JET's Jots

To continue with the topic of prayer and the need for Christians to resolve to pray there is a question that rises up and demands an answer, namely, “Why is it necessary that I must resolve to pray?”

The answer to that is found in ourselves.  We are fallen creatures.  Prior to Adam’s fall, we find there was communion between man and God.  The Genesis account intimates that it was regular, open and sincere.  One of the first effects of sin was to make man want to hide from God.  Adam and Eve did not want to talk with God like they used to.  Right here is possibly the greatest effect of sin on the human race: it not only brought in death and separates us from God, but it causes us not to desire to commune with God which is utterly necessary to have these barriers removed.

This brings me then to one great reason why prayer must be a matter of resolve, and why we must say, like David, “As for me, I will call upon God” (Psalm 55:16).

Why must we be resolved to pray?

Because it is not our natural inclination to pray

There is nothing within our fallen, human nature that inclines us to the spiritual exercise of prayer.  Prayer is pre-eminently a spiritual work.  In Romans 1:9, Paul wrote, “For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers”.

There are many aspects of serving the Lord that can be done in a purely physical, fleshly manner: handing out tracts, witnessing to others, singing hymns and psalms, even preaching.  Admittedly, one can engage in a wide variety of “Christian work” without there being anything spiritual about it.  But prayer is first and foremost a spiritual exercise.  And that is why it is so hard to do!  Because only a regenerated man or woman will have the inclination to pray.

When Adam sinned, he immediately died spiritually.  He was in a moment estranged from the God who created him and with whom, up to that moment had communed together with Him, and delighted to do so.

It is far too common to hear professing Christians lament that they have not been able to pray for long periods of time – several days, even a week or more.  (Even worse is when men of God jest and joke about prayerlessness in themselves or others).  Now what makes this so serious, is that prayer is one of the signs that a soul has been converted.  Many eminent men of God have commented on this point, and I can add nothing more than to say this.  In my years of counseling others and looking back at my own personal experience, that without exception, every failure can be traced back to a lessening or, more often, a total ceasing of the prayer life of the individual.

With so much at stake, praying must not be left to times when you ‘feel like it’.  Most assuredly there are many, many times when Christians do not feel like praying.  And those are the times when prayer is most needful!  Prayer must not be left to an emotional or ritual motive.  If it is, it will be at best sporadic, and your walk with the Lord will be the same; on fire one day, cold and disinterested the next.

Be determined as David was that you will pray and call upon God.  Be resolved to be a man or woman of prayer.  In every situation, for all things and for all people.

This week I am preaching from Matthew 6:19-34.  The subject matter of my sermon has to do with being a ‘care-less’ Christian.  Note, I did not say a careless one, but a care-less one.  There is a monumental difference!

When Paul wrote to the Philippians he told them to “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God” (Phil. 4:6)

How often we face trials in our Christian life and rather than take the matter to the Lord, we hold on to the burden ourselves, and then start to lose assurance in a sovereign, all-wise, all-loving Father in heaven!  In other words we lose our confidence, and keep our cares.  That is living the Christian life all backwards.  God directs us to live otherwise.

One lesson that I have had to learn more than once is the importance of giving the Lord my cares, and growing in confidence in His sovereign ability to deal with every situation that I face.

Christian, you are to “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (Hebrews 3:6), and to “(cast) all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

It is His will that we should cast our cares on Him each day.

He also bids us not to cast our confidence away;

But oh! how foolishly we act when taken unaware,

We cast our confidence away, and carry all our care.

What are you holding on to today?  Your confidence or your cares?  It is the difference between victory and defeat.

The following is a  modified version taken from short devotional messages recently given to our congregation at our weekly prayer meetings.  The Lord has seen fit to bless these thoughts and the regular prayer meetings have been enhanced by members asking, and meeting for  additional times of prayer over and above our regular meetings.  My prayer is that the Lord will use these thoughts to stir every believer who reads these words to increase in faith and prayer. (J.E.T.)

We are now a full week into our ‘new year’ of 2010.

Did you make any New Year’s resolutions for this year?  If so, how are you doing in keeping them?  I read somewhere that most resolutions made on Dec 31 are broken by the end of the first week.  That is not a promising statistic!

While the world’s concept of “making resolutions” is not a Christian doctrine, there can be no denying that one aspect of being a Christian is to be a man or woman of resolve.

We are commanded to “examine ourselves” as to whether we are “in the faith” or not.

Prior to participating at the Lord’s table (Communion), it is incumbent for all to go through this self-examining process.  (By the way, it is not to examine yourself to see if you are “good enough” – none of us ever are!  It is primarily to see if you bear the evidence of being a child of God).

This examining of ourselves will inevitably reveal sins that need to be confessed, weaknesses that need to be strengthened, and failures that need to be dealt with.  But it must not stop there.  There must be a resolve by God’s grace to confess those sins, seek His strength to overcome our weaknesses, and faithfully deal with our failures so that we might be good soldiers of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3).

One of the major failures for most Christians is in the realm of prayer.  It would be almost shocking to hear a truly regenerated child of God say they were satisfied with their prayer life; that they were convinced it was as good as it could be, that there wasn’t much room for improvement, etc.  In fact, just hearing those words would convince us we were listening to someone with a heart of pride.

Do you know that the great saints of Scripture were – without exception – men and women of prayer?  Did you know that the great saints of church history – as far as we know from their diaries, autobiographies and biographies – were men and women of prayer?  Their theologies might have differed, but I do not know of one person who accomplished any lasting work for God who was not given to prayer.

Something else, to read about them is to be impressed that they were resolved to pray.  They knew the difficulty of prayer, and they knew that if they did not make it a matter of fervent resolve and determination, that they would fall into the same miserable condition that so much of the Christian church finds itself in today – a lack of prayer, which inevitably means a lack of power.

King David was a man of prayer.  He was a great sinner, but he was also a great saint.  And, I believe he was a great saint because he was a great ‘Supplicator’.  He knew how to pray.  But that doesn’t mean it came naturally to him.  Prayer is a spiritual work, and “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit for they are foolishness unto him “(2 Cor. 2:14).  David was a great pray-er, because he determined he would be a man of prayer.  Consider these statements:

Psalm 55:16,17 As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear me.

Psalm 86:7  In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee; for thou wilt answer me.

Psalm 61:2 From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

These are but a sampling of texts that show us David’s resolve to pray by the language he uses.

The question now is this: Are you willing to make this an area you will resolve to improve?  A more fulfilling prayer life doesn’t “just happen”.  It is difficult work and the opposition to it will come in many forms.  And that is where the matter of resolve comes in.  Are we going to pray through the obstacles and opposition?  Then we must grasp this truth with both hands and not let it go.  But even more than that, this truth must get hold of us.

In my next posting on this topic,  I hope to deal with truths that will assist you in your resolve to pray.  Questions or comments are always welcome.