Now just a prayer together, let us pray.
Our Father, we thank Thee so much that
we meet in the presence of our wonderful
Lord Jesus, who is able to save to
the very uttermost all who come unto Thee
by him.
We thank Thee for the joy of salvation.
We would acknowledge to Thee our consciousness of
our own unworthiness and sin, and yet we
thank Thee, Lord, for the grace that abounds
where sin did once abound.
How often we've said to Thee, Lord, teach
us to pray, and as we come to
Thee tonight, we pray that Thou wilt help
us, so that we may walk with Thee
and enjoy day by day the privilege of
fellowship with the living God.
We ask it for Jesus' sake.
Amen.
Would you please turn with me in your
New Testament to the 14th chapter of John's
Gospel, and to the 14th verse, John chapter
14 and verse 14, where the Lord Jesus
says, If ye shall ask anything in my
name, I will do it.
On Sunday night, for many weeks now, we
have been taking a series of practical messages
under the general title, Learning to Live.
We've sought to understand a little bit about
the meanings of such word, meaning of such
words as repentance and faith and forgiveness and
sin and the Holy Spirit and various other
words in the Word of God, and these
have been an attempt to meet the practical
problems of daily life.
We have thought a little bit about studying
our Bible, and about the problem of witnessing
for Christ, and the reality of the Holy
Spirit in our lives.
And our subject this evening, as we come
almost to the conclusion of this series of
talks, is Enjoying Fellowship with God.
When you read your Bible, God speaks to
you.
When you pray, you speak to God, and
both of these experiences are absolutely vital in
the Christian's life, that God should speak to
you from his Word, and that you should
speak with him in prayer.
I want to talk to you, if I
may tonight, for a little while about enjoying
your prayer life, enjoying your fellowship with the
Lord.
When you read the Word of God, and
God speaks to you in it, this is
what distinguishes the Bible from every other book.
For as you wait upon God in his
Word, you begin to discover the authority of
the book is just because God breathes into
it and through it into your life.
But now when you pray, and when you
turn to him in prayer, and when you
talk with God, what about it then?
I don't think there was ever a time
when prayer is more urgent than it is
today.
Paul said in writing to the church at
Ephesus, the days are evil, but that's more
true now than it was then.
And in these days, when everybody's so scientific,
there's a hesitancy, a thought of doubt, a
lurking doubt about the value of prayer.
To many people it seems a waste of
time to kneel in silence when there's so
much to be done.
And our question is, does anything happen at
the other end when I pray?
Does it make any difference?
It's so hard to believe that it can.
I think that the reason for that doubt
is our ignorance of the principles of prayer.
You know, no machinery can work until you
understand it.
I remember the first time at camp, oh
it must be about seven years ago now,
when they put into our hands a new
motor mower at our church camp up at
Loon Lake.
It was very powerful, a big one.
I'm ashamed to tell you that I had
not at that point, until that point in
my life, ever handled a power mower.
Somebody explained to me how the thing worked.
And all they said I had to do
was to put it in gear and then
just control it.
Well I put it in gear, but I
found that it controlled me.
And it wasn't very long before I, plus
the mower, were somewhere lost in the woods
alongside camp, and I was vainly trying to
stop the thing.
I was supposed to be driving it, but
instead of that it was driving me.
I think we need to understand the principle
of prayer.
And here are four basic principles of the
prayer lights in this verse.
Let me give them to you as you
look at this verse with me.
First, the requisite of prayer, if ye ask.
Second, the extent of our prayer, anything.
Third, the condition of our prayer, in my
name.
And fourth, the promise of prayer, I will
do it.
Now these are four basic principles of our
prayer life, and we're going to look at
them quite simply and quickly together this evening.
First of all, this requisite of prayer, if
ye ask.
James says, you may recall, in the fourth
chapter of his epistle, in the second verse,
ye have not, because ye ask not.
And that our Father God doesn't give to
us until we ask him for them.
Now you know that's true in a family.
Parents give their children, I think, three kinds
of gifts.
They give them, first of all, what I
would call general gifts.
That's a home, and food, and clothes, and
school.
And every child gets these gifts without asking.
And then the child will get some special
gifts.
If the child's a girl, it'll be a
pram or a doll, to teach the girl
first steps in mother love.
If the child's a boy, and I don't
know so much about them, but if the
child's a boy, he'll probably be given a
book about aeroplanes or something, or a stamp
album to encourage his geography.
Special gifts.
But then the parents will give their children
what I call extras.
And these are the kind of gifts that
the child doesn't get unless he asks.
I remember being in a lovely Christian home
not so long ago, and as we were
talking together, there'd been a boy, and there
was a boy in the house, he was
a boy of about 16, 17, and he
went out to play a game somewhere, and
the parents were chatting with me together, and
they said to me, you know, we've saved
up three thousand dollars, and we've put it
aside in the bank to give to John,
if God leads him to go into the
ministry.
But they said, you know, we're not telling
him, and we're keeping it for him until
one day he comes and asks, because God
has laid on his heart the desire to
go into the ministry.
One word from that boy, and it would
all be his.
Before we went to bed that night, we
prayed together, the three of us, father, mother,
and myself, and asked that if it could
be the will of God for that boy,
he would, he would make it now.
And the next morning at breakfast, I looked
at him across the table, it was all
I could do to keep my mouth shut.
If only he knew what I knew, three
thousand dollars waiting for him.
But of course, I didn't say anything.
But I had a letter from them a
little time afterwards, I think about six months
afterwards, and they wrote to me, and they
said, you know, John asked, and he made
his desire known to become a missionary.
And he was absolutely staggered when we told
him that we had three thousand dollars set
aside for him.
If ye ask, I wonder what God has
got locked up in the treasure house of
heaven for us, and something that will never
be ours until we come to him with
a conscious sense of need, and then ask
him.
And you know, when you and I learn
to live near to the Lord, and to
share the desire of his heart, then we
come to want, and ask what he wants
for us.
Do you remember that wonderful prophecy of Ezekiel?
And in the thirty-sixth chapter, telling of
God's promise to bring the Jew back to
the land, it ends this way, for this
I will be inquired of by them to
do it.
Here then, is what we've called the requisite
of prayer, if ye ask.
And I believe that for all of us
tonight, God has some extra, some special thing,
something that he has for us in the
bank of heaven, that he waits to give
when I come to him as his child,
with a sense of my need, and I
ask him.
Ye have not, because ye ask not.
But what's the extent of my asking?
Well, this verse says anything.
Now nothing could be so inclusive as that.
It seems there's no limit to the kind
of thing I can ask, and there's no
limit to the size of thing I can
ask, and there's no limit to the difficulty,
if ye ask anything.
I want you to get the tremendous inclusiveness
of that word tonight, to apply it to
your life.
Anything, any kind of thing, so God says.
Now you know some people ask God for
mercy, but they don't ask him for money.
And yet Philippians 4 19 says, my God
shall supply all your need, according to his
riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Do you know that George Muller got no
less than 10 million dollars in his lifetime
for his orphanage, because he asked God about
it.
It all came in answer to prayer.
So God says, if you ask anything, any
size of thing, yes, no limit to the
size, great things as well as little thing.
I know lots of people who'll ask God
for guidance concerning their life work, but they
never ask God for guidance about where they
should spend their vacation.
And God expects us to ask him about
big things as well as little things, because
Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 6 says, acknowledge
him in all thy ways and he will
direct thy path.
Therefore God expects us to ask him about
everything, big things and little things, and difficult
things, impossible things as well as possible things.
What an unbelieving mess, a believable message Gabriel
brought to Mary one day.
And she said to him, how shall this
be?
And his answer was with God, nothing shall
be impossible.
I love the little phrase of John Ruskin
who once said this, there is nothing so
small that we do not honor God by
asking him about it.
And there's nothing so small that we do
not insult him when we take it into
our own hearts and never ask him.
And so the extent of our asking, I
wonder, I wonder if we really ask God
in that inclusive way about big things and
little things, about impossible things as well as
possible things, about every kind of thing.
If ye ask anything, that's a promise.
Ah, but then we come to the condition
of prayer.
If ye ask anything, look at this next
little phrase, in my name.
What's that mean?
It means according to his will.
You remember that tremendous promise in 1 John
chapter 5 and verse 14?
This is the confidence that we have in
him, that if we ask anything according to
his will, we have it.
There's the one and only condition of prayer,
the will of God.
If I could simply ask God for anything
by itself, I might get something from him
that would hurt me, it would damage me,
it would cause me harm, and no parent
would do that to his child.
A child will often ask something foolishly or
selfishly, and a wise father and mother will
withhold the giving.
There's nothing worse than a spoiled child.
Therefore there's this condition of prayer.
If ye ask anything according to my will,
the will of God.
And you know the Lord is so lavish
in his giving when we ask him for
something in his will.
There's a lovely story told about a minister
who one day stepped out of the door
of a seminary campus, and as he did
so, there was a tramp walking along the
road, and came up to him and asked
him if he would give him a good
square meal.
He was very hungry.
And so that minister took his name card
out of his pocket, and he wrote on
the back of it, give this man a
good square meal.
And he told the tramp to take it
to the front door of the seminary, and
asked for the cook, and the cook would
give him a good square meal.
And so he went to the door and
approached it, and just as he did, an
old gentleman opened the door with a smiling
face and grey hair, shining face.
Actually he was the father of the minister.
And he said to this tramp, what do
you want?
And the man showed him the card, and
the dear old gentleman read it and then
tore it up, and the tramp said to
him, please don't do that, that's my only
hope of a meal.
Oh, said the dear old man, you just
come inside with me.
And he took him to the dining room,
and he sat down, and they both sat
down, and then he rang a bell.
And he called for the cook, and he
said bring us two good square meals.
And so they sat down together, and both
of them had a good feed.
And so that man not only enjoyed some
food, but he enjoyed some fellowship.
And you know that's exactly what it's like
with God.
That's exactly what the Lord does, the Father
does, to someone who comes to him with
everything, in the will of God.
Coming to him in the name of the
Lord Jesus.
We don't only get food, but we have
fellowship with heaven.
But then of course this presents a problem
in our prayer life, because somebody says to
me, that's all very well, but how do
I know when I ask God for something,
that I am asking him for that which
is his will for me.
I'm reminded of a verse in Romans chapter
8, and I would just like to read
it to you.
It's in verse 26.
Likewise the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, also helpeth
our infirmities.
Listen, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit
himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered, or as one translation has
it, with sighs too deep for words.
And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what
is the mind of the Spirit, because he
maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God.
How can I know what I'm asking is
God's will for me?
Well you see beloved, real prayer begins in
the heart of God with a desire that
he implants in your heart by his Spirit.
And that desire goes back to heaven in
prayer, and it comes back to us in
blessing and in life.
Now, delight thyself also in the Lord, Psalm
37, 4.
Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall
give thee some desire, no, every desire of
thine heart, not just a few things.
Delight thyself in the Lord, make thy boast
in him, rejoice in him, let the Lord
fill your life, and let his will be
to you the one thing that matters.
Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, make
your joy in the Lord, and he shall
give you every desire.
How can that be?
Well you see, when you delight in the
Lord, you only want that which is his
will for you.
And when your joy is in the Lord
Jesus, the desires that come into your heart
are the desire of God for your life.
Now this is what prayer, makes prayer so
simple.
Of course failure here makes prayer so impossible.
The whole essence of answered prayer is our
relationship to God in Jesus Christ.
May I say to all of you listening
tonight, the first thing is to be unsure
that you're on praying ground.
The only prayer that some people can pray
is the prayer of the publican who cried,
oh God be merciful to me a sinner.
I'm not on praying ground till I enter
the family by my new birth, by my
commitment of my life to Jesus Christ, by
my receiving him as my Lord.
But then I then am on praying ground.
And if at that point I delight myself
in the Lord and my one desire is
to do his will, then every desire of
my heart is satisfied.
Oh but you see, so many of his
children are in a bit of a controversy
with heaven about that.
Not all together agreed that they really want
God's will.
Not all together one in their desire only
for the will of God.
They think perhaps it would be inconvenient, or
perhaps it would mean giving up too much.
And in so many Christian hearts there's a
battle on this issue.
And the amazing thing is that when you
don't give in to the Lord, then you
don't find any satisfaction in the desire of
your heart whatsoever.
But it's when you delight in him, and
when you rejoice in him, and when there's
no controversy with heaven, and when your life
is delighting in the reality of Jesus Christ,
then he satisfies every desire.
Could you believe that tonight?
Oh friend I hope you will.
I hope you will.
And I am absolutely sure that's the key
to answered prayer, the will of God, the
complete delighting of your heart in the Savior.
But I want you to notice tonight as
we conclude our message, this promise of prayer.
Here's the requisite of prayer, I must, I
must, I must ask.
And here's the extent of prayer, anything, there's
no limit.
But here's the condition of prayer in the
name of the Lord Jesus, that which is
his will for me, and here's the promise,
I will do it.
Do you notice in your Bible that little
word it is in italics?
That means of course it's been supplied by
the translators to make sense.
I like to forget that little word, omit
it altogether, and read it like this, because
this is really what it means.
If you ask anything in my name, I
will get to work.
I think that's a tremendous promise.
God gets to work when I pray.
He always gives what we ask, or something
better.
We don't always think so at the time,
but as we get to know him, we
begin to leave the choice to him and
trust him for his wisdom.
But isn't it a tremendous thing that God
begins to go to work when his people
really pray?
It's refreshing to me at this point to
think of wintertime, and to imagine myself in
Chicago in its glory in the winter, and
the temperature is down to zero somewhere, and
the ground is hard, and it's frosty, very
cold.
It's caked hard with frost.
It's urgently in need of moisture.
And one day, hanging over that hard ground,
there comes a cloud.
And the temperature begins to go up a
little bit, and the cloud gets very heavy.
And presently, before long, a current of air
pierces that cloud, and something happens, and snow
begins to fall, and the ground begins to
feel moisture.
You see, above that, above that hard ground,
in that cloud, there's something that that ground
needs for moisture.
And the current of air pierces the cloud,
and it begins to drop, and the moisture
falls.
And I love to think tonight, beloved, that
over the barrenness of some life here in
this church, there hangs a cloud, the cloud
of the blessing of God, that which my
cold, barren heart so urgently needs.
And then my believing prayer is like that
current of air that pierces the cloud, and
the blessing begins to come, and the hardness
begins to melt away.
God says, if ye ask, I will get
to work.
Therefore I say to you, whatever else you
do in life, pray.
However else you may fill up your time
with whatever other things you may become busy,
pray.
For it's when I really pray, in the
name of the Lord Jesus, that the blessing
begins to fall.
Oh, how much of God's treasure store has
just passed by my life because I haven't
prayed.
May I, in conclusion, make a very practical
suggestion.
Supposing you say to me, how do I
begin?
Well, supposing you have five minutes for prayer.
If you start with five minutes, the habit
will increase.
But just let's suppose you have five minutes
for prayer.
Listen, in that five minutes, make four acts
with your mind.
Here they are.
First, an act of adoration.
That is, don't ask for anything, just worship.
Speak to the Lord Jesus about himself.
Tell him you love him.
You remember the words of that lovely hymn
which I often use in prayer, my God,
how wonderful thou art, thy majesty how bright,
how beautiful thy mercy seat in depths of
burning light.
May I venture to say this to you,
be very careful about being too familiar in
prayer.
Now, you may think I'm old-fashioned, probably
you do, but this idea of God being
a kind of individual upstairs somewhere, and this
kind of colloquialism in prayer, this easy conversational
chatting with God, this familiarity of terminology doesn't
impress me one little bit as being spiritual.
God is infinitely holy, and when I approach
him I'm on holy ground, and I need
to learn that as I enter into his
presence, I must adore him, I must worship
him, I must take my place like the
cherubim and seraphim as they covered their faces
in the presence of God.
Beware of being too familiar, won't you?
And when you call him by his name,
call him by his rightful name, he's not
only Jesus, he is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore make your first minute an act of
adoration, and your second minute an act of
confession.
Do you ever go through the day with
the Lord, looking back upon it, just, just
for a moment?
Stand in his presence like a soldier would
stand before his commanding officer, and ask him,
Lord, have you any complaints today?
Where have I gone wrong?
What have I said to grieve you?
What have I failed to do?
An act of confession.
Go through the day, keep short accounts with
God, never let a day go by, but
you do this, and just revise in your
mind and review the day with God.
An act of confession.
And then let your third act be an
act of thanksgiving.
Thank him for his mercy, for friends, for
home, for loved ones, for work, for salvation,
most of all, yes, for life in Jesus
Christ.
An act of thanksgiving.
And then let your fourth act be an
act of supplication, supplication, adoration, confession, thanksgiving.
Now you can ask him for something.
I think it's lovely to have a little
book in which you enter the names of
your friends for whom you pray, perhaps 31
pages in it, and enter each name on
the date of that person's birthday, and therefore
you pray for that person 12 times a
year.
I wish I had more time to do
this, and that is to write to the
people to whom, for whom I pray, and
tell them that I've been remembering them in
prayer.
What a ministry that can be, especially to
the missionary.
Beloved, would you try those four acts?
You notice they're an acrostic on the word
acts.
Adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication.
Four simple acts of your mind that you
could cover in five minutes.
Once you've begun, as I said, with five
minutes, oh you'll soon want far more than
that, but just begin, just begin.
Some young person here who's never made a
really disciplined practice of prayer, and I think
we'd be quite amazed if we were honest
to discover how many just don't do it.
A simple practice of a daily talk with
the Lord.
Will you put that to the test?
But again, as I conclude my message, how
I pray that every one of us can
look up into his face tonight and call
him Father.
You can only do that from the moment
in your life when you know Jesus Christ
as your Savior, and I trust you've entered
into the family relationship.
If you haven't, you can do so right
now, and prayer can take on a new
meaning to you.
There's all the difference between saying your prayer
and praying, and I trust that for some
Christian here who's got no fellowship with God
in prayer simply because you've never delighted in
the will of God, for some of you
who've battled your way through and just fought
things out and resisted the will of the
Lord, the good will of God, that tonight
you may submit your life to him, that
you will find the joy of every desire
of your heart being met because you're delighting
in the Savior.
Put it all to the test, and God
bless you.
Let's bow together for prayer.
Lord Jesus, we thank thee that thou art
so real to those of us who know
thee, and we pray that day by day
we may learn to talk with thee and
to walk with thee in the light of
thy word, and that prayer may become a
living experience to us, a precious thing, something
that we cannot afford to miss, because in
the time of fellowship we meet with thee,
and thou dost meet with us.
O dear Savior, if there are some here
who are not even on praying ground, Lord,
wilt thou speak and bless and save even
tonight, and bring them into the family of
the redeemed?