The title to tonight’s message is: “Lessons from Prayer.” Over the years we have had about 35 sermons and lessons on the subject of prayer, and as poor as are, we probably could use about 35 more within the next week. But if you were listening carefully you might have noticed that our title is not “Lessons ON Prayer,” but rather “Lessons FROM prayer.” I’d like to glean several things about prayer in looking at the two prayers recorded in this chapter.
Please notice: the PERIOD, the PROVIDENCE, the PRIMACY and the PURPOSE of prayer.
And we begin with the PERIOD of prayer.
So Cornelius was visited by God’s angel while he was in prayer. And verse 3 says that it was about the ninth hour of the day, or what we would say was 3:00 p.m. And by the way, the word “evidently” in verse 3 isn’t expressing doubt or confusion on Luke’s part. He wasn’t saying “He saw in a vision, which occurred, we think, about the ninth hour of the day.” He was saying, “He saw an angel come to him, openly and distinctly, at about the ninth hour.” So Cornelius was in prayer at about mid-afternoon and the Lord visited him. And the next day, 30 miles to the south, Peter was in prayer at the 6th hour, or about noon.
The Laws of Moses did not regulate the times of Hebrew prayer. Throughout the Word of God spontaneous prayer is always encouraged. But neither does it discourage regular and scheduled prayer. There is nothing wrong with specific and regular prayer meetings, and hours of prayer. There is nothing wrong with special places for prayer. After the building of the first temple, the most devout Jews went to the House of God to pray. And the pious Jews of the dispersion, the “Diaspora” opened their windows toward Jerusalem when they prayed.
We see Daniel doing that in 6:10: “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; And his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” David said in Psalm 5: “But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy; And in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.”
Not only did Daniel pray toward Jerusalem, but it was his practice to pray three times a day. And then in Psalm 55 David said, “As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” The first and last of these stated times coincided with the daily sacrifices of the Jews. Since there was no strict regulation about this, it’s impossible to say how consistent Israel was in praying three times each day, but it does appear that the more devout among them tried their best to maintain this prayer schedule.
And this brings up an important consideration: As you look back over the last seven days, how much time did you spend in prayer? What sort of times and occasions did you pray during the last week? Do you pray and thank God before you eat? Do you pray before you go to bed? Do you pray when you get up in the morning? Do you pray each day after reading your Bible and some good devotional book? Do you gather your family around you after your evening meal and pray together? Do you pray at the third hour, the sixth hour and the ninth hour? One of the things that is accomplished by having a dedicated time of prayer, is that we would pray. I know that we believe strongly that prayer should be spontaneous and genuine. I know that unless we pray with our hearts and with faith, then we are beating the air. I know that God doesn’t hear memorized and mechanical prayers. But isn’t it true that since we aren’t forced to pray at specific hours most of us do not pray very much?
If we made it a practice – I didn’t say that we make it a law, or a regulation, or decree . . . But if we made it a practice to meet with the Lord in some place at a specific time each day . . . If at 9:00 a.m. every morning, we pulled out a little 3×5 card with a bunch of prayer requests and we closed the door to the world spending 10 minutes in serious prayer, wouldn’t most of us double our prayer time? Don’t Cornelius and Peter teach us that there is nothing wrong with regular specified times of prayer?
Secondly, there is a lesson of the PRIMACY of prayer.
Peter was a visitor in the house of Simon the Tanner. His house was outside of Joppa and right along the sea coast for a couple of reasons: First, because his profession necessitated a certain amount of water, and quite possibly, salt water was better for the tanning process than fresh water. Secondly, Simon’s occupation made the Jews think of him as basically unclean. He was constantly dealing with dead animals, with blood, perhaps with viscera (intestines, etc.). I’m sure that much of the time his clothes weren’t the best smelling in town. And perhaps he bought a lot of the hides that he needed from some of the Gentiles there in town. He had an occupation which was necessary, but not highly respected by the Jews.
Peter was a visitor in house of another family. And it was not the same as visiting cousins or other kinfolk either. As missionaries and evangelists travel and are sometimes put up in people’s homes, they never really get to feel comfortable, even though everyone tries hard to make it so. And it is particularly hard for them to find time and places for prayer and Bible study. Peter found a place where he could retreat to spend some time in prayer: the flat roof of the house.
It is important that we be able to retire from the world in order to talk to the Lord in private. I got a phone call the other day from someone talking on a cell phone. Cell phones are particularly bad about this because of the way that they are made – small. Regular telephones, or older telephone have a mouthpiece that is directly in front of the lips. But the tiny phone of today have to have microphones that pick up the voice at a little greater distance. And in the process they also pick far more background noise than the older models. On the phone call in question, I could hardly hear the caller because of the music in the background. When we want to talk to the Lord, it is important to be able to shut way the noise of the world. This is one of the things that the Lord Jesus is saying in Matthew 6:6: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Peter went into his prayer closet up on the roof.
What about Peter’s trance? “On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance.” As much as I wish that I could tell you that like the rest of us Peter fell asleep, that isn’t what happened. This is the Greek word “ekstasis” ( ek’-stas-is ) or ecstacy. It wasn’t the same kind of visitation that Cornelius received. And I can’t actually describe it for you, because Peter didn’t describe it for me. But it was clearly miraculous and very, very special. We’ll save our thoughts on the revelation itself for Wednesday, because that is a little off our theme. But for the sake of this message tonight, what I’d like you to notice is that in this ecstatic state, the Lord had Peter’s complete attention. If there had been a car-bomb explosion just down the block Peter wouldn’t have noticed. If the telephone had rung or one of the kids had turned up the CD player he wouldn’t have heard. He had gone to the roof providentially hungry, and the Lord used that hunger to make his point, but as far as the revelation was concerned Peter forgot about his stomach.
It is important that when we pray we find ways to become alone with the Lord.
A second lesson from these prayers has to do with PROVIDENCE.
The word “providence” might not be the best word at this point, but it completes the alliteration in my outline. The thing that I have in mind has to do with the importance of prayer to the completion of this chapter.
Cornelius was a devout man, one that feared God with all his house and giving alms to the people. But what if he stopped short of being a man of prayer? No one can say that the Lord couldn’t have sent his angel to visit Cornelius while he was at supper or while he was getting dressed, but the fact is, the man was in prayer. And he was probably praying about the very things that God’s messenger was sent to help answer. No one can say one way or another that Cornelius’ prayer wasn’t an essential ingredient in this whole delicious meal.
And then there was Peter who was prayerfully taking advantage of a quiet moment while lunch was being prepared. It is undoubtedly pointless to try to guess what it was for which he was praying, But I would guess that it was not about evangelizing the Gentile world. Nevertheless, he was speaking with the Lord when the Lord chose to speak with him. And how much of that was a coincidence? If Cornelius had his visit at 3:00 on Monday, and it was now 12:00 on Tuesday, then 21 hours had passed. The Lord could have sent this vision as a dream at 11:00 p.m. on Monday night. He could have interrupted the Tuesday morning Bible study at the First Baptist Church of Joppa. Or the Lord could have ordered the angel to visit Peter immediately after talking to Cornelius, Peter could have already finished his afternoon oblations and been walking over to Tabitha’s house. The Lord had plenty of opportunity to speak with Peter but He chose to visit him during prayer. Is there any man here who could say that prayer was not a part of total equation?
There is a lot of humanistic foolishness spouted about prayer these days. When men have rejected the sovereignty of God, and elevated the power of man, those men start thinking really stupid things about prayer. For example, no prayer has ever changed God or made the Lord change His mind. Our prayers cannot present arguments to God or give Him facts that cause Jehovah to rethink situations or to react to what we have to say. Nevertheless, we are exhorted to pray. We are urged to lay our cares upon the Lord, because He careth for us. We are permitted to vent our souls and to express our grief to the Lord. And we can even tell the Lord what we would like to see done, but always keep in mind that He is God and we are His subjects. “Not my, will but thine be done, Lord.”
How many blessings have you and I missed, because we have not been as prayerful as we ought to be. I realize that this is taking us into theology that is on the verge of transcending human understanding, but we are exhorted to pray about the things that we need. We are as responsible to pray despite the fact that the Lord has already decreed to meet those needs. Just as the Lord has ordained to do certain things, He has ordained that you and I pray about those things. Matthew 6:5 – “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” Isaiah 65:24 is a dear and precious scripture: “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”
Based upon the authority and example of the scriptures, I say to you, but even more so I say to myself, we would have far richer lives, far more victorious and far more glorious lives, if we were more consistent and persistent in prayer. Would the members of our families all be God-fearing, God-serving Christians if we prayed for them more? Would our country be more godly if we were spending 15 minutes every day in prayer? Would the ministries of our missionaries be more fruitful if we prayed for them every day rather than every week? And would the Calvary Baptist Church be flourishing more if we took our prayerful responsibilities more seriously?
How important were the prayers of these men, in the completion of this chapter?
Briefly, the last thing that I’d like you to think about is the PURPOSE of Prayer.
Why and when should we pray? We sincerely and earnestly pray when a loved one is sick and doctors have done all that they can. We pray when we are faced with a life-changing decision and we aren’t sure which way to turn. We beseech the Lord for wisdom and understanding when a tragedy befalls us or one of our neighbors. In thanksgiving we go to the Lord to praise Him for his mercy or grace. There are all kinds of situations when we pray.
And sometimes we pray when we have come to the end of all other resources. Sometimes we pray because we know that we are supposed to pray. Some people pray because they see the benefits of prayer in the Biblical examples. And some people pray because they hear the exhortations and commands to pray. On the fourth Thursday in November millions of Americans utter a little prayer of thanksgiving who haven’t prayed since last Thanksgiving.
Biblically speaking, I suppose that there might be a great many legitimate reasons to pray. But the one that I think that we see in the two prayers of this chapter can be summarized simply as prayer bring us into fellowship and communion with the Lord. I think that there was a good likelihood that Cornelius was praying for more light – for what to do next. He might have been praying about the doubts that he had about his spiritual condition. In other words he may have been praying about salvation. And while he was praying the Lord, through this angel, came to visit him, pointing to the answers that he needed. And again, I have no idea about what Peter was praying, but the Lord visited him too, with answers to questions that he probably wasn’t asking. In other words, both men were praying about things concerning them, and this brought them into the throne-room of the Lord. When they stood humble there before the Lord, Jehovah took control of the meeting and blessed them both.
Ultimately, isn’t the purpose of prayer to put us in touch with the Lord? Isn’t this just about as close to Heaven as we can get on this side of the river?
Brethren, we need to pray more often. We need to pray more fervently. We need to pray more receptively.