THE TRUE MEANING OF PRAYER
#781 & 781a THE TRUE MEANING OF PRAYER
Scripture Luke 18:1; Acts 4:31, NIV Orig. 4/16/1980
Rewr. 9/23/1987
Passage:
Luke 18
18 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Acts 4
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Purpose: Beginning a series on the subject of prayer using John Bunyan’s seven-fold description of prayer.
Keywords: Prayer
Timeline/Series: Prayer
Introduction
Christians the world over are familiar with the name of John Bunyan. Almost without exception, however, we associate him only with Pilgrim’s Progress, and are totally unfamiliar with his equally heartening book on prayer, Prayer,1 where he gives us one of the significant definitions of prayer, and his seven-fold prayer concern.
“Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to His word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God.”
1. Prayer is sincere.
2. Prayer is sensible.
3. Prayer is the affectionate pouring out of the soul to God.
4. Prayer is through Christ, and in the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
5. Prayer is for such as God has promised.
6. Prayer is for the good of the church.
7. Prayer is submission to the will of God.
I. Prayer is Sincerely Pouring Out One’s Soul to God. Acts 2:46, “They . . . did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart.”
Few things in our lives make a difference like deeds done either with or without sincerity. It is New Testament simplicity. Romans 12:9, “Let love be without dissimulation.” I Corinthians 10:21, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils.” It was vital to the sense of the supper: I Corinthians 5:8, “Let us keep the feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity.” Leaven achieved taste, but it represented artificiality. Relation to God was to disdain such misrepresentation.
On the day before Passover, the Jews were to light a candle and ceremoniously begin a search for anything that might spoil the dough.
Even so, sincerity is an integral part of prayer. Psalm 66:17-18, “. . . If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” Jeremiah 29:12-13, “Ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” When Nathaniel came to Jesus, John 1:47, “Behold an Israelite, in whom is no guile.”
Sincerity is simply being the same in a darkened corner alone where none can see, that we are before the face of all the world.
II. Prayer is Sensibly Pouring Out One’s Soul to God. Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication . . . , let your requests be made known unto God.”
Sensibility understands life’s pressing needs. Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” There is a time for want of mercy. There is a time for stating confession. There is a time for a bold word of intercession. Few have not prayed for Christianity.
There is a time for a joyous declaration of thanksgiving. Daniel 9:4, “And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession.” Genesis 32:11 (Jacob), “Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother.” Psalm 95:2, “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving.”
781a
Romans 8:26-27, 26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
III. Prayer is Affectionately Pouring Out the Soul to God. Matthew 6:21, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Colossians 3:2, “Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth.”
Things done out of love bring satisfaction: God, family, occupation, avocation. Psalm 42: 1, “As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.”
To thus view God, in prayer, with devotion is to pray to one who loves, and who will perform to our good. Daniel 9:18b, “. . . We do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.” Romans 10:11, “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” Isaiah 66:13, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.” Jonah 4:9, “Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?” V11, “Should not I spare Nineveh, that great city [without] discernment?”
IV. Prayer is Pouring Out the Soul to God through Christ and with Assistance of Holy Spirit.
We have established the following: Sincerity, Sensibility, and Affection.
Now the believer addresses God where He has made Himself the most vulnerable. It our sin that constitutes the communication gap. But the sinless Son has the Father’s ear. Matthew 18:20, “Where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I.” John 14:13, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, [to the end that] the Father may be glorified in the son.”
Daniel grasped this special efficacy. Daniel 9:17, “O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, . . . for the Lord’s sake. . . .” v19, “O Lord, hear, . . . for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.” Romans 10:1, “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.”
To claim Christ’s name before God is to claim His blood, is to claim His righteousness, is to claim His victory over sin, is to claim His intercession in our behalf. Ephesians 1:6, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
A newspaper article datelined Birmingham told of a little four-year-old boy taken in a stolen car. Asleep on back seat, parked in front of Women’s Hospital, the car was taken. A few hours later, the car was recovered but not the boy. Police speculated the thief abandoned. A disabled vet was searching near the site. On the porch of a deserted house he saw bundle of rags. Stopped, on crutches in semi-darkness, the bundle moved, showed fear. But the man called the lad’s father’s name, and told him he was taking him to his daddy.
V. Prayer is the Pouring Out of the Soul to God for Such Things as He has Promised. Psalm 37:4, “He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
The Character of the Promiser: Hebrews 10:23, “For He is faithful that promised.” For the sake of His own word. For our sake of redeemable humanity.
The Content of the Promise: II Peter 3:13, “We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” It states His integrity. It qualifies the human search.
The Certitude of the Promised: I John 2:25, “This is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life.”
VI. Prayer is the Pouring Out of the Soul to God for the Good of the Church.
Jesus prayed for the church. John 17:9f, “I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me.
Paul uses prayer in this sense. Philippians 1:4f, “. . . Prayer . . . for your friendship in the gospel . . . being confident . . . that . . . he will perform it.”
We must pray similarly. Romans 15:30, “. . . Strive with me in your prayers to God for me.”
We must not presume some divine accountability. God’s will is for our own good. Satan is working to disallow His will.
VII. Prayer is Pouring Out One’s Soul to God, Submitting to the Will of God.
Matthew 6:10, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.”
I John 5:14f, “This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us; and if we know that hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”
Links:
1Bunyan, J. (2022). Prayer. Banner of Truth, Puritan Paperback Series.