104 Sermon Illustrations on Prayer

Dr. J.H. Jowett, speaking of the time when he was in Northfield, says, "I went out early one morning to conduct a camp meeting away off in the woods. The camp dwellers were two or three hundred men from the Water Street Mission in New York. At the beginning of the service, prayer was offered for me, and the supplication opened with these inspired words: 'O Lord, we thank Thee for our brother. Now blot him out.' Then the prayer continued: 'Reveal Thy glory to us in such blazing splendor that he shall be forgotten.'"

There is a story of a man who tried to weigh a prayer. He owned a little grocery store. It was the week before Christmas, shortly after World War I. A tired-looking woman came into the store and asked for enough food to make a Christmas dinner for the children. The grocer asked her how much she could spend. "My husband did not come back; he was killed in the War. And I have nothing to offer but a little prayer," she answered. The storekeeper was not very sentimental nor religious, so he said, half mockingly, "Write it on paper, and I will weigh it." To his surprise, the woman took a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to the man, saying, "I wrote it during the night while watching over my sick baby." The grocer took the piece of paper before he could recover from his surprise and, because other customers were watching and had heard his remarks, he placed the unread prayer on the weight side of the old-fashioned scales. Then he began to pile food on the other side; but to his amazement, the scale would not go down. He became angry and flustered and finally said, "Well, that's all the scale will hold. Here's a bag; you will have to put it in yourself, I am busy." With trembling hands the woman filled the bag, and through moist eyes expressed her gratitude and departed. After that the store was empty of customers, the grocer examined the scales. Yes, they were broken and they had become broken just in time for God to answer the prayer of the woman. But as the years passed, the grocer often wondered about the incident. Why did the woman come at just the right time? Why had she already written the prayer in such a way as to confuse the grocer so that he did not examine the scales? The grocer is an old man now, but the weight of the paper still lingers with him. He never saw the woman again, nor had he seen her before that day. Yet he remembers her more than any of his customers. And he treasures the slip of paper upon which the woman's prayer had been written-simple words, but from a heart of faith, "Please, Lord, give us this day our daily bread."

Little Johnnie was saying his bedtime prayers a week before his birthday. In a loud voice he listed all the things he wanted. "Do not pray so loudly," his mother instructed. "The Lord is not hard of hearing!" "Maybe He isn't," admitted Johnnie, "but Grandma is." A lot of our prayers may be like Johnnie's. We ask God, yet make other provisions. There is something good about the axiom, "Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you." But, in one sense, it reveals our spirit of independence. It conveys the notion: "I will have to do it all myself, anyway!" We must admit the essentiality of dialogue with God. And our requests must come from righteous lips, for "he hears the prayer of the righteous" (Proverbs 15:29). Prayers are like skyhooks-if we get enough fastened in up there we will have something to hang on to when the world is jerked out from under us. Yes! Pray believing! Then God will answer your prayer. He may answer, "No!" He may answer, "Later!" He may answer, "Maybe!" Or he many answer, "Yes!" But let us understand one universal truth. The Father in heaven is eager to hear and answer in positive ways those of us who are his faithful children. "Almighty Father, accept our prayers of faith as confessions of our utter dependence upon your love and generous mercy. In Jesus' name. Amen."

I knelt to pray when day was done, and prayed, "O Lord, bless everyone; Lift from each saddened heart the pain, and let the sick be well again." And then I awoke another day, and carelessly went on my way. The whole day long I did not try to wipe the tear from any eye; I did not try to share the load of anybody on the road; I did not even go to see the sick man just next door to me. But once again, when day was done, I prayed, "O Lord, bless everyone...." But as I prayed, into my ear there came a voice that whispered clear, "Pause just now, before you pray; Whom have you tried to bless today? God's sweetest blessings always go to hands that serve Him here below." And then I hid my face and cried, "Forgive me, God, for I have lied. Let me but see another day, and I will live the way I pray." When Is It Time to Pray? Have you ever had anyone come to you and say, "Tell me...how do you know when it is time to pray?" I mean our stomachs growl when it is time to eat. Our eyes start closing when it is time to sleep. When our feelings get hurt, it is time for tears, With a new birth it is time to care. People will often tell us, quite so, When it is time to come, or stay, or go. But how do you know when it is time to pray? Does an alarm go off next to your bed? Or is there a clanging inside your head? Do your eyes start blinking, a horn start blowing? Or do you listen for a rooster crowing? Just what is your way of knowing when it is time to pray? With me... I find it is time to pray At the beginning and ending of each day. And when I am sick and feeling bad, Or scared, or lonely, or lost, or sad. When the bills blow in like sand I seek a touch of the Master's hand. When I need patience, hope and peace And an abiding love that will not cease. When I am thankful for all there is That now is mine, and yet is His. Gladness, sadness, joy and grief We share in prayer. And it is my belief That whenever my heart has something to say That is how I know when it's time to pray. This New Year Everybody Can Do Something A preacher asked a hard-working servant girl what she was doing for the Lord. She explained that she had very little time to be involved in "church work." "But," she added, "I always take the newspaper to my bedroom each night." Surprised, the preacher asked what possible good that could do. "Well," she explained, "I turn to the column of births. I pray that each of the newborns will be led to the Savior at an early age and become a great blessing to the world. Next, I check the column of weddings and pray that the couples will always remain true to each other and build their homes on Christ. Then I go over the death notices and mention the bereaved families by name to God, asking that, in their sorrow they will turn to the Lord."

A rather lazy student noticed that a fellow student always recited her lessons well, so he said to her, "How is it that you always say your lesson so perfectly?" She replied, "I always pray that I may say my lessons well." "Do you?" said the boy somewhat surprised. "Well, then, I will pray, too." However, the next morning he could not even repeat a word of his assigned lesson. Perplexed, he ran to his friend and reproached her as deceitful. "I prayed," said he, "but I could not say a single word of my lesson." "Perhaps," rejoined the other, "you didn't study hard enough!" "I didn't study at all," answered the boy. "I thought I didn't have to study after praying about it."

There was a sexton in a church who was very devoted to the pastor. A new pastor came, and someone asked the sexton what he thought of the new preacher. "Well," said the sexton, "I like him pretty well, but when it comes to praying, the former preacher asked the Lord for things the new preacher doesn't even know the Lord's got." Our immaturity and finite nature many times do not permit us to see what God has for us, blessings which are far better than those we want for ourselves.

We are reminded of the little girl who told a friend who was visiting her father that her brothers set traps to catch birds. He asked her what she did. She replied, "I prayed that the traps might not catch the birds." "Anything else?" "Yes," she said, "I prayed that God would keep the birds out of the traps." "Anything else?" "Yes, then I went and kicked the traps all to pieces." That little girl was bright enough to understand that life needed action as well as prayers.

A parent does not give a child everything that he asks for. If my little boy came to me and told me just before supper that he wanted a lollipop, should I give it to him? Of course not. Then, if he turns to me and says, "But Daddy, I need it," he can say it as many times as he wishes. He is not going to get a lollipop just before supper. The expression of a need does not always represent a true need. Many times we act more inconsiderately before our Heavenly Father than our children act before us. We give utterance to our wants as if they were real needs. Let us watch this tendency. God is never fooled. He knows a real need from a want.

If the President of the United States invited us to visit him, and we tried to assume the prerogatives of the Presidency ourselves, he'd soon put us out. Yet, this is how some of us act toward God. He has told us to ask, but our asking often demonstrates an attitude of irresponsibility on our part. We ask Him to overrule His natural laws, to act as our servant who must accede to our command. We must never play God when we pray.

“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Matthew 21:22

A number of years ago it was my privilege to attend a Bible conference at which the late Dr. D. M. Stearns was the main speaker. On one particular occasion he had a question hour, and, among the questions there was one that I never forgot. It read something like this: “If you had prayed all your life for the salvation of a loved one, and then you got word that that person had died without giving any evidence of repentance after having lived a sinful life, what would you think, both of prayer itself and of the love of God and His promises to answer?”

It was a very striking question and I know that everyone in the room sat up and wondered what the doctor would have to say in reply to it.

He said, “Well, dear sister, I should expect to meet that loved one in heaven, for I believe in a God who answers prayer, and if He put that exercise upon your heart to pray for that dear one, it was because He, doubtless, intended to answer it.”

Then he told a story. Many years ago there was a dear old lady living in Philadelphia who had a very wayward son. This young man had been brought up in church and Sunday school, but he had drifted away from everything holy. He had gone to sea and had become a very rough, careless, godless sailor.

One night his mother was awakened with a very deep sense of need upon her heart. When fully awake, she thought of her son and she was impressed that he was in great danger; as a result, she got up, threw on a dressing gown, knelt by her bedside, and prayed earnestly that God would undertake for the boy, whatever his need was. She didn’t understand it, but after praying for perhaps two or three hours there came to her a sense of rest and peace, and she felt sure in her heart that God had answered. She got back into bed and slept soundly until the morning. Day after day she kept wondering to herself why she was thus awakened and moved to prayer, but somehow or other she could not feel the need to pray for that boy any more; rather she praised God for something which she felt sure He had done for her son.

Several weeks passed. One day there was a knock at the door. When she went to the door — there stood her boy! As soon as he entered the room, he said, “Mother, I’m saved!” Then he told her a wonderful story.

He told how a few weeks earlier, his ship had been tossed in mid-Atlantic by a terrific storm; and it looked as though there were no hope of riding it through. One of the masts had snapped; the captain called the men to come and cut it away. They stepped out, he among them, cursing and reviling God because they had to be out in such an awful night. They were cutting away this mast when suddenly the ship gave a lurch, and a great wave caught this young man and carried him overboard.

As he struggled almost helplessly with the great waves of the sea, the awful thought came to him, “I’m lost forever!” Suddenly, he remembered a hymn that he had often heard sung in his boyhood days,

“There is life in a look at the crucified One;

There is life at this moment for thee;

Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved;

Unto Him who was nailed to the tree.”

He cried out in agony of heart, “Oh, God, I look, I look to Jesus.” Then he was carried to the top of the waves and lost consciousness.

Hours afterward when the storm had ceased and the men came out to clear the deck, they found him lying unconscious, crowded up against a bulwark. Evidently, while one wave had carried him off the deck, another had carried him back again. The sailors took him into the cabin and gave him restoratives. When he came to, the first words from his lips were, “Thank God, I’m saved!”

From that time on he had an assurance of God’s salvation that meant everything to him.

Then his mother told him how she had prayed for him that night. They realized that it was just at the time when he was in such desperate circumstances, and God had heard and answered.

Now suppose that that young man’s body had never been brought back to the ship. Suppose he had sunk down into the depths. People might have thought he was lost forever in his sin, but he would have been as truly saved as he actually was. God had permitted him to come back in testimony of His wonderful grace.

"Queen Esther would go into the king's presence, even though there might be no golden sceptre held forth; so, believer, venture into God's presence when you have no smile and no light from the countenance of your God. Trust in a withdrawing God." A good child will believe in his father's love even when his father is angry. We believe in the sun when he is under a cloud, and shall we not believe in God when he hideth himself? "When the door of mercy is shut, then is the time for knocking. When the blessing appears to be lost, then is the season for seeking; and when favours seem to be denied, then is the hour for importunate asking. When we have had many denials we should be the more earnest in prayer, that the hindrance may be removed. Esther succeeded in her suit though she went without a call, and much more shall we if we boldly come unto the King of kings, from whom no sincere petitioner ever was dismissed unheard. If we knew the worst time for prayer had come, we ought still to pray. Come, my soul, get thee to thy chamber and seek the King's face, for thou hast great need.

x; MEADOWS AND MARSHES. — "Meadows may be occasionally flooded, but the marshes are drowned by the tide at every return thereof." There is all this difference between the sins of the righteous and those of the ungodly. Surprised by temptation, true saints are flooded with a passing outburst of sin; but the wicked delight in transgression—and live in it as in their element. The saint in his errors is a star under a cloud, but the sinner is darkness itself. The gracious may fall into iniquity, but the graceless run into it, wallow in it, and again and again return to it. Lord, grant that we may be uplifted by thy grace, so that the great water-floods of temptation may not come near us; and if through the prevalence of our inward corruption the enemy should come in like a flood, O Lord, deliver thy servants by thy great power.

"Beggars in the streets, if they see a poor man, meanly clad, they let him alone; but when they see a man of quality and fashion they rouse up themselves, and besiege him with importunate entreaties and clamours, and will not let him go until he hath left something with them." Thus should we do in our Spiritual begging. Vain is the help of man, and therefore we should ask little of him: he is as poor as we are, and it will be a waste of time to wait upon such a pauper. As for the Lord Jesus, he is so rich that if all the beggars in the universe would call at his door he would not refuse one of them, but would set open the doors of his granaries and the hatches of his butteries, and feast the world. He is the heir of all things. There is no bottom to his treasuries. He is the true Solomon, and his daily provision is not only enough for all his household, but for all those who lie starving on the highways and in the hedges. The wealth of nations is nothing to the wealth of Jesus. Come, then, my heart, beg largely of thy Lord, and when he hears thee, beg again. His quality and fashion invite thee to follow him with importunity whithersoever he goeth.

"A key rusteth that is seldom turned in the lock." It becomes hard work to stir it, for it becomes rusted into its place. Neglect of prayer makes prayer become hard work, whereas it should be a privilege and a delight. We cannot restrain prayer, and yet enjoy prayer. Frequency in this matter helps fervour, and constancy in it brings out the comfort of it. Am I becoming slack in devotion? O Lord, forgive me, and save me from this grave neglect before it begins to eat into my soul and corrode my heart!

THE SERPENT'S EGG "It is easier to crush the egg than to kill the serpent." ’Tis prudent to break up all the eggs we can find before the reptiles are hatched. Far greater wisdom will be shown in early dealing with an error or a temptation than in allowing it time to make headway. In our own cases, it will be best to correct ourselves betimes, and unhesitatingly to stamp out the first sparks of ill desire, before passion rises to a flame. A serpent's egg a child can break, but who is to contend with the venomous creature which may be hatched from it, if it be left unbroken? So is it with that vice which stingeth like a viper. The first glass can readily be refused; it is quite another matter to stop when the wine has entered the brain. The first impropriety we may readily avoid; but when unclean desires are fully aroused, who shall bridle them? O Lord, of thy grace, teach me to crush sin betimes, lest it should gather strength and crush me.

"God's seasons are not at your beck. If the first stroke of the flint doth not bring forth the fire, you must strike again." That is to say, God will hear prayer, but he may not answer it at the time which we in our own minds have appointed; he will reveal himself to our seeking hearts, but not just when and where we have settled in our own expectations. Hence the need of perseverance and importunity in supplication. In the days of flint and steel and brimstone matches we had to strike and strike again, dozens of times, before we could get a spark to live in the tinder; and we were thankful enough if we succeeded at last. Shall we not be as persevering and hopeful as to heavenly things? We have more certainty of success in this business than we had with our flint and steel, for we have God's promise at our back. Never let us despair. God's time for mercy will come; yea, it has come, if our time for believing has arrived. Ask in faith, nothing wavering; but never cease from petitioning because the king delays to reply. Strike the steel again. Make the sparks fly and have your tinder ready: you will get a light before long.

"If you send a child or servant to a friend for a thing in your name, the request is yours; and he that denieth the child or servant, denieth you. Jesus Christ hath bidden you ask in his name, so that in effect your request becomes Christ's request. God can no more deny your request in Christ's name than he can deny Christ himself. This is the true meaning of asking in Christ's name. It is a higher plea than—for Jesus' sake. The one pleads the Saviour's merit as a penitent sinner; the other urges his authority as a favoured friend. Jesus permits his disciple to make request in his Master's stead, using the name and dignity of Christ as his warrant. Armed with this argument our prayers become akin to the intercession of the Lord himself. Herein lies at once the power of prayer and also its limit. For who will dare to use "the name which is above every name" except with surest right to do so? I may beg for Christ's sake when my petition is somewhat doubtful; but the royal seal must only be set to requests which the most searching examination commends to our judgment as according to the divine promise, and needful for God's glory. We are trusted with the Prince's signet-ring, but gracious discretion must be used in its employment. When the Spirit of God prompts the desire, and faith sees how well Jesus deserves the blessing, and how surely he himself would have sought it of the Father; then prayer is power invincible, for it is the pierced hand held open before the Father's approving heart. Cannons have been called "the last arguments of kings"; but the name of Jesus is the master-argument of the King's children. Lord Jesus, cause me to know in my daily experience the glory and sweetness of thy name, and then teach me how to use it in my prayer, so that I may be even like Israel, a prince prevailing with God. Thy name is my passport, and secures me access; thy name is my plea, and secures me answer; thy name is my honour, and secures me glory. Blessed name, thou art honey in my mouth, music in my ear, heaven in my heart, and all in all to all my being!"

St. Jerome tells us, it was the custom in his days to close up every prayer with such an unanimous consent, that their amens rung and echoed in the church, and sounded like the fall of waters or the noise of thunder. Ep. Hopkins.

When it is prefixed before, it is assertory; as in the Evangelists: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee;" that is, "Amen, amen, I say unto thee;" which is a vehement assertion of the truth and necessity of what he speaks. When it is subjoined and used at the end of a speech or prayer, it is preciatory, and signifies our earnest desire to have our prayers heard and our petitions granted; as, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: Amen and amen," &c.

In the former sense it signifies So it is: in the latter, So be it. Ep. Hopkins.

A vessel laden with bricks and coal was undergoing repairs on the shore of the Solway Firth. The tide there runs like a race-horse. By some gross mismanagement, the vessel began to heel over. A cry of alarm was raised; and all escaped but one man. She settled down on his loins, and pinned him to the ground. The neighborhood was raised; hawsers were attached to the masts; and the power of strong arms and hearts brought to raise her: but in vain. She could not be moved. The tide was making: it would float her soon; but, before it floated her, it would float over him. All further effort was abandoned. A minister was brought to the sad scene. He prayed, and the people wept. On and on came the remorseless sea: inch by inch it rose (cold at his heart, at his throat); and now Death in the salt foam kisses his lips. He asks that a handkerchief be thrown over his head, that he may not see the waves. It is done: and with a weeping, sobbing crowd around him, but none there to help, at length the wave washes over his head, and washes away the prayer, that, I hope, through our blessed Saviour, opened the gates of heaven for his departing spirit. They could not help. Dr. Guthrie.

In the early days of the Theological Seminary at Alleghany, it was often in great need of money. Once, in a time of extremity, the Rev. Dr. Francis Herron, President of the Board of Directors, the Rev. Dr. Elisha P. Swift, also a director, and Rev. Jos. Patterson, met to devise some way of relief. With all their faith, the first-mentioned brethren were greatly dejected. "We have no one to help us," said one of them. "No one!" replied Mr. Patterson warmly: "why! I know of a thousand there." The two looked astonished. He continued, "Is not Dr. Herron a cipher? is not Dr. Swift a cipher? am not I a cipher? But Jesus Christ is surely ONE. And, if we put one before three ciphers, does it not make a thousand?" They took new courage, went to that One who is able to help, and did not pray in vain.

It is said that Robert Hall once visited a poor man in his sickness; and, during his conversation with him, the man every now and then knocked with a stick the board at the head of the bed. Mr. Hall, rather annoyed by this interruption, asked his reason for such strange conduct. The man replied, that the Bible commanded him to knock, and it should be opened unto him.

A traveller in Persia tells how he was besieged by one who solicited a gift more costly than he was prepared to give. The hoary mendicant set himself down before his gate, throwing up a rude tent to shelter himself from the noon-day sun. There he remained like a sentinel, nor left his post but to follow the traveller out of doors, and return with him. Taking snatches of sleep during the day, when the other rested in the house, he kept up a hideous bowling and clamorous demands all the hours of the night, — an annoyance, which, persisted in for successive days and nights, and even weeks, seldom fails to gain its object.

Adam had tilled the ground, and made himself a garden full of plants and trees. He rested himself, with his wife and children, upon the brow of a bill. The watcher of Eden came to them; but he was without his flaming sword, and his countenance was kind. He saluted them, and said, "Behold! no more do fruits grow of themselves for you: you must labor to eat bread in the sweat of your brow; but, after your toil, you rejoice in the fruit acquired." — "His goodness is great, even when he chasteneth," said Adam. "But formerly Jehovah was nearer to us, and blessed us. What have we to atone for this?" — "Prayer," answered the watcher. "Toil is the earthly, prayer the heavenly gift of Jehovah." Then Adam lifted up his face, and gave thanks, and prayed.

— Krummacher

An Eastern traveller says, "I remember, on one occasion, travelling in Arabia with a companion who possessed some knowledge of medicine. We arrived at a door near which we were about to pitch our tent: when a crowd of Arabs surrounded us, cursing and swearing at the rebellers against God. My friend, who spoke a little Arabic, turning to an elderly person whose garb bespoke him a priest, said, 'Who taught you that we were disbelievers? Hear my daily prayer, and judge for yourselves.' He then repeated the Lord's prayer. All stood amazed and silent, till the priest exclaimed, 'May God curse me if ever I curse again those who hold such a belief! nay, more, that prayer shall be my prayer till my hour be come. I pray thee, O Nazarene! to repeat that prayer, that it may be remembered and written among us in letters of gold.'

After a battle in Virginia, a New-England chaplain found himself separated from his regiment, with an Irish Roman-Catholic soldier for his sole companion. The rebel scouts were abroad through the country; and a sense of peril roused the religious feelings of the son of Erin. "Chaplain," said he, "hadn't you better pray?"—"Why, yes, Joe, if you would like it," answered the chaplain. And so, on their hands and knees, the Protestant and the Romanist bowed like brethren; and, when the chaplain's earnest prayer was ended, an earnest "Amen" from Joe's lips signified his hearty acquiescence. Congregationalist

Mr. Spurgeon visited a dying woman, who desired that he should pray especially for the conversion of her only child, a daughter. Mr. Spurgeon, by some means, mistook the term daughter, and prayed as for a son. As he was leaving, he was told of his mistake. "Oh!" said he, "that makes no difference. Our mistakes will not keep the Lord from giving us the blessing." So it proved. The girl was converted shortly after her mother's death.