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  THE GIFT OF TEARS IN AUTHENTIC PRAYER
  by Al Whittinghill
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking the gift of
tears in prayer, highlighting the power of weeping before God as a form
of deep communion and co-laboring with Him. It explores the
transformative impact of genuine, heartfelt prayer, drawing examples
from biblical figures like Job, Hannah, and Jesus in Gethsemane,
showcasing the profound results of weeping in prayer for personal and
communal revival.

Topics: "The Gift of Tears", "Transformative Prayer"
Scripture References: Psalm 42:3, Hebrews 5:7, Colossians 4:12, Acts 20:19, Jeremiah 9:1, Lamentations 2:18, Romans 8:26, 2 Corinthians 5:7

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of seeking the gift of tears in
prayer, highlighting the power of weeping before God as a form of deep
communion and co-laboring with Him. It explores the transformative
impact of genuine, heartfelt prayer, drawing examples from biblical
figures like Job, Hannah, and Jesus in Gethsemane, showcasing the
profound results of weeping in prayer for personal and communal revival.

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CONTENT
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Lord Jesus I will build my church and the counsels and the plans of hell
will not prevail against her. Your house among the nations will be
called a house of prayer. We know that your will in heaven is going to
be done on earth as it is in heaven as your people lay hold of you in
believing prayer and bring thy will in heaven to be done on earth as it
is being done there as we together make our hearts available to you to
put your song and symphony in us in such a way that it's beyond anything
that could ever be of man and those who look marvel and say the Lord has
done great things.

Oh Lord put the fear of God once again in the hearts of your people. May
the God of Jacob the fear of Isaac and the awesome king of all the earth
have your way tonight in us and bring us to a new place. Lord I just
sense freedom is just ready to burst forth maybe not like we call
freedom but the way you call freedom and that's what we want.

We want the ways of the Lord to be implanted deeply. Our thoughts are
certainly not like your thoughts nor our ways like your ways so Lord
speak and plant your thoughts and your words in us tonight and may we
experience them in the name of Jesus we ask these things. Believing that
we have confidence in you that if we ask anything according to your will
we know you hear us and if we know that you hear us you say whatsoever
we ask we have those petitions in the name of Jesus that we've asked you
so we thank you in advance in Jesus name amen.

Several years ago you might have heard of William Booth who founded the
Salvation Army. I was thinking of them today when I saw the great work
that the Lord's given you all in your town here to help so many people
from all around and the Salvation Army was birthed and and these guys
were truly soldiers of the cross. They had a lot of great people in
those earlier years especially and they would go into a city and they
would minister to the underbelly of a city.

They knew how to go in there and over several years they really honed it
down to know what they were doing and Samuel Logan Bringle was one of
the top guys with the General Booth that was there and he writes in his
book this account and it stirred me because he talked about how they had
been in city after city and they'd gone in with campaigns and they'd
seen a lot of people come to the Lord and a lot of release of all kinds
of prisoners and great blessing in those cities but they went into one
northeastern city and they set it up as normal and they went in as they
usually do and absolutely nothing was coming forth and they had prayer
and they had done everything according to what they did before and it
just wasn't coming forth and they were getting discouraged and so they
wrote to the general, General Booth, what a man of God, and they told
him in a letter what had happened and what had not happened and they
didn't know what to do and so the wrote a letter back after he heard all
of that and they opened it up and read it and it had two words. You know
what they were? They talked about how they had prayed, they talked about
how they've done all these things and what to do and the general wrote
back two words and here they were, try tears, and they saw it
immediately that to them and their work it had become something they
were used to, something that was easy to be involved in for them because
they loved it and they saw the work but their hearts had not gone into
it in the way that the Lord wanted the hearts to be into it. Try tears
and they prayed, they got down and the Lord broke their heart and they
wept over the situation with the heart of God and God gave a tremendous
harvest to them and they learned an incredible lesson.

Well tonight I want to talk to you about that promise to us as well
because we live in a day when it's certainly, considering all that's
happening around us, they're certainly in order for a contribution of
our tears, but where are they? Listen to Psalm 126. This is an awesome
Psalm. It has some words about the past, some words about the present,
and then a promise for the future, but Psalm 126 it says, and if you
have it on, aha, there it is on the screen, okay, when the Lord turned
again the captivity of Zion, now Zion is God's people in this, we were
like those that dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing and
they said among the nations the heathen, the Lord has done great things
for them. It's talking about when God turns the captivity of his people.
That's odd, isn't it? God's people in captivity? That's not supposed to
be, but he turned the captivity of his people and when he did then
singing and joy comes and our tongue sings and we have laughter and the
people around us notice when that kind of freedom comes and they say the
Lord has done great things.

The world notices supernatural joy and the Lord has done great things
for us. Yes he has and we're glad. We look at the past and we see what
he's done and we have gladness and joy and it's awesome, but then it
goes to the present tense.

Turn again our captivity, O Lord, like the streams in the south. That
word stream is like the word, it's in Israel, I was down at Masada and
there's these dry river gulshes that go up toward Jerusalem, up toward
higher land and when it rains in Jerusalem it pours down torrents of
water and it comes suddenly and it fills those wadis and those dried up
riverbeds and this guy told me that he'd seen a bus turned over that was
parked and it came with such force, but he says turn our captivity like
the streams in the Negev down by Masada that this dry sense that's
around us, Lord, turn our captivity and make it be like a riverbed that
fills up with living water suddenly. That's what it's saying there and
turn our captivity, Lord, like the streams in the Negev.

And then this amazing word for the future out of that picture that you
just saw, a picture, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy and he
that goes forth and is weeping bearing that precious seed, and I believe
it means the ones you've sown, you see verse 5 I believe is sowing in
tears, sowing in the spirit, in the prayer closet, you're sowing in
tears and God says I will give you harvest and joy and so you see them
leaving in a picture that prayer closet verse 6, he that goes forth,
meaning from where you've sowed in tears, and weeps, he's weeping, his
heart's involved, he's bearing these precious seeds to tell the next
generation, to tell the young and the old and publish glad tidings, he
without a doubt, doubtless, will come back again with rejoicing,
bringing harvest or his seeds with him. Well the single greatest factor
in fruit bearing is prayer and the single thing that he says is that his
house will be called a house of prayer. It's not methodology, Salvation
Army learned that, it's not money necessarily, we need money of course
we do, it's not men really, but it's prayer and there's a there's the
spirit of revival, but we're not talking here about just any kind of
prayer, we're talking about a special kind, it's effectual, fervent
prayer, and so to be effective many people today go forth and they leave
off sacrifice and prayer and weeping and prayer and they come back
empty-handed, they come back saying what's wrong and they have little to
show and there's no real fruit.

Well I want to just say about tonight we're gonna talk about tears, but
not just any kind of tears, there's all kinds of tears in the scripture,
he says to some people you cover the altar with your tears but they're
like icicles tears, it's like melted water because they're selfish
tears, or you come and you lay on your bed and you cover your bed with
tears but your hearts are far from me, he says that in some of the
prophets, so there's different kinds of tears, tears of frustration, but
tears, as I've been to these different countries I can tell you, tears
are universally understood in any country, it's the language of the
heart, you know it's just amazing because you can go, they speak
eloquently when words cannot, you could be in a foreign country and you
could be plodding along and suddenly the Lord breaks your heart and you
begin to weep and the audience begins to weep with you because they know
that the heart of God is now speaking. Tears have no color, they
transcend race, they transcend culture, they transcend language, and you
can have someone visit someone and they don't say a word but they come
in like to visit someone that just lost someone and all you do is see
them and you start to weep and they say they understand. We weep with
those who weep.

There's a time for tears and tears are the same from all people because
they show that the heart is involved. Well it's kind of like the person,
if you ever watch Matlock, I like to watch Matlock, it's an old-
fashioned show, but Matlock gets this really bad guy on the witness
stand and he'll, this guy's really good liar, you know, he's up there,
Matlock's asking him questions and Matlock leads him on and this guy,
you think, oh he's fooling Matlock but this guy's just really confident
and at the right moment, bang, he asks a question, you see the guy's
eyes fill up with water and you say, he's got him. You know why you can
say that? Because his heart's involved.

Or you can see the preacher who's up and he's trying to bring a message
and it's not working and people out there, they're about to go to sleep,
you know, and all of a sudden he gets to a point and his voice breaks
and he starts to have a choked up sense in his voice and people can say,
the preacher's crying, and they snap away because they know that now the
heart's involved. Or the couple that comes in for counseling and they're
discussing things and they're talking with each other and they're at
impasse and all of a sudden one of them breaks down and cries and
everything changes because now we're talking at a heart level. Do you
see what I'm talking about? And it's the same thing in prayer.

And just as the life of the flesh is in the blood, the life of the soul
is revealed in tears so many times in the scripture, so many times. It's
a pouring out of the soul or a pouring out of the heart. When you see
that expression, pour out your hearts before me, it's talking about
pouring out the inner essence of a person.

I call it liquid prayer. It's love without language. It's the
exclamation point of the Holy Ghost so often in prayer, when tears flow
and it's maybe silence and there's nothing else.

But have you ever wondered this, like I'm wondering today and the last
several months especially, where are the tears? Where are the tears in
the church? When Jesus Christ looked over Jerusalem and he wept over
Jerusalem, what do you think he was weeping about? I actually asked
someone here the other day that question, a young person, and I don't
know if they were serious, I hope not. They said there was no
television. I just almost fell through the floor and I said, you've got
to be kidding me.

You've got to be kidding me. But you see, this is where we are. We have
no clue.

But see, he wept over Jerusalem many times. He looked and he saw. He saw
for the people that are in captivity, the people that are in trouble and
his heart broke and he never changes.

And he looks today and he's the high priest and he's looking at the
church and do you think that the problems that bother us don't break his
gracious heart? Do you think that he hasn't, do you think it doesn't
call for us for a contribution of tears? But my question is, where are
the tears and why are our hearts without tears? When the Lord turned the
captivity of Zion, that's when it happens. Captivity is when you're
under the control of something. It might be your flesh, it might be a
habit, it might be a secret sin, it might be a wrong relationship, but
it controls you and it really affects how you feel about everything.

But when God changes that, then comes freedom. And here we have God's
people in captivity. If our eyes are dry, it's because we're like that
wadi, our hearts are parched.

That's worth writing down. If our eyes are dry, it's because our hearts
are parched. There's a wilderness going on in there.

And before the church can have a message for the world, for the heart of
the world, the Lord must have the heart of his church. Where are the
tears in our day? God's will is for us to be prayerful. The devil's will
is for us to be prayerless.

And he fights prayer, real corporate prayer, especially on the level
we're going to talk about tonight, more than anything else. I debated
about bringing this word tonight as I thought about it because it seems
almost like you can see it in a sad way. But if you really get what I'm
saying tonight, it'll put you on shouting ground.

It'll melt your heart and God will have his way. You see, those
torrents, it says here in this verse, it's like the torrents that comes,
like the torrents that came and it changes. Torrents is that word for
gushing streams that come suddenly and floodgates of mercy and a deluge
of deity.

And they're not from any earthly spring. You don't get it by pumping the
feet as we said last night. You get it because it's raining up around
the temple and the throne in Jerusalem and suddenly it comes down to
where you are at Masada, which is one of the lowest places on earth,
planet.

It comes to you and it's amazing what happens. God's people in
captivity. They were in captivity in Egypt.

They were in captivity in Babylon. We're captive to the world so often
and we're in bondage to the world. You know, Job, it says in Job that he
was the best man on earth.

God said it three times about Job. He was the best man on earth. Nobody
liked him.

He hated evil. He feared God and he was a great man. But yet he was in
captivity for the whole book.

What was he in captivity to? Well, if you read the book, you'll see him,
he gets a little bit testy when people suggest that his problems are
because of something that might be wrong in his heart. And he says, I'll
defend my own righteousness. I know what God's done.

I know who I am. I love the Lord. And he's basically trying for his own
sake to not think that he's really wrong with God because he loves God.

And you see him go along and God finally comes in after his friends have
come and asking these questions. And God asks him questions and brings
him to the end of himself and he has no defense. And Job says, oh, I've
heard of you by the hearing of the ear.

That's how faith comes. But now my eye sees you and I hate my own
independent life and I repent in dust and ashes. See, the theme of Job
is not just suffering.

It's repentance. If I were going to write a book on repentance, I'd take
Jack the Ripper or one of the politicians today or something and I'd
have them get saved and repent and I'd say, that's repentance. But see,
then you'd say, well, I don't need to repent.

I'm not like that. But when God writes a book on repentance, he takes
the best man on earth. So there's no excuse for any of us.

And he shows how that Job's captivity was turned. When was it turned? In
chapter 42, verse 10. It says, And the Lord turned the captivity of Job
when he prayed for his friends.

Those who had despitefully used him. God's heart came through Job when
he really saw God. And he prayed for his friends and he was set free
from a self-centered self-righteousness.

I think that Job was captive to his own ideas of what it meant to be
righteous. And so in this psalm you have a dry and a barren scene and
God sweeps in and changes that. So God responds to prayer when the heart
is involved.

And it becomes a heart cry, not just an intellectual presentation at
all. So we come to him and when captivity has been turned, there's a
heart burden and involvement of the whole being. You see Paul's heart in
Romans 9 when he says, I tell you the truth and the Lord and I lie not,
my conscience bearing witness with the Holy Ghost that if it were
possible I would give up my own salvation that Israel would be saved.

You ever thought about that? I'd give up myself to heaven if my brother
or sister could come to the Lord. I'd do it. But see that's like Moses
that's up on the mountain in Exodus back when the people are sinning and
God says get them out of here Moses I'm gonna start a new nation with
you.

And Moses said Lord if you take them out of the way then blot me and
there's a dash there. Blot me out of your book. We don't even know what
that means.

But Paul had this burden. Moses had this burden. You see hot tears don't
come from cold hearts however and a cold heart is a captive heart and
it's a lukewarm heart.

So as soon as Zion travails it says in Isaiah God brings forth his
children. Winners of souls if you're going to be effective must be first
weepers. Poor souls.

And it's got to be with the heart and it's got to be sowing in tears as
you come and you plant the precious promises of God and the Word of God
in real prayer that God initiates in you. The early church had a byword
they would say to one another. They said this.

I've documented it. No coming to heaven with dry eyes. No coming to
heaven with dry eyes.

They encouraged one another to weep and to really pray and to really
believe God. You know in Romans 8 it talks about groanings. It talks
about in Romans 8 when it says that all of creation is groaning under
the burden of the fall and that's the groaning of the bondage of
corruption.

But then it talks about the Christian is groaning as he is under the
burden of the bondage of the corruption around him and he wants to be
free from the carnality and he's groaning. I want to be free. I want to
go to heaven.

But the third groaning is when it says none of us knows how to pray as
we ought to know how to pray. The way to pray but the Holy Spirit that
is in us he will help us to learn if we'll listen and he will make
intercession in us with groanings which can't be put into human words.
And so you see the culmination God is saying groanings like that.

This is the groaning that is used for the word that's in Exodus when it
talks about God looking at his children in Israel and they were under
bondage and they were in captivity and for those years they were crying
out to God not with words but their hearts were groaning it says and God
heard that groaning. He listens to the prayer of the heart at the
unspoken level and it is just amazing you see he helps us with our
infirmities. I mean Stephen quotes this verse as he's being stoned.

So this kind of prayer that we're talking about is not worked up by the
pumping of the feet it's wrought in you and me by God. He'll give you
this it's a gift of grace it's birthed by fellowship with him and it's
through the supply of the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus. He that's
joined to the Lord is one spirit.

Now I'm telling you not a lot of people are experiencing this kind of
prayer but if this church will really hear what we're covering tonight
and dare to say yes Lord God will surprise you. The reason that prayer
is sometimes feels so unsatisfying and even unattractive to many hearts
is because we try to enter into a celestial cosmic realm of spiritual
prayer in the sincerity and strength of the old man. Lord lead God and
direct us and forgive us of our many many sins and there's nothing wrong
with that prayer if it's from the heart but we've learned how to pray
from one another.

We learn coin phrases I can tell you how the Baptists pray, I can tell
you how the Methodists pray, I can tell you how the Presbyterians pray.
Oh father open the window. You know I'm just telling you there's all
these different ways that I'm not mocking prayer please don't think that
but I'm saying we've got to be careful not to let prayer become
disgenuine.

The old man is captive to the earth to the flesh to the senses and
genuine prayer is supernatural even when you say amen that's a
supernatural utterance at the end in Jesus name if you're really
praying. But see prayer can't rise above our own selfish interests if
we're captive like Job was captive to our own ideas and the monster of
selfishness has to be dealt with at the cross and what God is looking
for is brokenness in prayer brokenness in prayer and that is what we
need to not be afraid of brokenness in prayer. Well I remember when I
was in seminary I first began to learn about this and it astounded me it
was Christmas time I wasn't married and I was I lived in an apartment
just a little old house off the campus and I had as a roommate he was a
judge in Fort Worth he was six feet nine inches tall and I was a
preacher so we'd go to a meeting together and Brother Raymond Hill was
preaching one night he said here come the law and the prophets you know
and he loved this we loved him but rather than drive back from Texas to
North Carolina I would often for the early days of Christmas spend time
with he and his his family he had three brothers and his dad sang and
taught music at the seminary and his mother was in our church they were
all around church and she was one of those women that had big blue eyes
and she was just so quiet and serene and she just oozed the presence of
God and when you looked at her eyes you knew she knows a lot of things I
don't have a clue about.

She just was a precious Lady Helen I'll never forget her and so I came
home at Christmas time we were just you know all in our 20s and
everybody was Mr. Williams was out of town and and so if the mother was
downstairs and the three of us of the three guys were upstairs and it
was the middle of the night we'd had a good prayer time and I thought I
would go downstairs and get some water they didn't have it up there so I
started down the down the stairs and went around it and I heard when I
got to the bottom of the stairs this oh it sounded like you would
imagine someone having a heart attack or something else going on a dying
gasps of an animal of some sort I don't know what it was and I said I
better find out what that is and I ran toward the sound and under the
stairs was the entrance I didn't know it to their bedroom and as I
rounded the corner I saw in there beside the bed in the light of a
little light that was on there by the bedside I saw this woman on her
knees with hands out over the bed and she was oh it was like she was
having a transition time having a baby you know if you had babies you
know what I mean I mean are you think you know travail but yeah trap
travail but transition is when you're just getting in the big stuff you
know that's when you're going in and or it's he's coming out well I mean
it's better but but I saw this and I remember I ran in like this and I
saw her there and I went oh and I realized that noise was her groaning
she couldn't utter it she couldn't put it into words and I was just like
and I walk I think I backed all the way back upstairs all the way I was
floored I was amazed I was so blown away because I saw for the first
time God using somebody to birth something in prayer there wasn't her
immediate need and that's where she lived and that's the answer to what
was in her life and her captivity had been turned and she was a
magnificent woman of prayer you see because God was trying to teach me
wrestling without words and love without language Oh dr. Jowett the
missionary to the Hebrides out in the Hebrides by New Guinea and Papa
New Guinea and that he said I'd rather teach one man to pray than ten
men to preach because he was talking about what we're talking about here
that it's real that's what produces it now let me just I'm gonna run
through a gamut of things real quick and just say the heartbeat of this
kind of prayer is throughout all the scripture tears make the difference
and God is mindful of our tears just like Paul said Timothy I'm mindful
of your tears it's a priority for him and he keeps our tears in his
bottle it says in Psalm 56 and he has our prayers with tears and pouring
out in his vials in heaven waiting for the day of judgment there's not a
teardrop that's ever lost there's not a prayer that's not in his book of
prayer he's got it all down and so you don't waste time the wasted time
is when you don't pray you see it's the cry of the heart so as I said
let me just Exodus was when they were in Egypt and the crime their heart
rose up it wasn't it wasn't even in words but it was a heart that was
crying out and groaning and it says this it came to pass in the process
of time that the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel sighed
out by reason of the bondage and they cried and they they their cry came
up to God and the Lord heard their groanings that's the groanings that
Stephen describes it that's used there in Romans 8 about groanings which
can't be uttered you're in a situation you can't put into words but
you're down before God and God like Helen Williamson fills her heart
with his feelings in his heart and his obeying and there's a groaning
and an expression Oh God Oh God and you can't even go far enough with
that and so it's just it's not mere emotion it is the heart agreement
with God but you see then you see another time just think of this in
first Samuel when Hannah couldn't have a child and it says she wept and
then she wept more and then she wept till she was sore she wept and she
wept and and and she did not eat and and she came to the high priest and
he said why weepest thou why is your heart her husband said why is your
heart grieved aren't I enough for you you know no she wanted a child and
she was weeping until she was just bitterness of soul and weeping sore
of a sorrowful spirit I poured out my soul to the Lord weeping and she
came to the priest and he was able to say your prayers are heard and she
didn't just have a child she had a prophet Samuel who was given to the
Lord from the beginning and you see in Isaiah with Hezekiah when
Hezekiah is dying he realizes he's dying and he turns in chapter 38 his
face to the wall and it says he weeps till he was sore I don't know what
that means but he he wept he would he he was praying to the Lord with
weeping he didn't have words and the Lord comes and he says it in the
scripture I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears I'm gonna
add 15 years to your life I've seen your tears well it was in Ezekiel's
day that the Lord comes and he says to Ezekiel I'm gonna judge this
place go through Jerusalem and put a tov it's a Hebrew a mark but it's
the word tov it's like a cross and the angel went to the altar and and
and filled up this inkhorn with the altar I think it was full of blood
and he went through it says in Ezekiel 9 Jerusalem and he put a mark on
the forehead of every person that wept inside and cried out for the
honor of God he marked it God did and then he says to the angel after he
did now go through Jerusalem and slay utterly everyone that doesn't have
that mark and began at the chief head preacher just it's an awesome
thing God is looking for a man to stand in the gap before him before the
whole land to take the heart of God like Daniel did when he came and he
wept and he mourned and he prayed before God and God heard he comes and
he says to Daniel in chapter 10 he says Daniel the angel you're a man
highly beloved of God from the first day even though it's been 21 days
of weeping and and and repenting on behalf of the Israel I your prayers
from the first day you begin to chase in your own heart and weep before
God your prayers were heard God hears that kind of prayer and I've come
now to give you God's answers well that's pretty stunning in Nehemiah's
day when he was in a very posh position and he heard that Jerusalem his
hometown his capital city his precious Jerusalem was in ruins and it
says that he fasted and mourned and wept and prayed and it began to be
so serious that the king noticed the puffy eyes or whatever with a
sorrowful this is nothing but sorrowful of spirit because others notice
your burden you won't be the most great joke teller in the universe when
you're carrying God's burdens for these kind of things you won't sit
around with a group of your peers and just be the one that has the
punchline that makes everybody laugh you got to be willing to take the
burden of the Lord sometimes and you he certainly is dour why are you
like that and you can't tell him you can't tell him but you see his
tears were noticed listen to what lamentations or listen to what
Jeremiah says let me just read I've got you find where I've got it
written down Jeremiah chapter 9 listen to what Jeremiah the called the
weeping prophet says oh that my head nine one oh that my head were
waters and my eyes like a fountain of tears that I might weep day and
night for the people the daughter of my people the slain those that have
been judged and then you read in chapter 13 the verse 17 of Jeremiah he
said my soul will weep in secret places for your pride and my I will
weep till it's sore and run down with tears because the Lord's flock is
carried away into captivity you know Jesus had said the one who believes
on me like the scripture says to believe out of his inside men will flow
rivers of living water but you know those rivers of living water that
term is used consistently for tears not just verbiage while it does
include living water we share but the verbiage listen to what it says in
lamentations chapter three as you read about the living water
lamentations chapter 2 I mean verse 18 their heart cried to the Lord
wall of the daughter of Zion let tears run down like a river day and
night give yourself no rest let not the apple of your eye cease then it
says in verse 19 it says arise and cry out in the night like Helen was
doing in the beginning of the watches where you're watching and you're
praying you're watching you know you're not just praying and praying
you're watching you're listening you're getting God's heart and God's
feelings and burden and you pour out your heart like water before the
face of the Lord lift up your hands toward him for the life of your
young children that faint for hunger in the top of every street I can
give you so many more of those on that but I'm gonna just go on you know
it was Josiah remember they got the young king that died before his time
he got randomly struck with an arrow but it wasn't random because God
couldn't hold back judgment anymore but when Josiah first realized back
in you read about it in second Kings 22 they come and they find the book
and they read it to Josiah and his heart is broken and he begins to weep
and the Prophet comes to the Josiah and he says God thus saith the Lord
because you wept in my presence and because you trembled when you heard
those words you wept in my presence I'm putting off the judgment till
after you're gone because you wept in my presence David said rivers of
water run down my eyes because they don't keep your word your law around
he used that expression you see the pages of the Psalms are wet with
tears it says the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping I'm not just
talking about crying because you're unhappy or crying because you want
something to be done Psalm 6 is I'm weary with groaning by night my
tears wet my bed in the day I my couch is watered my eyes are failing
from grief and the voice of my weeping is coming before God he forgets
not the cry meaning tears cry of the humble and so when we think of
prayer remember it's not measured just in terms of time it's measured in
terms of intensity that's important so my captivity must be turned and
this prayer is far beyond just asking for something to happen so tears
have a large place in the Word of God I'm gonna have to go quickly
through this next part but I want to just say this is beyond tears of
repentance when was the last time you wept in the presence of God over
anything I'm not talking about just sorry because you did this terrible
thing and you're repenting and that's good you should we should weep
over the things we how we've not heard God I'm not even talking about
tears of joy I'm talking about tears where God can get your ear and use
you you see it says in the scripture we're to sow the Word of God in
tears we just read that and that's what Paul did in Acts chapter 20
verse I think they'll put that up there Acts chapter 20 verse 31 he's
speaking to them about Ephesus I'll just read it from my Acts 20 there
it is he says to the Ephesians therefore watch and remember that for the
space of three years I ceased not to warn people day and night with
tears he went door-to-door and house-to-house and he preached and he
warned every man like Colossians says I preached Jesus and I warn every
man I want to present every man I want to teach every man and that's
what he did you see he says to the Philippians he says listen there are
many in your midst God didn't even use the word sin in the book of
Philippians per se it's a book of joy but he reminds them of some people
in the church he says I want to tell you this I've told you this before
I've warned you and I tell you now with weeping that there are people in
your church who are the enemies of the cross of Christ enemies not of
Christ but of the cross of Christ and here's how you know them their God
is their belly they live for their own desires and what they could eat
or drink or just rest and it says they their glory is in their shame I
mean they say boy look at all this look at all this look what's
happening look and if they knew the cross they'd be ashamed of such an
attitude of covetousness perhaps or whatever you know yeah I'm blessed
and highly favored I hear people say that all the time so I said what do
you mean how's God highly favoring you what I'm not mocking people but
I'm just telling you we can say things easily and it says their their
God is their belly their glory is in their shame and they mind earthly
things everything like Lord forgive me I can't come because I've just
taken a wife I can't come because I've just started a business I can't
come because my dad just died or whatever else and the Lord says no put
it first you see it's got to be there you can't be the enemy of the
cross of Christ I heard a story about a preacher in England he was a
young man preaching his first sermon and he had it right man he'd got
everything right and this is one of those high pulpits and he went up
into the pulpit like this he was ready to go and when he stood up there
he said he preached this all this he went up so proud and elegant
upright and he just failed miserably and at the end of his sermon he was
just dejected he walked down like this down the stairs and his faithful
little sister walked over to him she said son if you had gone up into
the pulpit the way you came down then you could have come down the way
you went up I like that Paul says in 2nd Corinthians I wrote to you with
many tears the Word of God was sown in tears he prayed and he says to
Timothy I'm mindful of your tears so the Word of God in power in the
closet and you without a doubt will reap so this is message preparation
I remember going to Edinburgh Scotland don't be actually where Robert
Murray McShane that Scottish preacher preached and they let you tour and
I heard a story while I was there about people always come and want to
see McShane he was called the weeping saintly Robert Murray McShane and
he had such fruit he died at the age of like 29 and a half but he shook
Scotland and why did he do it because he was a man of prayer and weeping
and so this pastor was touring through there and they could show you his
desk and so the the man that was there that was running the tour said to
this man sit at the desk here and the man sat down this famous preacher
and he said so this is where the famous Robert Murray McShane made his
messages he sat here and what did he do how did he how did he sit does
anybody know and the man leading the tour said to him okay put your
elbows on the desk that's right now put your head in your hands yeah now
now weep weep because that's how brother McShane did it this shook this
preacher shook him and we were in this tour and I saw then later the
pulpit that they took him to it's over in the side it's not gonna say
it's very old and he's in this but it was back then this guy stood up he
said this is the pulpit that McShane was at the same man yes this is the
one well how did he preach what were his gestures like what did he do
and she said put your elbows on the pulpit put your head in your hands
and now weep because that's how brother McShane did it so the word in
tears but it also Paul says serve the Lord with tears you don't just so
the word in tears you serve the Lord Acts 20 verse 19 Acts 20 verse 19
it says here that serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with
many tears what does that mean and temptations which befell me by the
lying in wait of the Jews serving the Lord with tears you see you don't
just have ministry for the Lord you have a ministry to the Lord you
serve the Lord with tears and what does that mean it means I believe it
means sharing his heart along with him the fellowship of his sufferings
plural it's their plural in the Greek language and in most English
translations some fellowship in his sufferings co-laboring together with
God like when you have someone bear your burden with you and prayer it
ministers to you and you know you can actually serve the Lord and
minister when we'd come and if two of you agree on earth but what about
if two of you agree with him in heaven is the high priest and you on
earth what if there's an agreement there his prayers are always answered
if you can come into that heart harmony serve the Lord with tears Oh the
fellowship of his sufferings we and they rejoice that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for his name as sorrowful but yet always
rejoicing that's what it says about those who understand what we're
talking about so I say we gotta not neglect our ministry to the Lord by
co-laboring in prayer communion of the Holy Spirit and getting alone
with him and giving him his worthy due of your heart weeping over what
surely he is laboring in prayer over I don't know what that even means
but you in the fullest sense except to say in the Gospels you see his
ministry on earth but in the book of Acts you see his around the throne
it's his unfinished work around the throne and the church is to be part
of that serving the Lord with prayer and tears but thirdly supplicate
before the Lord in tears listen this is a awesome verse and I'm not even
sure we can touch it that much but in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 7 it talks
about the Lord Jesus and it says who in the days of his flesh after he
had offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears to
him his father who was able to save him from death he was heard in that
he fear Jesus strong crying and tears and when he came to Gethsemane it
says he went a little further and he fell on his face and began to be
exceedingly sorrowful and with tears and perspiration that had blood
mingled in it and that's going a little further could you go a little
further in prayer than you've been could you could we join him to we
share his heart and co-labor we share his we share his rejoicing but not
his pain so often words seem to be forgotten in our day so this kind of
prayer supplicate the whole being praise let me just share another story
with you in Sumter South Carolina I went into a Presbyterian Church it
was a good church in town there and I was staying with a man named
Harold and his wife Harold was one of their elders and as I was there
that day I was impressed at how much Harold loved the Lord Jesus but
there was something about Harold in the way he talked and the way he
acted that excuse me that that did that to me it just it absolutely
burdened my heart I felt he had serious problems and so we had a meeting
that night and God blessed and I was gonna be with them and they said
before we sleep let's pray let's pray together and we went into the
family room where the fireplace was and there's three seats kind of in a
little circle around like this and Harold and his wife Jean we all held
hands and I and I had said to the Lord Lord I'm burdened for Harold show
me how to pray for him show me how to how to see him set free I just
felt something was wrong I didn't say anything but we were gonna pray
before we went to sleep and so we held hands they had my hands and they
asked me to start and I said father bless you thank you and then I said
Lord I just want to lift Harold to you and it was like somebody pulled
me open and poured warm water or something inside of me I don't really
know how to describe it except to say I suddenly felt filled with a
burden for Harold that I could not contain and as I they had my hands
and I was trying to go on in prayer and all I could say I just want to
look Harold and I just began to weep and weep and and it just kept on
the more I tried not to the more crying came forth and I tried to stop
and the more I tried to stop the more I mean I had water running out my
eyes I had drool coming out of my mouth I had stuff come out of my nose
I probably had stuff coming out of my ears too because I was I couldn't
describe it it was like just I was lifting him and I tried to say it but
it couldn't be put into words and this went on for 20 minutes and I
couldn't get my hands free because they had my hands I was totally
messed up and after we kind of went on for a while they said well thank
you for that prayer time and we went to sleep and the next morning in a
prayer meeting among the elders they were asking anybody anything to
share and Harold stood up here's what he said I would like to thank God
for setting me free from 30 years of bondage last night in a prayer
meeting and I was in complete awe because I didn't have a clue and I got
alone I said Lord what what went on there he said Al you said you wanted
to pray for Harold but you don't know Harold like I know him and you
don't love him like I love him so I took you at your word and I simply
borrowed your faculties and I prayed for him through you and by the way
Al my prayers always answered he always hears me and so I remember it
shook me it shook me and then I thought about Epaphras in Colossians
when it says always laboring faithfully for you in prayer that word is
agonizma which means it's the word for agony what Jesus was in
Gethsemane it was the word for the marathon of 26 miles agony I agonize
before the Lord for you says Paul and Epaphras did this for you that you
might be complete and perfect in the will of God Paul says to the
Galatians he says my little children whom I agonize in prayer the word
for childbirth until Christ is formed into you Galatians he says in 4 6
he says God has sent the spirit of his son into your heart crying Abba
Father the word crying is crazing which is the same word for the
Gadarene demoniac that's used he ran through the tombs crying he was
crying out in a in a violent forceful emotional way God puts it all in
there for those who want to see it that he wants to put it into our
hearts to share with him in his heart burden for those around you for
our loved ones that are lost for our enemies who hate us for whatever
else the Lord wants to pray through through us you see because your sons
God has put the spirit of his son in you that you might cry Abba Father
what an amazing privilege that you see it's no longer I but Christ in
prayer I remember being in the Nashville Memphis area kind of in that up
in that area and there was a dear brother a pastor and we had talked
about this about God putting in us as a gift like that with Harold just
into us the spirit of his son and suddenly we enter into prayer in a
fervent dimension we'd never known and God can pray with tears through
us and so we were going to have a prayer meeting as a church we went to
a school cafeteria and there were probably I don't know maybe close to
over a hundred people there and we got down on these little folding kind
of chairs and we got down to pray and the pastor whose name was also Al
he was going to start the meeting off and we were going to have time of
prayer intelligent ordered prayer for their missions and we got down to
get serious about prayer and all of a sudden Al starts off this pastor
and he starts to think and the same thing happened to him that happened
to me praying for Harold and next thing you know it's it's moaning it's
it's terrifying in a certain sense because you don't hear men cry like
that you don't hear a moan with weeping and moaning he says come before
the Lord and Joel with weeping and moaning let the preachers weep
between the porch and the altar and it's a whale it was wailing and this
whale you could see people getting nervous on their knees the pastors
over there I mean it was serious it was like the best person you've ever
known was dead suddenly right in front of you and you could have helped
it and she was weak he was weeping and I remember this went on for about
20 minutes again and then it ended and everybody just tiptoed because
God had done something I don't know what he planted I don't know what he
did but it was absolutely stunning you see I couldn't figure it out the
communion of the Holy Spirit may that be with you it says in 2nd
Corinthians may the Lord give you this you see Lord my tears have been
my food day and night while they say around me where's your God and
weeping in Psalm 42 like the deer longs to drink water when it's running
that's what my soul is like for you it pants for you it longs for you
and there's a weeping while those around me say where is the Lord so see
what we're talking about is the yearnings of God those who sow in tears
will reap with joy and if you take the promises of God that you've
prayed over and he's given you specifically in prayer out and share
those by faith not according to just you have the clever answer for
someone you're not scalp hunting you're going in to see your prayers
answered and you go and share God says without a doubt you're gonna see
harvest you're gonna see sheaves coming back home you see so let me ask
you have you ever asked God for the gift of tears have you this is not a
woman thing it's not a man thing this is a child of God thing I remember
I was telling the pastor about a friend of mine named Brian he was a
great football player his nose is one that goes in it's got a crease in
it from getting hit so many times he's a strong guy you know and I've
known him a long long time I love this brother I ask him once I said
when you were growing up did you ever get any fights he said I got in a
fight one time but but nobody fight me after that you know he was just
tough tough guy but I remember he was at a conference we were talking
about this and he says this is what I want I want the gift of tears and
I said we'll ask God have you ever asked him for it he says no and he
got down and we all got down and he prayed said Lord give me this gift
of tears let me share in your heart let me shoulder this with you what a
privilege to do that and I and we said this may not be right this second
it may come when you least expect it it may be would like praying for
Harold when you want to you want to maintain your dignity next thing you
know you're a pile of tears on the floor well Brian was on the several
he was a deacon at this large Baptist Church and he was on the committee
of committees he said you want to go to something dead go to the
committee on the committees and and and and and he was around this table
with a lot of deacons and he was sitting there and he says he just says
they're going around he said I just am so burdened for our church and
all of a sudden he was gripped by the Spirit of God on the inside and he
had to get out of his chair and get on the floor he's laying on the
floor praying for the church weeping weeping and here's these guys in
the committee may just looking down at him like what is going on what's
going on next thing you know the Holy Ghost had reached up and grabbed
some of those boys and they're all on their faces praying before God for
the church and the next Sunday you wouldn't even believe what happened
because God answered the prayer of tears you see it's when you make
yourself and your faculties and your heart your you make them available
to the Holy Spirit and I'm not talking about trying to cry more or try
to be more tender I'm talking about being available in prayer to the
Holy Spirit for him to give you words and heart and maybe groanings that
can't even be uttered the yearnings and passions in the mind of Christ
he he plants it in us it's the communion of the Holy Spirit and you
share the burden of the Lord does that sound good or bad it sounds good
but it might be hard but it's worth it it's worth it and you fellowship
with him in his present tense suffering and we express the inexpressible
and the Holy Spirit takes possession of your heart and mind but then you
can you can expect his kind of answers I gave this word to 1,200 pastors
in Fiji and there were women Salvation Army people and all those and I
gave something like this there about the gift of tears and after it was
over this dear woman came up to me her face was swollen from weeping
during the message and she says to me she said thank God for this
message I've always thought something was wrong with me when I get down
to pray all I could do was weep and cry I've always thought something
was wrong but now thank God I understand that I'm more available she
finally understood but the question is are you willing you can grieve
the Spirit you can resist the Spirit like we said the other night you
you got to know you're in covenant you must be available and holy to him
and fill with the Holy Spirit and you come to the throne of the Lamb of
God this is the path we've been on and then you realize that it's not by
human effort it's not by Job's goodness it's by the bowing of the knee
it's by that the supply of heaven and how God comes and gives and it
won't happen unless our hearts are clean if you're in captivity tonight
you can't pray like this if you're centered around everything about
yourself and just getting God's blessing to make you successful or
wealthier happier whatever else delivered you see you got to get free
from that and say Lord I'm here for one reason that's the glory and
honor of your name and I want you to be able to pour in to me your
heartbeat and you know like when you go to a man's meeting somebody
stands up and gives a testimony and starts to cry and they said I'm
sorry I'm sorry listen don't apologize for your tears you got to be
terrified if you don't have tears I won't apologize for my tears anymore
I may explain them but I won't apologize we ought to be embarrassed that
we get more excited at sports matches then broken before God we've got
to be willing welcoming tears of the first drops in the ship showers of
revival the tears of the church it won't happen unless we're clean so
this is the kind of prayer that will change the world around you in the
Appalachia area a brokenhearted father a weeping high priest a tender
yearning loving Holy Spirit and he'll share with you his heart the love
of Christ constraining it's a great mystery but what a blessing it
really is would you ask him tonight for the gift of tears in a moment
we're gonna open up the altar here at the front and if you want to come
and ask him give me the gift of tears look this is the way to get back
and beyond where you were three years ago it was delicious what happened
it was great but now are you willing to enter into the what'll make it
go on and continue and grow and make you a catalyst if you go forth
bearing those precious seeds I can give you dozens of testimonies and
impossible situations when people were brought into the real heartbeat
of God and began to weep and mourn like Daniel and like Nehemiah and
others and they began to pray for the small things and they didn't tell
anybody and God just suddenly did these amazing things that were amazing
indeed you weep with the Spirit's heartbeat and it is indeed an amazing
privilege you see so I'm just asking you tonight are you afraid of this
are you you'll never see real revival not big time until the church is
desperate the Bible was written in tears and in tears will heal God will
open up the best messages to your heart and scripture so in a moment
we're going to open the altar up to you and to come and to say yes Lord
who can survey the wondrous cross without tears only the person that's a
captain who can see the needs in Rogersville I've been walking on the
streets praying looking looking in stores seeing the expression on
people's faces and you know twice walking the streets my heart broke it
broke my heart after that young girl gave me that answer no television
she may have been kidding but it just was so breaking of the heart and
what God wants our people that he can entrust his burdens to when you go
to Korea they've got a mountain there they've cut caves into like a
honeycomb and they have a rule you can't go in there and stay for more
than 40 days without coming out and you can walk by those rooms and you
can go up there and you can hear the mountains are crying out because
they're people in Korea in mountains praying like in a beehive honeycomb
instead of you hear oh and it is terrifying and exhilarating at the same
time well I would just say this my dear brothers and sisters the
situation in our day calls for a contribution of tears the question is
will you say yes to this it changed a lot of things but you will see new
things brother you want to open up the front here to those of you who
would say and you can come for other reasons too but I'm saying tonight
tonight this is the last word how can I leave this word with you because
this is the key for everything in the future it's how it'll be sweet and
continue and get deeper and bigger and glorious the heart of the church
being brought into the heart of God and it won't just be all hallelujahs
and jumping up and down saying things are great it'll be brokenhearted
before the Lord and caring with what he's caring for father in Jesus
name we bow before you I pray for these dear people I pray for myself
that it'll be realistic consecration that will say yes to you for the
things that you want us to say yes to that we will be people that know
their God and can weep before you and be broken and be palatable in your
hands and that you will put in us your yearnings your longings your
communion your co-laboring and so in the name of Jesus you come come
like we did at the first flood this altar maybe you don't even know what
you're asking Lord fill me with your spirit in this matter these
groanings I'm asking you specifically tonight give me the burden and the
gift of tears in real prayer will you come we'll wait on you you come
just get up now and come I want you to go ahead what you do I wanna just
piggyback just briefly on what I just said in Psalm 62 twice in the
first few verses the psalmist says I wait on you Lord so what I want you
to do tonight I want you to put everything outside I don't want you to
think about tomorrow's work or tomorrow's school would you be willing
right now to wait on the Lord to give you those tears you come find a
place maybe the altars kind of filling up you find a place here wherever
you need to do if you need to lay prostrate before you do that whatever
that looks like would you wait tonight till God gives you those tears

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/G0m90nA4yIo.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/al-whittinghill/the-gift-of-tears-in-authentic-prayer/
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