For example, listen
to this. Don't turn to this. Let me just
turn over here in 1 Kings 18. Listen to this prayer here, 18
verse 36. And at the time of the evening
sacrifice, Elijah said, O Lord God, God of Abraham, God of Isaac,
God of Israel, Let it be known this day that thou art God. That's
a celebration of the divine attributes, the divine power and perfection. That's the way his prayer started
off. That's the way Hezekiah started off his prayer, too.
He started off talking about who God is, God's glory and God's
power. Hallowed be his name. Listen
to this. Hezekiah prayed and said, O Lord God of Israel, which
dwelleth between the cherubims Thou art God, even Thou alone,
of all the kingdoms of earth. Thou hast made the heaven and
the earth." All right, then secondly, in prayer there's the celebration
of divine attributes and power, and then secondly, in prayer
there's an acknowledgment of our own unworthiness. Now when
Jacob started his prayer off, listen to the way he started
it. In Genesis 32, he said this, O God of my father Abraham, God
of my father Isaac, which said to me, Return unto thy country,
unto thy kindred. I am not worthy of the least
of all thy mercies, and of all the truth that you showed to
me. I'm not worthy. In Psalms 32, verse 5, listen
to David here, and we haven't read this. You might turn over
here. Psalms 32, verse 5. Listen to what David says here.
He's speaking to the Lord God. I acknowledge my sin and my iniquity
have I not had. I said I'll confess my transgressions
to the Lord and I'll forgive this iniquity of my sin. When
the Lord taught the disciples to pray, He said, Our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us. In prayer there's
praise and thanksgiving. In prayer there's a petition
for good things. Give us this day our daily bread.
Deliver us from evil. Here's a petition I want you
to see here. Proverbs 30. I'd like you to learn to pray
like this. Listen to Proverbs 30. Here is Solomon praying. Proverbs 30. Two things have I required of
thee. Two things. Deny me them not
before I die. Remove far from me vanity and
lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches.
Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny
thee and say, Who is the Lord? lest I be poor and steal and
take the name of my God in vain." Isn't that beautiful? I think
it's one of the most beautiful prayers I've ever read. And then
in closing our prayers, doxologies are in order. What have we done
so far? All right, in dissecting prayer, and God help us for making
it mechanical, or trying to put these things in their proper
order, just forget the order. But there is a celebration in
these prayers of the divine attributes, no question about it. To whom
am I speaking? When you address your father
and mother, you walk up and say, father or dad or mother, I have
a request. You don't just walk up and say,
move the table. There's an address. When you
write a letter, my dear Mr. Huddle, or my dear Mr. Payne,
there's a salutation, there's an address. When you pray, Our
Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, it'll spontaneously
come. You won't have to stop and think,
now when I pray, I'm going to have to acknowledge who God is.
If you're aware of who you are and who He is, it'll come out.
If there's respect there, if there's love for a mother, you'll
address her properly. There's love for a wife, my dear
wife. You'll address her properly. If you hate her, it'll show up
in the way you address her, the way you talk to him or to her.
But if you know who God is, it'll come out. And then, I'm not worthy
of the least of your mercies and acknowledgment of sin. That'll
automatically, when you feel... Now, when you go in to the president
of your company, Mr. Jones, may I have a moment of
your time? I know you're busy. I appreciate
you letting me come in and talk to you. I'm just a peon working
down here on the assembly line, but I appreciate you letting
me talk to you for a few minutes. I'm not worthy to be in here.
I'm not one of the leaders and so forth. You'll find a way to
address God that way. And in prayer there's praise.
I thank you, Lord, for what you've done. There's an acknowledgment
of His hand and His mercy in our lives. I appreciate what
you've done. Old Jacob was praying and he said, Lord God of Israel,
I'm not worthy to be before you, and I left home and went across
this Jordan and hadn't had anything but a stick in my hand, and here
I am coming back and I've got two complete families. And I'm
sure much obliged to you. It'll come out. You'll be able
to praise Him and thank Him. Prayer is not just asking and
receiving. I think a person can pray and
never ask God for anything. Yes, sir, some of the best praying
in this Bible is not asking for anything, just praising the Lord.
And then a petition. If you've got a burden on your
heart, you won't have to say, now it's time to do this, now
it's time to ask God for what I want. It'll come that way.
But last of all, doxologies. Turn to Matthew 6. Matthew 6
again. And let's look at this. In Matthew
6. All right, here in verse 13. We're closing this prayer where
the Lord taught his disciples to pray, and lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. Here's the doxology, for
thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Lord, the glory belongs
to you. Whatever you do, it's your glory
and your honor. You alone are worthy. Turn to
Ephesians 3. Here's the doxology. At the close
of a prayer, Ephesians 3, verse 21, verse 20, Now unto him that
is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the
church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end.
Last of all, and I close, the manner in which prayer is to
be offered. So in the This thing of praying,
the mechanics of prayer, of dissecting prayer, I think we can do that
without becoming mechanical. The manner in which prayer is
to be offered, number one, in the spirit. The book of Jude
says, praying in the spirit. Paul said in 1 Corinthians, pray
with the understanding, but pray with the spirit. Secondly, prayer
is to be offered with intelligence. Now I want you to read this.
Turn to Ecclesiastes 5. Ecclesiastes 5. Now let me say
this without being vulgar and without being misunderstood and
critical. I'm not being critical now. I
hope that I'm not. I want to learn to approach God.
I don't want to just call everything religion. It's going by that
name. But I hear these people on the radio praying, and they're
screaming and can't breathe, and everybody's praying at once,
and it's just a lot of blabber and blubber and nothingness. And I'm just going to be dogmatic
and say it's not praying. No prayer to it. Now you listen
to this in Ephesians 5. Keep your foot, when you go to
the house of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the
sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil.
What's the sacrifice of fools? It's the opposite of being ready
to hear. It's doing all the popping off in God's presence. Be not
rash with your mouth. And let not your heart be hasty
to utter anything before God. Brother, lead us in prayer. The
man who calls on you to pray is laying a tremendous burden
on your shoulders. He's asking you to utter something
before the Lord. He's asking you to be the person
to take the congregation of people into the presence of the King.
and to offer the petitions and the sacrifice of praise for all
these people. Be not hasty to utter anything
before God. God is in the heavens, thou art
upon the earth, let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through
the multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by the
multitude of words. I was listening to a preacher
the other day on the radio, and I hear people doing this all
the time. Now, we're just so glad you tuned in this morning.
We want the Lord to bless the program, and we'd sure like to
hear from you. Now, you folks write to us, and
be sure and send us a little offering so we can stay on there.
Jesus, bless this program now, and save people for Christ's
sake. Now, turn in your Bibles to Ecclesiastes 7. There ain't
no praying to that. That's just not praying. That's
a fool's voice known by the multitude of words. And this thing of mechanical
prayer, now we've talked about this before, but I'd rather not
pray at all than to sin before God and take His name in vain,
playing like I'm being religious and praying for somebody else's
benefit. Now, I haven't solved all the
problems. I don't even know the questions, let alone the answers.
But I do know that this thing of, when we're speaking to men,
it's, well, let the potsherds of the earth strive with the
potsherds of the earth. But when we go to address, and I don't
even know which direction to look to this, but when we go
to address God, now, we'd better get down to business, and we'd
better be sincere, and we'd better not be doing it for show. We better not be doing it in
formality. We better not be doing it as
a ritual. We better not be doing it because it's supposed to be
done. We better not be doing it because it's time on the program
to pray. We better be doing it because
we are calling on God or we better leave it off. Now they just didn't
run around praying through this Bible every time somebody dropped
a handkerchief. But you notice when these men
prayed, they had something to say. They prayed with the spirit,
but they prayed with the understanding. They had something to say. And then prayer had better be
offered in faith. He said, he that cometh to God
must believe that he is. James 1, 6, let him ask in faith,
not wavering. And then it better be in sincerity. Let's turn to Psalm 17. Psalm
17. I'm not... I'm encouraging prayer,
believe me. Well, then you talk like you're
discouraging. I'm not. I'm discouraging formality. I'm
discouraging this religiosity and this feigned piety, and I
want us to call on God. I want us to be so burdened and
so broken and so desperate that we're driven into the presence
of the King. And when we get there, they're
just the king and I. Psalm 17, verse 1. Hear the right, O Lord, attend
unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of
feigned lips. My prayer doesn't come from feigned
lips, deceit, insincerity. It's sincere. Now, here's the
last word. I've preached too long, but Acts
21, 14. I'm going to close with this. Acts 21, 14. When it's
all said and done, we're praying in the Spirit. We trust. We're praying with the understanding.
It's all right if somebody calls on you to pray. It's all right
to just pause, just wait. to get in communication with
God. Pray that mental prayer first before you ever open your
mouth audibly. Just say, Lord, in your heart,
give me the spirit of prayer. Let me forget those about me. Let me talk with you. Just wait on, wait a minute.
And then pray. And it doesn't have to be, it's
like Brother Barnard one time was, hey, tell this. He's gone,
bless his heart. He's out here defending himself.
But he was in a minister's home, a minister friend of mine, holding
a meeting for him. And things hadn't gone just right
evidently. He's tired and weary. And they
had everybody sit down, you know, and the preacher had the great
Dr. Barnard in his home. Never had
been with Roth. Never had been there before.
And Roth's sitting there, you know. And the preacher said, Brother
Barnard will thank the Lord for the food. Barnard said, Thank
you, Lord, for the food. Amen. Preacher said he thought
he was going to hear a great prayer, you know, but he did
what he told him to do. He thanked the Lord for the food. If that's
all you can do, do it, but don't do anything else unless you can
do it in sincerity. Pray with the understanding.
That's understanding. Thank you, Lord, for the food.
Pray in faith. Now watch, after it's all over,
Acts 21, 14. Acts 21, 14. And when he would
not be persuaded, we cease, cease pleading with him, arguing with
him, saying, the will of the Lord be done. And that's about what it is.
That's about what prayer is. I tell you, just underscore that
word, those words, the will of the Lord be done. Prayer has
got something to do with the will of God. The will of God
be done. The will of God be done. Our Father, we do long desperately
and sincerely to have a spirit of prayer. Oh, that you would burden the
heart of this thy servant to pray, to call upon thee. burden the hearts of the elders
and deacons of this church, not just publicly, not just when
we come together in special meetings, but at work, at home, in the
privacy of their own closets to pray for the pastor, pray
for each other. Pray for thy spirit, pray for
thy blessings upon the gospel preached here. Pray for the missionary.
Burden our hearts to pray more every day that we might call
upon thee, just to praise thy name, O Lord, for thou art worthy
to be praised. And, O Lord, teach us the things
for which we should pray. Reveal thy will to us, and we
want thy will to be done. Our Father, if we know our hearts
and pray that thou would reveal our hearts to us and make them
genuine, but we want thy will to be done here, right here in
this congregation, in this city, in this church, in its ministry,
whatever you would have us to do, we earnestly ask for thy
will to be revealed to us. We bow to thy will. Teach us
to pray, and give us the spirit of prayer. Give us a burden to
pray. Through Christ our Lord we ask
it. Amen.

A Study In Prayer

What does the Bible say about the importance of prayer?

How do we know prayer has power with God?

Why is understanding the parts of prayer important?

How should prayer be offered according to the Bible?

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A Study In Prayer

What does the Bible say about the importance of prayer?

How do we know prayer has power with God?

Why is understanding the parts of prayer important?

How should prayer be offered according to the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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