In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia continues examining the spiritual discipline of prayer and why and how believers should devote themselves to it. In part 2, Pastor Dave looks at the final two of four main reasons from the Bible to discipline yourself for prayer:
1. You will obey God’s command (Colossians 4:2)
2. You will receive your requests (Matthew 7:7-11)
3. You will enjoy worshipful fellowship (Psalm 63:1-5)
4. You will realign your heart (Philippians 4:6-7)
Full Transcript:
Let’s pray again. Great God, in this world we live in, it’s easy to regard the things of the Bible as somehow less than real, and what we see with our eyes as the full reality. That’s not the case. But Lord, help us against that unbelieving tendency. Help us to focus now on what is the full reality, what is the truth. Speak to us, Lord. Change us by Your living word. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I want to start this morning and ask you to do a little thought experiment with me. I’d like you to bring to your mind someone that you don’t know personally, but who you nonetheless greatly admire. Bring to your mind someone you don’t know personally, but who you nonetheless greatly admire. Let’s make this a real person, not imaginary, but the person doesn’t have to be alive today. Picture this person. Think of someone you don’t know personally, but who is great or was great in your eyes. Maybe it’s an athlete, an actor, or an artist in some field. Maybe it’s a scientist, a general, or a political leader. Maybe it’s a teacher, a social activist, a preacher, or a missionary. Or maybe it’s simply someone who’s known for beauty, kindness, or integrity. Whoever this is for you, picture this person.
And then I want you to imagine that this great person, someone truly great in your eyes, suddenly contacts you and says that he or she would like to develop a friendship relationship with you. They’d even like to meet with you. Now, I know for some of the persons you just imagined, this might require time travel or resurrection from the dead, but that’s OK. Just using our imaginations here. But if your great person reached out to you in this way, what would you do? Would you meet with this person, even if it meant totally rearranging your schedule to do so? I’m guessing you would. You wouldn’t want to miss out on such an amazing opportunity. And would you want to develop a friendship relationship with this person? I’m guessing you would, too, if you really already deeply admired that person.
And if you met together with this person, what would you talk about? Would you express appreciation to that person for who he is and what he’s done? Would you ask that person for help in whatever area of expertise, excellence that he’s known for, because you face challenges in that area in your own life? Or would you simply try to get to know that person and enjoy being in his or her presence? Probably all of these, right?
Now, a little curveball. What if you couldn’t meet with this great person in person? Would you still agree to correspond? What if you could only meet over Zoom or talk on the phone? You could only text or email. Or even, what if you could only use that most ancient of inventions, the mailed letter? Would you accept being pen pals with your great person? Again, if your person is truly great, then the answer would have to be yes, wouldn’t it? Of course, you’d love to meet together in person, but even with limitations in communication, or even with the extra time and effort involved in using those means, this opportunity simply to know, to befriend, to enjoy someone who’s truly great is worth it. After all, who are you that this great person would want to be your friend? Why would you ever give up such a valuable prospect and treasure?
Perhaps you see where I’m going with this. Brothers and sisters, we in fact do have someone truly great who desires a relationship with us. And not just one of the humans we were just thinking of, as great as they might be, know someone greater – Our perfect creator God, the triune Lord of the universe, the one true God, the holy One who is all love, goodness, and justice in Himself. Though we, only pieces of baked clay, really, we actually sinfully rebelled against our God, He made a way for us to be reconciled through Christ and the gospel, our repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. But not just to deliver us from His holy wrath, and say, okay, now go sit in the corner, I’m done. No, He saved us partly in order that He might have a real relationship with us, a real and vital relationship with Him. A relationship that involves, yes, even meeting with Him and talking to Him.
Now what am I talking about when I say meeting and talking? Well, of course, I’m talking about prayer. I’m talking about prayer. Prayer is that precious avenue of fellowship, of petition, and worship that has been given to us and that we are to use in response to God making Himself known to us in salvation and in the Bible. Though in one sense, prayer is long-distance communication, us on earth communicating to God who is in heaven, infinitely high above us. But in another sense, prayer is up close and personal because we have the Holy Spirit, because we have the advocacy of the Son of God. By those means, we are brought right into the intimate presence of our triune God, even into the very throne room of heaven. God brings us there by prayer.
Now though the worship and communion of prayer is an awesome privilege for those saved in Jesus, that doesn’t mean that prayer is easy, as I think many of you know. Prayer will require faith as you speak to the unseen God who does not respond to you with an audible voice. And prayer will also require discipline as you endure, you persevere against your old sinful flesh, the demons, and even the cares and pleasures of the world that all seem to be determined to pull you away from God in prayer. Now though prayer requires faith and discipline, would you not agree that the reward of communing with God in prayer makes all sacrifice involved worth it? And that’s what I want to talk to you more about today as we continue in our series on the disciplines of grace, even about prayer. Today’s message is Disciplines of Grace, Prayer, Part 2.
I reminded you last week of where we started in this series were those critical words from the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:7-8, spoken to Timothy as protege but also to us, even to all believers. Paul tells us, God tells us through Paul, we are to discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness and thereby find true profit, true profit for our souls – namely life in the present time and forever. Like athletes who are training themselves for a fiercely competitive event and want to win, so we Christians must devote ourselves to hard training, even to those positive activities that promote our spiritual growth. These include feeding on God’s word and also going to God in prayer.
Now last time I began exploring with you- the why of prayer? Why do we pray? Why should we pray? I gave you two of the four main reasons from the Bible that you should discipline yourself for prayer. Four main reasons from the Bible to discipline yourself for prayer. The first main reason, we saw this already, is that by praying, number one, you will obey God’s command. You will obey God’s command. Paul tells us in Colossians 4:2,
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.
In other words, fervent, focused, and regular prayer is to be the mark of all Christians. God commands His people to express continual dependence on Him through prayer.
But this is a good and gracious command of God because, as we also saw, by praying, number two, you will receive your requests. By praying, you will receive your requests. Jesus says in Matthew 7:11,
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, give what is good to those who ask Him?
The basic truth from the Bible is that God promises to give His children what is good when they ask Him for it, when they ask Him for it in prayer. We must, of course, let God determine when and how to dispense that good. He knows how best to answer the prayer. But we can still be confident in our asking. He says if we ask, we will receive. So we should ask.
Now today, I want to explore with you the other two main reasons from the Bible to discipline ourselves for prayer. Why you, listening today, should discipline yourselves for prayer. And I previewed at the end of the last message that the third reason, the third main reason, is the most important of the four. Why else, according to God in the Bible, should you discipline yourself for prayer? Because, by praying, number three, you will enjoy worshipful fellowship. You will enjoy worshipful fellowship.
You know, brethren, we humans have one need greater than all our other needs. And do you know what that need is? It is the need for God. It is the need for God Himself. To know Him, to worship Him, and to commune with Him. Prayer is the most direct avenue of this worshipful fellowship with God. And since we need that worshipful fellowship, that means we need prayer. Let’s see this truth from the Bible in a particular place. Please open your Bibles to Psalm 63. Psalm 63, this is page 587 in the Pew Bibles, in the Bibles in front of you or near you. Page 587, Psalm 63. If you’re really paying attention, you may remember that this is the passage we read in service last week. I won’t reread the whole Psalm. Actually, we’re just going to focus on the first five verses, Psalm 63:1-5. Of course, we should read the title as well, since the title is part of the original text, inspired and informative. So Psalm 63:1-5, It says,
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips will praise You.
So I will bless You as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands in Your name.
My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
We won’t mine everything that there is to mine in this passage, but look at a few details here with me. Notice the title of this Psalm. This Psalm is from David, when he was on the run in the wilderness of Judah. Now, most of you know, many of you know, that I recently went on an Israel study trip, and if you followed the blog, looked at the pictures, you’ve seen and heard about the wilderness of Judah. You know what that’s like now. What is the wilderness of Judah like? What’s that land like? It’s a desert wasteland. It’s rocky cliffs, barren ground. It’s hot and dry. So, what would be your chief physical need in such a land? Water. You need water. Actually, on our trip, our trip leader was very adamant that we needed to have a full bottle of water with us almost everywhere we went. Why such a concern? Because dehydration happens fast in the baking desert, and so does heat stroke. Now, our author David was well acquainted with the desperate need of water in various places because David often had to hide in the desert when he was running from paranoid King Saul, and even later his rebellious son Absalom. David is probably in need of water when he writes this psalm, Psalm 63, because he’s in the wilderness.
Yet notice how the need for water actually shows up in this psalm. David doesn’t say to God, God, I really need water. Could you provide? Though that would have been fine for David to pray. Rather, David takes the imagery of thirst to describe his need for God, even his need to pray to and praise God. Look at verse 1 again. He says, Oh God, you are my God. I shall seek you earnestly. My soul thirsts for water. No, that’s not what he says there. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh yearns for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. God, I need you more than I need water. So David says in this psalm, says this to God.
And then notice in verse 2 how this expressed desire from David leads to action. Verse 2, Thus I have seen you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory. Thus, or therefore, this is a transition word. It’s like David is so thirsty for God in the wilderness that David decides to go and steal a look into God’s dwelling place, His tabernacle, to see God’s power and glory there. Now David cannot literally do this. He’s in the desert after all. The tabernacle is far away. But metaphorically speaking, in his heart, in his prayer, David is looking toward and even into God’s sanctuary because there David wants to behold the beauty of the Lord.
And not just behold, because look at verse 3. Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips will praise you. In the beginning of verse 3, David beholds the glory of the Lord in a particular aspect. In his mind’s eye, he dwells on God’s loving kindness. That’s the New American Standard’s way of translating a very lovely Hebrew word. It’s the word chesed. It’s a word that means love or kindness, but it also has connotations of loyalty and faithfulness, which is why the ESV translates it as steadfast love. It’s a wonderful word, this word chesed. David remembers this beautiful attribute of God and notice how he describes it. He says, it is better than life. Not just better than water when you’re thirsty, but it’s better than life. And as both a beholder and a recipient of such loyal love, such faithful kindness from God, David proclaims to God, my lips will praise You. That is, I will tell You, God, and I will tell others just how wonderful You are, how glorious your loving kindness is.
And David is so thoroughly committed to praising God that he repeats the idea twice in verse 4. So I will bless you as long as I live. I will lift up my hands in your name, David says. David is telling God that he will praise God. He will wish blessing and honor on God, as long as David is alive. Only a whole lifetime of praise is appropriate for such a good God. David would also lift up his hands, which was a common posture among the Hebrews for prayer or for song. He will lift up his hands in the name of God, that is, because of and on behalf of God.
And then consider the outcome of all this for David in verse 5. David says, My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. What is the result for David in ever beholding and praising God? It’s satisfaction. Satisfaction deep in his soul. It’s joy. And notice how David has transitioned. It goes from desperate thirst in the beginning to being satisfied with the best parts of meat, as it were, the marrow and the fat. This is the way David is in his soul. And meanwhile, David’s once parched lips are invigorated with joy as he worships God.
Now, brethren, this psalm is a stirring testimony from a godly, spirit-led man about his desire to seek, to pray to, and praise God. But, of course, there’s a meta quality to this psalm, isn’t there? Because what is a psalm? A psalm is a prayer psalm or a prayer poem. So David here, in essence, is writing a worship song about his desire to worship God. And notice something else. In the five verses we’ve just looked at, there is no direct prayer request from David to God. David expresses desire, but he’s not actually asking God for anything. And if you look at the rest of the verses of this psalm, which we don’t have time to right now, there’s no prayer request from David to God there either. Rather, this whole prayer song is dedicated only to testifying how good it is to praise the Lord for who the Lord is, for what He’s done, and what He will do. And David, by the Holy Spirit, offers this psalm as a model for Israel and for us, so that we also might find deep soul satisfaction in simply worshiping God in prayer and praise.
The reality is indeed, as I said earlier, we Christians have great need of God, even to go to God continually in prayer, not simply to present our petitions, though that is a good and righteous component of prayer, but also to express worship and experience fellowship with our good Creator, Savior God. We were designed for this. You, me, we were designed for God. And so if we stay away from this fellowship, worship aspect of prayer, what will be the result? Will it not be to experience what David was already telling us at the beginning of the psalm? We will feel parched. We will be thirsty. It will be like we are in a dry and barren land with no water. Wouldn’t you rather have your soul satisfied with fatness, with the best parts of food and drink? I’m sure you would. So you know what that means? You must discipline yourself for prayer. If you want the reward, you must persevere against those hindrances in yourself or in your world keeping you away from prayer.
Now someone might say, well, if prayer is about worship, I already worship. I worship the Lord every Sunday when I go to church and sing. Isn’t that enough? Well, to be sure, our public praise singing together, it is a form of corporate prayer, and you should participate in that. I’m glad you’re here this morning to participate in that. But one day of singing praises together a week is not enough for our souls. I mean, if we’ve come to know God at all like David has come to know God, we’re going to need much more than a half an hour together on Sunday. Remember, David says in verse 4 of the passage we just looked at, I will bless you as long as I live. We’re talking about a lifestyle of praise and worship and communion. Or consider some other words from scripture. David in a different psalm, Psalm 34:1,
I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
He actually uses the name Yahweh there. I will bless Yahweh at all times. Or different author in Psalm 71:6, an old man,
By You I have been sustained from my birth;
You are He who took me from my mother’s womb;
My praise is continually of You.
Going into the New Testament, Paul. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:18,
In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Or Hebrews 13:15,
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
So are you seeing this brethren? The repeated call from God in the Bible is for us to continually come before the Lord, whether corporately or alone, and express in worship to Him how wonderful He is and how thankful we are for His different works on our behalf, and even what a delight it is to tell Him these things. This is what we were made for. We were made for worship, even worship in prayer. Is this what your prayer life is like? Is your life filled with this kind of worshipful prayer? Do you regularly fellowship with God in this way and taste and see the satisfaction of it to your soul?
Now I should note that not all worshipful fellowship before God in prayer is as exuberant as what we’ve just looked at. In fact, if we pay attention to the Bible, we can see that many good prayers to God, worshipful prayers to God, they come from a place not of pleasure but of pain. We see that many times the ones praying, rather than recounting how wonderful the works of the Lord are, they recall how grievous and how bewildering God’s works are, especially because they seem to contradict the Lord’s character. We should realize that laments, that crying out in pain and sorrow to God, these too have a part in our prayers and they are part of worshipful fellowship. Though God already knows all things, He wants us to come to Him with our hurts, with our sorrows, with our confusion, and express it to Him in faith and trusting that God will, in His perfect timing and way, make all things right.
Let’s consider a few biblical examples of this less obvious type of worshipful fellowship with God by lament. Habakkuk 1:2-4. This is the prophet Habakkuk praying to God and he says,
How long, O Lord, will I call for help,
And You will not hear?
I cry out to You, “Violence!”
Yet You do not save.
Why do You make me see iniquity,
And cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, destruction and violence are before me;
Strife exists and contention arises.
Therefore the law is ignored
And justice is never upheld.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore justice comes out perverted.
He’s just telling it like it is, like it appears to him before God. Or another place, Psalm 42:5-8. This is the sons of Korah. Listen to what they pray,
Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
O my God, my soul is in despair within me;
Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.
It’s kind of a funny psalm because you can hear him going back and forth. It’s like the speaker is wrestling with hope in God, even through prayer. And then one more example, many more besides these of course, but Psalm 88. Psalm 88:6-9 is one more. This is from Heman the Ezraite, another of the sons of Korah, but highlighted specifically. Heman the Ezraite prays to God and he says this,
You have put me in the lowest pit,
In dark places, in the depths.
Your wrath has rested upon me,
And You have afflicted me with all Your waves.
You have removed my acquaintances far from me;
You have made me an object of loathing to them;
I am shut up and cannot go out.
My eye has wasted away because of affliction;
I have called upon You every day, O Lord;
I have spread out my hands to You.
Hearing these, you might wonder how God could accept such sorrowful and questioning words as worship. Yet these words are in the Bible. They’re written by the Holy Spirit. They appear in psalms that serve as prayer models for us. How can this be? Well, the reason these words are not sinful complaints and accusations against God, even as they acknowledge God as the ultimate cause for pain and hard circumstances, the reason these are acceptable is because they are spoken in faith. They are spoken in faith. Beneath the sorrow, the pain, and the questioning is still trust. Trust that God’s character has not changed and that He will make right what seems to be all wrong in breach of God’s own faithfulness. There is that confidence deep down. So such words then honor God, and they are part of having a real relationship with Him.
You know, in many ways, our relationship with God and prayer ought to be like a young child’s to his beloved father. The child shares everything with his father, not because the father doesn’t already know necessarily, but because the child loves his father, trusts his father, and the father in love wants to hear everything that’s on the child’s heart. The child loves to praise his father, rejoice in all the good that the father has done for the child. And when the father’s acts confuse the child or bring pain, the child tells that to the father too. But with both these aspects of communication, the father and the child, they enjoy a real relationship of love and trust and fellowship. And this is what our heavenly Father also desires for us who have become His children. So more than a matter of obedience or even seeing our prayer requests answered, we are to discipline ourselves for prayer so that we can enjoy worshipful fellowship with our God. This really is what life is all about.
Now, there’s one more main reason from the Bible to discipline yourselves for prayer, and it really flows out as a consequence of the previous three. Why else should you discipline yourself for prayer? Because by praying, number four, you will realign your heart. You will realign your heart. Some have said that Christians do not pray to change God’s will, but to change their own hearts, to come into conformity with God’s will. I understand where that sentiment is coming from, but I think it’s overstated. We’ve already seen together that in a certain sense, our prayers do affect God’s will. He does respond with new action because we’ve prayed. He says this in the Bible, right? You pray, you ask, and you will receive. You don’t have because you didn’t ask.
Nevertheless, it is true that when you pray in obedience to God, when you bring your request before Him, and when you enjoy worshipful fellowship with Him, there is an effect on you and your heart. What happens? You become settled. You experience a deep level of joy, confidence, and peace in God. Your circumstances may not immediately change, or they may not ever change. You may still feel pain and sorrow even after you’re done praying. Nevertheless, through prayer, you will find that your spirit is renewed, and you do have a fundamental joy and peace. And who doesn’t want that?
Let me show you this from a few passages. Turn, please, to Philippians 4:6-7. Pretty famous section of the New Testament. This is on page 1177 in the Pew Bible. Quick background of this passage. Philippians is another letter from Paul, this time to the church of Philippi in Macedonia. Paul is in prison while he writes this letter. And he writes to thank the church for their support, to reassure them that he is still filled with joy even in imprisonment. This is not an indicator that God is somehow messed up. And he’s also calling the church to new unity in light of a particular conflict that has erupted in the church. We see this actually in the beginning of chapter 4. Paul urges the church to help two Christian women, Euodia and Syntyche, to reconcile their disagreements and come to peace. These were godly women who somehow got into deep conflict. Paul says, help these women come to peace. And actually, this theme of peace pervades the entire section from Philippians 4 verse 1 down to verse 9. Paul really emphasizes here that fundamental peace without actually comes from fundamental peace within. How can you have fundamental peace within? Well, Paul commends and commands a certain way in the two verses we’re just about to read. Philippians 4:6-7. Look there,
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 comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Anxiety is often a source of conflict, isn’t it? When you are afraid for yourself or your future, you become agitated. You find yourself impatient with others, and you even get angry when others seem to act in a way that threatens you or threatens your plans. But notice what Paul commands the Philippians and us when it comes to anxiety. He says, be anxious for nothing. Nothing should make you anxious. Don’t spend your time worrying at all. Rather, in everything, in all issues and circumstances, by prayer and supplication, two very similar words emphasizing the petitionary aspect of prayer, with thanksgiving, and there’s a reference to the worshipful communion aspect of prayer, let your requests be made known to God. Instead of worrying about it, pray about it.
What will be the result? Verse 7, and the peace of God, that is the peace that is from God and imbued with God’s own peacefulness, wholeness, a peace which surpasses all comprehension. You cannot fully understand or describe this peace. It will guard your hearts and your minds. Hearts and minds, that’s a double emphasis on protecting the inner man, the inner person. It will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. This is a soul-securing peace that comes from God only to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now consider these words, brethren. True inner confidence and peace, it comes to God’s people, how, according to the Apostle Paul? By prayer. And this God-given peace even leads to more harmonious relations with other people. Would you like to have that kind of peace in your heart? Would you like to be settled in your soul, even when you face problems and conflicts? Then discipline yourself for prayer.
Now lest someone say, hey, prayer hasn’t gotten rid of my anxieties. I don’t feel God’s peace when I pray. Remember that you must pray in faith. Pray according to God’s will. But even having done that, pray in faith, expecting to receive what you ask in Jesus. Sometimes anxious Christians are not sure whether they will receive what they ask, and they bring doubt into their prayers. Consequently, when they pray, they don’t feel any peace. But this is as James says in James 1:6-8. He tells us that the doubting, double-minded man ought not to expect to receive anything from God in prayer, much less, or not least, the Lord’s peace. Just going through the motions of prayer without actually believing that God hears and that God is going to answer, that is not effective prayer. Instead, when you pray for the Lord’s help, for the Lord’s provision, for the Lord’s mercy, whatever it is, expect to receive it. And don’t keep turning the issue over and over in your mind or simply repeating your request in fear to God in prayer. Oh God, please help me in this situation, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Oh God, please help me in this situation, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Oh God, please help me in this situation, I don’t know what I’m going to do. You just keep saying it and saying it and saying it and saying it, because you’re not really sure whether He hears you. That is not the way.
Rather, like Hannah in 1 Samuel 1. 1 Samuel 1, verses 9 to 18, you might remember what was happening there. Hannah’s praying to God out of the severe distress of her heart. She desires a son. She’s being provoked by this rival wife who has a whole bunch of children and Hannah has none. This is a great shame in that society. It’s a great dishonor for Hannah. She pours out her heart to God, she’s so distressed that she cannot even eat and it’s a festival. It’s where everybody’s supposed to be eating. But the text tells us that after she went to God and poured out her heart in prayer, 1 Samuel 1.18b,
so the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad.
What changed? Well, nothing, at least on the outside. Hannah didn’t know exactly how God would answer her prayer, but she knew the goodness of God and that she had prayed to that God in faith. So even though her circumstances had not changed, her heart was settled. It was realigned with the Lord’s. She could even eat again with joy. And she did not merely need to continue in doubt-filled, miserable prayer.
There’s an instructive example for us there. Brethren, sometimes when you pray, the pain and sorrow will still be there when you finish. This is a world that is not yet perfect. Sometimes you may need to wrestle with God for some time in prayer. Doubt is afflicting you, despair is afflicting you. You might need to do as the sons of Korah do in Psalm 42 and 43, saying, Lord, I believe, but God, I’m really struggling. Lord, I believe. Sometimes you will have to do that. But if you will persevere in prayer, if you will remember and trust in the character of God, if you will worship Him through the perplexing pain and still expect that He will make things right according to His good self, then you know what you will find. You will find peace. You will find the Lord’s peace. A peace that surpasses all understanding. Because you know what you’re going to realize in that moment? You will realize the same thing that God’s people have realized even in the lowest points again and again throughout the centuries, and that is, if you have God, if you have the one true God, you already have everything. Prayer has a way of redirecting our hearts into what is really true and to what is actual treasure. That treasure is ultimately God.
Look at how this happens in some other parts of Scripture. Back to Habakkuk. Consider Habakkuk 3:17-19. Some time ago we looked through Habakkuk, so some of this will be familiar to you. It’s at the end of the book. After the prophet has proclaimed his distress to God over Judah’s wickedness, and he’s also proclaimed his perplexity at God’s coming judgment on Judah through the agent of wicked Babylon. In the end, Habakkuk chooses to trust in the character of God and in God’s sure promises. And then he says this as a worshipful, soul-realigning conclusion to his prayer. Habakkuk 3:17-19,
Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
He had come back to peace, didn’t he? Didn’t have all his questions answered, but he knew that he had God, and he could rest in God. Consider another prophet who arrived to the same place in Lamentations 3:19-25. This is the prophet Jeremiah. He finds his soul, too, brought back into confidence with God amid overwhelming sorrow, deep suffering. He comes back to confidence in God as he prays. Lamentations 3:19-25. He tells God,
Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
His circumstances hadn’t changed, but his heart had, because he found God again. So brethren, if we want to protect our hearts from drifting from joy in the Lord, if we want to rediscover the Lord’s peace amid pain and uncertainty, then we must pray, trusting in our Lord, His promises and character, even to the point of saying, God, Your will be done and not mine.
I hope by now you see that God has given us ample reason in His Bible for us to discipline ourselves for prayer. By praying we will indeed obey God’s command to devote ourselves to prayer, but it is much more than that. Prayer is a means of such abundant blessing for us that we would be foolish not to utilize it. If we will discipline ourselves for prayer, we will receive our requests according to God’s good will, we will enjoy worshipful fellowship with our God and Savior, and we will realign our hearts to conform to His in joy and in peace. Don’t we want these things as a church? And don’t you want these things as individuals?
Christian, you were designed by God to depend on Him in prayer, and you will not be spiritually healthy if you neglect this so important spiritual discipline. So then won’t you, won’t we, discipline ourselves for prayer whatever it costs us? It will cost you. All these spiritual disciplines cost you, but it’s worth it in the end.
As one final encouragement to pray, at least today, consider the supreme example we have in the Bible of someone devoted to prayer. And I’m not talking about Moses, or David, or Daniel, or Paul, as wonderful examples as they are when it comes to prayer. No, I’m talking about the greatest example. I’m talking about the Lord Jesus Himself. We might think if one person in the Bible was exempt from the need to pray, it would be the Son of God. I mean, He’s God. Why would God need to pray to God? And yet, that’s exactly what we see Him doing in the Bible. Jesus prayed, and fervently too, to the point where His disciples took notice, and they were instructed, and you know what, we are too. Listen to a few descriptions from the Bible. Luke 5:16, this is amid increasing popularity and ministry opportunity for Jesus, Luke 5:16 says,
but Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
This was His practice. I’ve got to go by Myself and pray. Yeah, I know I’ve got ministry. Yeah, I know everybody wants my attention, but I need to go pray. Or Luke 6:12, this is right before an important moment in Jesus’ ministry. He’s about to select the 12 men who are going to be His closest disciples, and this is what we read. Luke 6:12,
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
That’s fervency. And then in a time of great trouble and trial, Matthew 26:36 and 38, this is the hour before His arrest. Matthew 26:36 and 38,
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”
That is, pray with me. Jesus, our Lord, clearly was a prayer warrior. He was the par excellence of prayer warriors. Why? The same reasons that we are to be. Jesus prayed in obedience to fulfill all righteousness, just as He says in Matthew 3:15. Jesus prayed to receive His request from the Father, like He says in John 11:41-42, when He raises Lazarus. He says, I ask you, I know you always hear me. Jesus prayed to enjoy a worshipful fellowship with the Father. You see this in John 17:1-5, that high priestly prayer. It’s all about worship and fellowship. And Jesus prayed, yes, even to keep His own heart aligned with the Father’s heart, even crying out to God amid His great distress, not my will, but yours be done. Of course, that’s the garden, Luke 22:42. And if Jesus did these things, and He’s our pattern, surely we must as well. Actually, as the beloved Son of God, prayer to the Father was the most natural thing for Jesus to do. And therefore, in one sense, it ought to be so natural for us. We who have become the children of God and Christ, you’re not going to talk to your Father?
So the question I want to ask you as we end our look in the scriptures today is, do you desire to pray to your heavenly Father? Do you want this? Is this your heart’s desire? You’ve heard the main reasons from the Bible. Have these moved you? Have these moved you to the point of saying, yes, I will discipline myself for prayer, whatever it takes, because I don’t want to miss out. I don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to praise and have a relationship with my God, the God, the great One. Is that what your heart is saying? Because if you still do not care to pray, don’t care to pray to God, if you’re not willing to rearrange your life to regularly pray, to devote yourself to prayer, then you’ve got to be very concerned. If that’s what you’re seeing in your own heart, you’ve got to be concerned, because if you don’t love God enough to pray, it means you love another God. You love some sinner idol in your life more.
I’ve already shared with you from the Bible, fervent prayer is fundamental to the Christian life. If the Bible is our food, then prayer is like our drink. You’re not going to survive without food, and you’re not going to survive without water. If you don’t drink, if you don’t pray, or if you only pray in a superficial way or very infrequent way, then I’m concerned for you, because that is a sign of spiritual sickness or perhaps spiritual deadness. So whatever it is that’s keeping you away from prayer, even fervent prayer, the discipline of prayer, it’s time to get rid of it. It’s time to repent and believe the gospel.
Jesus is the Lord. All life and joy and peace are found in Him, not in the things of the world. Why are you going after those things instead of God in prayer? Repent of these lies. Repent of the practices that go with them and turn to God. Seek the Lord even by the obedience of prayer. And what will you find? Exactly what David found and what he urges us by his own example to find. You will find satisfaction. You will find that marrow and fatness. You will find the joy and the peace of the Lord. Drink deeply from the fountain of God by worshiping Him in prayer.
Now perhaps you might say, Pastor Dave, I do desire to pray to the Lord in that way, but I don’t know how. How should I pray to the Lord in this way? That’s a good question to ask, and that’s what we’ll talk about next time.
Let’s close in prayer. Lord, we are Your children. And like children, we don’t know always exactly what to say. If we were to come up with what might be the perfect way to pray, the perfect words, well, we would never be able to do it. Because who could say such words or who could pray in such a way that captures all the glory that You are worthy of. That’s not what You called us to do. You haven’t called us to come with eloquence. You’ve called us to come with innocence and sincerity, like children. So God, that’s what we want to do. God, we ask again that You forgive us for our prayerlessness, for not believing that there is such satisfaction for our soul in prayer that it’s worth giving up other things for. Help us, God, to discipline ourselves for prayer and then see the blessing of it, that regular practice, how it just reorients our hearts, keeps our hearts close to you, and fills us with joy. I pray for the people of Calvary who’ve heard Your word today, that You do this work in their hearts, and that You continue to do this work in my heart and for any who’ve listened to this message, God, so that we would love You and experience the joy of relationship with You in prayer. Lord, I believe You hear this prayer as well, and I know, God, that You will work according to Your good will. Thank you, Father. In Jesus’ name, amen.