Several years ago, in my reading, I heard an author utter three words on prayer without making any explanation or development. They struck me, so I jotted them down in my sermonic notebook, where they have been sitting ever since. Looking through that notebook on Monday, asking the Lord for a message for this evening, the Holy Spirit pointed to those three words. What I wrote down was: “When it comes to prayer, keep it SIMPLE, keep it HONEST, and keep it UP.”
I think it was the last word which originally caught my attention, but I’d like to briefly explore all three.
When it comes to prayer, it is important to keep it SIMPLE.
Before the Lord came to His model prayer, He gave us a couple of things to avoid. One thing He said was – “When ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do.” We may be tempted to criticize the Roman Catholic for his repetitious “Hail Marys,” and “Our Fathers,” but the fact is, Baptists are just as redundant in their prayers as anyone else. But of course, none of ours are “VAIN repetitions.” Ours are important repetitions and Biblical repetitions. But how many of us anticipate, as someone leads in prayer, that his favorite phrase will come up again? Some people’s public prayers almost come across as memorized speeches. The same thing over and over. How refreshing it is to me to hear someone using new words and phrases which are obviously coming from the heart and mind, being pertinent to the circumstances of the hour. We should strive to avoid repeating ourselves, keeping our prayers relatively simple.
And while on this subject, what about that common conclusion to our prayers: “In Jesus’ name, amen?” Like anything else, those words can be spoken without any thought or heart, and if so, they become vain. But the point and purpose of those words are rooted in a Biblical principle. The Lord Jesus tells us in John 14:13 – “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my NAME, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my NAME, I will do it.” Does that imply that when we don’t pray in Jesus’ name, He will not grant our request? Not necessarily. Returning to one point from Sunday morning’s sermon, the name of Christ refers to the person Christ IS. “Jesus” is not just a couple of syllables of identification, distinguishing Jesus from other people. “Jesus” is the God who saves people from their sins; that is the meaning of the word. The Bible also shows us that Jesus is Jehovah God, and so much more. To ask anything “in His name” refers to the authority which lays in that Divine Person. It is not required that our prayers conclude with the words, “In Jesus’ name,” but a reference to Christ’s authority is Biblical. We don’t pray in our own strength or under our own authority. And IF, even in the midst of our prayer requests or in the middle of our worship, we refer to the grounds upon which we approach God’s throne, perhaps all the better. I make no apologies for often concluding with “In Jesus’ name, amen. In Christ’s authority I pray.”
But, let’s get back to that concept of praying with simplicity. One of the things it might mean is that we have no business attempting to micro-manage the Lord. Yes, we have things that we’d like to see God do. We have our preferences and preferments. For example, I’m sure Paul would have preferred not to have that thorn in his flesh – whatever it was. He said, “For this thing I besought the Lord THRICE, that it might depart from me. (BUT God) said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Please don’t criticize me for saying this – speaking from a body that is currently without any pain. I am not suffering as many of you are. I can’t explain why for either of us. But I ask – what is more important: painlessness or divine strength and divine glory even while in pain?
Three times Paul prayed, asking for deliverance, and apparently the Lord didn’t respond in any way. But as Paul persisted, the Holy Spirit eventually, somehow, told him to stop, explaining the divine reason. What about that thorn in the flesh? We don’t have any photographs or doctor’s reports describing the condition of Paul’s body. But he could have been half blind, and he could have been somewhat crippled by his beatings and stonings. And he did have, as one of his closest and most constant companions, a man who was physician. Was that a coincidence, or was Luke’s ministry more medical than evangelical? I don’t know. Whichever, I think we can conclude that after Paul’s third, heart-felt and totally submissive request to be delivered, his requests were changed to: “Lord I desire your glory at whatever cost it might be to me.” “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” God’s glory became the simple and most basic of Paul’s prayers.
When it comes to our requests, as specific and detailed as we may make them… “Lord, I need a new car. Should I buy that new KIA, or the used Lexus?” “Lord, between these three job offers, please show me that you would like me to take that one which pays $35.00 an hour.” “Oh God, save my girl friend, so that I can marry someone who is a Christian.” No matter how specific we might be, at the conclusion of every prayer there should be the genuine attitude, whether expressed or felt with all the heart – “Not my, will but thine be done.” We need to learn to keep your prayers as simple as that. We need to be like David and the Lord Jesus, “I delight to do thy will, O my God.” “I long to receive whatever is within thy will, O my God.”
Second, when it comes to prayer, it is important to keep it HONEST.
There is something else the Lord says prior to “Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy name.” Jesus said – “Don’t pray as the hypocrites do, yearning to be seen and heard by other people.” Don’t be a hypocrite. Be honest with God, and be honest in the hearing of your fellow worshippers.
I hope that this doesn’t come across as too harsh, because it is not intended to be. But why do we come to men’s prayer meeting on Saturday mornings? Do we get up early and head off to the church building in order to have a bit of fellowship with the brethren? Is it because there may be breakfast afterward? Or is it because we honestly believe it is important, and we yearn for a few minutes of fellowship with God? Do we have group prayer, because we yearn for revival, and we believe that where two or three earnestly pray together, the Almighty hears and blesses? We could ask the question generally: why do we pray at all? Is it because it is commanded by God or expected by other Christian people? Be honest about your purpose and in the theology of prayer.
But also, we need to be honest in our requests. For example, in Christ’s model, He suggests that we pray for God’s kingdom and God’s will on the earth. Again, “Not my, will but thine be done.” But does that include that area of our lives, which we refuse to surrender to God’s will? I don’t have to tell you what yours is; you know all about it. Are you being totally honest? Are you really praying for God’s will, or do you want only to see it in Washington, Olympia and Boise? As he should, the pastor prays for that young woman’s salvation, but why? Is it because he feels guilty about having preached the gospel to her for all these years, and yet he has failed to convince her to surrender to the Lord? Be honest preacher. Why is it that you’re praying for a new job? Is it for God’s glory or for your financial security? Why are you praying for church visitors or new members?
Some time ago, a man asked me to visit him in jail. You could say that he “prayed” for my visit. Did he want me to share with him the gospel? Not really. Did he want the peace which comes with repentance and fellowship with the Saviour? No. He wanted me, as an upstanding member of society, to help him avoid a prison sentence. He was not praying with total honesty.
When it comes to prayer, we need to keep it simple, and we need to keep it honest.
And my third point: we need to keep it UP.
This sounds somewhat contradictory in the light of my first point, but in reality it is not. The Bible encourages us to be importunate in our prayers. That particular word is not found in our Bibles, but the principle is. Noah Webster defines “importunity” as “Pressing in solicitation; urgent request; application for a claim or favor, which is urged with troublesome frequency or pertinacity. Men are sometimes overcome by the importunity of their wives or children.”
We see this prayerful importunity in the Bible – usually without rebuke. Abraham prayed, over and over again, from the greater to the lesser, for the deliverance of Lot and Sodom. “And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once (this one more time): Peradventure ten shall be found (in Sodom)?. And (God) said, I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.” Moses told Israel in Deuteronomy 9:18, “I fell down before the Lord, AS at the first, forty days and forty night; I did neither eat bread nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.” The Syrophenician woman would not give up in asking the Lord for mercy. Even after some apparent words of discouragement she said, “Truth Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.”
The only Bible reference we have to praying beyond the Lord’s patience was in the case of Paul’s thorn. And there, the Lord specifically told the man, “This is enough. I am not going to remove this problem, so you can pray about other things.” The lesson is that we should continue to pray until the Lord tells us to stop. And it will be very rare that the Lord tells us to stop.
And returning to the point, we have the direct words of Christ Jesus in Luke 18 – “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought ALWAYS to pray, and NOT to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. and he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.”
The Bible teaches us to persevere in our prayers – if the root and ultimate desire is for God’s glory. Don’t ever stop praying for the salvation of that person – even for the President of the United States. It is all right to pray for a miraculous healing – if once again it is for the glory of the Lord. Pray for the Lord’s coming kingdom – until that kingdom comes. Jesus’ model teaches us to pray for our daily bread, as we yield ourselves to and depend upon the Lord. And not only must we pray for the Lord’s deliverance from evil and temptation, because they never cease, but we need to constantly pray for forgiveness as well, because we continue to sin.
It appears to me that if we endeavor to keep the Lord as the focus and end of our prayers, we’ll have little trouble keeping them simple, honest and constant.