Lord, hear my prayer! In your righteousness listen to my plea; answer me in your faithfulness! Don’t put me, your servant, on trial; no one is innocent in your sight. – Psalm 143:1-2 GNT
I cannot engage in prayer as part of my self-improvement exercises – it is not a practice that is good for me whether God hears or does not. Prayer is a real plea to a real God who does hear, answers and comes alongside me.
In fact, David roots his prayer on the character of God – His righteousness and faithfulness. He prays with confidence and he knows that God does not treat him as his sins deserve. The gift of salvation enables me to pray and I put my hope, when I pray, on Jesus.
The heartfelt prayer – hear my prayer – comes across as humble, believing and obedient. I cannot pray as I should unless I recognize my weakness, need and total dependence on God.
Even when I fail to realize my dependence on Him, and I experience trials that overwhelm me, when I breathe a heartfelt prayer, trusting in Him makes it all right.
The humilty of my prayer is the understanding that I am not completely innocent.
“Prayer is God’s appointed way for obtaining things and the great secret of all lack in our experience, in our life and in our work is neglect of prayer.” – R.A. Torrey
I think we all want to know what makes for effective prayer. Looking at how Jesus modelled and taught prayer really helps keep the noise away from what others may suggest. Here is a perspective that speaks into the effectiveness of Jesus’ prayer. The reflection is based on the time of Jesus being in the garden of Gethsemane.
In his life on earth Jesus made his prayers and requests with loud cries and tears to God, who could save him from death. Because he was humble and devoted, God heard him. But even though he was God’s Son, he learned through his sufferings to be obedient. When he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. Hebrews 5:7-9 GNT
Loud cries and tears matter. Obviously not the manufactured kind, but rather the constancy and the intensity. Prayer is hard work, for when it is genuine it involves honest seeking after the will of God which begins a wrestling match with our own desires – resulting in bringing everything together with the good and gracioius will of God. The end result is not seeking my own way but how to glorify God.
I know I am pointing out the obvious, but just in case there is any doubt about who we are praying to – there is no other who can save other than God. It has nothing to do with my eloquence or the number of people that have gathered to pray or because of my fasting. I have the privilege to come to my Father in prayer. The power of prayer is the name of Jesus who enables me to pray and it is through His name that God hears and anwers me. My prayers to the God who could save Jesus from death were answered by Jesus’ death.
The key thought that grabs my attention right away is the one sentence that describes why God heard Him – He was humble and devoted. Sounds like the model words Jesus used to teach His disciples – Your will be done – and how he ended His prayer in the garden – not My will, but Yours. If I am really to be serious about praying in faith I will need to find myself willing to submit to the will of my heavenly Father.
Spurgeon – Our blessed Lord was in such a condition that He pleaded out of weakness with the God who was able to save. When our Lord was compassed with the weakness of flesh He was much in prayer. It would be an interesting exercise for the younger people to note all the times in which the Lord Jesus is said to have prayed. The occasions recorded are very numerous; but these are no doubt merely a few specimens of a far greater number. Jesus was habitually in prayer; He was praying even when His lips did not utter a sound. His heart was always in communion with the Great Father above. This is said to have been the case “in the days of his flesh.” This term is used to distinguish His life on earth from His former estate in glory. From of old the Son of God dwelt with the Father; but He was not then a partaker of human nature, and the eternal ages were not “the days of his flesh.” Then He could not have entered into that intimate sympathy with us that He now exercises since He has been born at Bethlehem and has died at Calvary. “The days of his flesh” intend this mortal life—the days of His weakness, humiliation, labor, and suffering. It is true that He wears our nature in heaven, for He said to His disciples after His resurrection, “Touch me and see; because a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39). But yet we should not call the period of His exaltation at the right hand of the Father “the days of his flesh.” He prays still: in fact, He continually makes intercession for the transgressors; but it is in another style from that in which He prayed “in the days of his flesh.”
I pray with godly fear – humble and devoted – so that my prayer reflects – not my way, but Yours. That is the prayer that was answered in the garden – God’s way happened. I notice that and it does bother me that my suffering may be in line with the will of God. If so, is that why I find myself tempted not to pray? Is it not true that I prefer not to suffer for that would betray my idols and my false gods? Am I in fact praying, when suffering, that my false gods are to be restored to me? For instance, if I am ill, am I praying for healing because the injury has robbed me of the health I have trusted in? When I pray for deliverance, am I praying for success so that my false god can determine my worth again?
For this reason I come to Jesus for my salvation, I come to Him to obey Him. I come to Him in prayer so that He may walk with me for the purposes to which He has called me.
“I must pray, pray, pray. I must put all my energy and all my heart into prayer. Whatever else I do, I must pray.” – R. A. Torrey
What a privilege to exercise the encouragement to have confidence to approaching God in prayer.
Let us, then, hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we have a great High Priest who has gone into the very presence of God—Jesus, the Son of God. Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin. Let us have confidence, then, and approach God’s throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it. – Hebrews 4:14-16 GNT
So when things get messy, and I mean messy, praying with fasting takes a priority.
Give orders for a fast; call an assembly! Gather the leaders and all the people of Judah into the Temple of the Lord your God and cry out to him! – Joel 1:!4 GNT
Even daily work takes a lesser priority in my life in times of great need.
Waiting for God is not laziness. Waiting for God is not going to sleep. Waiting for God is not the abandonment of effort. Waiting for God means, first, activity under command; second, readiness for any new command that may come; third, the ability to do nothing until the command is given. – G. Campbell Morgan
Whether the times have some urgency in them or my crises is just breaking, I endure the storm by seeking to hear what my Father is saying – so I wait on Him.
“Patient waiting is often the highest way of doing God’s will.” – Jeremy Collier
Waiting for an answer to prayer is often part of the answer.
Even as I pray the Psalm that is described as an evening prayer, I pray that my mouth does not speak what is not in my heart. As the gatekeeper only alllows the gate to be opened for a good purpose – may it be the same with my lips.
I call to you, Lord; help me now! Listen to me when I call to you. Receive my prayer as incense, my uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice. – Psalm 141:1-2 GNT
God is looking for me to direct my prayer to Him and in the calling out, He is looking for zeal, passion and enthusiasm. If not, I may be tempted to give up praying.
To pray and have my prayer received as incense is to offer a prayer that is not defiled and has no blemish in the offering – pure and holy. I light it with enthusiasm and then I offer my prayer.
“Prayer, in every care and anxiety and need of life, with thanksgiving, is the means God has appointed for out obtaining freedom from all anxiety, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding.” – R. A. Torrey
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed. “Remember, Lord, that I have served you faithfully and loyally and that I have always tried to do what you wanted me to.” And he began to cry bitterly. Isaiah left the king, but before he had passed through the central courtyard of the palace the Lord told him to go back to Hezekiah, ruler of the Lord’s people, and say to him, “I, the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and in three days you will go to the Temple. I will let you live fifteen years longer. I will rescue you and this city Jerusalem from the emperor of Assyria. I will defend this city, for the sake of my own honor and because of the promise I made to my servant David. – 2 Kings 20:2-6
I loved that he prayed. I need to be prayed for, prayed with and need to be free to pray. I learned that I am not in an empty place when I am waiting on God and in fact, prayers of faith bring in answers of peace. I will call on God as long as I live. The experiences I have had because of prayer, the engagements and the encouragements, continue when I pray. Situations can be reversed through prayer. It is God’s purpose, through mercy, to be asked. Even if irreversible, prayer has to be the best preparation for death – it is there that I will find my strength and God’s grace to finish well.
In the best way possible, the king turned to prayer in his prayer closet. I wonder if he was able if he would have went to the temple to pray. However, today I am encouraged because I can turn my face to Jesus when I pray. I believe that if I were given a death sentence today, I too would be praying for healing. Hezekiah did not even have a son yet, Manasseh was born three years after this prayer was uttered. I also love his attention to his walk with God. He saw his intentions as being right, his principles were right, and he ruled right.
I love that I did not read “spare me,” or “take me,” or “God’s will be done.” Rather, “remember me,” and by that I read – whether I live or die, I want to be yours. The answer was immediate, before Isaiah even left the court. God honours Hezekiah with a personal mention of hearing his prayer and seeing his tears. Prayers filled with life and affection matter to God. So much so, that God did more for him than what he asked. While he prayed to be remembered, God healed him. In fact, it could have been a miracle seeing that in three days he was supposed to go up to the Temple. In addition, God gave him much longer to live than I am sure he expected. In addition, He was going to take care of the Assyrians.
The Lord says, “I am the Lord your God, who led you out of Egypt. You have no God but me. I alone am your savior. – Hosea 13:4 GNT
My worship of God does not exist in words, but in faith, hope and prayer. God is the “I am,” the only God. God values the honour given to Him, that is due to Him, when I place my hope and send my prayers to Him and Him alone – when I seek and put the hope of my salvation in Him.
Psalm 137 has a few “remember” words as well in its prayer.
“All the mighty men of God outside the Bible have been men of prayer. They have differed from one another in many things, but in this they have been alike.” – R. A. Torrey
King Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went to the Temple, placed the letter there in the presence of the Lord, and prayed, “O Lord, the God of Israel, seated on your throne above the winged creatures, you alone are God, ruling all the kingdoms of the world. You created the earth and the sky. – 2 Kings 19:14-15 GNT
Hezekiah captures the importance of having a vision of who God really is. God is higher than any earthly king. The king’s prayer springs from his faith in the God who created heaven and earth.
The prayer for deliverance continues…
Now, Lord, look at what is happening to us. Listen to all the things that Sennacherib is saying to insult you, the living God. We all know, Lord, that the emperors of Assyria have destroyed many nations, made their lands desolate, and burned up their gods—which were no gods at all, only images of wood and stone made by human hands. Now, Lord our God, rescue us from the Assyrians, so that all the nations of the world will know that only you, O Lord, are God. – 2 Kings 19:16-19 GNT
I had to share this because the answer to his prayer came because he prayed. I cannot imagine what he would have done if he had chosen not to pray. Prayer mattered.
Then Isaiah sent a message telling King Hezekiah that in answer to the king’s prayer. That night an angel of the Lord went to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 soldiers. At dawn the next day there they lay, all dead! Then the Assyrian emperor Sennacherib withdrew and returned to Nineveh. One day, when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, two of his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords and then escaped to the land of Ararat. Another of his sons, Esarhaddon, succeeded him as emperor. – 2 Kings 19:20.35-37 GNT
I think it is important for me to remember that prayer is not the magic here, but it was definitely the mode of delivery. While it has many qualities that can teach me how to pray, it has an underlining value that matters more – how to trust. It models faith. That is not to say there is no power in prayer – there is – for prayer is powerful because it is given to a great God who responds to the faith of those who are praying to Him. Prayer works because of the power of the God to whom I pray. The power in prayer is found in the faith in which it is offered. I must remember that prayer does not force God to do anything.
So now, descendants of Jacob, trust in your God and return to him. Be loyal and just, and wait patiently for your God to act. – Hosea 12:6 GNT
I wait patiently, in faith, in prayer. I wait on Him in my heart and pray with my lips that His will be done. As I wait, I pray and praise.
The Lord will defend his people; he will take pity on his servants.
They have mouths, but cannot speak, and eyes, but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear; they are not even able to breathe. May all who made them and who trust in them become[b] like the idols they have made. – Psalm 135:14, 16-18 GNT
God can and wants to make my prayers matter. My mouth has to speak in prayer, praise and confession. There has to be life – prayer and praise – which are the breath of spiritual life. If not, then am I praying to an idol? If so, then my mouth is not really praying, my eyes do not see the truth and my ears do not hear the voice of God – the life of God is not in me.
“Prayer is God’s appointed way for obtaining things, and the great secret of all lack in our experience, in our life and in our work is neglect of prayer.” – R.A. Torrey
The Practice of Prayer 