God's Great Need for Prayer

Tip! Jesus said they were to do even greater works than He had achieved during His ministry in the world. Wow! Then our Master went on to show them that by praying in His Name, Jesus, this is the channel through which the authorized power is acquired to carry out the works that glorify our Father in the Son.

"GOD Wondered." This is a very striking thought! The very boldness of the idea ought surely to capture the attention of every earnest Christian man, woman and child. A wondering God! Why, how staggered we might well be if we knew the cause of God's "wonder"! Yet we find it to be, apparently, a very little thing. But if we are willing to consider the matter carefully, we will discover it to be one of the greatest possible importances to every believer on the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing else is so momentous "so vital" to our spiritual welfare.

Isaiah 59:16 "He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him."

But this was in the days of long ago, before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ "full of grace and truth" "before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, full of grace and power, "helping our infirmity," "Himself making intercession for us" and in us (Romans 8:26). Yes, and even before the truly amazing promises of our Savior regarding prayer; before people knew very much about prayer; in the days when sacrifices for their sins loomed larger in their eyes than supplication for other sinners.

Oh, how great must be God's wonder today! For how few there are among us who know what prevailing prayer really is! Every one of us would confess that we believe in prayer, yet how many of us truly believe in the power of, prayer?

Now, before we go a step farther, I most earnestly plead with you not to read these words hurriedly. Much "very much" depends on the way in which every reader receives what is recorded here.

For everything depends on prayer.

Why are many Christians so often defeated? Because they pray so little and everything depends on prayer.

Why so many church-workers are often discouraged and disheartened? Could it be because they pray so little?

Why do most Christians see so few brought "out of darkness to light" by their ministry? It must be because they pray so little.

Tip! A person's character is always demonstrated in their behavior. The Savior again said,"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good ..." -- Luke 6:45

Why are not our churches simply on fire for God? Because prayer is not first in churches today and they pray so little.

The Lord Jesus is as powerful today as ever before. The Lord Jesus is as anxious for people to be saved as ever before. His arm is not shortened that it cannot save: but He cannot stretch out His arm unless we pray more - and more real prayer.

When does Prayer become a Real and Deep Joy?

Tip! If we, God's people expect to carry out the works of Christ that will glorify our Father, then we must believe in Him for the very work's sake, and pray fervently in His Name.

We will always profit from the Holy Scriptures when prayer becomes a real and deep joy. Merely just to "say our prayers" each morning and evening is an irksome task, a duty to be performed which brings us a sigh of relief when it is finished. But in order to really come into the conscious presence of God, to behold the glorious light of His countenance, to commune with Him at the mercy seat, is a small sample of the eternal bliss awaiting us in heaven.

The person who is blessed with this experience can say with the Psalmist, "But it is good for me to draw near to God..." (Psalms 73:28) Yes, good for the heart, for it is become quiet; good for faith, for it is strengthened; good for the soul, for it is blessed. It is the lack of this soul communion with God that is the root cause of our unanswered prayers: "Delight yourself also in the LORD; And He shall give you the desires of your heart." (Psalms 37:4)

While under this blessing of the Holy Spirit, What is it that produces and promotes this joy in prayer?

First, it is the heart's delight in God as the Object of prayer, and particularly the recognition and realization of God as our Father. Thus, when the disciples asked the Lord Jesus to teach them to pray, He said, "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven." And again, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba [the Hebrew word for "Daddy"], Father" (Gal. 4:6), which includes a family relationship, holy delight in God, such as children have in their parents in their most affectionate addresses to them. So again, in Ephesians 2:18, we are told, for the strengthening of faith and the comfort of our hearts, "For through Him [Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." What peace, what assurance, what freedom this gives to our soul: to know we are approaching our Father!

Tip! The Holy Bible says in (John 5:13) this statement about prayer: "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."

Second, joy in prayer is added by our heart's apprehension and the soul's sight of God as He sets on the throne of grace - a sight or prospect, not by physical imagination, but by spiritual illumination, for it is by faith that we "see Him who is invisible" (Heb. 11:27); faith being the "evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1), making its proper object evident and present to us that believe. Such a sight of God on such a "throne" cannot but thrill our soul. This why we are encouraged to, "...come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

Thirdly, and drawn from the last quoted scripture above, freedom and delight in prayer are stimulated by the consciousness that God is, through Jesus Christ, willing and ready to dispense grace and mercy to prayerful sinners. There is no reluctance in Him that we have to overcome. He is ever so much more ready to give than we are to receive. So He is represented in Isaiah 30:18, "And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you." Yes, He waits to be sought by you; He waits for your faith to lay hold of His readiness to bless. His ear is ever open to the cries of the righteous.

Then "let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:22); So we can "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Prayer is being Brought into Complete Submission unto God

Tip! 'Asking of God' and 'receiving' from the Lord - direct request to God, immediate connection with God - that is true prayer.

We can only profit from the Holy Scriptures when we are brought into complete submission unto God. As I have stated before, one of the Divine designs in enlisting prayer as a command is that we must be humbled. This is outwardly symbolized when we bow our knees before the Lord when we pray.

Prayer is an acknowledgment of our helplessness, and a looking to Him from whom all our help comes. It is an owning of His sufficiency to supply our every need. As Philippians 4:6 says "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;" but requests are very different from demands.

"The throne of grace is not set up that we may come and there vent our passions before God" (Wm. Gurnall). Yes, we are to spread our case before God, but we must leave it to His superior wisdom to prescribe how it will be dealt with. There must be no dictating, nor can we "claim" anything from God, for we are beggars depending on His mere mercy. In all our praying we must add, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will Lord."

I can hear your question - But can't faith plead God's promises and expect an answer? Certainly; but you must let God's answer be the only answer. Remember Paul prayed to the Lord three times to remove his thorn in the flesh; instead of doing so, the Lord gave him grace to endure it (read 2 Corinthians 12).

Tip! In order to accomplish His high purpose, Jesus showed us His purpose in answering our prayers when He said, "...That the Father may be glorified in the Son."

Many of God's promises are random rather than personal. Let me explain; He has promised His Church pastors, teachers and evangelists, yet many a local company of His saints has languished long time without them. Some of God's promises are indefinite and general rather than absolute and universal. As, for example look at Ephesians 6:2-3 "HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER," which is the first commandment with a promise: "THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU AND YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH."

God has not bound Himself to give in kind or the form specified, or to grant the particular thing we ask for, even though we ask in faith. Moreover, He reserves for Himself the right to determine the right time and season for granting His mercies. Zephaniah 2:3 "Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the LORD's anger." Just because it "may be" God's will to grant a certain temporal mercy to me, it is my duty to cast myself on Him and plead for it, yet with entire submission to His good pleasure for the performance of it.

Tip! God's people do not have authorization to demand the Savior's promise of, "...Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do," in order to gain something very special for themselves.

Jesus pleaded to our Father to find another way to redeem us other then having to go to the cross; and Jesus added "Not My will but Your will be done." Jesus submitted completely to our Father and obediently went to the cross and died for us. In three days Jesus was raised form the grave by our Father. The promise of our Salvation was completed for all who believe this. Aren't you thankful that Jesus Christ chose to obey our Father so we can enjoy life everlasting with Him? I sure am!

For more information on receiving this FREE gift of Salvation CLICK HERE now!!!

What does it Mean to Plead God's Promises in Prayer

Tip! The Holy Bible says in (John 5:13) this statement about prayer: 'And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.'

How can we profit from the Holy Scriptures if we are not taught how to plead God's promises. Prayer must be in faith (Romans 10:14 "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?"), or God will not hear it.

Now faith has respect to God's promises (Hebrews 4:1 "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it."..."and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform." Romans 4:21); so if, consequently, we do not understand what God stands guaranteed to give, we cannot pray at all.

In the promises of God we find the substance of prayer as well as a description and the amount of the promise. What God has promised, all that He has promised, and nothing else, this is what we are to pray for. Deuteronomy 29:29 says "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." Can you see now how the declaration of His will and the revelation of His grace really do belong to us, and is our rule for this life?

There is nothing that we really stand in need of but that God our Father has not already promised to supply it for us, but yet He promised them in such a way and under such limitations that the promises are for our good and helpful to us. And also there is nothing that God has promised but we find ourselves in need of it, or are in some way or other concerned in it as members of the spiritual body of Christ. For this reason, the better we are acquainted with the Divine promises, and the more we are enabled to understand the goodness, grace and mercy prepared and proposed in them, the better equipped are we for acceptable prayer.

Some of God"s promises are general rather than specific; some are conditional, others unconditional; some are fulfilled in this life, others in the world to come. We are not able in ourselves to discern which promise is most suited to our particular case and present emergency and need, or to appropriate by faith and rightly plead it before God. Wherefore we are expressly told in, 1 Corinthians 2:11-12 "For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God."

Tip! If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and want to know for sure that you are a child of God, then I would like to invite you to earnestly pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart.

If you are asking me now, "If so much is required to have our prayers acceptable to God our Father, and if we cannot pray to God correctly without much less trouble than you indicate, only a few of us will continue long in this duty." Then I will answer that such a complainer does not know what it is to pray or how, nor do they seem willing to learn.

There are NO shortcuts in learning to pray the prayers that are acceptable to God. Only the Holy Spirit can lead the way and teach you in the way we should go. Which way will you go? As for me and my house we will choose to serve the Lord!

The Holy Spirit Teaches us the Right Goal in Praying

Tip! The Master will not expect more from anyone than a person is capable of doing for Him. Jesus wants us to understand that each person will be rewarded according to their faithfulness in doing their given task.

We are aided by the Holy Scriptures when the Holy Spirit teaches us the right end in praying. God has fixed the guidelines of prayer that consist of at least three guiding principles.

First, that the great Three in One, God might be honored, for prayer is an act of worship, a paying of respect; to our Father as the Giver, in the Son's name (Jesus Christ), by whom alone we may approach Him and by the moving and directing power of the Holy Spirit.

Second, we must humble our hearts, for prayer is designed to bring us to the place of complete dependency on our Father. Prayer is to develop within us a sense of our helplessness, by admitting that without the Lord we can do nothing. We are beggars and depend on His charity for everything we are and have. But we only realize this halfheartedly (if at all) until the Spirit takes us in hand, removes pride from us and gives God His true place in our hearts and thoughts.

Tip! Praise and thanksgiving This is the earnest, heartfelt prayer where we come before the Lord thanking and praising him for his mighty power and love. We may praise him in both our earthly and spiritual language.

Third, prayer is a means or way of obtaining for ourselves the good things for which we ask.

I am greatly afraid that one of the main reasons why so many of our prayers remain unanswered is because we have a wrong and an unworthy end of our prayers in view. Our Saviour said, "Ask, and it shall be given you" (Matthew 7:7): but James confirms that, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." (James 4:3).

To pray for anything, and not specifically for the end that God has designed, is to "ask amiss," and so therefore our prayers are of no purpose. Whatever confidence we may have in our own wisdom and integrity, if we are left to ourselves our aims will never be suited to the will of God. Unless the Holy Spirit restrains the selfish desires that are within us, our own natural and distempered affections intermix themselves in our prayers, and as a result are submitted in vain.

(1 Corinthians 10:31) "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." yet no one but the Holy Spirit can enable us to lower all our desires to God's glory.

Are You Aware of Our need of the Spirit's Help with Prayer?

Tip! Prayer opens the door for salvation. (Act 2:42) "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers".

We are benefiting from the Holy Scriptures when we are made conscious of our need of the Spirit's help in prayer. First, that the Holy Spirit may make known to us our real wants. Take, for example, our temporal needs. How often we are in some external difficulties, trouble or problems, things that are not our fault are pressing hard on us, and we long to be delivered from these trials and struggles. Surely here we "know" ourselves what to pray for, right? No, indeed; far from it!

The truth is that, despite our natural desire for relief, we are so ignorant and so dull is our discernment, that (even where there is an exercised conscience) we do not know what submission to His good pleasure that God our Father may be requiring from us as His children. Or He has approved these afflictions and difficulties for our inward good and spiritual growth.

So for this reason, God calls the prayers of most who are looking for relief from these external trials "howlings," and not a crying unto Him with the heart (see this for yourself in Hosea 7:14). Then in Ecclesiastes 6:12 we read, "For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen after him under the sun?" Ah, heavenly wisdom is needed to teach us our temporal "needs" so as to make them a matter of prayer according to the mind of God.

Then secondly perhaps a few words are needed here to add to what has just been said. Temporal things may be scripturally prayed for according to what Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:11 "Give us this day our daily bread" and in other places in the Holy Bible, but with this comes a threefold limitation.

Tip! A person's character is always demonstrated in their behavior. The Savior again said,"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good ..." -- Luke 6:45

1. First, incidentally and not primarily, for they are not the things which Christians are mainly concerned in Matthew 6:33 we read "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." It is heavenly and eternal things (Colossians 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.) which are to be sought first and foremost, as being of far greater importance and value than temporal things.

2. Second, subordinately, as a means to an end. In seeking material things from God it should not be in order that we may be gratified, but as an aid to our pleasing Him better. I am learning that everything I need to do God's will has been given to me when I have been lead by the Holy Spirit to pray for it. I have prayed for things that I did not understand why I needed them, but all in God's good time they were needed for His good pleasure.

Tip! Praise and thanksgiving - This is the earnest, heartfelt prayer where we come before the Lord thanking and praising him for his mighty power and love. We may praise him in both our earthly and spiritual language.

3. Third, submissively, not dictatorially, for that would be the sin of presumption. Moreover, we do not know whether any temporal gift would really contribute to our highest good (Psalms 106:15 "And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul."), and therefore we must leave it with God to decide.

We all have inward wants as well as outward needs. Some of these may be discerned in the light of conscience, such as the guilt and defilement of sin, of sins against light and nature and the plain letter of the law. Nevertheless, the knowledge which we have of ourselves by means of the conscience is so dark and confused that, apart from the Holy Spirit, we are in no way able to discover the true fountain of cleansing.

The things that believers do and ought to consider first and foremost with God in their prayers are the inward frames and the spiritual character of their souls. Accordingly, David was not satisfied with the confessing of all his known transgressions and original sins (Psalms 51:1-5), nor was he satisfied with the acknowledgment that none could understand his errors, as a result he desired to be cleansed from his "secret faults" (Psalms 19:12). King David also begged God to carry out an inward searching of his heart to find out what was wrong in him (Psalms 139:23, 24), knowing that God principally requires "truth in the inward parts" (Psalms 51:6). Consequently, in view of I Corinthians 2: 10-12, we should definitely seek the Holy Spirit's aid that we may pray acceptably to God.

We know Not what We should Pray For

Tip! The person who prays, has a belief that they will receive an answer. The prayer is intended to inculcate certain attitudes in the one who prays, rather than to influence the recipient.

We are able to profit from the Holy Scriptures when we are made to feel that we know not how to pray. Paul writes in Romans 8:26 "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered."

Only a very few professing Christians really believe this! The idea that is generally entertained is that people know well enough what they should pray for. The only problem is that we are careless and wicked, and end up failing to pray for what we are fully confident is our duty. But such a conception is at direct disagreement with this inspired statement in Romans 8:26.

It is to be observed that this flesh-humbling statement is not made simply about people in general, but for the Christians, children of God in particular, this is why the Apostle Paul did not hesitate to include himself: "For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought." If this is the condition of the Christian, how much more so of the non-Christian or unsaved!

Yet it is one thing to read and mentally agree to what this verse says, but it is quite another to have a new realization of it, for the heart to be made to feel that what God requires from us He must Himself work in and through us.

"I often say my prayers,

But do I ever pray?

And do the wishes of my heart

Go with the words I say?

I may as well kneel down

And worship gods of stone,

As offer to the living God

A prayer of words alone"

It is many years since the I heard this poem from a friend that was taught these lines by his mother - now "present with the Lord" - but their searching message still comes home with force to me. The Christian can no more pray without the direct enabling of the Holy Spirit than we can create a world.

Tip! Praise and thanksgiving - This is the earnest, heartfelt prayer where we come before the Lord thanking and praising him for his mighty power and love. We may praise him in both our earthly and spiritual language.

This must be so, for real prayer is a felt need awakened within us by the Holy Spirit, so that we ask God our Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, for that which is in agreement with His holy will. 1 John 5:14 says "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." But to ask something which is not according to God's will is not praying, but presuming.

True, God's revealed will is made known in His Word the Holy Bible, yet not in such a way as a cook book contains recipes and directions for preparing various dishes. The Holy Scriptures frequently detail principles that require a continuous exercise of heart and Divine help to show us their application to different cases and circumstances. Consequently we are profiting from the Holy Scriptures when we are taught our deep need of crying "Lord, teach us to pray" Luke 11:1, and are actually forced to beg Him for the spirit of prayer.

Are you sure you know what to pray for? I don't!

Do You Realize the Deep Importance of Prayer?

Tip! 'Asking of God' and 'receiving' from the Lord - direct request to God, immediate connection with God - that is true prayer.

We can only profit from the Holy Scriptures when we are brought to the realization of the deep importance of prayer. I am afraid that many present-day Christian readers and students of the Bible have no deep convictions that a definite prayer-life is absolutely essential for our daily walking and communing with God.

Prayer is for the deliverance from the power of indwelling sin in our lives, the luring and temptations and seductions of this world, and also for the release from the assaults of Satan. How can we send our children to school without praying for them first? If we don"t pray for them who will? Is your marriage about to fall apart? Why have you not prayed to our Father about it? Are you having trouble at work with your boss or are you facing a possible layoff? How can you not pray for help?

If such a conviction really gripped our hearts, would we not spend far more time on our faces before God? But yet our reply is always the same, "I have a multitude of things that have to be done that crowd out prayer, even though it is very much against my wishes." But the fact remains that each of us takes time for anything we deem to be important.

Whoever lived a busier life than our Savior? Yet who found more time for prayer? If we truly desire to be prayerful and intercessors before God Almighty our Father and use all the available time we now have, He will so order things for us that we will have more time for prayer. Just ask Him to help you, He will!

I can see this lack of positive conviction of the deep importance of prayer; and it is plainly demonstrated in the corporate lives of most professing Christians. God has very plainly said, "My house shall be called the house of prayer" (Matthew 21:13). Note: Jesus did not say "the house of preaching and singing," but of prayer.

Tip! Let us always be aware of the fact that the power that is achieved to do the greater works that are required for Christ, is only gained through fervent prayer and faith in Jesus Christ.

Yet, in the great majority of even so-called orthodox churches, the ministry of prayer has become a negligible quantity. There are still evangelistic campaigns, and Bible-teaching conferences, but how rarely do we hear of two weeks set apart for special prayer! And how much good do these "Bible conferences" accomplish if the prayer-life of the churches is not strengthened?

But when the Spirit of God is applied in power to our hearts such words as:

Mark 14:38 "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation..."

Tip! Approach God in prayer and ask for a fit body. Get clear and visualize your fit body and believe.

Philippians 4:6 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;"

Colossians 4:2 "Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;"

Then we are profiting from the Holy Scriptures, God's Word the Holy Bible.