Felt Needs Impel Us to Pray

Driving home: However, according to the Scriptures, there are no effective substitutes for those activities, disciplines, and relationships which God has appointed not to sweeten our lives, but to nourish us in the ways of His truth a…

The analogy of sugar substitutes in restaurants is used to introduce the idea that while substitutes might sweeten, there are no effective substitutes for God's appointed means of grace, which are meant to nourish.

Now, I'm quite confident that most every one of you sitting here has, at one time or another, eaten a meal in some kind of a public eating establishment, whether the fast food variety a la Burger King or McDonald's or such, or whether in an elegant restaurant where, if you were a man, you had to wear a jacket and a tie. And in any public eating place, from the fast food variety to the more elegant restaurant, somewhere in that restaurant, usually on each table,

3:07 - 3:51 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Anyone who says, I know enough of God and of Christ to get me to heaven and that's all I desire is utterly self-deceived. He knows nothing of God and of Christ.

David's cries in Psalm 42 ('as the deer pants for water') and Psalm 63 ('my soul thirsts for thee') are presented as examples of the intense, physical-like yearning for intimate communion with God that true believers experience.

And the greatest pain to the true child of God is the pain of either broken communion with his God, a season of God's hiding of his face, or a season of staleness in one's relationship to God and to the Lord Jesus Christ. You have marvelous expressions of this in many of the Psalms. I turn almost arbitrarily to two of them. In Psalm 42, we are taken, as it were, into the very echo chamber of the heart of David.

18:52 - 19:30 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if you have a burning, pressured sense of need to deepen, expand, nurture, and cultivate intimate communion with God in secret prayer.

A stanza from Bernard of Clairvaux's hymn 'Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts' is quoted to capture the essence of the believer's ongoing longing and thirst for more of Christ, even after tasting Him.

And this thirst actually is expressed in terms of a physical yearning. My heart, my soul, and my flesh long for thee. Every true Christian can sing with Bernard of Clairvaux, Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts, thou fount of life, thou light of men. From the best-blessed earth in parts we turn unfilled to thee again.

21:30 - 22:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if you have a burning, pressured sense of need to deepen, expand, nurture, and cultivate intimate communion with God in secret prayer.

Spurgeon's statement, 'If our piety can live without God, it is not of divine creating,' is quoted to emphasize that genuine, divinely created piety naturally seeks and waits upon God in intimate communion, like flowers waiting for dew.

to drink in the sheer delight of that intimate communion with God that is known in secret prayer, that person is a stranger to the grace of God. He knows nothing of what it is to truly know God. Listen to Spurgeon commenting on this very principle. He says, if our piety can live without God, it is not of divine creating.

25:03 - 25:34 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The new heart given in conversion inclines believers to holiness, but they quickly discover indwelling sin, the world's seduction, and Satan's opposition. These realities create a…

Temptation is likened to 'glowing coals to dry tinder' or 'living sparks to a room full of natural gas' to illustrate the explosive and ignitable nature of remaining sin within the believer, highlighting the urgent need for sanctifying grace.

A felt need, in the language of Matthew 26, 41, to watch and to pray, lest he enter into temptation. A felt need to pray, as we read this morning, lead us not into temptation. Why? Because temptation is to my remaining sin what glowing coals are to dry tinder.

33:59 - 34:27 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if you have a felt need to express gratitude to God, as this will impel you to secret prayer.

The psalmist in Psalm 103 calling upon angels and all creation to bless Jehovah, despite being a 'little creature on the dust,' illustrates the overwhelming, almost frustrated, felt need to express gratitude to God.

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfieth thy desire with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle. Then he goes on to extol various aspects of the goodness and mercy of God. Until, in a kind of frustration, he calls upon the whole created order in verses 20 to 22 to join him in this disposition of thankfulness. Bless Jehovah, ye His angels.

41:24 - 42:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Seek intimate communion with God in secret prayer, telling Him things you wouldn't tell anyone else.

The analogy of marital intimacy is used to explain the felt need for intimate communion with God. Just as a healthy marriage desires private intimacy beyond public fellowship, so a believer yearns for secret prayer where things are shared only with God.

to seek the face of God the felt need to experience intimate communion with God with what you know of God in the sanctuary at family worship in the fellowship of the saints there's a year as there is in the heart of every healthy marriage whatever a through marital intimacy in the midst of the children in the extended family and among mutual friends there is a yearning for the intimacy that is expressed in the sacred sanctuary of the closed bedroom door

51:42 - 52:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Examine if your 'business at the throne of grace' has increased since your conversion; if not, fear for the state of your soul.

Extended quotes from Jonathan Edwards' sermons on Job 27:10, 'Hypocrites deficient in the duty of seeking God in secret prayer,' are used to sharply distinguish between the prayerless life of a hypocrite and the prayer-driven life of a true convert, exposing the self-deception of those who claim faith without felt needs for prayer.

based upon Job 27 10 with reference to the hypocrite he says will he always call upon God and he entitled the two sermons hypocrites deficient in the duty of seeking God in secret prayer and listen to his searching words if you value your souls dear people listen I'm not up here I'm not up here earning a paycheck I'm trying to get blood off my hands it may be yours listen listen listen how is a life in great measure prayerless consistent with a holy life to lead a holy life is to lead a life devoted to God a life of worshipping and serving God a life consecrated to the service of God but how d...

56:03 - 56:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray with faith, making all your wants and wishes known to God, trusting in Christ's merits.

A hymn by Joseph Hart, 'Prayer was appointed to convey,' is quoted to conclude the sermon, serving as an exhortation and encouragement for believers to embrace prayer as their lifeline and means of receiving blessings.

a felt need for more sanctifying grace from God a felt need to express my gratitude to God and a felt need to confess my utter dependence upon God for you I close with the exhortation of a beautiful hymn by Joseph Hart that reads as follows prayer was appointed to convey the blessings God designs for us the blessings God designs to give long as they live should Christians pray for only while they pray they live the Christian's heart his prayer indicts he speaks as prompted from within the Spirit his petition writes

60:26 - 61:10 Read in full sermon