Church of Christ Studies

Prayer

I think this a very fine Saturday noon audience, especially in view of the fact that there are attractions, many of them, within easy reach of us all.

 

In James 5:16 there are these words addressed unto Christians: "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

 

I am just wondering if we really believe those statements. Are we ready, brethren and friends, at all times to confess our faults? Are we ready to pray for one another that we may be healed of our transgressions? Do we really believe that the effectual, earnest prayer of a righteous man availeth much?

 

Sometimes I have thought that the matter of praying at services like this is largely due to formality. We have been so accustomed in our service to have, say, two or three songs, and then a prayer, and then another song, that perhaps we have grown into the idea that it is just a mere matter of form; and hence we are not ready to commence to worship Cod or to put our souls into it until after the formalities are over. I frequently think, therefore, that it would be a fine lesson for our children especially to vary that particular order. Perhaps if we should have the sermon the first thing, the singing at the close of the service, and then the prayer, it would counteract the impression that it is a cold, ritualistic, and formal affair.

 

Now, Christian people believe in the efficacy and duty of prayer. Always has it been an important obligation resting upon men, and those of whom you read with favorable comment in the Bible were men who ever breathed out the sentiment of prayer unto Jehovah. Abraham was a man of prayer. Jacob stopped on the way in which he traveled and offered a prayer unto God. Moses, amid cares and responsibilities the equal of which no other man ever had, often went to the Lord in prayer. His successor Joshua, likewise David, prayed most earnestly and fervently unto God. Solomon, as well as Hezekiah, one of the best kings of which we have a record, carried his troubles and his anxieties unto God in prayer.

 

We are sometimes skeptical about matters of this kind, because we fancy that God is the same unchangeable being, and that according to natural laws things have been fixed, and that nothing can be done by even Jehovah to change the affairs connected therewith. But the Bible suggests to us quite the contrary. In connection with the very text I have read, James says that Elijah was a man subject to like passions as are we, emphasizing the fact that he was just simply human, and not due to the fact that he was a prophet, but as a man, subject to like passions of life as we are, and that he prayed earnestly unto God that it might not rain for a space of three years and six months; and God Almighty—not by a miracle, but in a way characteristic of himself and of his own affairs—answered that prayer. I do not know whether he would do that for me or not, because it might not be best. I shall not, in this morning's discussion, enter into all those things that were characteristic of Elijah's day, but suffice it to say that the object was sought and the demonstrations anxiously looked for on the part of Elijah that the people might be called to their senses and to a recognition that God reigns over the destinies and the lives of men.

 

In a word, all our skeptical ideas regarding God's answering prayers of the right sort are due, friends and brethren, to our shortsightedness. We are so limited and finite that sometimes we find ourselves doubting even the ability of Jehovah to override the obstacles. We imagine that things are insurmountable; and, therefore, we grow doubtful and skeptical in mind as to whether or not God will pay any attention to earnest, profound prayer.

 

Let me submit to you that the object of prayer is twofold—first, the effect that an earnest petition of a child of God may have upon the Father, and, second, upon the one who prays. I walk by faith, not by sight, in announcing to you that there is much that results from an earnest prayer.

 

But I am reminded, further, that the word "much" is a relative term, and it is hard to determine just what is meant by it. A thimbleful of water is much compared to a drop, a glassful of water would be much compared to a thimbleful, and Cumberland River down here would be much compared with a pitcherful; but through every phase of life's affairs, put it down that James said: "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." He did not say how much, nor in what way, nor go into the details regarding it; but the point made is, as I get it, there never has been a really fervent, earnest prayer, meeting all the requirements that God lays down, to which I will later refer, that was ever spent in vain. Now, it is true it might miss the definite and precise object toward which it was centered, or it might hit somewhere else, but its force and effect will be felt upon the earth.

 

I read an illustration of some one just along this line in which he said that you may take a rifle and level the aim upon a spot, and that you might miss the very thing shot at, but the force of the bullet is not spent in vain, that it will accomplish something or other somewhere.

 

We may marshal our soldiers upon the held of battle and go against the enemy, and numbers and numbers of charges may be spent apparently in vain, and yet there is something effected somewhere and in some way as the result of the same. So, then, let Christian people take courage that while we may pray for one specific thing and not get it, if there be a profound, earnest prayer, it will accomplish something or other somewhere if limited and bounded within the restrictions that God makes regarding an acceptable prayer.

 

Now, there is another thing, another fine feature. Aside from the effect that an earnest effectual prayer would have upon our Father, who loves and pities us as every father does his own child, there is a subjective influence that is exceedingly fine and not to be overlooked. You never saw a man in all of your life who lived in the true spirit and atmosphere of prayer, whose custom it was to frequently, not perhaps publicly, but in the quietude of his own relationships, approach the throne of Jehovah and pour out the anxiety of his soul—you never saw a man of that kind but that he was meek and humble and recognized his dependence upon the Power supreme, upon the "Rock that is higher than I."

 

Moses gave a very fine warning unto the leaders of Israel, a record of which is found in Deut. 6:12, when he said: "Now, then, you are about to cross the river Jordan. You will drive out the enemy; you will have your possessions there and occupy houses which you did not build; you will pluck of the fruit of orchards and of vineyards which you did not plant; you will drink water out of wells which you have not digged. You will come into the enjoyment of all these things as a matter of inheritance. Now, let me tell you, brethren, beware, lest thou forget the God that has led thee from bondage and has overshadowed thee, showered down these blessings upon you."

 

Don't you know that is our disposition? it is mighty hard to appreciate things that come to us upon silver platters and for which we never toiled. We know not how they come. It is so unfortunate to-day for boys and girls to come into possession of a vast amount of wealth without having been thoroughly trained and acquainted with the fact as to how dollars are earned. They literally scatter and sow it around them until it is all gone.

 

Now, another example that is rather a sad one. In Deut. 32 the record tells us that the Lord found Jacob in a waste, howling wilderness, in a desert land; and he took Jacob up and kept him as the very apple of his eye, and nurtured and tutored him and bore him aloft and bore him up, says the record, on eagles' wings. He made him to eat of the very best of the land and to ride upon the high places, and the record says that Jacob in the course of time waxed fat; and if you will just read about what good things he had to eat, you will not be surprised at that. Then came the danger. The voice of Jehovah said: "Jacob, thou art waxen fat; thou art grown full with fatness." Then what? Then Jacob kicked and forsook the God of his being and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. What meant that man's ruin? Going into pastures green and beside the still waters with the wrong attitude and with an improper disposition.

 

The best thing that ever happened for the great masses of us upon the earth is the fact that we have been up against the hard places of earth; that we know what it means to suffer and to sacrifice and to be denied. 0, it was so unfortunate for that rich young fool whose ground brought forth so plentifully until he said within himself: "I know not what to do with all my harvests and fruits." Then finally he said: "I will tear down my old barns and build bigger ones, and there will I store my goods; and then I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; eat, drink, and be merry." God said to him: "Thou art a fool." He never would have done that, would not have been overtaken in that fault, if he had been taught and had understood that he must pray day by day unto the Father, "Give us this day our daily bread;" if he had recognized that every benediction and every blessing that we are the glad recipients of "cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

 

May God forbid that the time should ever come that any of us should grow bigoted and puffed up and filled with such despicable egotism that we raise our heads above common folks and act as if we thought we were better than ordinary mortals. Man is in a wonderfully dangerous condition when he reaches that light, flippant, frivolous conception of life. A prayerful man never does that; but he is all the time clad in humility, regarding and recognizing his dependence upon God.

 

But, to hasten over the matter with some things that need to be said, there are certain conditions with which I must comply if I have any assurance of my prayers being acceptable unto God. It must, first of all, be asked in faith, as the Savior so plainly said in Matt. 21:22: "All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" James (1:5-7) says: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and teased. For let not that man [what man? That man that does not ask in faith, the man that is wavering] think that he shall receive anything of the Lord."

 

So, then, if I approach the throne in the attitude of prayer, I must approach it as a believer—a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, in God Almighty.

 

Now, another suggestion is this: Unless I make my prayer or petition according to God's will, there is no possible chance of its being heard; and hence it implies intelligence and preparation, for prayer implies a study of the Bible and a knowledge of God's will; for, as 1 John 5:14 says: "This is the confidence that we have in him, [now watch it] that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us."

 

Now, there are thousands of prayers prayed by very earnest, honest, conscientious souls that never reach higher than the ceiling of the building. Why? They are not prayers according to God's will. They are not prayers that are based upon faith that comes from hearing God's word. Now, I might go out, independent of God's will, from a selfish point of view or from my personal anxiety, and pray with all of my being for God to bestow or pronounce blessings, and it would not come to pass. Prayer must be first, in faith; second, according to God's will. Therefore I ought to study, as a Christian, and learn the will of the Lord, and then fashion and form my utterances in perfect harmony therewith.

 

But that is not all. A man must be righteous himself before there is assurance given unto him, for Peter (1 Pet. 3: 12) said: "The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers." Now, whose prayers? Unto the righteous man's prayers. "But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil."

 

There is but little comfort in the book of God about any man's praying unless he is willing to do God's will, which is the embodiment of righteousness itself. Then, furthermore, there must be the disposition on our part to forgive the other fellows—those who have sinned against us. I am not prepared to approach the throne of God Almighty if I bow down in all the earnestness of my soul and yet have final ice and bitterness and hatred and envy and backbiting and all manner of guile in my heart. I may pray until Gabriel sounds his trumpet, and there is no assurance granted unto me.

 

The Savior says in Matt. 6:15: "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses I now note: Who? If you and I, that approach the throne of God in prayer, forgive not men, here upon the earth, their trespasses), neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." So you may put it down that we must ask our Father to forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us; and unless that is characteristic of us, our prayers are weighed in the balances and found wanting.

 

Then the next requisite is that our prayer must be an answerable one, and I am positively certain, without a doubt, that most of our prayers partake of the very thing herein condemned. James (4:3) says: "Ye ask, and receive not." Why? James knew that many prayers were unanswerable. "Ye ask, and receive not." Well, why, James? "Because Ye ask amiss." Wherein is the "amiss?" "That ye may consume it upon your lusts." What is the element of it? Selfishness, purely. Do you think that if I approach the throne of God and ask him for anything that may be consumed for the gratification of my fleshly passions and lusts-do you fancy that God would give me that thing? If he were thus to do, it would not be for my good; and I speak that with all reverence, due to the fact that God has forbidden selfish prayers. If I were like the old gentleman of whom you have heard—just simply circumscribe myself and be content to pray for "me and my wife, my son John and his wife, us four and no more"—I do not think that my prayer would be worth the time spent. Unless the general welfare of humanity, the uplifting of the race, the spreading abroad of the principles of the gospel of Christ, are included and all humanity are to be benefactors, there is little assurance granted in the book of God that my prayer will be heard.

 

And so, with all of these characteristics peculiarly true of prayer, then comes James' statement: "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man [prayed in faith, prayed with a spirit of forgiveness, prayed according to God's will, prayed not to be consumed upon his own lust] availeth much." Every child of God on earth ought to believe this statement and show his faith by his practice along that line.

 

Some one said: "Brother Hardeman, do you pray for sinners?" I do, but not for sinners short of obedience. I could but pray that opportunities may be multiplied, that circumstances might be such as would be conducive to their rendering obedience to the gospel of Christ, and never ought I to pray for God to save a soul short of having done his will. Instead of the apostle's spending so much of his time in pleading with God to save the sinner as he is, the apostle rises to the dignity of the occasion and says (2 Cor. 5:11) : "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, that they may render that service that God demands of them. We are ambassadors for God's truth, we are God's eat-then vessels, and we pray unto God for you to do something." What is it? To meet God's requirements, to be reconciled to God's will. Our time, therefore, is spent in persuading, in begging, in pleading with men to render obedience to Christ.

 

Friend, I do not have to-day to stop and beg God to be ready to save the sinners of Nashville; I do not have to spend the time pleading with Christ to be merciful or longsuffering toward them; I do not have to pray for the Spirit to make known the plan of salvation. God is willing, Christ is anxious, and the Spirit is pleading. What is lacking? Simply for you, when the opportunity comes, to accept the salvation which God has provided, Christ has executed, and the Spirit made known. The only thing that will ever hinder universal salvation is the fact that all men will not accept the gospel of Christ. I pray you, therefore, friends, to-day, be ye reconciled unto God. In that Bible is God's word of reconciliation. Believe it, obey it, comply with it and that prayer will be answered. If you will be reconciled unto God, initiated into his family, then you can address him as "our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."

 

Now, finally, let me call your attention to the model the Savior gave us. It is direct, pertinent. The model prayer that our Savior taught the disciples to pray is not one of those great long-spun-out ones in which men display a repetition of phrases. Sometimes you have heard a prayer for ten or fifteen minutes, and then the one who prays it apologizes by saying: "Lord, since we are not heard for our much speaking, we had better bring our remarks to a close." He could have done that several minutes ago just as well. God does not want us to use vain repetitions, on and on and on, but to bring forth the direct sentiment of thanksgiving, which ought to occupy a large per cent of our prayers. God has lavishly blessed us with the good things of earth, and the burden of our prayers ought to be that of thanksgiving, of gratitude, and of praise. We ought to pray for a continuation of Heaven's richest blessings to be upon us, that the result may be the uplift, the benefit, and the welfare of all the race.

 

I am praying this morning, my friends, that those of you who have not as yet done so may have it to-day in your hearts to respond to the gospel call. The prayers of brethren and friends and loved ones all over this country that have been ascending toward the throne of heaven in your behalf have been, not that God would save you as you are, but that the occasion may be yours to hear the glad sound of the gospel, to believe it, to repent of your sine, to acknowledge the Christ, be buried with him in the name of the sacred three, and then rise to walk in newness of life as God's child and follow in his footsteps until he sees fit at last to touch you gently and bid you come home. If you will do this, while we stand we give you the opportunity.