Men Ought Always to Pray

Have you ever walked into someone's house when they were baking bread? And what's the first thing you notice? Now, I know a lot of people don't bake bread anymore. I thought there's an alternative that maybe some of you have experienced. There's a Walmart that I visit fairly often, and it's got a Subway sandwich shop near the front, and they bake their own bread. Sometimes I'm going in because I need a tube of toothpaste, but I feel like I need to buy a Subway sandwich because that smell is so wonderful, that aroma. And, you know, of course what one person considers to be a very pleasant smell, another person might not.

But there's something about our sense of smell, am I right? That it's not just, you know, the feeling of the smell, but it sometimes triggers memories. And you might remember a certain incident or even just have an emotion that comes up. I remember I had that sometime when I was near a beach, and I thought, there's a feeling. What is that? And I kept turning my mind over until I realized that it was the smell that I remember from the first time we went to Virginia for the feast.

I think it was Hampton Roads, and we were staying near the beach, and the beach just had that certain smell, and I was probably 13 or 14 years old. And so, you know what the feast is like when you're that age. It's so exciting. It's just, you know, that one smell just brought that whole experience back to me. Now, you might wonder why I'm going to spend all this time talking about smells.

I want to turn to Revelation 8. We'll read verses 3 and 4. Revelation 8. Now, of course, I'm breaking into, you know, all these end time events and this dramatic vision that the Apostle John saw, and just we're breaking into what one of the things he did see is another angel having a golden censer came and stood at the altar, and he was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints before the golden altar, which was before the throne.

The smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand. And this seems to be saying that if we consider the Old Testament ritual system, the incense that was burned was representative. I believe it was a clear symbol of the prayers that we offer. I won't turn there, but if you wanted to note Psalm 141, verse 2, Psalm 141, verse 2 is where King David wrote, we believe it with King David, let my prayer be set before you as incense.

And to be honest, I'm not the first or only one to ever think, okay, incense is a symbol of prayer. And when I first came across this, I had to deal with some negative feelings that I had. You know, I grew up in the 60s and 70s, and it seems back then there was this craze of burning incense. Some of you are probably the age you might remember, and some of my sister's friends, I had an older sister, they do this.

And my experience was, okay, incense is for stoners and drug users and maybe the occult. And any of it that I ever smelled was, ugh! I didn't like the smell, it seemed to burn my nose. And I said, ugh, how could that represent something pleasing to God? Well, I later learned that not all incense is the same. It doesn't all have the same scent, it doesn't all affect you the same way. Sort of like those glade air fresheners. Now, I'm not sure if I should make that comparison, but they don't all smell the same.

You might find some that you really like a lot, and others, not so much. So, you know, maybe if it helps to think of incense representing something pleasant to God, think of that as the first comparison I made with the baking bread. Or I've got an even better one that comes to my memory. And this goes back years ago when Connor was a baby. And we were living in Waverly, Ohio, serving the Portsmouth, Ohio congregation. At that time, I had an office that was downstairs, where I'd often be down there working on messages or talking to people on the phone. One afternoon, I came upstairs and discovered that Sue had been baking cupcakes.

I came upstairs and I just entered an environment where, oh, that smells so good. And, you know, I went back down and went to work. Come back up later, a half hour, an hour later, it still smelled just as good. I think it lingered for a couple of days. Wow, that was wonderful. There, I think, is that what our prayers are like for God? Or does He intend for them to be that way? If incense is symbolic of our prayers, then God wants them to be that pleasant thing.

It's not something that He's saying, well, okay, I'll listen to you because I have to. You know, I don't see that being the way He looks at us. Another scripture I'd like to read, and this is where I draw my title, it's Luke 18, verse 1. Luke 18, verse 1, and if you don't want to turn there, I'm going to be very brief, just the beginning of it, because Jesus Christ was about to introduce a parable about a widow that came wanting a judge to avenge her. I don't want to get into the parable, but how He introduced it.

Because Luke 18, verse 1 says, Then He spoke a parable to them that men ought always to pray and not lose heart. So I said that the parable is not what I want to focus on, it's the fact that God wants men always to pray. On my notes, I titled this, men ought always to pray. Now, one of the reasons we always pray is that we should.

It's good for us. It's good for us to humble ourselves before God, to communicate with Him. But I'd like to think that God enjoys it also. There's a big subject, we could talk about prayer over and over again, but I wanted to focus on some of how God views prayer and how we approach Him.

Now, I think we instinctively realize that there are different types of prayer for different occasions. Like we come here together and we ask one of our men to lead in prayer, and that's a very formal thing where we expect it to be done a certain way. And that's very good and right. As I begin preparing for this message, I learned something that actually I have to confess surprised me, but it gave me insight into prayer in a way that I hadn't before. Because, you know, the English word prayer, or pray, can have different meanings. And so, you know, we might use it in different ways, but I learned that if you look at the Hebrew and Greek from which our Bible comes, there are actually different words for some of the different ways it's used. An example for that is, I'm going to turn to Genesis 12. Genesis 12, beginning in verse 13. And if you have an Old King James Bible, I'm just curious, how many of you are using the Old King James? Not many. New King James? Other translations? Okay, so I've got a New King James up here, but I'm going to explain to you that if you had the Old King James, you'd find a different word used. To break in the story, this is, of course, after God called Abram to leave his country and his family and go to a land that he would show him. So he left Mesopotamia behind and traveled down to the Promised Land. And he took his wife Sarah, his nephew Lot, and all their servants. You know, they traveled to the Promised Land, and not long afterwards, a famine hit. So they kept right on going. They didn't turn around and go back to Mesopotamia. God had told them to leave there, but they went on to Egypt, and then Abraham gets a little bit nervous.

I know what the customs of these people are like, and by the way, my wife Sarah, she's a looker. It doesn't say that, but he says, you're very beautiful, behold, and he's worried what might happen. So we see in verse 13, Abraham speaking to Sarah says, Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, that I may live.

So tell a little white lie that you are my sister. Now, here's the difference. You're very familiar with that story. If you were reading the Old King James, it would have been translated for Abraham to say, Say I pray thee, thou art my sister.

The Hebrew word that was translated as pray 400 years ago in 1611, and more modern times, is translated as please. Now, certainly we do say please when we talk to God and ask Him for things, but I learned that the Hebrew word that's translated that way is a very small word transliterated as nah, n-a, nah, and it means it can be translated please, it can mean to entreat, or to beseech, or perhaps a better translation would be to ask earnestly.

And we ask earnestly of things from God, but Abraham also earnestly asked his wife Sarah to, you know, tell this little fib, the partial truth. They were half-brother and sister. And by the way, in Greek there's a very similar word. The Greek word is eroteo, which I love the way that sounds. Some of these words I like to say. Ero-teo, if you're writing notes, it would be spelled as e-r-o-t-a-o. And it has that same meaning, to earnestly request, ask someone something. An example of that could be found in Luke 14, verse 18.

I won't turn there, but it's the parable of a great man giving a supper, you know, a rich man, and he invites all these people, and when it's time to come, they start making excuses. In verse 18, one of the fellas says, I've purchased a field and I must go see it. I pray you have me excused. That's the old King James. I pray have me excused.

The new King James simply says, I ask you to have me excused. Ero-teo. Now, I grew up reading the King James Bible, so I sort of saw that meaning and read over those things without thinking much about it. It sort of came to a realization later on, I was reading a biography of Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill, as you know, was one of our great leaders, led his country through World War II, and he was a master of the English language. He's written several very good history books. And I learned from reading this biography that when he was leading the country through the war, he wrote little, brief notes to some of his subordinates asking them to do things, and he would use that word, pray, in the same way as the old King James.

Like, if he was writing a note to the first lord of the Admiralty, it might say, pray send me the current list of shipping available on the channel. Or, to the Secretary of Air Defense, he might have a note that says, pray have all the fighter squadrons ready for attack by this Thursday.

You know, he was using it as a synonym for please, but like I said, Churchill liked to get the most out of the English language he could, I think. His subordinates started calling these notes, Winston's prayers, which is that little tagline, I think is the main reason it sticks in my memory. Now, why am I focusing on this meaning for prayer when no one uses it that way anymore? Well, I partly became fascinated by this. Sorry, I think this lecture is tall enough.

I need my glasses to read. If I were to call a chat over there, I'd be up here, I wouldn't need them, but I'm going back and forth looking at you and looking at my notes, and saying that wasn't in my notes. But I got my good old-fashioned Strong's Concordance out to see, well, how often is this word used? You know, we've got nah, it just means to earnestly ask for something or to request. And it turns out in the Old Testament, the vast majority of the times you see the word pray are translated from that word, making a request, beseeching something.

But that and the Greek equivalent is not the word that Christ used there in Luke 18 when he said, men ought always to pray. There's a different Hebrew word and a different Greek word for what Christ was talking about. The Hebrew word is palei, if I'm pronouncing it correctly. Palei could be spelled P-A-L-A-I. And you're going to love, well, maybe you won't love this, but... The Greek word is prosuchomei. Prosuchomei, or it rhymes with mother-mei. I can spell it. Again, I'm not going to give you a spelling test at the end of this, but it's P-R-O-S-E-U-C-H-O-M-A-I. Or, remember, since it's originally written in Greek letters that are all these squiggles, you could put it in English any way you want.

It looks like prosuchomei to me, to you, to you or me. And what I want to get at there is, pray is a good translation for palei or prosuchomei.

But it has a different meaning than to make a request. It includes a sense of communication that's interactive and closer.

And importantly, in this context, when it's used in Scripture, it also implies a sense of worship.

Because those words, the palei in the ancient Hebrew and prosuchomei in the Greek, are always used for communication with God. Whereas Abraham used, you know, not talking to his wife Sarah to make the request. And in Christ's parable, the person told him, rich man, I ask you, please have me be excused. When you're using prosuchomei or palei, it's talking to God.

Let me look at a couple instances in the Psalms, if you will. Psalm 32, verse 6. Psalm 32, verse 6 is a good way of putting this. One of David's Psalms says, For this cause, everyone who is godly shall pray to you, in a time when you may be found.

So the Hebrew word used here is palei. It was translated as pray 400 years ago when the Old King James was translated.

And in modern times, it's still translated as pray. And it has that interactive worshipful communication is the meaning. Similarly, if you go back a few pages to Psalm 5. Psalm 5, beginning in verse 2.

Psalm 5, verse 2 says, My voice you shall hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning I will direct it to you, and will look up.

For you are not a God who takes pleasure and wickedness.

Oh, you know, I think I started in verse 3. I wanted to start in verse 2.

Verse 2 says, Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I will pray, and my voice you will hear in the morning.

This is a type of prayer that's wanting to make a connection with God. Not just making a request, but, you know, lift to hear my voice. I'm lifting it up to you. To you I will pray.

I don't get the feeling that David was praying and then later writing this just as a means of making a request to God.

Now, David wasn't bashful about asking God for things. He would do it a number of times, and I would say, we shouldn't be bashful about that either. God does want us to ask for the things we need.

And one of the points I wanted to make in making this distinction between the Hebrew words, especially, remember, nah and palais, the one that could be translated as please or request, used in the Bible a lot by quite a few people. But the word palais that's used to worship with a deeper communication, it appears in the Old Testament fewer times and by just a few people. Not everyone ever used that word or had it related to them. We just saw that King David did use that word. Likewise, so did Job, Samuel, Nehemiah, and Jeremiah.

I think the difference between how people close to God could relate and communicate to him and how others who don't feel as close to him, that difference might be well illustrated by what happened when God did talk directly to the ancient Israelites. There is one case where he not only spoke directly to an individual but to the whole nation. We need to go to Genesis, no, not Genesis, Exodus 19 to see that. In Exodus 19, this is at the point where God had led Israel out of Egypt through powerful miracles. He led Moses as a servant, he confronted Pharaoh. Israel came out and they walked through the Red Sea. God began feeding them miraculously through manna that appeared six days out of the week. And they come through the wilderness to the base of Mount Sinai. So here in Exodus, sorry, I just looked down and thought I was in Leviticus 19. So I'll go to Exodus 19 and begin reading in verse 9. Well see, the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and believe you forever. So Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. Okay, so let's drop down to verse 18, same chapter.

Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. It's smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of a trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke. God answered him by voice. And there's an incident where God sends Moses on a task. If you look ahead to chapter 20 in the first verse, and God spoke all these words. God spoke the Ten Commandments. And the people saw the thundering and the quaking and the, you know, it was pretty amazing. And we know what God spoke. As I said, he listed the Ten Commandments being unique from all the other law.

But how did the people react to this is what we want to look at next.

Let's go in chapter 20 down to verse 18, when God concluded, He says, Now all the people witnessed the thundering and the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled, stood afar off. And they said to Moses, you come and speak with us and we'll hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. You know, I like that version in Deuteronomy, they say it even more clearly. Moses, we can't take this anymore. We're going to die. And I think it's curious because they, you go talk to God. It's like, you go die, but maybe they know Moses isn't going to die from talking to God. But they're happy to not have that close communication with God.

And I think this demonstrates somewhat mankind's relationship with God. For most of human history, for most of human history, man has stood afar off, and only a few chosen people have been able to draw near to God.

And of course, we want to be among those few. And I love Mr. Welles pointed out what makes the difference, which I'm leading up to, of course. It's through God's Spirit that we can draw close and have that Spirit. Let's turn a few pages ahead to chapter 34 of Exodus.

Exodus 34 and verse 29.

There's another incident that shows the separation. Because we know Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights with God on the mountain, and came back down and had to deal with the golden calf incident, and grind that up and make him drink it in the water, and he went up for another 40 days and 40 nights. World champion record fasting for that. But let's go to chapter 34, verse 29. It says, So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses' face, behold, the skin of his face shone. It was glowing bright. And they were afraid to come near him. Which we wonder, did Moses know? I don't know if he had a mirror anywhere around. So he's like, what are you guys running away for? He called to them, and Aaron said, they returned and talked with him. He's like, look, it's me. So the children of Israel came near. He gave them as commandments all that the Lord had spoken without Mount Sinai. When he finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take off the veil until he came out.

So we see he didn't need any separation between him and God when he spoke. But as an intermediary, there was something between the people and God. Even with Moses there, there was that veil. And if we look ahead to the New Testament, we'll see that the Apostle Paul referred to this in 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians 3, beginning in verse 12.

2 Corinthians 3, verse 12, he says, Therefore, since we, we Christians who are called out, we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike Moses who put a veil over his face, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly at the end of what was passing away. But their minds, now this is the people. Moses didn't have a problem. God's law wasn't a problem. But their minds were blinded, for until this day, the same veil remains unlisted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. Let me read a little bit further. Even to this day when Moses has read of veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, and we would say when one repents and is baptized and receives the Holy Spirit, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord. So we have this boldness of speech. We can receive God's word without that separation. But we can also go approach God without that separation, and have a different type of communication with Him than would be possible otherwise. And there's where I think there could be a difference. For many people, you know, many people do pray. And I wouldn't be so bold as to say God's not listening. I think God is watching all people everywhere, and He's willing to hear prayers, I'll speculate. But those prayers seem to be the not-variety, or the eroteo of making a formal request, but not connecting. You know, it's falling short of the worship and the full connection that we see in the Old Testament a small number of people had, like David and Job and others.

It's a formal procedure, and the veil could symbolize that. Not only the veil that Moses wore, but of course there's a more famous veil that we know first was in the tabernacle and later in the temple, separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. And of course the most holy of Holy of Holies was where the Ark of the Covenant was that pictured God's throne. And there was a veil separating.

Only the priests, the high priest, once a year could go behind that veil. But at the moment Christ died in crucifixion, the veil was ripped open from top to bottom, and symbolizing, of course, that access is open to God.

We know that Christ dying there was symbolized by the animal sacrifices that became no longer necessary. And I'm glad for that. I'm glad I don't have to cut open a lamb and, well, let's not even think about all that. But I think also the burning of incense was necessary in part of the ritual system, and that also became unnecessary at the time Christ was sacrificed. And it wasn't until I was working on this that it occurred to me. And now I teach the Pentateuch class, where we go through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and all the ritual system is described, and it occurred to me. As God was showing Moses how to tell Israel to worship, there's no place in there where there's instruction of how to pray.

You know, we can go through the Old Testament and see some examples of some people praying, but in the formal system that God gave, he gave them burning of incense and cutting up sacrifices, probably because there was a veil. They didn't have the way open. Let's, if you will, turn with me to Hebrews 9.

Again, we believe Hebrews was written by the Apostle Paul, possibly preparing the people of Israel for the destruction of the temple that was going to happen when the rituals would be impossible to fulfill. So let's read Hebrews 9, verse 1.

This is called the sanctuary, and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all. And I described that earlier. Let's drop down to verse 6. Now, when these things had been prepared, the priest always went in the first part of the tabernacle. I didn't emphasize that the way I should. The priest always went into the first part of the tabernacle.

They went into the holy place two times a day, morning and evening. They went in and they adjusted the lamps and they burned incense every morning and every evening. And, of course, outside there was the morning sacrifice and the evening sacrifice. So that happened every day. But you see in verse 7, into the second part, the high priest went alone once a year and not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins.

Committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit indicating that the way to the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. Now, it's interesting here. It mentions that that one time of the year he went in with blood. So the high priest, as we cover this on the Day of Atonement, that's the one day of the year he could go in. He first sacrificed a bull for his own sin and he came in and he offered that.

Then he went in and of the two goats on which they cast lots, one of them represented Jesus Christ, he came in with that one. I'm not going to turn there, but if you... well, he came in not with a goat, but with blood. In Leviticus 16, verses 11-14, it mentions something that Paul omits here, is that when he came in, he had a lot of incense that he burned before he went in with the blood.

I believe, again, representing the prayers of the saints and appealing to God.

But as it's saying here, this is passed away. Hebrews 9, verse 11.

Verse 11, it says, I would say, he also not with the incense.

Christ's sacrifice greatly changed things. It worked to remove the division, the separation between God and man. As I said, I referenced this earlier in Matthew 27, verse 50, is where it mentions that at the moment of Christ's death, he yielded up his spirit, his breath, and the veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom.

Thus ending animal sacrifice and ending the burning of incense as part of worship.

Largely because God's spirit would become available.

With that, people could have the real thing that the incense symbolized, just as Christ's sacrifice was the real thing that animals sacrifice symbolized. If you will, join me in John, chapter 16. John 16 will begin in verse 26.

In some of Jesus' instructions, we know this was his last night with them before he was crucified, and he gave them instruction on many things.

John 16, beginning in verse 26, he says, He says, And this seems to be referencing back a couple chapters to chapter 14, verse 13. I'll read that quickly.

14, verse 13, he says, But interestingly, here in chapter 16, where Jesus...

Yes, the Greek word he uses where he says, And that day, I don't say, I'll pray to the Father for you. The word he uses there is the eroteo, the formal request, earnestly asking.

And it's almost like he's saying, it's not going to be that way. It's not like you prepare a formal request, and I'll take it to the Father and lay it on his desk.

Because he's saying, no, the Father himself loves you. He wants you to come and talk to him.

And I would say he wants you to come and not just make an eroteo request, but come and have some prosucho mei.

Sorry, I didn't think of it before. I said it sounds like he's coming and having a drink.

But, you know, maybe that's not so off. God wants us to come and spend the time and not be too casual. I'm not saying that, but interact and relate.

Not just make a formal presentation.

I'd like to read in Matthew 6. Matthew 6 will begin in verse 5.

And, of course, this is where I'll explain in a moment, I'm not going to work my way through the model prayer, even though that's perfectly appropriate, and something we often do study when we're talking about how to pray.

But, Matthew 6, verse 5, Jesus tells his disciples, When you pray, and always like they didn't say if, but it's when you pray, don't be like the hypocrites.

They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets that they might be seen of men.

Surely, if they do, they have their reward. Or, this could have been translated, that's all the reward they're going to get.

But you, when you pray, go to your room. When you shut the door, pray to your father, who's in the secret place.

And the father who sees you in secret will reward you openly.

When you pray, don't use vain repetitions. That would be an aro-tayo type of prayer.

Let me just go down my list. As the heathen do, they think that they'll be heard for their many words.

Don't be like them. Your father knows the things that you have need of before you ask them. Ask him.

And when I was young, I always said, hmm, okay, I see what he's saying. Well, why do I need to bother to go ask him?

If he already knows, why do I have to pray? Well, I think it's partly because God does want us to come and talk to him.

He wants to hear how we're going to put it in words, what we're thinking. And it's sort of, you know, I discovered when I got married, I'd come home and one of the first questions, how was your day?

And it's still that way most days. You know, so what happened today? Who did you talk to? What happened?

You know, it's that wanting to have interaction and talk. God already knows certain things, but he wants to hear from us. So, as I said, you know, I thought about working my way through the model prayer, and there's a good precedent for that. It's appropriate when we think about praying regularly, because men ought always to pray. We know we need to spend time praising God. We need to pray for his kingdom to come. Pray that his will be done. Ask him to supply our needs. Certainly, having requests of God is appropriate. We ask him to protect us from Satan and from evil. And, of course, you'll hear about that in the future, and we always should. But what I've been focusing on today makes me want to talk about some of the way we approach our prayer.

And so I thought maybe looking at some examples, you know, I'd like to look at a few of some people in prayer that might not fit the model that we might think of.

Especially if we look in the Old Testament, where not a large number of people had the Holy Spirit. King David was one of these. So he gives us an interesting example in the ways that he talks to God. I want to go to 2 Samuel, chapter 7, to look at this story. And, of course, while I'm doing that, I could remind us that David, it seems, wrote down many of his prayers that we have in the Psalms.

That he wanted to commit them to paper and even set many of them to music.

But without looking at those right now, I want to look at a particular incident in David's life. So that's where we're going to pick up. 2 Samuel, chapter 7.

Because this is when David had come to the kingdom, things were finally settled. It came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around.

The king said to Nathan the prophet, Well, see now, I dwell in a house of cedar. The ark of God dwells inside tent curtains.

So David's implying maybe we should build a permanent building to put the ark in. And Nathan said, Well, go to all that's in your heart. The Lord is with you. Now, notice, Nathan didn't go consult with God first. He thought, well, it seems obvious. Yeah, God is with David. David wants to go to temple. He should do it.

But we're going to see that God saw it differently. Now, he doesn't chastise him, but God is going to set the record straight. In verse 4, it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go tell my servant David, Thus says the Lord, Would you build a house for me to dwell in? I've not dwelled in a house since the time I brought up the children of Israel from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle.

Wherever I've moved about with the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel who might command to shepherd my people, saying, Why haven't you built me a house of cedar? Okay, so God's saying, Look, I don't need this. Now, we certainly want to understand that the tabernacle and later the temple were a symbol. I won't turn there, but in Solomon's prayer, dedicating, he said, Well, the heaven of heavens can't contain you. I know you don't live in a building, but please keep your eyes on this and listen to the prayers we offer here. Coming back to 2 Samuel 7, let's pick it up in verse 12. Because God turns to a different subject when he basically says, Look, I don't need you to build me a temple. But he tells David, When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I'll set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I'll establish the throne of his kingdom forever. There's more to elaborate on this, but it's interesting because sometimes house is a metaphor for a dynasty. And God tells David, I don't need you to build me a house, but I'm going to build you a house. I'm going to make sure your descendants reign over Israel in perpetuity.

And we see that fulfilled even when the northern kingdom of Israel rejected the dynasty of David. Judah retained it. And our understanding is that even with the Babylonian conquest, that it seems God used Jeremiah to take the daughters of the king and preserve David's dynasty. If our understanding is correct, eventually through the house of Windsor in Britain. Now, that's not a subject I want to go on to today.

But what I'm intrigued with is David's reaction. Because he was saying, I'm going to build this temple for God and he's going to be happy with me. And God says, no, I don't need you to do that, but I'm going to do this for you. And the this that God would do for David is a big deal. Your son is going to reign after you and your descendants are going to continually reign. So we're still in chapter 7. Let's go to verse 18.

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that you brought me this far? It was a small thing in your sight, O Lord God. And you've also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this a manner of man, O Lord God?

Now, this is not somebody kneeling before their bed and saying, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Again, I'm not putting that down. Or, you know, what is it? Now I lay me down to sleep. This is not a formal prayer. And I think it's fitting that David went in and sat. We normally don't sit to pray. We stand, we kneel. But it seems that there are times when it's appropriate to be more casual. And I don't think David was being disrespectful. He said, I want to talk to you about this. And it's like, this was a little deal to me, and yet this is a big thing. So he questions God. David tells him what's on his mind. Let's go look at verse 20. So, now what more can David say to you? For you, Lord God, you know your servant. You know what I'm like. For your word's sake, and according to your own heart, you've done all these great things to make your servant know them. And he goes on and on. He praises God. He talks about what kind of God is like. Now, the substance of this prayer, what David is praying, isn't going to be a suitable model for us. I don't think any of us have a dynasty coming after us. But the way that David relates to God, I think, is amazing. That's the Palais prayer. You know, not the nah. It's the interacting with God, worshipful, certainly, but being comfortable talking to him, telling him what he's thinking. I think that's a style we could follow. And as I said, never being flippant or disrespectful, but talking to God and sometimes saying, I've got questions I don't understand. As a matter of fact, there's an example of this, perhaps, in Psalm 8. Psalm 8, beginning in verse 3. I wonder if this was originally David talking to God. And we're very familiar with this. It says, When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, I imagine David outside looking up at the night sky and talking to God, saying, Look at this, the moon, stars, which you've ordained, what's man that you're mindful of him and the Son of man that you visit him? You've made him lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor. Made him to have dominion over the works of your hands. Put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name and all the earth! I have sometimes felt close enough and relaxed enough to talk to God and things like this where, say, This is amazing! Wow, look at your creation! And sometimes talk about what's troubling. David is looking at this thing, What are you paying attention to us for when you've got all this? And he talks it through. I have found sometimes when I'm praying about a situation or a problem that I talk to God about the circumstances, say, Well, I'm thinking it's like this. Maybe it's this other way. There have been times where what was puzzling or a question suddenly becomes clear and I think I see a solution. Now, I'm not going to say that that was God working a miracle in my mind. I would say it's possible. Sometimes we, by putting our thoughts together and saying them out loud, we find the order that we need. But I do believe God's Spirit works with us. Obviously, His Spirit joins with our Spirit, and prayer is a way for us to interact with God and allow Him to lead us in that way, I think.

I think talking to God is, I said, in a more conversational way, is very useful. I learned a fair bit of this back when I was a much younger man serving at summer camp. I remember when you were in a dorm with like 15 other teenagers, you don't get much privacy. It's hard to go on your knees. There are no prayer closets in the tent. So I developed a habit of walking out in the woods by myself.

One of the things I thought that something I need to pray about while I'm a camp counselor is the campers. I developed a habit, and I haven't been a counselor for years, so I haven't done it in a while, but I developed a habit of praying about each one of my boys individually. Something I would talk to God about, either thanking Him for an accomplishment or seeing a challenge and asking God to help this one overcome that challenge. These two are having trouble getting along and praying and asking God to help them through that. And I found that I couldn't have hard feelings or resentment about any of those boys that I was personally praying for. I felt like I was attached to them. I cared about them, and I wanted to forgive them that they'd done something wrong. So the process of praying for them changed me, I think, for the good. As I said, I don't think it's wrong to have a conversational tone with God in some ways. Sometimes I told God, I'm feeling this way. Am I wrong to think that? Can you show me what is right? Or, you know, sometimes talking about His blessings. Not only saying, thank you for doing this, but sometimes telling Him how I felt. Like, wow! I was blown away when this happened. I mean, have you ever had times where you prayed to God to help with something, and then it worked out exactly the way you asked? And you went back and said, thanks! You know, I'm so used to not getting what I asked for, I'm amazed that you gave it, you know, you worked it out just the way it should have been. I'm thinking of that because this last spring, it was sort of a hectic time at ABC with one thing and then another thing and another thing, and I felt like I was just hopping from pillar to post. But God answered a lot of prayers. Many times we need this to work out and it would work out. We need to find an answer to this question. We'd get an answer. An amazing thing that would happen then. I want to turn to another example. This one's a little more interesting. Well, no, they're all very interesting, but it's in Jeremiah 12. Jeremiah is one of my favorite characters in the Bible because he's just so open. If you read through the book of Jeremiah, you see him from the time he's a very young man all the way until he's getting into his old age, and he grows and changes a lot. And he writes down about himself. You can't read Isaiah and learn very much about Isaiah, but if you read Jeremiah, you're going to learn what he was like.

Jeremiah 12 begins with him having a bit of a conversation with God, I think, in being pretty blunt. In verse 1, he says, Righteous are you, O Lord, when I plead with you, yet let me talk with you about your judgments. I love this. He's like, God, I know you're always right, but can we talk about this? Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

Why are those happy who deal so treacherously? You planted them, they've taken root, they grow, they bear fruit. You're near in their mouth, but far from their mind. It's like Jeremiah is saying, How come these guys are doing so well when I know they're bad guys? And he looks at the comparison. Verse 3 says, But O Lord, you've seen me. You've seen me. You know me. You've tested my heart. It's sort of like saying, How come I'm not getting the good deal they are? And then he gets a little... Again, this is Jeremiah being young, I think, because he's a... Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, prepare them for the day of slaughter.

How long will the land mourn? It's like Jeremiah said, God, let them have it! They deserve it. I don't. Now, I'm not going to advise that we pray that. That's a certain type of prayer called imprecatory prayer, which I don't need to throw at anything. I just like to say imprecatory because it sounds kind of fancy. But there are times we might go to God and say, Father in heaven, I'm trying to do what's right, and I'm still waiting for those blessings you promised.

And I see other people who I don't think are doing so good. Why do they have it so well? You know, we could talk about that, and God, do I need to do more of this, or show me what I need to do less of? But of course, I'd have to say, when we do this, if we ask God to show us, sometimes He will. And He might show us that, He might look down at me and say, Frank, you got it wrong.

You are not seeing it clearly. Let me open your eyes a little. And that seems to be what He did here with Jeremiah. We pick it up in verse 5. After Jeremiah, as a God, I worship you, you're always just, but what's going on here? Why is it like this? And God sort of, I imagine, He chocolates. If you've run with a footman and they've worried you, how are you going to contend with horses?

And if in the land of peace in which you trusted, they've wearied you, how are you doing the floodplain of the Jordans? Jeremiah, suck it up! It's going to get a lot tougher than it is now. Now, I'm putting words in God's mouth. I need to be careful. But that seems to follow the intent. Even your brothers, the house of your father, even they've dealt treacherously with you. They've called a multitude after you. Don't believe them even though they speak smooth words to you.

So God tells Jeremiah, look, it's going to get tougher. You've got to be ready for this. But He gives them a warning, hey, those guys are out to get you. Be aware. Be wary of them. Take care. That's why I say we've got to be respectful with God. And we have to always worship and praise Him and believe Him. But we can talk about what's in our mind. I don't think we have to worry about hurting His feelings. Although I've given sermons showing that I think God can have hurt feelings, but He's got broad shoulders.

He'll bear with it and He'll show us. He'll help us to understand if we're open. I think God is like most human fathers, where He'd rather have us asking questions and He'd rather have us tell Him we don't understand than He would have us give Him the silent treatment. And those of you that have kids, if they just won't talk to you for a while, you're like, what's going on here?

Come on, tell me what's going on. God can look at our minds and know, but He wants us to share with them. Even if He tells us you're seeing it wrong, you've got to straighten out. The one thing I'll say is He always listens. He promises that. He's there for us. He wants us to come.

Through His Holy Spirit, He makes it so we can. And He wants that. I started off talking about aromas and how they can be so powerful in our minds. If we see prayer that way, it helps me understand why incense was part of the worship that God gave to Israel. Because without God's Spirit, they couldn't come to Him and pray to Him, not the way He wants us to pray. He let them have incense to give a representation. But He wants us to go beyond the symbol. He wants us to not worry about incense, but we do need to pray.

I think sometimes a formal prayer, there's a time and place for that. We'll have one that will all join in here in a few moments. But there's times when we can relax and talk to God, as a son or a daughter to a father. Talk to Him as our shepherd, as the one who's been waiting for us to come and tell Him about our day, about our thoughts and our hopes and our dreams. God wants us to do this, and when we do, our prayer will be like a present aroma in God's nostrils.