Prayer (part 1)

O Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness, thy mighty hand. For what God is there in heaven or on earth that can do according to thy works and according to thy might? I pray thee, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain in Lebanon. But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes and would not hear me.

And the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee, speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of that's Mount Pisgah, lift up thine eyes westward, northward, and southward, and eastward. And behold it, the land with thine eyes, for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

Now the subject is too large for the time that stands at disposal. However, I'd like to give you a little introduction and I trust that will be help to all of you. The subject of prayer.

Some time ago I heard a, and he was a gifted man, he said, you know, God hears every prayer. Now brethren, this has to be judged by the book, not what you think, not what I think. For in Jeremiah twice the prophet says, pray not for this people, because of the sin rebellion.

Twice he says. In the book of Lamentation, he shuts out my prayers. Fourth reference, in Psalm 18, Lord, how long will thou be angry against the prayers of thy people? We must judge it by the book, brethren, not what we think ourselves.

Now there are three sections that I don't have time, but we're going to look at the problem of unanswered prayer and delayed prayers. Now come on, you've likely experienced it, haven't you? You prayed for a certain thing, a situation for weeks, months, maybe years, and the Lord hasn't answered yet. We shall look at the hindrances, we shall look at the reasons for it in a moment or two.

Now basically five things that prayer will do, my dear brethren. First of all, prayer will bring me in to conform it with God's Word, His will, and His work. Word, will, and His work.

Three things. Prayer also can change persons. Prayer can change things.

Prayer can change things. Here's Esther, brethren, it was a delicate, precarious situation, very difficult. The gallows were set up, the imperial decree went forth, anti-Semitism is nothing new.

Kill the Jews! Exterminate them! Satan was working behind the schemes. There's a handful of believers, brethren, they didn't say prayers, they prayed likely on their very faces before God. It was a difficult, difficult time.

That night the king couldn't sleep. Does God hear prayers? Of course He does, especially if it's according to His mind and will. And darkness will turn into light.

Prayer changes things. Go to the New Testament, here's the Apostle Paul, he places a possibility of physical release from a Roman jail into the hands of an elder in Asia Minor. That's what he says.

I trust Philemon that through your prayers I be given unto you. That means release from a jail. One man, can he accomplish it? But prayer can change persons.

That's Jonah. You know, Jonah's a heart not to crack, a servant of God and unwilling to obey. He shared the antipathy of his countrymen towards the Gentiles.

Go to Nineveh. Oh no, Lord, send somebody else, I ain't going. The national prejudice of the Jewish people that took a long time to overcome, brethren.

Jonah, go to Nineveh. Now the critics of the Bible have long doubted that there was such a place like Nineveh. Archaeology has proven it.

Huge city, huge city, just fairly recently unearthed. So always go by the Bible. It's always true.

Now I ain't going to Nineveh. And he did not go until he learned to pray. And that wasn't the gastric juices of a whale, Matthew 12.

Prayer will bring us in to conform with the God's will and with God's work and his word. Then he went. You see, preacher, you looked at two and one New Testament example.

I'll give you a New Testament example. Does it work today, brethren? Oh, let's be practical. You have a God that knows your need.

You ask according to his mind and will. In his own time, he will answer. For he's a God he promised to be.

You know, in the New Testament, there are people who say, who said that God hears not sinners. And some folks believe that applies to the Lord's people too. Not at all.

Who said it? That wasn't the Lord. It was the ungodly Pharisees. And according to the Old and New Testament, there are cases when a God who manifests himself as he created in the maintainer of the universe will hear the earnest cry of his seeking people.

I'm an example of it. Cornelius was. He obliged himself.

He will hear the earnest cry of a seeking soul. So here's an example from recent history. I do not covet the job of any secular high school or college or university teacher.

See, in days gone by when I went to school way back in Europe on the mountains, we were eight grades in one small school room. We had one teacher and that teacher had a helper that never get paid. It was a two foot long hazelnut stick.

And when we misbehaved, we had to come to the front before all the girls so embarrassing. Put your hands out. And anticipating the pain, you pulled it back, get that twice as much.

You remember that? Did they do that in Holland? I like when brother do this. I don't care when they do this, you know? Yes. So my daughter was teaching in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, the demon stage, grade six and seven.

She called me once. She said, dad, I have a problem. What's your problem, dear? I have two boys in my class.

Very likely they came from broken homes, problems in the home, transferred shaft to the children. They're do their homework. They bothered the girls.

They disturb everyone else. And my hands are tight. You see, you can discipline as a thing of the past.

That's where you're raising to a certain degree, juvenile delinquency generation, no fear, rebellious, despising authority. So we prayed. A month later, the phone came and the daughter says, daddy, I think your prayers have been answered.

I said, what happened? One of the boys broke his leg and the other got pneumonia. Hallelujah. They'll be out for six weeks.

You get the point, don't you? A simple, earnest prayer, a definite need brought before a person and God work or could go on and on and on in order to prove to you, dear young people, the importance of prayer. By the way, if there's young folks and you're looking for a partner in life, please, in God's name, will you make it a matter of prayer? I've seen too much young couples, you know, maybe getting in a way the wrong partner and they side graded him, neutralized him for God. You have it in the Bible.

Serious business. Yes, it is. For prayer will bring, prayer will bring you to conform with God's will.

Now, naturally, your attraction may be to his brunette, you know, with the flashy eyes and this big six-footer with a nice income. But God's partner may be not necessarily all that attractive to you, but he'll be a help to you and you'll be a help to him. Make it a matter of prayer.

Now I'm getting off my subject. Prayer, God can and does answer prayer. Now for just a few moments, let's come to this interesting section, why there is unanswered prayer or delayed prayer.

There are two reasons for it. Daniel chapter 10, think of this sanctified man, a godly man who served his God in his own time and God preserved him and yet he didn't know the meaning to certain revelations. So he gets in the presence of God and prays about it.

You see, Daniel, intelligent man, godly man. Lord, I don't understand at all. Please give me the answer.

And Daniel had to wait for over three weeks. You know why? Says the archangel ultimately, Daniel, oh I like this, from the very first day you set your heart to chasing yourself before God, your prayers were heard. Lord, why the delay? Now here's an insight into spiritual forces.

Yes, God sent me, but the prince of the power of Persia, that simply means, my dear brethren, behind earthly government, whether it's America, Canada, Russia, or no matter what it is, there's an invisible host affecting the affairs of nations. Yes, there is. The prince of the power of Persia hindered me.

That simply means Satan is not at all interested that your prayers be answered. It's a satanic opposition. Daniel 10, very serious.

But you see, we cannot blame the devil for everything. I'll submit to you seven reasons they have to do with your weakness and mine, that God will delay or not answer prayers. For the sake of the young especially, Isaiah 59, here you have the problem of unconfessed sin.

If it is confessed, that was my problem before I was saved. The devil hindered me and he said, you know, before you trust this Jesus, the devil says, you'll never be able to live the life. And that bothered me.

You see, I tested my foundation. And I talked to young men who sat next to me said, David, I have a problem. What's your problem? Well, what if something happens after I get saved, the wrong thought or wrong deed? He said, we all have this problem.

You do? I thought Christians were playing harps coming down from heaven with halos around their head. I had to change my mind about that one. He says, we all have this problem.

But if we confess our sins, he is just and faithful to forgive our sins. And now came the clinch and the devil had no more argument. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

I say the way was clear, got saved five minutes later. Oh, Satan is out to destroy your confidence in him. He's trying to break your confidence, but we cannot blame the devil for everything.

Unconfessed sin. If it is confessed, you see, it's not a relationship that is renewed. It's a fellowship.

I can't believe of this one. Our relationship is eternally secure in Christ, the Savior, but it is fellowship. One might lose a joy.

And according to Psalm 73, I don't have time to go into this. You can become cold, callous, critical, cruel. That's a downgrade.

Well, the second reason is Ezekiel 14. Ezekiel 14 deals with leaders of Israel. They gathered what they say before the Lord and it looks at outward appearances are right.

But the Lord says, I look into their heart. There's their idols in the heart. I will not hear them.

I listen to that. You see, brethren here in the Western society, we do not buy down off little gods of carved stone or wood, but an idol is anything or anybody that takes a place of Christ. A business can be an idol.

We all have to make a living. We know that. A person can be an idol.

So on. If that is in the heart instead of Christ, the Lord says, I will delay your prayer, I will not hear at all. I found that out early in my Christian experience.

In those days, the brethren, you know, bless them. They taught that live by faith. No, there's nothing wrong with that.

But they went further. They said, no, no insurance in the barn, no insurance in the house, no insurance in the car. And I swallowed that hook, linen, and sinker until my car rolled over on the way to conference New Year.

And I made it for three big popular trace. I said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. You smile.

You should have been behind the wheel. No insurance, nothing. Now they cannot preach it anymore simply because the government has decreed for the sake of others.

You must have insurance, not just for yourself. So there it is. If you have faith, have it yourself.

The good principle. Yes. Ezekiel 14, idols in the heart.

Well, they could have wept, I don't know. But their hearts went right. And God looks at the heart.

Now we come to Proverbs 21. This is searching too. Says Proverbs 21, and you have to look for the verse yourself.

That an unsympathetic attitude towards anyone, by anyone, can hinder your prayers. An unsympathetic attitude. Oh, brother, I have met folks and they told me they didn't like certain Christians.

No reason given. Brother, whom God accepts, I accept because they have to get along with me. Oh, I was marveling just at the grace of God has brought me into the fellowship, not only with divine person, with God's people all over the world.

And spiritually speaking, they're my brother now. My sisters in Christ. And God help us, brethren, to not only maintain.

No, we don't have to make peace. The Spirit of God doesn't. Colossians.

But we have a responsibility, every one of us, to maintain peace. Anyone can cause trouble. Blessed are the peacemaker, the Savior says.

He gives him a blessing. Yes. An unsympathetic attitude towards one another can hinder prayers.

Now, James is a very practical man. James gives you two reasons. He gives you the reason of a prayer of unbelief.

And the second reason is an unscriptural motive that is not for the glory of God. So James says, forget it. And in Peter now, there's a possibility of an unhappy relationship in on the domestic scene.

God says, I will not hear. I will, Peter says, that your prayers be not hindered. So these are solemn things.

But you know, there's a remedy. There is. If you confess wrong, bring them before God.

Fellowship is being restored. And you feel the warmth of the love of Christ again. I worked with a dear brother.

We had ten series of meetings when I first went out. He gave me some good advice. He said, you know, it takes a big man to confess your weakness and your sins, your troubles.

He says, Fred, whenever I feel the cold hand of God, of the devil and the world sneaking in my heart, I get into the bedroom or the closet, shut the door, get on my knees, and I do not get up until the warmth of heaven fills my soul again. You see, brother, prayer is something we'll never outlive. Whether you're just a young convert or a man or a woman in Christ, 60 years, we will never.

You know, these things are fundamental. They're basically elementary. But oh, they're so important.

Prayer. This is the way we started tonight. Our brother gave out the same prayer as the soul's sincere desire.

And so it is. Time is gone. I could go on.

Takes a lot longer to expound it, but I trust that will be a help to you, especially the searching reasons why God does not answer or hinder our prayers. Yeah.