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The Power of Prayer

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The Power of Prayer

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Seven questions and seven answers to review and fortify our understanding of the place and the power of prayer.

Transcript

I wanted to quote a section from the Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, Volume 1, many of you have a copy of this on your bookshelf somewhere, if you have not ever read it, it's a very good read, Volume 1 and Volume 2. Many of us will remember the early days of the Plain Truth magazine where we had an ongoing serial for the Bible Study Course illustrated by Basil Wolverton and then of course the Autobiography that was serialized as well, issue by issue.

Page 400 – "One day, a few months after Ted was born, probably the early summer, 1930, I arrived home from the beauty shop rounds in mid-afternoon (he was in sales at this time). The baby was crying hungrily. ‘Hurry' exclaimed my wife, ‘Go to the store and get a quart of milk, the baby has missed one feeding and it's a whole hour past his second feeding and I haven't a bit of milk left for him.' ‘Well I'm broke' answered her husband. ‘Give me a dime.' Milk was then ten cents a quart, think of that, of course wages were commensurately lower as well. ‘If I had a dime, I'd have sent Beverly after the milk long ago' she replied, ‘I've been waiting for you, praying for God to hurry you home. I thought you at least would have a dime.' The baby hollered louder than ever. We had never established a credit at any store. ‘There's only one thing to do' I said, ‘We are helpless of ourselves, there's no human to help us, we'll have to rely on God, He has promised to supply all our needs and this situation now is definitely a need.' Jesus said we should enter into our closet or small room and pray to our Father in secret and He will reward us openly. The only small room with absolute privacy in our home was the bathroom."

Now many of us have had that experience before as well, there's no other place of seclusion and even that isn't for long, depending on how many children there may be in the family.

"I locked the bathroom door and knelt down besides the bathtub. God had promised to supply our every need according to His riches, in glory, by Christ Jesus. I believed Him, but we had to have the answer immediately, I learned that sometimes God does not answer at once, in fact most of the time He does not. But right now it seemed that little Garner Ted needed his milk more urgently than I needed to build or develop patience. I felt there was not time or need of a long prayer, instantly, the 70th Psalm flashed into my mind. (Which Psalm flashes into your mind when you're in a crisis situation?) God by His spirit inspired David to record as part of the very Word of God, David's prayer wherein he asked God to ‘Make haste, O God to deliver me, make haste to help me O Lord, I am poor and needy, make haste unto me O Lord, make no tarrying.' I knew that prayer would not be in God's Word unless it was God's will to answer that same prayer for me, so I asked God boldly to make haste the way David did. I arose, unlocked the door, walked back to the kitchen and before I even reached the kitchen, one of our girls cried out from the living room window at what she saw. ‘Oh Mother, O Mother, here comes the old rag and bottle man.' Remember the days when there used to be the rag man? Kirk Douglas wrote his autobiography and the title of it is: The Ragman's Son because his dad, as an immigrant from Europe in New York, made his living by being a rag man.

"Oh Mother, here comes the old ragman and bottle man. Well quick Beverly, called out my wife, run and stop him, we have a lot of old things in the basement we can sell him. The only entrance to our basement, I remember, was from the outside at the rear of the house. In eager anticipation we led the rag and bottle man down the basement stairs, my wife showed him all kinds of things, good things we thought. We expected at the time to get at least a dollar from him. He only shook his head, ‘No, nothing here I want' he said. Starting back up the stairs, our hearts sank. Halfway up the steps though he stopped, glanced at a high stack of old magazines besides the stairs. Slowly he turned and retraced his steps, examining the stack of magazines. ‘I'll give you a dime for these' he said, ‘This is all I want.' I had asked God to send to us a dime immediately, in haste and when God sent it, within the very minute I asked, we tried to increase it to a dollar or more. But the immediate need was a dime for milk. God has not promised to supply our wants, only our need. And the need I asked was a dime, ten cents! And that is what God sent, exactly what we asked, no less no more, immediately. We had learned another lesson! We gratefully gave God thanks as I ran all the way to the store and then back with the bottle of milk. Jesus said: ‘What things you so ever desire, when you pray, believe you will receive and you shall have them!"

And I know from experience that that is true. And I'm sure that virtually all of us here have similarly known that that is true and we are reminded of it on a regular basis. Alfred Lord Tennyson, many of us know who he was and are familiar with much of his work, wrote the following: "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." That is so true isn't it? "More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Wherefore let thy voice rise like a fountain from me night and day. For what are men? Better than sheep or goats that nourish a blind life with a brain. If knowing God they lift not hands in prayer, both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round earth is every way found by gold chains about the feet of God." That brings back memories for me from school days and learning and perhaps memorizing works by someone like Lord Alfred Tennyson. "More things are wrought by prayer than the world dreams of."

"When we rely on organization, we get more than organization can do, when we rely on education we get what education can do, when we rely on eloquence, we get what eloquence can do and all of these do have their proper place and setting, but when we rely upon prayer we receive what God can do and sometimes we forget."

In the balance of the time we have for the sermon today, I'd like to ask and answer seven questions that will help us to see and review the power of prayer, the place and the power of prayer. Seven questions and seven answers to review and fortify our understanding of the place and the power of prayer. Very fundamental question but it isn't too fundamental I hope!

 Why pray in the first place? Why should human beings pray in the first place? If someone were to talk to you today, after Church, and they are a brand new Christian and haven't been a Christian for very long, how would you answer that question, if they should say to you, well why should I pray? I haven't prayed all these years, why should I start praying now? How would you answer that question? Acts 17, a reference was made to this already in the sermonette we heard today. Let's turn there next for the question, why should human beings pray in the first place?

Acts 17:24 – "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands."

He dwells in a temple, spiritual temple but certainly wasn't made and designed by human beings. When a person dies and it's brought to your attention that someone has died, it used to be sad, not so much anymore, regrettably. It used to be said, Well so and so has died and he's gone to meet his Maker. We used to have more awareness of how things were manufactured and somebody would be, for instance in the profession or skill of being a watchmaker. And if your watch would break, you would take it to the watchmaker for repair. We don't do anything like that so much anymore, there was a shoemaker and many other makers. When a person dies, people used to say, Well he's gone to meet his Maker.

God is the great God that you talked to this morning when you prayed, that we heard talked to during the opening prayer this afternoon, He's the Maker of this whole earth and everything in it and furthermore, He's Lord of heaven, not just the earth, but of heaven. Meaning He's the ruler and Master of heaven and earth.

Acts 17:25 – "Nor is He worshipped with men's hands as though He needed anything since He has given to all…what has He given to all…He's given to every living thing, life, breath and everything…for that life to continue.

Our every heartbeat depends on Him, our every breath depends on the great Creator God, our capacity to think, to have a brainwave depends on our heavenly Father and on His Son, on our Creator. I'm amazed to think, I'm sure we all do from time to time, how is it that a human heart can beat for a lifetime, sixty years, seventy years, eighty years, ninety years and sometimes your heart races and you think, oh it's going into fibulation and then you have to slow it down and it beats a muscle that's beating and it has the four chambers for a lifetime and rests evidently between beats. I wish the other muscles could do that, can rest the way the heart has been miraculously designed by truly a super intelligence.

Acts 17:26-28 – "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their habitation…or dwellings…so that they…humanity…should seek the Lord and hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him…the great invisible God, the Maker of all things visible and invisible…in Him we live and move and have our being as also some of our own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.'"

So the apostle Paul did quote extra Biblical sources. We of course would be wise to stay in touch with our Maker. Many of us have, in our possession, vehicles or other material goods that we acquired and in order to be sure that your vehicle is maintained correctly, it's important to follow the specs that were provided by the manufacturer. And a lot of people will receive their manufacturers warranty and maintenance manual for the furnace, for the air conditioner, for the vehicle and then put it away and then think, well I will refer to it when I need it and then we can't find it. But if you follow a maintenance manual, anything you own lasts longer and works better.

Well it's important for us to stay in touch with our Maker. Why pray in the first place? To stay in touch with our Maker. Isaiah 48, you'll see the connection here between one of the points in the sermonette and Isaiah 48. Why pray in the first place? To stay in touch with our Maker.

Isaiah 48:16 – "Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, from the time that it was I was there and now the Lord God and His spirit have sent Me." That's a reference of Isaiah to himself and a task that the Eternal God had assigned or bequeathed to him.

Isaiah 48:17 – Thus says the Lord your Redeemer…so not only is He Creater, Sustainer and Provider, He is also the Redeemer, He buys us back through Jesus Christ from sin. Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord your God who does…what, notice…who teaches you to profit…who shows us how to live successful lives…who teaches you to profit and who leads you by the way that you should go."

As we have heard, there are times in our lives when we say to our heavenly Father on our knees, Heavenly Father, I don't know what to do, I've reached a fork in the road, I have to make a decision and sometimes there are more than two alternatives, there are more than two alternatives and I don't know what to do, show me what to do. And when we appeal to our Creator God in heaven in that way earnestly, in time, one way or another He does show us what to do.

Do you remember the following quote from Abraham Lincoln who said, and there have been movies about him through the years and one not too long ago and books about him through the years and more on the way. He said, and he was a Godly man, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I have nowhere else to go." Said one of the greatest, if not the greatest Presidents of the United States. "I've been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I have nowhere else to go." Now one of the Presidents of the United States from Missouri, Truman, had a little sign on his desk, remember what it said? "The buck stops here." You keep passing it up the line until eventually it comes to the President's office, the Oval office and then the decision is with the President and then Abraham Lincoln of course didn't let it stop at his desk, he took it to God in earnest prayer and received answers.

So why pray in the first place? To stay in touch with your Maker and to receive guidance for every major decision in your life.

 How should I approach God when I pray, what should my attitude be, what should be my frame of mind? How do I, or should I approach the Great God of the universe when I pray?

Revelation 1 – It's an insight here into Christ's present appearance. What does He look like now? There was a time when I, probably like most of you, used to practice in one form or another mainstream Christendom and I had two portrayals of God in my mind, or Christ, more specifically in my mind. At Christmas time, and you realize because it's my Eastern European extraction, we observed Christmas twice a year, in December and then the real Christmas in January! My concept of Christ was the little Lord Jesus, lying in a manager. And the other concept I had was from Easter, that He was a dead Jesus, nailed to a cross and no awareness of what is He doing now, where is He now, what does He look like now? That was missing until, this was brought to my attention through the World Tomorrow radio program and through the Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course.

Revelation 1:12 – Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of man clothed with a garment down to the feet…wearing a robe…and girded about the chest with a golden band. A very specialized belt as it were. And His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow and His feet…so His eyes, we'll get to His feet in the next verse…His head and His hair white like wool, white like snow…and any man or woman, as they age, the hair becomes white, it's stunning to see, it's very impressive. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow and His eyes were like a flame of fire. Like laser beams, occasionally we see someone with eyes that have a piercing look and you think, wow, he looks like he can see right through me! Well of course Jesus Christ can. His eyes like a flame of fire. Like laser beams. His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace. And His voice as the sound of many waters. Well His exposed skin and His arms and legs look like molten metal. And His voice sounded like Niagara Falls! Wow, what an appearance that ascribed to Jesus of Nazareth in His resurrected spirit form.

Revelation 1:16 – He had in His right hand seven stars and out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and His countenance was like the sun shining in it's strength. Like looking at the sun except brighter. What an amazing visage, what an amazing complexion.

And then the reaction of John, the apostle John, remember he was the disciple who was the closest of all to Jesus Christ, He was the one who had the closest connection and bonding with Him. And what was his reaction when he saw the resurrected Christ? Did he say, Oh, good to see you again, I knew I'd recognize you, because we spent so much time together, I leaned on Your bosom. You remember that description. Look at his reaction, in fact what it was at that time:

Revelation 1:17 – And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead…That's the only sensible reaction, thinking, because of the sensory overload that had come upon him. And there are many descriptions where servants of God see a spirit being, even an angel and have the same reaction. This is much more than an angel. But He laid His right hand upon me, saying: "Do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore, Amen. And I have the keys of the grave and of death."

And that's well within His power to wield and how we are grateful for that. Chapter 4, let's look at a further description of what heaven looks like. When you say, "Our Father who art in heaven" and you enter the throne room of the Great God of the Universe, what we are entering into.

Revelation 4:1 – After these things I looked and behold, a door is standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." Immediately I was in the spirit and behold, a throne set in heaven and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, an appearance like an emerald.

Revelation 4:4 – Around the throne were twenty-four thrones…lesser thrones…and on…these lesser…thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne…where God the Father and Jesus Christ are…proceeded lightenings and thunderings and voices and seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of God.

Revelation 4:6 – Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third with a face of a man and fourth was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each had six wings, and were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!"

And that's the entrance that we are given when we say, "Our Father who art in heaven." We walk across the sea of glass and kneel before that throne from which lightenings and thunders emanate and we have an audience with God the Father through Jesus Christ. Isn't that awesome, isn't that amazing that that is granted to us each and every time we pray.

How should we approach the Great God when we pray? With awe, an attitude of worship and awareness of Revelation 4.

 What is the proper posture for prayer? What is the proper position for prayer? Is there one? Does it matter what posture we use?

2 Chronicles 6:12-14, the whole chapter could be read in this regard but we will just take a snippet of it to answer this question, question 3, what is the proper posture or position for formal prayer? Did I mention that before? Formal prayer.

2 Chronicles 6:12 – Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands…ordinarily we don't do this, there are churches that do a lot of this but I see they do that at rock concerts too and we don't get into that by any means because Church worship services are not entertainment, but…he spread out his hands…probably more in this fashion that I'm demonstrating now…(for Solomon made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide, three cubits high, and had it set in the midst of the court and he stood on it, then he knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands towards heaven), and he said, "Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven, or on earth like you who keep Your covenant and mercy with your servants who walk before you with all their hearts."

And the rest of the chapter is his prayer and then in the next chapter, in verse one is God's answer to this meticulous and beautiful prayer. Our habit usually is that we bow our heads and clasp our hands together, we intertwine our fingers, that's our usual method of praying or when we entwine fingers and hold them in front of our chest, front and center, but the New Testament does say, "I will therefore, that we pray everywhere lifting up holy hands." So at home we've never done that and pray with a posture where we are holding up your hands seems strange to us, it's not our custom or practice but the scripture describes it, but we don't do that at Church, typically.

Remember how Jesus looked up to heaven when He prayed? And Daniel when he prayed, looked out the window. Sometimes that has value too. Matthew 26. Ordinarily our posture is, we kneel down, we bow our head and we clasp our hands. Sometimes when you're kneeling by your bedside or in front of a chair and you get tired and you put your elbows on the chair, that's permitted too, depending on your age and condition as we all tend to wear down and suffer certain deterioration of our knees. Somebody said to me…I'll save that comment for later! Matthew 26, let's look at Verse 36, 37, 38 and 39.

Matthew 26:36 – Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." This was a time of great crisis in His life, He needed company, He brought three of the twelve with Him.

Matthew 26:37 – And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and…and how depressed or distressed was He…deeply distressed. Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." There are times when we desperately need company, those that we would need to have close by don't have to say anything, just be there with us.

Matthew 26:38 – He went a little farther…and notice His posture….and fell on His face and prayed, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, nevertheless not as I will, but as You will."

Still on His knees probably but this time with his face pressed to the ground and not necessarily on a carpet but a posture of abject humiliation in times of intense trauma and turmoil. And this is how servants of God pray. And you feel no higher than a grasshopper because of the distress and duress at that particular time.

Now it doesn't mean that you cannot you cannot pray in other postures. There are those who, as I said earlier, have said to me, Well I know people who haven't been able to kneel down for a long time because of arthritis so they pray sitting down. And one of the pastors who expressed this to me privately about his wife says he jests with her and says, Dear, are you praying or sleeping? Because she has her eyes closed and that's the condition now as we get older. Sometimes of course we can be praying laying down as a gentleman who related that he was in prison for a while because of being a conscientious objector and so he was sent to prison and he wasn't able to have any privacy because the bars don't provide that with cell after cell after cell, so his prayer situation was he would wake up and throw the covers over your head and you pray, in bed, lying down with the covers over your face and that becomes your prayer closet. In your mind you're kneeling but in fact, lying down.

Of course if you're hanging upside down in a well, you pray hanging upside down in the well and not wait to kneel down, you know the reality of it. But the usual proper formal position is kneeling as scripture after scripture after scripture says, but then there are times when servants of God fell on their faces to pray and Moses and Aaron did that a lot because of the Israelites. Scripture says they were stiff necked and they had to continually do intervention for them and fell on their faces a great deal before the Creator God.

 Where is the best place to pray? Does it matter? Where is the best location for prayer?

We looked at posture, now let's look at location. Matthew 6, this was already addressed in part in the introduction. Matthew 6, and here's where the quote came from:

Matthew 6:5 – "And when you pray…verse 6 also starts the same way…but when you pray…and verse 7 also starts the same way…and when you pray…never does it say "if," it always says when, when, when…and when you pray you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogue and on the corners of the streets that they may be observed and admired by men. Assuredly I say to you, they have their reward." That's all there is, that's all they're getting, there is no more.

Matthew 6:6 – "But when you pray, go into your room and when you shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who is in secret will reward you openly."

Find a private area, private room I should say, close the door and pray privately. Usually prayer is a very personal matter and it's intended to be private and personal and one on one. Some of us who were here have been Ambassador College students or perhaps students in other situations where you live in a dormitory and for four years I, along with others, lived in a dormitory, we did not have privacy for four years. Meaning, it's like a barracks, there's bunk beds, there may be three or four in a room or fifteen or twenty in the room! And because of that, the administration of the Church school built, or had built, closets and they were called what they were – prayer closets. Just a little cubicle, acoustic tile inside, a little bench, a light and you would go in there and lock the door and then have privacy to pray for the time available to you. Not everyone exactly knew what that was when they came to a dormitory of Ambassador College and I can think of one man in particular who liked the campus, lived close by, applied, was accepted. When he arrived he had no idea of a Church connection with this academic institution and he assumed it was a music practice room. So when the rest of the students were praying, he was in his cubical, his prayer closet, playing his guitar, practicing! Acoustics are good and privacy and then later on he realized, oh this is not a guitar practicing room, it is a prayer closet and he then began to use it for that purpose and he eventually became baptized and he is a pastor presently in one of the Churches of God, after all these years. Mark 1 – notice how Jesus Christ improvised on one special occasion, according to Mark 1:32, He was observing the Sabbath in Capernaum, it's an exhaustingly long day but a profitable one.

Mark 1:32 – At evening, when the sun had gone down, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon possessed…and I scratch my head and think, wait a minute now, there was very little pollution back then, people ate organic food back then, why would there have been any sickness, people were closer to God back then, why would there have been any demon possession, but there was a lot of demon possession and there was a lot of sickness so they were as not in tune with God's law as we imagine that they were….but at evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons and He did not allow the demons to speak because they knew Him. Now, He's had a full day and He works well into the evening, that is after dark.

Mark 1:35 – Now in the morning, having…slept in, of course you know He didn't sleep in the next morning, it says…now in the morning having risen…just a little while before daylight – it doesn't say that either, it says…having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place and there He…practiced golf, went fishing, was looking out for good hunting – that's what people do today, what are people willing to do early Sunday morning if they have to stay up late even Saturday working, what would they do early Sunday morning? Go golf and go fishing, go play hockey? Praying? Not likely, but that's what He did.

Now He, as the Son of God, if He needed to pray, how much more do we need to, how much more pressed do we feel, having had this example set for us by Him. So He didn't have a closet, He found a solitary place, outdoors where you could get some peace and quiet. We need to pray where it's not too noisy, where there aren't too many distractions. People will say, Oh I pray a lot, I pray when I drive in the car, I pray when I'm washing the dishes, well that's all valid, that's helpful but it's not the same as kneeling down and talking to God formally in a closet or even outside in a solitary place as Jesus Christ modeled for us and instructed us.

 How often should I pray? How often do I need to pray and for how long?

How often do I need to pray? And for how long? Psalm 55:16-17, memory verse from days gone by.

Psalm 55:16 – As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Then he answers the question as to frequency of prayer, how many times a day? Evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.

He prayed three times a day, morning, nope, evening, morning and noon. Not morning, noon and night, that's ordinarily what we would say because we think of that particular regiment but he says here because the day starts in the evening, evening and morning and at noon I will pray and cry aloud. And that should be our habit, if at all possible, three times a day, evening, morning and at noon. And sometimes it may not be that possible for you, then at least twice a day, in the evening and in the morning. But to go off for a little walk at noon time, if your circumstances permit, that's really really vital, really valuable.

Here's a poem I wanted to share with you, by Ralph Spaulding Cushman:

"I met God in the morning when my day was at its best, and His presence came like sunrise like a glory in my breast. All day long the Presence lingered, all day long He stayed with me and we sailed in perfect calmness o'er a very troubled sea. Other ships were blown and battered, other ships were sore distressed, but the winds that seemed to drive them brought to us a place of peace and rest. And then I thought of other mornings with a keen remorse of mind, when I, too, had loosed the moorings with the Presence left behind. So I think I know the secret, (this is entitled The Secret) learned from many a troubled way; you must seek Him in the morning if you want Him throughout the day."

Meaning we realize the day starts at sunset but in the morning when the bulk of our prayer should be, as Christ did, get up early in the morning, a great while before day, to find the privacy He needed and prayed earnestly, that's good advice I believe, three times a day, bulk of the prayer in the morning.

For how long? Matthew 26, going back to Matthew 26, we already read this and pick up where we left off, and look at one more point in detail in Matthew 26:36, as we did last time.

Matthew 26:36 – And Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. And He said to them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." And He went a little farther and fell on His face and prayed, saying: "Oh My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless not as I will but as You will."

It's hard to imagine, or maybe it isn't, that in the end, He's still, although the Son of God, the Son of man, and doesn't want to go through what He knows is about to take place. But nevertheless He catches Himself and says, "Not as I will, but as You will.

Matthew 26:40 - Then He came to the disciples…having prayed…and found them…not watching as He asked them to do, but sleeping…and He said to Peter, "What, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak."

There's a reference here to time, one hour. Is that just an expression or had He actually prayed for one hour? Then He went back and prayed for another hour. The rule of thumb in the Church of God through the years has been to pray, that we should strive, as the people of God to pray ½ hour every day. Ten minutes at night, ten minutes in the morning, ten minutes at noon or thirty minutes in the morning and five and five for a total of 40, but minimally thirty minutes per day and thirty minutes of Bible Study per day, minimally and those of us who have done that through the years realize that if we do that faithfully, we grow spiritually and we function as stronger spiritual converted people. As follows: This is quote from Glenn Clark – "Prayer is governed by the same laws that govern the growth of the flower in the soil. It is controlled by the same law that control the flow of the stream for as God is in all things, so are His laws. Prevailing in all things is prayer life raised to the highest degree. So the laws of prayer are the laws of life raised to their highest expression. The man who learns and practices the laws of prayer should be able to play better, to work better, to love better, serve better. To learn how to pray is to learn how to live."

One other quote that I think should hold us in good stead, this is from James Stalker.  And many of you have experienced this. "A wise man once said to me that he was too busy to be in a hurry." What does that mean? He meant that if he allowed himself to become hurried, he could not do all that he had to do and there's nothing like prayer for producing priorizations and self-control, self-possession, that which comes from the Creator God in heaven.

How often do we need to pray? Ideally, three times a day, minimally twice a day and we aspire to thirty minutes a day minimally, to stay in close contact with our Maker.

Should we use a format for prayer? Should we follow some kind of format or outline? Or does that destroy spontaneity? Matthew 6, back a few pages and let's look at verse 9:

Matthew 6:9 - "In this manner therefore pray you: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen."

And this is called The Lord's Prayer but it isn't really the Lord's Prayer, the Bible doesn't call it the Lord's Prayer, the real Lord's Prayer is in John 17 as many of us realize. He didn't say pray these words, He said in this manner therefore pray. And I do remember, having grown up in a home that was essentially irreligious, although my mother read her Bible and my father denigrated her for it, but in grade school, in small town Saskatchewan we started every morning with The Lord's Prayer and the Grade One teacher and the Grade Two teacher instructed us on how to recite this particular prayer. I remember reciting it having no idea what it meant but at least it was drummed into my mind that it had some value and some significance and some correlation to good citizenship.

Following – two quotes – "A small boy, when asked if he ever prayed, he said, Sometimes I pray, but sometimes I just say my prayers." There is a significant difference between the two. Another little boy reported to his mother, "Mommy, I don't have to say my prayers anymore, I know them all by now." Food for thought as to what this all means and how it all adds up. Luke 11, parallel passage, Luke 11.

Luke 11:1 – Now it came to pass as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught his disciples." So He said to them, "When you pray…" and He gave the same outline.

Through the years it has been very helpful to me to follow the outline of Luke 11 and Matthew 6 and it's explained to us, or has been through the years by the Church of God and I've taken the liberty of copying an old Good News magazine, goes back to December 1984 and there are copies for you on the information table if you want to pick up a copy and take it home with you. Jesus teaches us how to pray, it's an outline so that you don't forget certain elements of prayer that are important including praying for ourselves. Jesus Teaches Us How To Pray and it's prepared by Richard H. Sedliacik, if you remember that name? He was one of the writers of the Bible Course years ago, reporting to Dr. C. Paul Meredith and he did a lot of the research and subsequently wrote articles for the Good News – two pages and it has a beautiful delineation and a description of how to follow the Lord's prayer and use it as an outline instead of simply rote memory.

Should we use an outline for prayer? Yes we should, it makes our prayers complete. Should we ever deviate from the outline? Yes we should! When? When there's a crisis. Personally I like to use Sabbath as a day just to thank God for all the blessings he's given and use it as a morning prayer of gratitude, but still ask for God's inspiration upon Church of God services everywhere, to be with those who are home who can't go to church and so on.

 Does effective prayer take a lot of effort? Or is it easy, is it simple?

Look at Ecclesiastes 9:10 for our seventh and concluding question. And this at one time also was a memory verse for us.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 – Whatever your hand finds to do…including prayer and Bible study, all of our other spiritual pursuits, especially on the Sabbath and all through the week and anything else we've been given to do…whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might. Why? For there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

In the long run, some have chided, in the long run, why do we keep talking about in the long run? We have to have the short term, the mid-term and long-term, but in the long run we are all deceased. And so it says, with that in mind, live every day realizing the time is fleeting. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

Somebody once said, "Our prayers must mean something to us if they are to mean something to God." If our prayers are boring to us, think of how God feels, or Christ – you take this one, no you take this one – no, I've heard his prayer so many times. Are our prayers imaginative, creative? How do they come across to our heavenly Father and to His Son? James 5:16-18.

James 5:16 – Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. And we have prayer requests through the years, through the months, week to week. Today was no exception. Confess your trespasses to one another; pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman, a righteous individual, avails much. Prayers make a difference and it gives an example in verses 17 and 18, still the same chapter.

James 5:17 – Elijah was a man with a nature like ours…you say, oh no, Elijah was much stronger and more sophisticated than us, but scripture says no, he's just like us and we're just like him but he was very close to God most of the time. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed…how? Casually? Not so…earnestly…fervently…that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. That's a miracle. He prayed again…this time the miracle was reversed…and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit.

Prayer, earnest prayer, fervent prayer, energetic prayer, heartfelt prayer results in mighty miracles. Somebody wrote the following and I came across this and was struck by it. "Set us afire O Lord, stir us we pray. While the world perishes we go our way, purposeless, passionless, day after day, set us afire Lord, stir us we pray."

We've heard reference made to the storm that battered the Philippines recently. Looking in one of today's newspapers here in Toronto, which on page 3 featured, as well as on page 1, what happened in the Philippines. The size of the storm, the devastation that was wrought up on the nation of the Philippines. What caught me though, in the Toronto Star, on page 3, there's a quote from the Governor, Southern Leyte Governor, Roger Mercado who said "The typhoon triggered landsides that blocked roads up to the trees and ripped roofs off of houses. Around his residence, the dense cloud and heavy rain made the day seem as dark as night. When you're faced with such a scenario, you can only pray and pray and pray." And that's the headline: You can only pray and pray and pray.

People in the third world who are aware of the limitations realize how much they depend on God. We do too in the more prosperous part of planet earth but don't realize how much we depend on God and how our infrastructure can so easily be removed. As in times past it has been, even in Quebec with the ice storm and people were knocked out and they didn't have power for weeks.

One of the ABC students shared the following with me earlier this week when I asked the class if they could share some of healings that they've experienced or seen or observed or been told about in the family. As a young man he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and then had to go through the agony of assessment and various treatment options and eventually he did receive his surgery and subsequent treatment at the Mayo clinic if I'm not mistaken. And he described how he being there and in recovery was feeling very agitated and it was the Sabbath day and his family was with him but he was tossing and turning couldn't rest or relax and his mother was holding his hand. Then he said it was truly a miracle because he then fell asleep at the time of the prayer request at his local congregation and slept for 48 hours and then felt so much better after that. But that's when he finally relaxed, at the time of the prayer request on his behalf at the local congregation.

Prayer is powerful, more things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of, individual prayer, collective prayer, let us never take it for granted.

Comments

  • maggiep
    Thank you for a most inspiring sermon. I have been having trouble knowing how, when, and for what to pray; this sermon covers all my questions. It is a if God sent this message to me personally. Thank you again and God's Blessings on you. Maggie
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