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Let me at once confess that in accepting your invitation, I am not claiming to be an expert in the topic that you have set us. The topic, as you have heard, is that of prayer, and then of praise and worship. I come along here as very much a learner in the school of prayer, and one who must confess how little progress he has made in that important branch of spiritual life. So that I will share with you, uh, things that appeal to my heart, and what God has taught me, one, through his word, and two, through experience.
But I do look forward to hearing what you have got to say, and don't be afraid to use the time tomorrow, not only for questions, but for your comments and your contributions. Here is a topic supremely where we learn from each other, and I repeat, I am not coming among you as one who professes to be the expert in the topic. Indeed, in the talks that I shall give, you will probably decide that there is much that I have left out that I should have said. And again, the question time is there for you to make contribution in that direction, to emphasize the points that I have failed to emphasize, for this is a vast topic, almost commensurate with the Christian life itself.
So, for my, uh, part tonight, I hope to talk about the purpose, purpose and posture in prayer. Purpose and posture in prayer. And tomorrow, in the first session tomorrow, proportions in prayer. Proportions in prayer. And in the second of my talks tomorrow, the question persistence in prayer. And then in the final session, you have asked me to talk about the twin topics of praise and worship.
Tonight then, the question of purpose and posture in prayer, and let's begin our study by reading together, first of all, an Old Testament passage to be found in the second book of Samuel and chapter seven. Second book of Samuel and chapter seven, Beginning in verse eighteen. Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord. And he said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me thus far?
This was yet a small thing in thine eyes, O Lord God. But thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. This too, after the manner of men, O Lord God. And what can David say more unto thee? For thou knowest thy servant, O Lord God. For thy word's sake and according to thine own heart hast thou wrought all this greatness to make thy servant know it. Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, neither, uh, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
What one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem unto himself for a people, and to make him a name, and to do great things for you, and terrible for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeamest to thee out of Egypt, from the nations and their gods. And thou didst establish to thyself thy people Israel, to be a people unto thee forever. And thou, Lord, becameest their God. And now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house, confirm thou it forever, and do as thou hast spoken.
And let thy name be magnified forever, saying, the Lord of hosts is God over Israel, and the house of thy servant David shall be established before thee. For thou, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house. Therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord God, thou art God, and thy words are truth, and thou hast promised this good thing unto thy servant. Now, therefore, let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee.
For thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it, and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever. Then one passage from the New Testament to be found in the Gospel of Matthew and chapter six. Gospel of Matthew chapter six and verse five. Amen. Matthew six verse five, and when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense thee. And in praying, use not vain repetitions as the Gentiles do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not therefore like unto them, for your Father knoweth what things you have need of before you ask him. After this manner, therefore, pray ye.
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. God give us good understanding of his word.
I want tonight then to begin our studies by considering with you purpose and posture in prayer. That is, I want to start and ask the simple question, why pray at all? Why pray? And I suppose the very first answer that we ought to give to that question, why pray, is the very simple and direct answer, because God tells us to. God tells us to pray. That's why we pray. It may well be that we don't understand the mechanisms of prayer. We don't understand why praying makes any difference.
But nevertheless, God tells us to pray, and pray we must. One day, perhaps, when we get home to glory, we shall be given to see how it was our prayers took effect. By what kind of mechanism they produced their answers and had effect with God and with men. But if we can't see that now, and very often we can't see it, and we're not told, then that's none of our business. What does it matter what the mechanism is? If God tells us to pray, then that's reason enough for praying.
Why pray? Because God tells us to. Ah yes, but uh, people ask the question, don't they? Why should you pray? What is the point of praying? Very often people ask this question when they are thinking of prayer as a means of asking God to do something for them. And the reason why they ask the question, well, what's the point of praying, is as follows. I said, well, look, why should I pray to God and ask him to do this?
Because either he was going to do it anyway, either he intended to do it, that was what he was going to do because he loved me, and if he was going to do it anyway, there's no point in praying. Why should I ask him for anything if he was going to do it anyway, whether I prayed or not? Or else he wasn't going to do it. Had no intention of doing it. And if God has no intention of doing anything, certain it is he won't be shifted by anything that I say. So if he wasn't going to inten- if he wasn't going to do it, he had no intention of doing it, what's the good of my praying?
And so some people get themselves into difficulty and tie themselves up into knots because they can't quite understand how praying works, and what is the point of asking God for anything. And certainly, uh, there are some problems there, aren't there? And perhaps tomorrow, indeed perhaps if the clock allows us tonight, we shall come back to that point. But the first point I really want to make, the first major point this evening, in answer to the question why pray, is to ask you to think what prayer is. Certainly it involves asking God for things, but prayer is infinitely more than just asking God for things.
I suspect the simplest definition of prayer is this: prayer is talking to God, talking to the Lord Jesus. I wonder how you would react if one of your close friends, a gentleman of normal intelligence, came up to you and said, you know, there's a problem been bothering me. Why should I talk to my wife? Why should you talk to your wife? It's a slightly difficult one to answer, wouldn't it?
Or someone else came out and said, why should I talk to my friend? Why should you talk to your friend? But you know, you grin. But it strikes me that the question, why should I pray, is very much a question like that, for praying is talking to God. And if it found- sounds funny to you to ask, why should I talk to my friend? Why should I talk to my wife? It must sound very comical, comical to God for anybody to say, why should I talk to God? Why should you talk to God? Why should you talk to anybody? Doubtless gentlemen, when you talk to your wife, you sometimes ask her to get your slippers or to get your breakfast, or to do this or to do that, to make sure that, uh, she gives you a handsome Christian Christmas present and another present for your birthday, cleans your shirts, and does one hundred and one things.
Yes, certainly sometimes when you talk to your wife, you're asking her to do things. But not always, what? You occasionally talk to your wife, uh, even when you don't want her to do things? Just for the sheer joy of talking to your wife or talking to your friend or talking to the boss, or talking to the children. It would be a very dumb world, wouldn't it, if we never talked to anybody. In fact, it's the most natural thing in the world to do when people get together. They talk. Oh, I know that as a child, I used to get fed up with adults talking.
Seems as if that was all they could do. They would get a beautiful sunny afternoon, they'd get the, uh, by the seaside, they'd get the deck chairs out, and instead of playing football, rounders, or swimming, or anything else like that, as sensible people of eleven years old did, all they seemed content to do was to sit and talk. Now that I'm a few years older, I begin to see the point of it. Talking. One of the most, uh, wonderful gifts that human beings have. Animals do their best, but they're sorely limited in their vocabulary and what they can say to one another, aren't they? You watch them. The old lion talking to the old lioness, but his vocabulary is so limited.
He likes to tell her how wonderful she is, but he's soon exhausted what he can say. Human beings, God made them capable of talking. And all what a wealth there is, even at the human level of fellowship and sharing and enjoyment and interest and getting to know one another, in the very fact that we can talk to one another. God has given us a language and has deigned to tell us that his son Jesus Christ our Lord has for one of his titles the Word of God.
The one through whom God talks and talks to us. Why pray? Oh, it's one of the most natural and one of the most glorious things of human experience that God invites us to come and just talk to him. What a relief it is sometimes when worry presses to be able to have somebody that you can talk to. God invites us to come and talk to him. What a terrible thing loneliness is when you've got nobody to talk to.
When you're standing out in the open and seeing a beautiful sunset, and you want to turn around and say, isn't that beautiful? But there's nobody to say, isn't it beautiful to? And somehow it emphasizes your loneliness. Just as we would, uh, talk then to our human friends, God invites us to come and talk with him, and he with us. What do you talk about? Well, to illustrate all the different moods and kinds of talking that there are to God, I choose tonight to remind you of some of the postures that people in the Bible adopted when they prayed.
We shall find all sorts of postures. Some people sat, and some people stood, and some people knelt, and some people lift their eyes up to heaven, and some cast them down on the ground. Some of them prayed in public, and some prayed in private, and some opened their windows and prayed through the window. Yes, the Bible is full of people praying, of course, and it's a very interesting thing to watch the different postures that they adopted when they prayed. Now, please let me explain. I'm not going to talk about these postures in prayer as a lot of rules and regulations and suggest to you that whenever you pray, you've got to kneel or you've got to stand or you've got to lift up your hands or you've got to cast down your head, or lift up your eyes, or shut your eyes, or open your eyes.
No, I'm not going to quote these different postures in prayer as rules and regulations that we've got to follow. What I'm going to do is to quote these different postures in prayer to illustrate the fact that, you know, when people talk, it's true when they talk to their friends and neighbors, wives and children, you'll find folks adopt different postures, won't they? The man standing talking to the boss, explaining a difficult thing and why he was late for work, he'll stand in a different way from what the man will do when he's just come in from work and he wants to talk to his wife. Oh dear, bring me my slippers and a cup of coffee. Yeah. And if we watch the different, uh, postures that people adopted in scripture when they prayed, we shall begin to get some idea of all the wealth that there is in prayer, all the different attitudes it can express, all the different things that God invites us to come and share with him, and he with us, as we talk to him and he talks to us.
Why pray? Well, prayer is talking to God. Why talk to God? Why would you want to talk to God? I take as my first example, the example of King David. And we read in two chapter Samuel chapter seven that David, at a certain juncture in his life, he went in and he sat before the Lord. You know, some people conjure up the notion of prayer as a very rigorous thing, that you've got to kneel when you pray, and prayer is hard work, and prayer is a kind of a terrible rigid discipline.
Well, it can be all those things. It can be hard work, and it can be discipline, and sometimes we shall have to kneel. It isn't always that way. David went in, and he wasn't being irreverent. He sat when he prayed. Why did he sit? Oh, consider what had just happened. David had been a very successful thing, and things had gone swimmingly, and then he had proposed to build God a temple, and God had said, no, thank you, David, very much. I don't want a temple at this stage, and David had been just a little bit trifle put out, you know, because he's, uh, what he intended to do for God hadn't come off. But then God, through the prophet, began to tell David what God was going to do for David.
Now, just a minute, David, he said. Now, that was a very nice suggestion on your part, what you were going to do for me, but just a minute, old boy, keep quiet a minute and let me tell you what I'm going to do for you. And I'm going to build you a house, and I'm going to give you a son, and I'm going to create a dynasty of kings, and look down the future, David, as far as ever you can look, right over the horizon in the ages to come, and I'm going to give you a man on your throne and establish your royal house forever. As David listened to God telling David what God was going to do for David right off into the future.
The thing began to grow in his mind and become ever more wonderful. Here was the God of eternity talking to him. You have spoken of me and my house for a long time to come. And David was caught up into the great eternal purposes of God, and all the majestic things that was God was going to do for him so overwhelmed him that he went into the temple and he sat down, receptive, listening, relaxed, breathtakingly joyful, trying to take in the staggering words that God had spoken.
And he went and talked to God. Well, because he couldn't, he couldn't do anything else. What would you do, sir, one of these days you came home to tea and there was a Rolls-Royce outside your door, and some friend of yours had given you this Rolls-Royce. Hey, what would you do? You try and go around to see the man, and somebody said, what are you going around to see him for? That would be stupid, wouldn't it? Go around to see him, and you don't know how to put it, but you thank him and you say, marvelous machine, I've always wanted one of them, and wow, uh, you know, look at the old lady on the front and the electrical things that you push the windows up and down with and the beautiful purring noise it makes and a- and yeah, because you're so overwhelmed with the gift he's given you and all the glory and the, and the beauty and the enjoyment that lies in front of you, you go and tell your friend about it.
Yes. Why pray? Well, first, to listen to what God wants to tell us about what he's going to do for us. And then as we sit before the Lord, relaxed, receptive, open-hearted, and begin to let our imagination work, to take it in. And as we begin to talk it over to God, just like the man with his Rolls-Royce, the more he talks about it, the more glories he can see in the thing. To respond to God and tell him all about it.
Why pray? As David went in to talk to God, first he told God, according to our passage, how marvelous this was, this thing that God was going to do. You've brought me thus far, you've spoken of me for a long while to come. And then he said, you know, what can I say more? I don't know what to say next. Isn't that like a man with a big present, he doesn't know quite what to say next. And so he fell to telling God how unique God is. There's no God like you, he said. What more can I say?
There's no God like you. And then there's no God like you, and there's no people like your people. Look what you've done for them. Therefore, thy servant found it in his heart to pray this prayer. You say it was all thanksgiving. Yes, it was thanksgiving in a way, but it was a prayer, wasn't it? A prayer of thanksgiving, and then something very natural. Did you notice it at the end? When it began to dawn on David, the marvelous things that God was promising him for his future, then David, being very human, said, Lord, you will do it, won't you? Please do it.
I mean to say, it's glorious, but, but, but, but you will do it. Yes. My good friend, have you ever found yourself like that? When you've let God tell you something of the glorious future that lies ahead of you, in Christ, in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus, and it's dawned on your heart that you have an eternal future of immeasurable glory. And the thing has become so big that presently, in the midst of your joy, you find yourself saying, well, oh, I hope it doesn't go wrong.
Uh, you really mean it, Lord? You will do it then. Yes, David felt that it was safe, perhaps, to say that, just in case, you know. And what was happening was this, that David was beginning to pray on the basis of God's revealed promise. He sat before the Lord, and with what tremendous restoration and renewed vigor he came out from sitting before the Lord. My brother, I recommended, in the old hurly-burly of life and the tension, and my sister too, amidst all the chores of housekeeping and seeing after the children, all find some time to get aside and to sit before the Lord.
Receptive, relaxed, open-hearted, and let God tell you what he's proposing to do for you. Let your imagination play on it till it looms large and becomes real. And they that wait upon the Lord like that shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Why talk to God? David sat before the Lord, and he talked to him.
Joshua had stood, didn't he? We read, and the reference, if you like, the reference is two Chronicles twenty, verses ten to thirteen. And I may only briefly resume the story for you. 2 Chronicles 20. Because the historian tells us it came to pass after this that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea, from Syria, and behold, they be in Hazezon Tamar, the same as in Gedi.
And Jehoshaphat feared, and he set himself to seek unto the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast out of all Judah. So they came to seek the Lord. Verse, uh, ten: Now behold the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them and destroyed them not. Behold how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee.
And all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children. Oh, I love that bit. For if you perceive, now there had happened a great shock. Apparently, out of the blue, Jehoshaphat hears that the enemy are invading. And just as he finds these little nations invading, he suddenly gets extra news that a vast horde of enemy are coming against him, and one trouble piles up upon the other. And it doesn't take long for him to realize that he is in grave peril, and it's utterly beyond his resources to meet this danger, and there's almost a panic.
What shall they do? How like life it is. Suddenly something goes wrong, and when you've turned around to try and meet the first thing that goes wrong, now you hear of something vastly bigger still that's gone wrong. You sense you're out of your depth, and you begin to panic, and you are afraid. Why talk to God? That was the only thing he could do. The situation was beyond his own resource, and they set themselves to seek the Lord. And so they come to the Lord, and they tell him their grievances.
And they tell him their grievances. Look at this horde coming to throw us out, and we've not harmed them, and we're utterly helpless before them. Lord, look on us and deal with these our enemies, for we don't know what to do, and we're at our wits end. And then, you know, I suppose it was to show God that they were at their wits end and that they felt utterly defenseless. They got their wives, and they got the little babes in arms, the little kids, you know, the little babies, and their wives and the children. Gathering them round them, they stood before the Lord, stood to plead.
By word of mouth, they pointed out their desperate situation, the injustice of their enemies. They reminded God that they were at their wits end and they didn't know what to do. But then, what a lovely gesture it was, and what a telling gesture, expressive of what they really felt. They got the little babies, innocent little babies, and their wives and their children, in their weakness they stood before God, inviting God to look on them, look on the baby, God, look on my wife, look on my little child. They stood there with them, their wives and their children. Oh, I love that bit.
For if you perceive, now there had happened a great shock. Apparently out of the blue, Jehoshaphat hears that the enemy are invading. And just as he finds these little nations invading, he suddenly gets extra news that a vast horde of enemy are coming against him, and one trouble piles up upon the other, and it doesn't take long for him to realize that he is in grave peril, and it's utterly beyond his resources to meet this danger, and there's almost a panic. What shall they do? How like life it is.
Suddenly something goes wrong, and when you've turned around to try and meet the first thing that goes wrong, now you hear of something vastly bigger still that's gone wrong. And you sense you're out of your depth, and you begin to panic, and you are afraid. Why talk to God? That's the only thing he could do. The situation was beyond his own resource, and they set themselves to seek the Lord. So they come to the Lord, and they tell him their grievances. And they tell him their grievances.
Look at this horde coming to throw us out, and we've not harmed them, and we're utterly helpless before them. Lord, look on us and deal with these our enemies, for we don't know what to do, and we're at our wits end. And then, you know, I suppose it was to show God that they were at their wits end and that they felt utterly defenseless. They got their wives and they got the little babes in arms, the little kids, you know, the little babies and their wives and the children. Gathering them round them, they stood before the Lord, stood to plead.
By word of mouth, they pointed out their desperate situation, the injustice of their enemies. They reminded God that they were at their wits end and they didn't know what to do. But then, what a lovely gesture it was, and what a telling gesture, expressive of what they really felt. They got the little babies, innocent little babies, and their wives and their children, and their weakness, they stood before God, inviting God to look on them, look on the baby. God, look on my wife, look on my little child. They stood there with them, inviting God to look upon them and have compassion on the defenseless and upon the innocent.
They stood before the Lord. Why talk to God? Well, sometimes, my good friend, because there come times in life and that's all we can do. God lets us come to our wits end. We don't know what to do. And the difficulties are too big. And the world is so unjust. And we're threatened with imminent danger. And utterly at our wits end, what can you do? But come and talk to God. You know, some- surely sometimes God lets us come to wits end corner, so that we come and discover his resource.
We're such big men, aren't we? So many problems we can solve, that if we're not careful from time to time, we think we can get through on our own steam. When we think we can get through on our own steam, we forget God. And God allows great difficulties and imminent dangers so that we discover our weakness, and we come and find God's strength. In those moments, God respects the gesture, doesn't he? When I've said all I can say, I can't say anymore.
I can do like Jo- Jehoshaphat, just stand before the Lord, point to my weakness, little babes, the women, the children, and ask God without any words to look upon my need. You ever felt speechless in prayer? And you don't know what to say, nor what to do. You must stand before God. For my friend, you haven't got to argue the case with God in such circumstances.
What a lovely thing it is to be able just to come and stand before him. Oh, you don't have literally to stand. You don't literally have to beg, bring the child into your bedroom or into the church or get your wife. That's a good thing to get your wife to stand with you, but metaphorically speaking, to stand before God and call his attention to your desperately weak situation. Yoshua Yocheved stood. Stood to plead. Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter nine and verse two, and we needn't turn to it.
He and his people stood before God, and they stood for another reason. The Bible tells us, Nehemiah nine and two, that they stood and confessed their sins. Oh, I have the greater admiration for them then, that they stood and did that. They didn't sort of bow their heads and mumble. Ha. They got up on their two feet, stood and confessed their sins. They were honest about it, weren't they? They were real men. They realized they had erred, they had done wrong. They were trying to brush it under the carpet.
No, just a few mumbles here and there. Manfully, they got up on their two feet, they stood, and they confessed it. That too is a lovely thing, isn't it? When I know, know God, and, uh, to use the phrase of Hebrews, I'm not afraid to come to seek mercy, and the very fact I come to seek mercy tells me I don't deserve the mercy. And I sins to confess. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is that I needn't be afraid to get up, outright, stand forth, and confess them.
Oh, I'm not saying you've got to do that in church publicly. It's the attitude of the heart, isn't it? Not beating about the bush, not covering it up, not trying to brush it up with the carpet, but honestly and openly and manfully getting up and saying, God, I was wrong, and I have been wrong. God, forgive me. Why talk to God, my dear brother? Because you've got sins to talk to God about, that's why. Why talk to God? Because I've got sins to confess, that's why. We gotta start talking. Why in industrial relations, when folks have fallen out, you'll hear the politicians say, well, the best thing you can do, the, the thing to be done just at the moment is to keep the sides talking.
Why talk to God? Because we're sinners, that's why, and I've got sins to confess. But if you don't talk to God, my friend, the old gap will get wider and wider and wider. Alas for believers that have fallen into some wrongdoing and then have become so ashamed of themselves that they stop praying. And stop praying, the gap has got wider between them and God, and they've gone into deeper sin, and some of them haven't talked to God for years. Well, friend, why talk? Why, if we've sinned today, don't let the gap grow. Come and talk. Come and talk to God.
And we need have no fear. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy. We could come and stand and confess it and know that God loves us. Just to say, keep on talking. Do you know, sometimes there comes a family bust up, doesn't it? Not in your family, of course not, nor in yours, but in some families comes a bit of a bust up. The best regulated families, you know, when there come bust ups, folks don't want to start talking, do they?
What a job it is. You know, sometimes they go away without talking, and then they never manage to get over that, and they don't talk for the next forty years. Oh, if only they could have brought themselves to talk. Break the ice, difficult as it is. Our relationship might have been saved. Why talk to God? Because we've got sins to confess, that's why. And we want to keep the relationship happy. Yes, uh, Jehoshaphat stood to plead, and Nehemiah and company, they stood to confess.
Ah, but uh, not always did folks stand to pray. David sat to pray, and Jehoshaphat stood, and Nehemiah stood. You will remember that our Lord kneeled. Oh, what wonderful words. Says Luke, uh, that he came out and went as he was won't, as he was accustomed to the Mount of Olives. And when he got to the place, he was parted from them about a stone's cast, and he kneeled down and prayed. And what was in the posture?
Why did he kneel? Didn't always kneel to pray, our Lord. This time he kneeled. Why? Well, it went with the words he was saying. Let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. He needed to pray. He wanted to tell God that, bitter though it was, he wanted to be submissive to the will of God, and he kneeled.
Oh, it's a lovely story. I wish I could tell you it at length. About a week before, he had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the crowds had cried around him, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. He had ridden into that city as Israel's king and Messiah, riding upon the donkey as Zechariah the prophet said he would. He'd come to the city as her king, with a right to command, but the people had rejected him. Now Calvary was looming up, and instead of a crown, there was a cross. What did he do? Oh, he didn't pretend that he enjoyed it.
You'll mark that, won't you, that in true praying there's no pretending. Didn't rush into God's presence and say, oh God, I'm delighted to have this opportunity to... certainly not. He told God honestly how he felt, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. You know, you can always be honest with God. You can tell him you don't want to do this, you you don't enjoy doing it, you you prefer not to do it. You don't have to pretend. Hites didn't pretend. He said exactly how he felt. He didn't want to take that car.
Or would he need to say, in spite of his own preference, not my will, but thy be done. There come times like that in life, don't there? When God calls us to some path of sacrifice or suffering, we'd rather not go that way, and we find it's God's will. Why talk to God? Well, to be honest about our emotions. To admit that we don't want to. So that we can be sincere and tell him straight.
Oh, but if we do it, let's kneel, tell God that in spite of it, we are submissive to his will. Do you know, just to turn aside a moment, we read in that same chapter and in that same context how the people who were rejecting Christ, they went to Pilate, and they demanded that Pilate release Barabbas and crucify Jesus. And Pilate said it was nonsense, and it was fearfully immoral, and it was wicked, for Jesus was innocent, and Barabbas was a murderer.
And to choose Barabbas, who was a murderer, it was foolish beyond description, but the people would have it. And they shouted, and they insisted, and they pleaded. In the end, Pilate gave them what they wanted. Jesus, he delivered to their will, and they got their own way. Do you know what our Lord said to those people as he walked out of Jerusalem, and the women of Jerusalem came around him weeping and wringing their hands? Poor young man, he said, don't you, don't you weep for me.
No, no. You weep yourselves. And for the things that are coming upon you, for if they do these things in a green tree, what will happen in a dry? I'm telling you that the people that can insist on their own way and demand to have their own way, one of these days they'll cry again. This time they'll cry to the rocks to fall on them, to try and escape from the consequences of demanding their own way. You know, prayer isn't a means of twisting God's arm so I could get my way.
Would I reign? Would I be exalted to the throne of the universe with Christ? Then the way to the throne is to kneel and tell God that you accept his will. He knelt down and prayed. And Hebrews tells us that in that terrible moment, he offered up his prayers with strong cryings and tears. Oh, what a present that was for God. Oh, what a sacrifice for God. When his own son knelt and through his tears did what God wanted him to do.
Though he would have preferred not to have to drink that cup. Why talk to God? Would you offer God a present? Would you make him a sacrifice? Get down on your knees and say, well, I didn't want to do this or that, but if you wanted, then I submit. That's why we talk to God. Ha. Timothy says that the men folks in the church are to pray.
When they pray, they're to lift up holy hands without wrath or disputing. Some dear Christians take it, don't they, as a rule that has got to be literally done every time they pray. So you will find some Christians lifting up their hands to God. Well, if they want to do it, as far as I'm concerned, there is no rule in the book against it, is there? What's the point of the gesture? Men are to pray and make intercession, and and and it's naturalism to plead. Have you never seen a gospel preacher pre- plead with the people to come to Christ, and the way he stretches his arms out? Have you never heard God speaking to the unconverted and pleading with them to come and be saved?
All day long, he says, I've stretched out my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. These men stand to pray, lifting up holy hands, says God. Holy hands. Oh. I'm going to lift up my hands to God in prayer and intercession. I better see they're clean. Why talk to God? Well, because I have a duty to come and intercede for other folks. And when I come, oh, I'm reminded I better have clean hands.
Posture in prayer. What about your eyes? Should you shut your eyes when you pray? Well, then God bless you and shut your eyes when you pray. There aren't no rules, there's no legalistic rules. You find it better to shut your eyes when you pray? Shut your eyes when you pray. Christ didn't always shut his, did he? We read that our Lord Jesus, he lifted up his eyes into heaven. Oh, what a lovely thing.
That to lift up his eyes into heaven and know himself son of his father. Heaven is home and right of access. Ah yes, but these gestures, they can be physically, if you like. What's more important is the attitude of heart they portray. We too can come, and oh, what a lovely thing it is while we stand on this earth, two feet on this earth, to be able to lift up our eyes into heaven, into the very holiest of all, and know ourselves welcome in the divine presence. He lifted up his eyes to heaven.
I pray. My brother, you're going home, aren't you? Where do you belong? Ha. If tomorrow took one of these young girlies here, way down to Australia, something or other, well, parents would love to get a letter home. Why? Why do I bother to write a letter? Or if you can afford it, why bother to ring up? It cost a lot from Australia. Why write? Why talk? Who say that it's good to keep in touch with home and the loved ones at home?
And in this world, we're on business for God, and we're exiles away from home. Why talk to God? Well, short of being there bodily, my brother, it's the best way of being in touch with home. Or if we're going to heaven, talk, it's possible to talk to God in his heaven until you veritably feel yourself there. Finally, Daniel, Daniel chapter six. When he prayed, he did it three times a day, God bless the man. He was regular at his prayers.
To say that was an irksome duty, no, it wasn't. I tell you why he did it. He went home, went up to his bedroom, opened the windows, and prayed towards Jerusalem. So what on earth did he do that for? Well, for various reasons. Daniel, you know, once lived in Jerusalem. He was a prince in Jerusalem. God allowed the Babylonians to capture his city and take him off into exile, and into exile he went. Daniel was an exceedingly clever, clever man. He came through the university with top class degrees. He entered the civil service. He rose to the highest pinnacles in the Babylonian and the Persian civil service.
And as you may imagine, a man in that position, nearest to the king and the emperor himself, was a man whose life was full from one end of the day to the other, with all sorts of responsibilities and worries and administrative cares. A man whose life was chock-a-block from morning to night with the high duties of state. And the man found it necessary, therefore, so as not to be submerged in the detail of life. Found it necessary three times a day, go to his room, open the windows, look towards Jerusalem. Why Jerusalem? Well, ah, but you see, the man believed God's promises.
One day that Jerusalem that now lay in desolation should be restored. One day the Messiah would come. One day Jerusalem would re- be rebuilt. One day the Messiah would come, and the whole world would be blessed through the coming of the Messiah. And the man liked to go up to his room, open the windows, and look that way. Well, you say that was only a gesture. He couldn't see Jerusalem. What is the benefit of looking to Jerusalem or looking any other way for that matter when you pray? Well, it doesn't matter whether you look north, east, south, or west, actually, which way you look. But what the man was doing was, so to speak, directing his own attention to God's great promises in the earth and what plans God had and what God's purposes in life were, and, uh, what was the thing to aim at and to look for and to hope for.
So he took time to pray towards Jerusalem and remind himself of the great purposes of God and what life is really about. You know, it's true of us too. You may not be a statesman like Daniel, but I expect you find like me, don't you? It would be perilously easy to be so busy with cups and saucers and washing the clothes and getting the groceries, uh, uh, you know, doing your job, and in this competitive world, they get so full of all the detail of life and what lies immediately at our hands, so as to forget the great purposes of God in life.
But the Lord is coming, and the Lord has purposes for men, for this earth. And God has great schemes. And it's a marvelous thing to remember it from time to time throughout the day and say, well now, Lord, how is my life fitting into your bigger scheme? For if we don't, we shall lose sight of the goal, and we shall get so taken up with the little details of life, we shall forget the very purpose of living. Why talk to God? Oh, to renew our vision.
To renew our goals. To buttress our heart and faith with a renewed grip on the promises of God, to lay hold again of the glorious future that lies ahead, so that we may the more intelligently work for it. And so we have gone over just a few of the prayers and a few of the postures in prayers. I do hope you won't misunderstand me. I'm not telling you that you must do all these things, that you must kneel or you must sit or you must stand, or you must keep your eyes open or keep them shut, that you must open your windows or close them.
No, we've been studying these postures because they show us the different attitudes of heart when men pray, the different things they're saying to God, and the different reasons why they're praying, and what it means to them, and what it means to God. The whole gamut of life is there. There isn't anything that you man come and talk to God about. Why pray? Because God loves you. To talk to him, and there's so much to be talked about.
