Keys to a More Effective Prayer Life

The title today, Keys to a More Effective Prayer Life. Keys to a More Effective Prayer Life. Prayer is one of the most important things that we can possibly do in our lives as we beseech God for whatever our needs might be. So can we be more effective in our prayer life? Various Hebrew and Greek words are used for prayer in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Those words convey such ideas as to ask, to make requests, to petition, to entreat, to supplicate, to plead, to beseech, beg, implore, favor, seek, inquire of, as well as to praise and to thank God. So many different adjectives and adverbs here, and I guess you could say nouns as well, depends on how they're used, of words that have to do with prayer. Prayer involves devotion, it involves trust, it involves respect, and a sense of dependence on God. Jesus has a lot to say about prayer, and we want to note what he has to say. If you'll turn to Matthew 6, and we begin to see some of the things that we should do to be more effective in our prayer life, and prayer life should be a vital part of our very existence, continual communication with God. So in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus gives us what is called the model prayer to pray after this manner. And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets. In other words, making a public display so everybody can see, and people might say, oh look how pious or holy or devoted they may be, and they say they do that to be seen of men. Barely I say unto you, they have their reward. So we want the praise of God and the acceptance of God more than the praise or acceptance of man. In fact, generally these two are incongruous.

But do you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father in secret, which sees in secret and shall reward you openly.

But when you pray, you shall not vain repetitions as the heathen do, as in rosaries and various chants and prayers that people may rehearse, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not therefore like unto them, for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him. But as we shall see, we can read from the book of James, probably read this later, that you have not because you ask not. And even though God already knows what your needs are, He wants you to ask. He wants you to recognize Him as the supreme being. He wants you to recognize Him as the owner of everything, and He is in control in the ultimate sense of everything. After this manner, therefore, so with that backdrop, He's saying, this is the way you ought to pray. So He begins, our Father who art in heaven. Generally speaking, that is the way a prayer should begin, the recognition of God who is our Father. In one sense, you could say the Bible is all about family. It's about father, mother, children. It's about love, devotion. It's about begettle, birth, bringing to birth, especially in the kingdom of God at the resurrection. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. The greatest name in the universe our Father. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we are admonished to pray that the kingdom does come. And we look forward to that day. And as we talked about in the announcements, we should not grow weary. Paul warns us in Galatians 6, don't grow weary of well-doing. Give us this day our daily bread, and recognizing that our sustenance does come from God, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. So forgiving those who trespass against us. And as we know, as it also says here later in this chapter, that if we forgive not those who trespass against us, God will not forgive us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive me and their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not me and their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses. Now there is a psalm that is a remarkable parallel to the model of prayer in the New Testament. In fact, Mr. Peter Eddington, who is the operation manager for media operations of the church, gave a sermon recently on it. It's on the church's website. I want to read a couple of verses there to show you, and you can pursue it yourself. Look at Psalm 145.

Psalm 145 is the last of the Psalms and what is called Book 5 of the Psalms. The Psalms are divided into five books. So in Psalm 145, we want to start with verse 1. So I will extol you, my God, O King. So Jesus Christ started with our Father who art in heaven. Hallowed be your name, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Hallowed be your name. Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever, great is the eternal and greatly to be praised, and his greatness unsearchable. And you could continue to study and note the parallel there. I find it quite remarkable. So the first step is to recognize God the Father and praise his name. Recognition of God in his office shows reverence. It shows respect. It shows thanksgiving, and it also shows dependence. The Hebrew word av, A-V, in English, is the first memetic sound of infants. We talk about an infant cueing, cluing, an infant cooing, saying av, av, av. So it is the first memetic sound of infants. So we notice this in Hebrews, I'm sorry, in Romans 8-16. In Romans 8-16, this memetic sound is given here, abba, ava, ava, father. Romans 8-16, the apostle Paul writing here, the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Verse 15, for we have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the Spirit of sonship, which means sonship, we receive of the very essence of God. We're not just adopted. We are literally of the same essence, and at birth, at the resurrection, we will be of the Spirit totally, the Spirit of sonship, whereby we cry, abba, father.

There's no closer relationship that can be said than that of abba, father. By addressing the Father, we recognize that He is the God of the universe, and He is the giver of all good and perfect gifts. Let's notice this in James 1.17. James 1.17, that God is the giver of all good and perfect gifts, right out of the Bible, James 1.17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no wearableness, neither shadow of turning. So God, His character, His being, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now, the way that God has dealt with humankind through the ages has changed from the old covenant to the new covenant, but God's character, His being, His promises, stand the test of time. There is no wearableness, neither shadow of turning, of His own will. Beget He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creation. Now, notice in Psalm 50, this part about recognizing that God is the owner of everything in the universe. In Psalm 50, Psalm 50 is a wonderful psalm. It is about sacrifice as well, and as we shall see, prayer is one of the greatest spiritual sacrifices that we can offer. In Psalm 50, we'll begin in verse 8, I will not reprove you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings to have been continually before me. Of course, God says I desire mercy and not sacrifice. I will take no bullock out of your house, nor he goats out of your foals, for every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and the fullness there up. So the Bible gives ample testimony that God owns everything, and we're blessed to be able to be partakers of whatever He allowed us to be partakers of. And in the physical sense, some are blessed more than others, but yet in the spiritual sense, we can all receive those spiritual blessings. Will I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay your vows unto the most high. So when we start by recognizing His power and His supreme being, we set ourselves at ease with God. Words may occasionally be directed to Christ. Some people have talked very badly, I guess you would say, about directing words occasionally to Christ. But let's look at that for just a moment. In Acts chapter 7, Acts chapter 7 gives the account of Stephen. Stephen giving his testimony before the the council because Stephen was a deacon, and after being ordained, he did many mighty signs and miracles, and they brought him before the council to give testimony. And so he did. And Acts 7 is an account of that testimony. And we come now toward the end of his testimony, and we'll pick it up in verse 50.

Have not my hand made all these things? Speaking of God and Christ, you stiffnake uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Spirit, as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them, which showed before of the coming of the just one, of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers. Now this is the words of the Bible, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and this is what it says.

Who have received the law by the dispensation of angels and have not kept it, when they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly unto heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on his right hand. Now Jesus is our high priest. He is our intercessor. In fact, it says in Hebrews 7.25 that he is able to save us to the uttermost, seeing that he ever lives to make intercession for us. And one of the duties of the high priest is to make intercession. Now, Stephen must have uttered these words out loud, and he saw Jesus Christ standing at the right hand of God. Otherwise, Luke couldn't have written it, and the people would not have known what he was saying after he had seen what he had seen. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens open, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice after he had said this, and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul, who became Paul, of course. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. That spirit essence is in the hands of God to be resurrected at the last day, the resurrection of the just. And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he died. Jesus Christ, just before he died, said the same thing, that is, forgive them of their sins. They know not what they do. So once again, Jesus Christ is our high priest. He is our intercessor before the throne of God. Let's look at that verse. Let's read it in Psalm 24. But this man, you see man and italic speaking of Jesus Christ here, because he continues ever hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives, ever lives, not past, but present and future, that he ever lives to make intercession for them. So Jesus Christ pleads for us. So we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. We pray according to his power and his authority. That's what we're told to do. Look at John 16. In John 16, we see that we are to pray in his name. That is the name of Jesus Christ. In John 16 verse 23, John 16 verse 23, And in that day you shall ask me nothing, barely, barely, I say unto you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father, in my name. In my name he will give you, hitherto you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy might be full. So we know very clearly that we're told to pray in the name of Jesus Christ. So why do we pray in the name of Jesus Christ? It is because it is through his blood, through his sacrifice, that we are able to come boldly before the throne of grace and commune with God in the holy of holies. Let's notice that from Scripture back to Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 4, and we'll start in verse 12 talking about the Word of God and read on through verse 16. In Hebrews chapter 4, see, Jesus Christ paved the way that we might come boldly before the throne of God and make our wants and petitions known. In Hebrews 4, 12, for the Word of God is quick. It's living. That's what that word quick means. It's living. It's alive. It's not something dead. Just print on a page. For the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword.

Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow, is it a sinner of the thoughts and intents of the heart? Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. There is no hiding from God. You can't hide your being, your physical presence, and you cannot hide even your thoughts because he knows. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore boldly come unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And so quickly to Hebrews chapter 10, we'll see very clearly here what makes this possible. It is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He made it possible for us to come before the throne of grace. And for us, this is one of the great points of atonement, it is possible for us to live 24-7 in the Holy of Holies because we have access to the throne of God at any time 24-7. So we look there in Hebrews 10 and verse 19, having therefore, brethren, boldest to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through his veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. That is the Word of God. So one of the duties of the high priest is to make intercession for us. We've already read from Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25, "...even before he was crucified, resurrected, and ascended, to sit on the right hand of Peter, on the right hand of the Father, Jesus told Peter that he had prayed for him." Let's look at that in Luke 22. So in Luke 22 and verse 31, we see that Jesus tells Peter that he had prayed for him. We ought to give a sermon sometime on the prayers of Jesus. Many prayers of Jesus are recorded in the New Testament. Jesus, of course, was praying to his Father. In Luke 22 and verse 31, Luke 22 and verse 31, "...and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat." And so Satan has insight into some of our actions and maybe what God has in store for us. Jesus himself says, if Satan really wants you, Peter, he would really like to do you in. But notice what Jesus says, "...but I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not, and when you are converted, strengthen your brethren." And so Peter did, as we have mentioned several times, living his life, knowing that he would be crucified upside down, no matter how faithful he was.

So how does God view prayer? He views it as a sacrifice. Notice in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 1. How does God view prayer? And what does God say that we must do, that we should offer up spiritual sacrifices?

In 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 1. I'm in 2 Peter. That's not good. In 1 Peter chapter 2. Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guide and hypocrisies and envious, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. If so be, you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as to living stones, disallowed and dead of men but chosen of God, and precious, you also as living stones are built up of spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So we are to offer up spiritual sacrifices and one of the greatest sacrifices that we can offer up in the spiritual sense is our prayers. Look at Hebrews 13 verse 12 back just a page or two to Hebrews 13 verse 12.

Hebrews 13 verse 12. Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate outside the camp. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city but we seek one to come.

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, the fruit of our lips, as we read from Psalm 50, to pay your vows to the Most High and give him thanks. The fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name, but to do good and communicate, for get not. For with such sacrifices God is well pleased. So we see here that God says that we should offer up sacrifices and he counts that as a sacrifice. So we need to ask God, as it says in the model prayer, give us this day our daily bread. Ask him for our needs, both physical and spiritual. He knows what we need before we ask, but look at James back a few forward now, page or two, to James chapter 4 in verse 1. In chapter 4 verse 1, from whence comes wars and fightings among you, and we have given a sermon on that. It means within your being.

Come they not even of your lust, which war in your members is battle, the spiritual battle that goes on. 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. So God asked us to come before him in faith, to ask, to beseech, in essence, beg as we set up front. Look now at Luke.

At Luke chapter 11.

In Luke chapter 11 and verse 9, with regard to beseeching God to give you the Holy Spirit, the one of the prayers that I try to pray is, Father in heaven, please give me that which is necessary to fulfill whatever it is you want me to do. And so you pray with all your being and pray fervently. Now we look at this in Luke chapter 11 and verse 9. Luke 11 verse 9. And I say, And you ask, and it shall be given you seek, and you shall find, knock, and it shall be open to you. Now this word ask is not just merely like you ask somebody directions to go place whatever place it might be. It means to beseech, to really in earnest for everyone that asks receives and he that seeks finds to him that knocks it shall be open. And then he gives the example of a son asking for bread. He asks for bread, will he give him a serpent or give him a fish? And then if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? So to ask to plead to beseech earnestly. Look at verse 13. He then being evil knows how to give good gifts unto your children. So if we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? So once again, God expects us to ask.

We have people, some people, who labor in prayers. It seems that that is their calling in life. That is their spiritual responsibility. You might say even office, that they volunteer, and so doing, they lay out for themselves treasure in heaven. You look at the example of Anna in Luke chapter 2 verse 36, I believe it is. Let's look at Luke 2.36. Luke chapter 2 and verse 36.

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Fionnuo, of the tribe of Asher. She was of great age, had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow of four score, 84 years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. So there are people like that, the prayer warriors, as I call them. Early on in our prayer, we should seek reconciliation with God as we confess our sins and ask for forgiveness, because God wants us to come before Him with a clean slate, no less authority than Jesus states, God hears not sinners. We're going to talk about this for just a moment, and let's read a few verses first. In John 9 and verse 31, that is this part about God heareth not sinners.

In Luke 9 and verse 31, now we know that God hears not sinners. This is Jesus speaking. We know that God heareth not sinners, and we'll read in a minute probably the verse this is based on from Isaiah 59. Jesus says, God heareth not sinners, but if any man be a worshipper of God and does his will, him he hears. Since the world began, was it not heard that any man opens open the eyes of one that was born blind? Of course, that was in response to the Pharisees accusing him of being a sinner because he had healed a person on the Sabbath day. Imagine being made whole, being able to see, and then being accused of breaking the Sabbath or doing so. We know that the Bible says God heareth not sinners. Now look at Isaiah 59. I find this very interesting to some degree, puzzling with regard to prayer and when and who will God hear, what are the conditions for being heard, and even obviously if God hears us, he doesn't always answer. In Isaiah 59 verse 1, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that he cannot hear. But your iniquities, your lawlessness, your sins have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. And of course, we are continually to go before the throne of God for reconciliation and to be reconciled to God and begin our prayer with a clean slate.

So often the question is asked, does God hear the prayers of unconverted people? Well, I started praying, you know, in the sense that children pray at a very early age, I don't know, five or six, and then at the age of 13, my mother was diagnosed with cancer, and at the same time the Korean War was going on, and people were talking about fathers, brothers, loved ones going to war, and I remember I really began to pray in earnest, and my mother wouldn't die of cancer, and that my daddy wouldn't have to go to war.

He was, he had a physical disability with varicose veins. He wouldn't have had to go anyhow, I don't think. But anyhow, I began to really pray earnestly as never before, at the age of 13, and then that same year, shortly after, my mother had been diagnosed with cancer, a tornado ripped through our community and killed my grandparents, and then, in growing up, when I was like four years old, we lived next door to my grandmother, and she was nursing her mother, my great-grandmother, who was dying of cancer, and then, a year or so later, we were living next door to my great-grandfather on my mother's side, who was dying of cancer.

One of the most graphic things that, with regard to this, you know, you ask, well, does God hear the prayer of people who are not converted? I don't know the total answer, and I don't know all the conditions. I don't think anybody does. But when I was a student, Wanda and I were married students at Delta State University. I was on a football scholarship, and Wanda was working a shift at a laboratory, and so she was gone when I got home, so I picked up the daughter from the babysitter, and we had a little game that we played.

She was in the bay, and she was in the baby bed, and we were living in marriage students' apartments, and they had a solid oak floor, quite hard, but not hard as concrete, I guess. And I would pass by and sort of make a little motion, and she would make a little motion toward me. And so one night, I passed by, and I did my little thing toward her, and she did an extra leap, came over the top, came straight down, and the point of her head hit on the floor.

And she cried a bit, and I consoled her, and we went to bed, and Wanda came in after fulfilling her shift, and I told her, and I said, we need to go check on her. So we went back there. She had vomited, and I said, we got to get her to the emergency room immediately, and so we did, and the doctor came, and he really couldn't do anything.

He said, a neurosurgeon might do something. You want to go to Memphis, or do you want to go to Jackson, Mississippi? And so he said, look, she only has one chance of a million living to either place. So I said, let's go to Jackson. He even went home. Wanda got in the ambulance, and they took off. I went home and got her clothes to attend her funeral, and on the way down, 145 treacherous miles, and now freeways like you have now.

145 miles at night in the Delta, and then in the hill country, and pray all the way. If you'll let her live, even if she's paralyzed, even if this, even if that, and so on it goes, and all the promises you might make.

And so when I got there and drove up to the place, I was met by a nurse who said, are you the father of that little girl they brought here? Well, she's fine. She's up. She's up in her room playing around. And so did God hear the prayer, or was it something else?

And I've had many other things like that happen in my life, and probably you've had things like that to happen in your life. But God, I know, hears the prayers of those who have been convicted of their sins and may cry out for forgiveness to Him. So let's note the example of the Pharisee and the publican in Luke chapter 18.

So as I said, I don't know the total answer. We read the scriptures from John, the words of Jesus and the words of Isaiah that God hearth not sinners. And I obviously don't know the totality of that in every sense of the word. But I do know what it says here. In Luke 18 in verse 10, two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I'm not, as other men are, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes into heaven and smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified rather than the other, for everyone that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. And they brought unto him also infants that he would touch them, but when the disciples saw it they rebuked him, but Jesus said unto them, Suffer or permit little children to come unto me, forbid them not, for such is the kingdom of heaven. Or is there an attitude of humility before it's just their natural state of being, and that's the state of being that God wants us to be in. Now, we want to notice with regard to the prayers of people what the Bible says. You look at Proverbs 15 in verse 8 with regard to the prayers of the unrepentant. And once again, it's difficult to judge exactly at what point God would say, okay, this person is hard-hearted, stiff-necked, will not repent.

I'm not going to hear their prayers. Obviously, we wouldn't hear the prayer of the Pharisee because of his attitude in which he extolled himself and not God. In Proverbs 15 and verse 8, the sacrifice of the wicked. What is one of the main sacrifices?

The fruit of our lips, offering up praise and thanksgiving to God. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. But the prayer is connected with prayer, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. We also look at Proverbs 21 and 27. I've borrowed a few pages here to Proverbs 21 and verse 27. The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination. How much more when he brings it with a wicked mind?

So that is why Daniel begins his great prayer that is recorded in Daniel 9 by confessing his sins and the sins of the people. Let's look at Daniel chapter 9. Of course, Daniel is among the most pious men in all of the recorded pages of the Bible.

One, it's used as an example where it says that even if Daniel, Noah, and Job were in it, they would only save themselves. In Daniel 9 and verse 1, here's how Daniel begins this great prayer. This prayer is so significant because it is in this prayer that God reveals to Daniel the broader meaning of the 70 weeks prophecy that was given to Jeremiah. So in Daniel 9 and verse 1, in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years. Now, as you read this prophecy, I'm not going into the prophecy today, that's not our purpose. In 70 years, prophecy became the 70 weeks in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the eternal God to seek by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. In other words, I'm going to seek God to see what this prophecy really means. And I prayed unto the eternal my God and made my confession and said, oh Lord God, the great and dreadful. Now, dreadful, a better translation, and you can look in Strongs or someplace, and you'll see it has to do with reverence, respect, the great and God that is to be reverence and respected and feared. So they focus on the feared part in the translation. The great and God is to be respected and reverence, keeping His covenant and mercy to them that love Him and to keep and to them that keep His commandments. We have sinned. See that? Clearing the deck right up front. Now, this is a prayer not only for Himself but for all of His people. We have sinned and committed iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from your precepts and from your judgments. And it goes on describing the various things that they have done. Look at verse 13.

And understand your truth. So Daniel goes on with the supplication. Eventually, the messenger angel comes to him and tells him about the prophecy. But the main point I'm making here today is how he begins his prayer of confessing his sins and extolling God. Another key to answer prayer is to be reconciled to one another. So let's look now at this, one of the most important requirements and I fear perhaps the most neglected. In Matthew chapter 5 and verse 22. Matthew 5, 22, But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother Rechai shall be in danger of the council of the council of the word for the Sanhedrin. But whosoever shall say you fool shall be in danger of Gehenna fire. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has ought against you, leave therefore your gift before the altar and go your way. The gift, what's the gift? You're coming to offer the gift a sacrifice. Prayer is a sacrifice, as we have noted two or three times. Leave your gift before the altar and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother. Then come and offer the gift. And you remember the verse that we read Proverbs 15.8. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination unto God. Seek God's will and pray that his will be done. And surely he wants us to be reconciled one to another. When one member of the body suffers, we all suffer. One member is honored, we're all honored. If you know it as God's will, then you don't have to be double-minded. When you pray, you can be completely and totally single-minded, and you can ask in absolute faith. If you don't know God's will, then you can search the scriptures with regard to what the will of God is. If you don't know for sure what his will is in certain areas, and oftentimes that is the case, you can talk with him about several possibilities. Talk it over, talk it out. It seems that from what I know, this is the best way to go. But if it's not, your will be done. And you remember Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, your will be done. Ask our high priest and mediator, Jesus Christ the righteous, to pray in our stead. We have read that he ever lives to make intercession for us. And so we know Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, oftentimes we're in situations in which we don't really know the way to go.

If we do that, then this consequence. We do the other, this consequence, and we wrestle with it. We go back into, we're tormented at times with it. In Romans 8.26, likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for us. We ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. So according to the Scripture, Jesus Christ, through the Spirit, prays for us. Let's see more about this in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 1. Don't just dismiss it.

When we really come to understand the import, the love, the mercy, the care that God has for us in the total sense, it is humbling and sobering beyond human description. In 1 John 2 verse 1, My little children, these things write unto you, that you sin not. That's the message. Don't sin.

And if any man sin, we have an advocate. Now that word advocate is paracletos, the one that will be sent alongside the comforter. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

And he is a propituation for our sins. He went in our stead, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we know that we love him, or hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that says, I know him, and keeps not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whosoever keeps his word in him, barely is the love of God perfected. Hereby know that we are in him, and he that says he abides in him, ought himself, also so to walk, even as he, Jesus Christ, walked.

Just because God doesn't answer a prayer doesn't mean that he didn't hear, and it doesn't mean that we lack faith. I know one time I was anointed by a person, if I called the name you would recognize, and it was like you've got to have this faith in order to be healed. Faith is a part of it, it's a vital part. But you can believe with your whole heart and being, and still not be healed, or be delivered from whatever it is. And we note the example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they were ordered by Nebuchadnezzar to bow down and worship the image that he had made, really in honor of himself, or be thrown into the fiery furnace. What was their response? Well, let's go to Daniel 3. Daniel 3, verse 16, and see what the response of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was. They didn't know for sure that God was going to deliver them, but they knew for sure that they were not going to bow down and worship the image. So they were faithful. Look at Daniel 3, verse 16. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer you in this. You know, we don't have to debate back until, oh, that fire is going to be hot, we're going to be burned up, or to bow down and worship. If it be so, our God whom we serve, in other words, if it's his will, the God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto you, O king, that we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image which you have set up. And then Nebuchadnezzar was furious and told him to make the fire a lot hotter. They did. And then, you know, the rest of the story looked in there, and they saw one walking among them, like unto the Son of Man, and they were delivered from the fiery furnace. We pray in faith we're not to be double-minded. We ask in faith, James says, James 1.6, know this, that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. And, of course, belief is one of the keys to answered prayer. Now, the belief is total belief, confidence, that God is able to do it. Then, then, it was always the condition, if it be your will. Now, notice what Jesus says in Matthew 15 and verse 58, as he walked among people in his ministry in his time in certain regions, even he did not many miracles because of unbelief.

In Matthew 15 verse 39, that is not the scripture I'm looking for, but anyhow there is the verse in burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Well, I don't see it now. As the saying goes, it's in the book. He did not many miracles there because of their unbelief. God expects us to exercise judgment and mercy and faith in relationship with Him and to our fellow humans, and He requires us to walk humbly with Him. Now, look at this. If you had to boil down, this is Michael chapter 6, if you had to boil down what does God require of you, what would you say? Well, there's a verse in the Bible that tells you what is required. And then there's a follow-up verse in the New Testament, Matthew 23, 23, that reinforces that in the New Testament. In Michael 6, verse 8, see, one of the things that we read was Matthew 22-24. If you bring your gift to the altar, recognize that your brother has an alt against you, go be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift. We have talked about how that the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination unto God. So, in Michael chapter 6, verse 8, he has showed you, O man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you? I mean, what is absolutely essential? What does he require of you?

But to do justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Then in Matthew 23, 23, we can turn there. Perhaps we should not flip there, and some say, but in Matthew 23, verse 23, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe the men, anise, and coming, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought you to have done, and not to leave the others undone. So, God expects this reconciliation to humble ourselves, submit to God from the heart, so do we don't have the struggle within our own being. Another key is perseverance. Don't give up. Answer may be delayed because of God's timetable, not because of inability or unwillingness in God's part, or lack of faith on our part. It is not God's time. And we know the importunist widow who kept coming and coming, and we must keep coming and coming. We must talk to God openly, as Moses did, as he was the mediator of the Old Covenant and an intercessor for Israel under the terms of the Old Covenant. When God would have destroyed Israel, Moses intervened. He was an intercessor. We should pray for all men everywhere. Let's look at that verse. In the trouble of times in which we live, see there are important meetings coming up. President Trump is going to meet with President Putin of Russia. Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, is going to meet with the President of Russia. In 1 Timothy 2 and verse 1, very important scripture for us to keep in mind. I exhort you, therefore, that first of all, supplication, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for the people I like.

For all men. See, the things that are happening on the world scene, you may feel divorced and isolated from those things, but those things affect the nation. And that which affects the nation will oftentimes affect the church and will oftentimes affect us individually. For all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all good godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. There's no maybe about it. So what do we pray for? We pray for all men and we pray for all things. I wonder if the Israelites prayed that their sheers would not wear out. Their sheers didn't wear out in the wilderness. A physical theme, pray for protection from the devil, as Christ did in the model of prayer, deliver us from the evil one. Pray for guidance in the decision makings. The prophets often inquired of God. Christ prayed all night for guidance in choosing the 12 disciples. We need to seek strength from God in facing trials, as Jesus did in a garden.

He was facing the greatest trial of his life. You know, if we will heed these keys, and of course this is not an all-inclusive list, we will heed and exercise to practice the keys that we've discussed here this afternoon. We can pray with far more understanding of how important our prayers are before God. It can be the difference between life and death. Oh yeah, in the case of Hezekiah, he was told by the prophet, set your house in order. You're going to die. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and he prayed. In 15 years, we're added to his life.

The fervent, effectual prayer of the righteous man availeth much. Let's read that in James chapter 5.

In James chapter 5, you see, sometimes we get to thinking concerning some of the Bible examples, like here Elijah the prophet. Oh, that's Elijah. Well, Elijah, after one of the greatest triumphs of his whole ministry, after God intervened and took care of the priest of Baal and dried up the water around the altar, he fled for his life, fearing Jezebel, and even prayed that he would die. And so James could write with his verse. 17, Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three and a half years, three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. And look at verse 16, confess your faults one to another, pray for one another, that you may be healed, the effectual fervent, effectual fervent. Effectual means zealous, fervent with heat, zealous fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So brethren, if we put to use these things, remember them, we will have a far more effective prayer night.